On the Modular Design Application for the Gas Turbine Sector: A Performance Optimization Approach in the Context of Industry 4.0

Production changes enabled by Industry 4.0 (I4.0) allow industries to respond to customer needs in a much more precise and agile manner. It also permits companies to focus on the development of sustainable and more efficient solutions. The energy sector is still lacking progress in this context, however, and the implementation of I4.0 and modularity could help to solve such issues. The present research study contributes to addressing the research gap in I4.0 implementation in the Gas Turbine (GT) sector by developing a design application for modular GT configuration. The main objective of the developed modular design application (MDA) is to facilitate the relationship between customer and engineer by providing an accessible application (program), including pre-designed heat cycles (HCs), that proposes optimized modular solutions, according to customer requirements, using simulation. Indeed, this study presents the functioning of the novel application, the different deployed components and their variables, such as the compressor efficiency, heat exchangers, or turbine stages, and the decision variable, e.g., the costs of generated energy. Simulations and comparisons using reported HCs in the literature have been performed to validate the accuracy of the simulation processes. Finally, a study case is presented, placing the MDA in an industrial context to illustrate its benefits and to provide solutions for GT modularity. It is concluded that the developed MDA correctly simulates HCs and enables a first step towards modular HC design. Indeed, the proposed MDA architecture allows for continuous improvement and expansion, e.g., by the addition of HC-related components or the integration of different entry variables, such as the company’s financial scope, world location, desired power, and available components.