Engine & Turbine Technology
company, MAXOS is the most widely used optical blade measurement system used by OEMs in-house, including Toshiba GE, Alstom, and Siemens. Next NVision technicians used company software
to convert the point clouds to STL file format. Te STL model was converted to a fully parametric CAD model which took another three weeks. NVision engineers edited the resulting CAD models by hand to correct machining inaccuracies in the as-built parts. Te CAD models provided by NVision were used by the turbine manufacturer as the basis for CFD simulations that were used to design new blades and diaphragms that saved considerable amounts of energy by improving the efficiency of hundreds of existing turbines.
Velocity Oxygen Fuel) and plasma coating, digital x-ray, and a complete metallurgical laboratory. PSM’s product line includes stationary and rotating
airfoil parts, low-emission combustion systems, and advanced components for Frames 6B, 7E/EA, 7FA, and 9E, as well as the GT6-5000F and 501F machines. Meanwhile, Siemens technologies took first place in two categories of the first Innovation Prize for Climate and Environment awarded by Germany’s Federal Environment Ministry and the Federation of German Industries (BDI). German Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen and BDI director general Werner Schnappauf presented the awards – totalling €125,000 – to winners in five categories in Berlin in March. For the world’s most efficient gas turbine, Siemens
Energy placed first in the ‘Green products and services’ category.
Te SGT5-8000H gas turbine developed by
Siemens for the power plant in Irsching was completed in Berlin in 2007. With an output of 375 megawatts (MW), it is the largest and most powerful gas turbine in the world. “Te award proves that innovations for climate
protection and sustainability are the right approach,” said Barbara Kux, member of Siemens’ managing board and the company’s chief sustainability officer. “Technological leadership is helping us continue our success in these difficult economic times. Our environmental portfolio grew 11 per cent in 2009 and is, thus, a key stabilising factor in our business. At some €23billion, the portfolio accounts for nearly a third of our total revenue, making Siemens the world’s largest supplier of green products and solutions.” Te gas turbine is the centerpiece of a combined-
Fig. 2. More efficient blades make for more efficient turbines.
“Quickly obtaining a model of the original turbine geometry gives us a distinct advantage over our competitors,” said Joe Hackett, metrology manager for Power Systems Manufacturing (PSM), part of the Alstom Group. As well as working with NVision, PSM has also opened its new 76 000ft2
gas turbine component
repair and reconditioning facility at its HQ in Jupiter, Florida. According to the company, the new state-of-the-art shop was designed to incorporate green technologies and principles and is the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) registered gas turbine reconditioning facility in the world. Te workshop also includes advanced F class process technologies such as laser welding, high temperature brazing and heat treat, CNC (Computer Numerical Controlled) machining, HVOF (High
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cycle power plant (CCCP) operated by EON in Irsching, near Ingolstadt, Germany. Te turbine is more than 13 metres long, five metres high and, at 444tonnes, weighs more than the world’s largest passenger airplane (Fig. 1). On its own, the gas turbine generates 375MW of electricity. Once it is connected with a steam turbine, output will rise to roughly 570MW, an amount sufficient to meet the electricity needs of some 3.4 million people – roughly the entire population of Berlin. Siemens says the plant will achieve a world record efficiency level of more than 60 per cent, which will benefit both the environment and the climate: annual carbon dioxide emissions from each new plant of this type will be about 700 000 tonnes below the average emission level for power generation worldwide – a reduction equal to the total emissions of 350 000 cars driven 15 000km/y. Typical turbines contain about 3000 blades and
Siemens is also working on technology to make these more efficient (Fig. 2). After a special heat treatment, a laser drills cooling holes into the turbine blades. During operation, large volumes of air are pumped
from inside through these openings, generating the life-prolonging cooling which flows evenly over the blades as a film of air. l
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