David Teraji

Mercury™ 50 Product Durability, Operation and Maintenance Review

The Mercury™ 50 gas turbine operates with a recuperated cycle to produce 4600 kW with a high thermal efficiency and very low emissions. Commercialized in 2003, the Mercury 50 gas turbine has completed an extensive design, development, and field evaluation program that insured a reliable and durable product that is easy to operate and maintain. This results in maximizing operation reliability and availability and lowering maintenance cost, critical factors in the distributed generation and cogeneration power generation markets. 6 Sigma, robust engineering and Kaizen methodologies were used during the design and pre-production phases to collect valuable input from users and prove out the durability, operability and maintainability of the product. This paper will review the Mercury 50 design for durability and ease of operation and maintenance.Copyright

Concentrated Solar Power Hybrid Gas Turbine Demonstration Test Results

One of the most promising renewable energy concepts is the Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) tower with a hybrid combined cycle gas turbine power block. U.S. Department of Energy studies [4] indicate that this type of system can achieve greater than 60% thermal efficiency and result in a lower the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) as compared to the CSP technology operating today. The air Brayton gas turbine part of the combined cycle system can also operate in a hybrid mode with natural gas resulting in optimizing the plant performance and making it available for fully dispatchable power output even when the solar thermal is not available. Since this concept had not been tested on a MW scale, a CSP tower hybrid gas turbine demonstration plant called Solugas was built near Seville, Spain. A 4.6 MW Mercury™ 50 gas turbine was modified to operate with a high temperature air receiver. The demonstration tests were conducted to ensure the turbine can operate over a broad range of conditions with and without solar energy. The performance and operation safety were critical test objectives. The demonstration test results were excellent and met all program objectives.Copyright

Design of a Micromix Fuel Injector for High Temperature Hybrid Concentrated Solar Power Plants

The hybrid air Brayton concentrated solar power plant (CSP) combines a natural gas fired combustor in series with a traditional CSP system. The combination boosts turbine inlet temperature above the receiver temperature and reduces output variability. However, a combustor operating in this mode must tolerate an inlet air temperature equal to the solar receiver outlet temperature, which is expected to be as much as 1,000°C for next generation designs. High inlet temperature hybrid combustors must achieve low NOx emissions in spite of the increased risk for autoignition and flashback. In addition, the hybrid injector must be able to adjust to the variability inherent to the solar source. The design of a multibank micromix injector that meets these challenges is described with emphasis on its NOx and CO emissions characteristics.Copyright

Taurus™ 65 Gas Turbine Product

This paper will review the Taurus 65 gas turbine product, the newest member of Solar Turbine’s product line. The Taurus 65 is a 6.3 MW, 32.9% efficient single shaft gas turbine specifically designed for the combined heat and power (CHP) market with low emissions and excellent exhaust heat capacity. It leverages the reliability and durability of the Centaur® and Taurus product technology. The 13-stage compressor includes the Centaur 50 compressor plus two new aft stages. The combustion system adopts Solar’s proven SoLoNOx™ technology and has a guaranteed NOx emission of 15 ppmv (15% O2). The newly designed three-stage turbine incorporates the proven Taurus 70 high efficiency design with advanced cooling and material technologies developed in the Mercury™ 50 turbine engine. Solar developed a new Taurus 65 package system design utilizing 6 Sigma methodologies. The new design incorporates features that allows for quick installation and easy operation and maintenance. A Kaizen service event successfully demonstrated the field maintenance and engine removal on the first package built. The Taurus 65 universal package design will become the standard design for the Centaur 40, Centaur 50 and Taurus 60 products, and will have the same footprint as the current Taurus 60 package. The first Taurus 65 gas turbine started development test during the fourth quarter 2004. The development test results have been excellent. A Taurus 65 gen-set unit will start endurance testing during the third quarter 2005 at Solar’s San Diego facility. The first production unit will be available for shipment in the first quarter 2006. The New Product Introduction (NPI) process, 6 Sigma process, and Kaizen processes were utilized during the product design, development and introduction phases.Copyright