Investigation on a rotary heat exchanger for a recuperated microturbine powering hybrid aircrafts

The idea of regeneration to increase the thermal efficiency of a Brayton-Joule cycle is well known. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potential use of a rotary heat exchanger for the regeneration of an intercooled-recuperated gas turbine engine setup. Since some advantages in terms of space and weight requirements have appeared in favor of the rotating regenerative heat exchanger, many investigators during the past decade have examined the possibilities of its application to gas turbine for aircraft and automotive. In particular, the study aims to understand the advantages of using a regenerator over a recuperator and to bring the present theoretical and experimental knowledge to a form which may be useful to designers interested in that application. The choice to study regeneration is due to its potential to enhance overall efficiency of a gas turbine system without touch the mechanical or thermal stress limit of the components, in order to reuse as much of the energy as possible that would otherwise be wasted.