Opportunities for adaptive optimisation of gas turbine systems

摘要

Improving the functionality of any mechanism almost inevitably leads to greater complexity, certainly at the design stage and invariably in the finished product. With the ever increasing use of electronics over the last 40 years, some form of adaptive functioning during the operation of a system has become very common and increasingly easy to engineer. We only need to look at the automotive industry to see the levels of sophistication which can be readily achieved. There is a risk however of producing over complex systems which might be costly to both produce and service, giving a high life time cost. Non-electrical adaptive systems are not new of course, prior to the electronics revolution, there were some incredibly sophisticated mechanisms widely used in the textiles and transport industries. Electronics are almost certainly an improvement in cost of ownership over the expensive, high capital cast iron mechanisms which were once common. The ease of design and flexibility of electronics have to some extent overshadowed the parallel advances in mechanisms. Advances in mechanisms coupled to the new technologies and design philosophies which are rapidly emerging from the Smart community are now opening up a whole range of new possibilities for adaptive components. The skill in developing new systems is to make the best use of all of the technologies that are available.