Gas storage power station

• US 20030037548A1
• Filed: 08/15/2002
• Published: 02/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: General Electric Technology GmbH (GE Vernova, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Alstom Technology Ltd. (Alstom SA)
• Inventors: Gerdes, Ralf, Keller-Sornig, Peter, Tuschy, Ilja
• Granted Patent: US 7,073,335 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 60/727
• CPC Class Codes: F01D 15/10 Adaptations for driving, or combinations with, electric generators
• CPC Class Codes: F02C 6/16 for storing compressed air
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2220/60 making use of surplus or waste energy
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2260/90 Braking
• CPC Class Codes: F05D 2260/902 using frictional mechanical forces
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/16 Mechanical energy storage, e.g. flywheels or pressurised fluids

Abstract

The present invention relates to a gas storage power station (1) having a turbine group (3) and a compressor group (4). The turbine group (3) has at least one turbine (5, 6) and a generator (10). During normal operation of the turbine group (3), the generator (10) emits power directly to a main load (11). The compressor group (4) has at least one compressor (12) and one electric motor (15). The gas storage power station (1) furthermore has a power consumption device (20), which can be activated in order to consume turbine and/or generator power.

Claims

1. A gas storage power station

having at least one turbine group (3) which has at least one turbine (5, 6) and at least one generator (10) which are connected or connectable to one another for drive purposes, with the generator (10) giving power directly to at least one predetermined main load (11) during normal operation of the turbine group (3), and

having a least one compressor group (4) which has at least one compressor (12) and at least one electric motor (15) which are connected or connectable to one another for drive purposes,

characterized

in that a power consumption device (20) is provided, which can be activated in order to consume turbine and/or generator power.

2. The gas storage power station as claimed in claim 1,

characterized

in that a control and/or regulating device (27) is provided, which regulates and/or controls the power consumption device (20) such that the turbine rotation speed does not exceed a predetermined threshold value.

3. The gas storage power station as claimed in claim 1 or 2,

characterized

in that a control and/or regulating device (27) is provided, which regulates and/or controls the power consumption device (20) such that the power consumption of the power consumption device (20) compensates for any difference between a nominal power, which can be given off directly from the generator (10) to the at least one main load (11), and an instantaneously available actual power.

4. The gas storage power station as claimed in one of claims 1 to 3,

characterized

in that the power consumption device (20) has a static frequency converter (21) which takes electrical power from the generator (10) when the power consumption device (20) is activated, and emits electrical power to at least one electrical additional load (11;

15).

5. The gas storage power station as claimed in claim 4,

characterized

in that the frequency converter (21) emits electrical power to the electric motor (15) or to the electric motors (15) for the compressor group (4).

6. The gas storage power station as claimed in claim 4 or 5,

characterized

in that the frequency converter (21) emits electrical power to the at least one main load (11).

7. The gas storage power station as claimed in one of claims 1 to 6,

characterized

in that the power consumption device (20) has an electrical resistor (25) which takes electrical power from the generator (10) and converts it to heat, when the power consumption device (20) is activated.

8. The gas storage power station as claimed in claim 7,

characterized

in that the resistor (25) is cooled by a cooling medium, with the heat which is drawn away from the cooling medium being supplied to at least one heat sink (30).

9. The gas storage power station as claimed in one of claims 1 to 8,

characterized

in that the power consumption device (20) has a braking device (20, 18) which can be connected to a shaft (23;

16), which is driven by the at least one turbine (5, 6), in order to draw off drive power.

10. The gas storage power station as claimed in claim 9,

characterized

in that the braking device has a flywheel (22), which stores the drive power that has been drawn off as kinetic energy.

11. The gas storage power station as claimed in claim 9 or 10,

characterized

in that the braking device has a friction brake (29) which converts the drawn-off drive power essentially to heat.

12. The gas storage power station as claimed in claim 11,

characterized

in that the friction brake (29) is cooled by a cooling medium, with the heat which is drawn away by the cooling medium being supplied to at least one heat sink (30).

13. The gas storage power station as claimed in one of claims 9 to 12,

characterized

in that the braking device has a clutch device (18) which connects a shaft (16) which is driven by the at least one turbine (5, 6) in a manner which can be controlled and/or regulated to a shaft (13) which drives the at least one compressor (12) in the compressor group (4), such that a greater or lesser amount of drive power is drawn off for driving the at least one compressor (12) by means of appropriate operation of the clutch device (18) when the power consumption device (20) is activated.

14. The gas storage power station as claimed in one of claims 1 to 13,

characterized

in that at least one of the turbine groups (3) and at least one of the compressor groups (4) are in the form of an arrangement with a common shaft or an arrangement with separate shafts.