 |
Microturbines are a type of gas turbine that can range in size up to 1,000 kW. The focus of this program is on 30-kW, 60-kW, 75-kW, 250-kW, and 400-kW microturbines. They are compact, low-emission, self-contained power packs capable of independent or grid-connected service.
Microturbines operate under the same premise as gas turbines and use advanced materials and coatings. Significant progress is being made to improve the reliability, durability, and useful life of subsystems and component parts and to enable operations at higher temperatures. To avoid materials problems, optimization of pressure ratio, temperature, and turbine arrangement is being explored. Materials research and development in ceramics and metal alloys is leading to improvements in recuperators and other system parts, including hot section components such as rotors and combustor liners.
On July 25, 2000, an award of $40 million for research, development, and testing of "next generation" microturbine systems was announced. The industrial partners share 40% of the total cost of DOE funds awarded. Beyond the department's contribution, each partner also contributes approximately 30%-50% of the cost.
The following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Acrobat Reader.
The six firms selected for awards are:
- Capstone Turbine Corp. in Woodland Hills, California; awarded $10 million to achieve efficiency, emissions, and cost objectives. Capstone incorporates higher temperatures, advanced materials—including structural ceramics—and innovative designs for better performance. For more information, see the project summary (PDF 61 KB).
- General Electric Corporate Research and Development in Schenectady, New York; awarded $4,765,994. General Electric's Advanced Integrated Microturbine System leverages recent advancements in large-scale turbines. For more information, see the project summary (PDF 57 KB).
- Honeywell Power Systems Inc. in Albuquerque, New Mexico; awarded $9,993,489. Honeywell leads a multidisciplinary team to provide development, integration, and demonstration of critical components to achieve the performance, emissions, and cost goals of the advanced microturbine program. For more information, see the project summary (PDF 62 KB).
- Northern Research and Engineering Corp., Ingersoll-Rand Energy Systems Division in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; awarded $1,475,863. Under its PowerWorks line of industrial combined cooling, heating, and power products, Ingersoll-Rand works with ceramic suppliers to apply state-of-the-art ceramics technology to yield microturbine and air compressor products with increased efficiency and substantial environmental benefits. For more information, see the project summary (PDF 82 KB).
- Solar Turbines Inc. in San Diego, California; awarded $4,555,859. Solar Turbines seeks to improve the durability and cost performance of its primary surface recuperator (PSR) for microturbine systems applications. The work upgrades the temperature capability of the PSR while focusing on cost containment and reduction. The research team includes microturbine manufacturers that stress higher temperature and lower cost as critical needs for their products. For more information, see the project summary (PDF 52 KB).
- United Technologies Research Center in East Hartford, Connecticut; awarded $8,621,434. The team, led by United Technologies Corp., demonstrates technologies that will substantially increase performance and reduce the cost and emissions of microturbines for electric utility distributed generation power systems. For more information, see the project summary (PDF 71 KB).
These research projects are expected to help reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, enhance electric grid operations, boost local economic development, and increase energy and economic efficiency.
The Distributed Energy Program has also supported several demonstration projects incorporating microturbines. For an example, see the Faith Plating project profile (PDF 543 KB).
|
