Combustion hardware

reliability of 7FAs

enhancements

improve

performance,

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Team CCJ

Combustion section reliability solutions for the 7FA were covered by Dr Peter Stuttaford,
Director of Combustion Engineering R&D, during PSMs technical workshop on Day One of
the 7F Users Groups 2014 Conference. He followed compressor expert Chris Johnston,
Director of Airfoils Engineering R&D, at the podium for the second hour of the wellattended afternoon session.
Premixed combustors: New developments
Stuttaford opened his remarks with a review of the companys standard drop-in 7FA
premixed combustor, which operates at 9 ppm NOx or below on natural gas over the
operating load range of interest to most owners. During the last five years, he said, PSM has
equipped several engines with full sets of these combustors, adding that individual
componentsincluding fuel nozzles, liner, liner cap, transition duct, flow sleeve, etcare
piecewise compatible with OEM hardware. This was important to attendees looking to
upgrade but not replace their combustion sections.
Two topics Stuttaford focused on were PSMs durability upgrade for endcovers and its new
FlameSheet combustor. First field installation of a FlameSheet combustor is scheduled for
2015. Attendees would hear a lot about the cracking of endcover insert braze joints during
the conference and what to do about it (Fig 1).

Analysis of field experience indicates cracking is most likely to occur in gas turbines burning
unheated fuel. The high thermal gradients between cold fuel passages and the hot cover can
initiate cracking of the braze joints (Fig 2), thereby creating the opportunity for fuel to leak
into and contaminate burner-tip cooling air for OEM-design fuel nozzles. This, in turn,
reduces the tuning window and can make emissions compliance more challenging. To
eliminate this fleet issue, PSM now offers a robust welded endcover; five sets have been
sold. Note that, for PSM fuel nozzles, tip cooling-air passages are arranged in a manner to

prevent contamination by fuel, thus there is no possibility of emissions-compliance issues

caused by cracked endcover joints.

Stuttafords announcement of PSMs FlameSheet combustor probably was news to many

in the room. Extended turndown capability, durability, and fuel flexibility are key attributes,
Plusand a really big plus for owners with mixed F-class fleetsthe same combustor can
be used in both 7FAs and 501Fs. The FlameSheet combustors for both engines are identical
apart from liner and flow-sleeve exit ends, because they mate with different transition pieces.
The speaker noted that FlameSheet combustor performance has been verified in a highpressure rig operating at full engine conditions. Heres what PSM can say at this point:
o

NOx and CO emissions at 50% to 100% of the engine full load rating are 9
ppmthe same emissions levels achieved by the companys conventional
drop-in 7FA combustion system described by Suttaford at the start of his
presentation.

Extended turndown capability (<10 ppm CO). Turndown of the drop-in

combustor is to 40% to 50% of full load; testing showed that the FlameSheet
combustor can go 20 percentage points below that while maintaining
continuous emissions compliance.

Fuel-gas flexibility. Variation in the Modified Wobbe Index permitted by the

drop-in combustor is 10% (and no liquids); the FlameSheet combustor can
accommodate MWI variations of up to 30% (again, no liquids). Regarding gas
constituents by percentage in the fuel, the drop-in combustor requires a
minimum of 85% methane, FlameSheet only 40%. Here are the percentage
limits for other fuel constituents with the drop-in value first and the
FlameSheet value in parentheses: hydrogen, 0 (40); C2, 15 (40); C3, 15 (20);
C4+, 5 (10, for C4 to C6; C7+ trace); inerts, 15 (30).

Combustion inspection (CI) interval life is at least the same for the
FlameSheet combustor as it is for the drop-in: 24,000 hours/900 starts;
however, expectation is that FlameSheet will have an option for 32,000 hours
based on field experience, as will PSMs drop-in compatible combustion
system.

Control systems specified for the drop-in combustor are Ovation, plus Mark
V, VI, and VIe. Model-based control is not required for the FlameSheet
combustor; existing OEM or retrofit controls can be modified.

Liquid fuel. Both combustion systems can be equipped for dual-fuel service,
with NOx at 42 ppm (wet).

Combustion tuning
The need to periodically tune combustion systems to maintain emissions of CO and NOx,
and dynamics, within acceptable levels across the entire gas-turbine load range is generally
recognized by operations personnel at plants equipped with gas turbines. Stuttaford referred
to tuning as a balancing act, in which reducing one operating parameter increases another.
Over time, he said, emissions and dynamics change because of weather, fuel properties, and
hardware condition and it typically becomes increasingly difficult to keep the engine in
tune.
Emissions are tracked by Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) required by
regulatory authorities and alarms ring in the control room when an out-of-spec condition
exists. The possibility of a fine, or a mandated shutdown, gets quick response by plant
personnel. A Combustion Dynamics Monitoring System (CDMS) is needed to monitor
dynamics levels that if exceeded could cause hardware distress (possibly even severe
damage), or perhaps lean blowout and a unit trip.
If you need a quick refresher on the subject of combustion dynamics, its only a click or two
away. The editors recommend PSMs short course on practical combustion operation theory,
presented at a recent CTOTF meeting, and the CCJ article based on material from a
workshop presented by Dr Timothy C Lieuwen, Professor of Aerospace Engineering at
Georgia Institute of Technology and one of the industrys leading experts on the subject.
If you want to dig deeper, obtain a copy of Gas Turbine Emissions, edited by Lieuwen and
Vigor Yang, Chair of Georgia Techs School of Aerospace Engineering. Deeper still is
Lieuwens highly regarded Unsteady Combustor Physics. Both books were published by
Cambridge University Pressthe former in 2013, the latter in 2012 and already in its second
printing.

CEMS and CDMS

data are required for tuning as shown in Fig 3. Until the second decade of the 21st century,
manual tuning essentially was the only option available. The industrys leading tuners were
in high demand when gas turbines were restarted after outages and also in the spring and fall
as the weather changed. OEMs and third-party services providers were deeply involved in
the development of automated tuning solutions at the time, but the technology really wasnt
ready for prime time until about 2010.
Automated tuning was state-of-the-art in 2011 and the experience of an F-class engine owner
with three systems offered commercially was the subject of a presentation at the 7F Users
Group meeting that year. At the time, PSMs AutoTunesystem had already accumulated
more than 8000 hours of operation integrated with Mark V and Mark VI controls on engines
with DLN2.6 combustion systems. Today the system has more than 120,000 hours of
experience on more than 20 GE and Siemens F-class machines, some with Ovation and
T3000 controls.
Advancements in the capabilities of AutoTune have come quickly over the last three years,
based on material presented by Stuttaford at the 2014 7F Users Group conference. One of the
factors driving enhancements is the variability in fuel composition, which has a significant
impact on dynamics, associated with shale gas production.
AutoTune is compact, built using industrial-grade electronics (no PC). Its self-learning
tuning logic is external to the existing GT control system; therefore, control-system

processor resources are not consumed. Stuttaford stressed that the system is highly
customizable to meet the specific needs of each site and explained by way of an example
how AutoTune self-learns and retains the acquired knowledge in a historian. The value of
this capability over time: Less tuning is required to maintain compliance and protect the
engine. A chart used in the presentation showed that, in the first four months after installation
on one machine, 90 tunings were necessary. That number was reduced to a dozen for the
following four-month period.
Short case histories illustrated the systems ability to reduce NOx emissions by automatically
adjusting the PM3 and PM1 splits and protecting against lean blowout (LBO) with a rapid
adjustment to PM3. Another one of the systems saves was maintaining the availability of
an engine with degraded hardware until an outage could be planned. The scenario:
o

A PM2 nozzle damaged during unit operation, caused a spike in NOx

emissions and narrowed the tuning window.

AutoTune reacted immediately, constantly tweaking the tuning to maintain

NOx within emissions limits while preventing LBO.

Unit continued to operate for three weeks to avoid revenue loss during a period
of peak demand. The additional time enabled a planned outage with
significantly lower cost impact than a forced outage.

Another capability of AutoTune, Stuttaford told the users, is a power-boost option called
Power+. When ambient conditions allow, the firing temperature can be pushed via AutoTune
to the OEMs recommended operational limit to extract up to an additional 3.5 MW from the
unit while maintaining NOx in compliance.

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View
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Low NOx burner
Courtesy GE Energy, 2004 General Electric Company.

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