Pete Loftus

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• Pete Loftus
• Rolls-Royce

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Agenda

• Roles of Instrumentation in Gas Turbines
• Most important measureands
• The key drivers for change in instrumentation
• The challenges of the engine environment
• Formation of PIWG and EVI-GTI groups
• Example of technology maturation

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Meeting energy market needs

• 5-58 MW gas turbine based energy solutions
• more than 4,000 units supplied to nearly 120
  countries
• over 100 million hours of industrial gas turbine
  operating experience
• through-life customer support worldwide
• low emissions technology
• centrifugal pipeline compressors

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Roles of Gas Turbine Instrumentation

• Engine Control
• Engine Health Monitoring
• In Service Diagnostics
• Test Cell Diagnostics

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Roles of Gas Turbine Instrumentation

• Engine Control
• Engine Health Monitoring
• In Service Diagnostics
• Test Cell Diagnostics

Increasing levels of reliability, operating lives
and QA Requires the use of more mature technology
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Roles of Gas Turbine Instrumentation

• Engine Control
• Engine Health Monitoring
• In Service Diagnostics
• Test Cell Diagnostics

Often increasing levels of data bandwidths,
density of coverage, and hostile environments
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Key Measureands (1)

• Structural measurements
• Measurements to validate/monitor the integrity of
  the engine
• Component temperatures
• Engine component vibration
• Loads and displacements

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Key Measureands (2)

• Performance measurements
• Measurements to validate/monitor the efficiency
  of the engine
• Gas temperatures, pressures and velocities
• Fuel and oil flows and properties
• Torque and thrust
• Emissions
• Noise

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Industrial RB211 gas generator Typical
Environmental Conditions
Core casing vibration 90mm sec-1 / 40 g pk
Oil system 250C
350C air temperature beneath core covers
Rotating components _at_ 30,000 g
Unsteady pressures generated by blade wakes
HPC delivery 900K, 42 bar
Turbine entry gas 1900-2400K 40 bar
HP turbine blade metal temperature 1100C,
thermal barrier coating surface temperature to
1300C
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Commercial Technology Drivers

• Reduced OEM Instrumentation Research budgets
  resulting from challenging market conditions
• Increasing demand for condition monitoring
  diagnostic capability To reduce cost of
  ownership.
• Sensor suppliers traditionally reluctant to
  invest through lack of clarity of the market
  opportunity
• Funding organisations reluctant to support Engine
  OEM sensor developments
• Result - Inertia

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Gas Turbine Engine Sensor RequirementsIndustry
bodies co-ordinating requirements

• Propulsion Instrumentation Working Group - PIWG
  (USA)
• website //www.oai.org/PIWG/
• European Virtual Institute for Gas Turbine
  Instrumentation - EVI-GTI (EU)
• Engine Companies ABB Turbo, Alstom, Fiat Avio,
  ITP, MTU, RRplc, RRD, Seimens, Snecma, Turbomeca,
  Volvo.
• Suppliers and researchers Auxitrol, Kema,
  QinetiQ, Rotadata, VKI, NTUA, Limerick and
  Cranfield.
• website //www.evi-gti.org

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Gas Turbine Engine Sensor RequirementsThe
EVI-GTI Lab Gap Matrix

• Survey of gas turbine instrumentation users
  carried out to determine requirements.
• Survey of supply chain and researchers performed
  to determine current state of the art.
• Discrepancies (Gaps) documented in a Matrix.
• Gaps prioritised by the gas turbine
  manufacturers.
• Priority areas for improvement identified and
  published.

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Gas Turbine Engine Sensor RequirementsPriority
Areas

• Combustor and turbine gas path aerodynamic
  measurements
• Total and static pressures
• Total Temperatures
• Unsteady pressures
• Turbine component temperatures
• Surface temperature distribution
• Heat flux
• Turbine component vibration and displacement
• Component vibration
• Tip clearance
• Component displacements

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Example of developing sensor maturity

• Unsteady Conditions in Engine Combustors
• Test cell pressure vibration sensors have been
  used to detect instabilities enable design
  action to avoid them
• Increasing confidence with these sensors lead to
  their deployment in-service to detect potentially
  damaging oscillations developing
• Control functions were then added to change the
  combustion conditions if oscillations develop.
• In future, active control of the instabilities
  using high bandwidth sensing Actuation may
  enable further enhanced combustor performance.

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Gas Turbine Engine Sensor RequirementsSummary

• Three main drivers for sensor technology
• Product development and method validation
• Engine Health Monitoring
• Control Systems
• The main needs for new/improved sensors are all
  in the hostile environment of combustion and
  turbine system
• Component temperatures to 1350C
• Gas path conditions to 2400K
• Component strain/vibration/movement up to 1200C
• With a clear view of the market opportunities it
  should be possible for the OEMs Sensor
  suppliers to work together to develop sensor
  maturity for the above roles.

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Rolls-Royce

• Trusted to deliver excellence