🔍 Key Concepts

• Review the typical layouts of simple, intercooled, recuperative, and intercooled‑recuperated gas turbine cycles in your engineering reference. • Focus on what additional heat‑exchange equipment is shown between major components (compressor, combustor, turbine). • Remember that intercoolers are placed between compressor stages, while recuperators/regenerators transfer heat from turbine exhaust back to compressor discharge air.

💭 Think About

• Look closely at the flow path from inlet to compressor, through any intermediate components, to combustor and turbine. Do you see one compressor or more than one, and is there anything cooling the air between them? • Trace the exhaust leaving the turbine. Does it go directly to the stack or is it routed through a heat exchanger that sends heat back toward the compressor discharge line? • Ask yourself whether the configuration in the illustration shows only basic components (compressor–combustor–turbine), or if it clearly includes either an intercooler, a recuperator, or both.

✅ Before You Answer

• Identify whether there are two compressor sections with a cooler (heat exchanger with external cooling medium) between them – that indicates intercooling. • Check for a heat exchanger connecting turbine exhaust to compressor discharge before the combustor – that indicates a recuperative feature. • If neither an intercooler nor a recuperator is clearly present, the configuration is most likely a simple cycle; if both are present, it would be intercooled‑recuperated.