45% Power Absorption Increase for Gas Turbine Customer

A gas turbine manufacturer with R&D and production test cells contacted Froude to provide a hydraulic dynamometer capable of testing 17.5 MW.

A gas turbine manufacturer required the ability to test 17.5 MW  high-powered gas turbine engines for engine development purposes. They were unable to find a dynamometer manufacturer that carried a hydraulic dynamometer product offering that could achieve that level of absorption. Because water brake dynos are the best solution for gas turbine testing, the customer contacted Froude to inquire if a dynamometer could be developed to allow them to safely test at this level.

Froude’s F84 dynamometer is the largest offering in the F-series standard hydraulic dynamometer line with a power rating of 12MW. Since the customer required 17.5 MW, the Froude engineering team was challenged to develop a solution to stretch a standard dynamometer to reach a substantial increase in power absorption.

“Due to the increased power absorption, it was apparent that we would be dangerously pushing the limits of our standard design,” explained Froude’s engineering manager. “The dynamometer needed to be able to handle the increased stresses that would be exerted on the rotors, stators, and vanes. We needed to consider all variables that could be altered to achieve the requirement.”

The first consideration was determining the optimal inlet water temperature that would allow the internal components to better withstand the added stresses. Lowering the standard water temperature recommendation was the first step to avoid damage to the internal components.

The next step involved modifications to the casing assembly to withstand the added power. By strengthening the casings and the shaft/rotor assembly in combination with lowering the temperature of incoming water, more power could be safely absorbed through the dynamometer. Upon testing the modified unit, it was confirmed that Froude was successful in safely increasing the power rating by 45% to meet the customer’s engine test requirements.

“The dyno is stable and it handles the load without a problem.” explained the test cell manager, “And that’s critical as we have the F84 test cell running constantly, day and night over two shifts. We also have the VX100 control system, which gives us a complete test solution that meets our needs.”

Downtime is a critical factor and we needed to make sure the customer had confidence that uptime was going to be maximized. A maintenance agreement was put in place, along with critical spare parts available at the customer site to ensure the equipment was maintained at the proper intervals and there would be no waiting for service parts.

We achieved everything the customer aimed for with their high-powered test requirements and our solution allows them to test lower-rated turbines as well, fulfilling their manufacturing and R&D test applications.