JURASSIC GAS TURBINE IS BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE

摘要

An old Dresser-Clark gas turbine initially installed at a Navy facility in the mid 1950's keeps producing electric power for its present owner and provides system capacity. Like the "energizer bunny" it keeps going and going and going. Its first home was at a Navy test facility until the early 1980's. Then it was sold to a small utility in northern Wisconsin where it has been used as a peak shaver and provides system capacity for the utility. This allows the utility to purchase energy at a lower cost from the large utility in the area. In the late 1990's it suffered some blade damage and also a failed expansion joint. The blades were repaired, however, the expansion joint around the exterior casing is a 360 degree piece and its replacement would require a complete disassembly of the engine. The owner could not justify the expense and was planning to scrap the engine until an alternate solution was presented. An analysis was done to show that an expansion joint was not needed at that casing location if pre-tensioning of other joints were done. Then the solution was to weld a metal band over the joint. This was done for very little cost and the engine was returned to peaking service in late 2002. It continues to perform as it did before the joint failure.