GE Oil & Gas

New solutions for the improvement

of turbocompressor availability
By Filippo Cinelli, Riccardo Valorosi, Gianni Mochi, Antonio Pumo, Dante Sabella / GE Oil & Gas

GE imagination at work
1
GE Oil & Gas

New solutions for the improvement

of turbocompressor availability
By Filippo Cinelli, Riccardo Valorosi, Gianni Mochi, Antonio Pumo, Dante Sabella / GE Oil & Gas

Abstract
In recent years, market demand for plant uptime has progressively increased. Turbocompressor
technology usually represents the core equipment of a plant and its availability is one of the key
factors in optimizing plant uptime. OEMs have concentrated significant engineering efforts on
developing new hardware to extend the mean time between maintenance (MBTM) and to reduce
the need for downtime inspection activities.

The new generation of material technology for hot gas path parts is focused on enhancing the
durability of machines. The combination of proven materials and advanced technology from
other industries, such as the aircraft engine industry, accelerates the introduction of improved
materials, coatings and design solutions into new machines as well as into retrofit kits to uprate
installed base units. Uprate kits are designed to be fully interchangeable with original parts.
Hence, they can be installed during planned shutdowns of a unit with no additional impact on
the plant downtime, and in some cases, even significantly reducing the downtime.

In addition, substantial improvements in specialized software to manage and analyze data on

operating equipment have been made, which provide faster and more accurate troubleshooting.
Predictive capabilities have also been embedded into software tools and in the near future it is
expected that they will be able to cover residual life assessment of hot gas path components as well.

These advances are all key to extending equipment availability, which translates into additional
days of production as well as reduced life cycle cost.

Introduction FOH = Forced Outage Hours: period of time

Uptime is one of the areas where oil and gas
OEMs are concentrating their effort, investing
in new technology for products which address
this key need. Maximizing up time means
reducing outages, extending the mean time
between maintenance, shortening site
activities and reducing unplanned shutdowns
due to failures.
during which the maintenance team is
actually working during forced outages
POH = Planned Outage Hours: period of
time during which the maintenance team is
actually working during planned outages
Key factors critical to enhancing up time
include:

Reliability and availability are the metrics Reduction of site activities turn around time
used to measure up time, and are specified Reduction of planned maintenance
by the ISO3977-9 definition [1]: Reduction of unplanned maintenance

Reliability R = [(PH-FOH)/PH]x100 The cases addressed by this paper concentrate

Availability A = [(PH-(FOH+POH))/PH]x100 on the FR5/2 D model gas turbine.

Where The FR5/2 is an heavy-duty, double-shaft

F = number of failures gas turbine. The 17-stage axial compressor is
PH = Period Hours: cumulative hours a high efficiency model. The 12 combustion
of monitoring chambers, which have individual burners,

1
This paper was prepared for presentation and awarded at the SAOGE 2008 in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, November 15-17, 2008
GE Oil & Gas
are set parallel to the machines centerline.
Expansion is achieved in 2 turbine stages with
impulse rotor buckets: the first stage drives
the axial compressor and the two together
comprise the high-pressure shaft; the second
stage drives the low-pressure shaft and load.
The partition airfoils of the first stage fixed
nozzles are cooled with air from compressor
bleed, while the partition airfoils of the second
stage fixed nozzles have an adjustable angle
which enables broad speed range and load
flexibility. Owing to their flexibility, high
capacity, simplicity and low maintenance
requirements, these units are ideal drivers for
pipeline centrifugal compressors. The FR5/2D
is also used in natural gas re-injection plants
to drive high pressure re-injection centrifugal
compressors
An overview of the case study presented is
shown in Table 1.
Cycle Simple
Fuel Natural gas
NOX emission reduc. system Not installed
Type of application Mechanical drive
Type of operation Continuous
Type of installation site On shore
Inlet plenum Side
Exhaust plenum Side
Acoustic enclosure
Type of enclosure under shed (with
an overhead crane)
Table 1 Case study gas turbine configuration
Maintenance
Operation of a gas turbine, like any other
rotating machine generating mechanical
power, must include a maintenance program
for repair and/or replacement of parts when
needed to ensure maximum availability and
reliability of the unit. Naturally, this maintenance
program will begin with minor operations,
which will increase in scope over time and
according to the severity of operation up to the
point of a major inspection. This maintenance
pattern is repeated cyclically.
A gas turbine maintenance program can be
split into:
Preventive maintenance
Inspection during operation
This consists of logging the key operational
parameter during start-up and while the unit
is in service. Subsequent analysis of this data
establishes the general conditions of the unit
and auxiliary systems.
Standby inspection
This is conducted when units are out of
operation due to the plant schedule and
therefore does not interfere with availability
but increase reliability.
Activities may include changing filters,
checking the lube oil level, checking and
regulating instrumentation, etc.
Scheduled maintenance
Scheduled maintenance is performed with
machines out of service, as the unit has to be
disassembled so that internal components can
be inspected. The scope of the area to be dis-
assembled depends on the type of inspection.
Inspections start from the most critical zone,
which is the point where the temperature is
highest, and continue to cover the entire mach-
ine at subsequent increased inspection levels:
Combustion inspection = CI
Liners and transition pieces
inspection = LTPI
Major inspection = MI
The zones covered by the above mentioned
inspections are shown in the cross-section
drawing of the turbine in Figure 1.
figure 1 FR5/2D Gas turbine maintenance sections 2.1.
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GE Oil & Gas

Scheduled maintenance frequency of the MO on site challenged GE to complete it

Based on a wide variety of actual operating in 12 days vs. the standard 24 days considering
experience of heavy-duty gas turbines installed that the site team was organized for double
worldwide, the scheduled maintenance shifts of 12 hours each.
spacing method has been developed as an
initial guideline.
The major overhaul of
FR5/2D the FR5/2 gas turbine
inspections scheduled maintenance standard frequency -
was on the critical path
whichever occurs first of the entire LNG plant
shutdown. A 100%
CI
reduction of time could
LTPI not be achieved with the
HGPI standard maintenance
approach of stripping the
MI
unit and replacing the
firing hours: 0 12,000 24,000 36,000 48,000 hot gas path parts at the
firing starts: 0 800 1,200 2,400 site as recommended
by the maintenance
Turn around day 3 14 5 3 36
policy. The breakthrough
Table 2 OEM recommended maintenance plan came directly form the
aeroderivative approach of swapping the
The frequency of scheduled maintenance entire engine with a fully refurbished engine.
indicated in Table 2, expressed in terms of
INITIAL
fired hours accumulated by a machine, is to COOLING
DOWN OF THE
be considered as a standard calculated based MHE WARM CONDITIONS
MHE TO REACH
-68
LNG LNG
on the following operating conditions:
DE-BLINDING

OFF ON
BLINDING

COLD
WORKS NO WORKS
Natural gas fuel ONLY HOT WORKS / OPEN FLAME ACTIVITIES

Continuous operation APRIL 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

COOLING STARTUP
Base load (100%) DOWN
CHEMICAL
GE SCOPE:
ENGINES EXCHANGE AUX INSPECTION START PUNCH
No water/steam injection CLEANING LISTING OF
RE-INSTALLED
PROCESS SYSTEM INSPECTION
Best maintenance practice EQUIPMENT

A day of site activities Table 4 LNG plant shut down plan

equals 12 working hours
Optimization of Site Activities
GEs first efforts to reduce the duration of site
activities during an outage focused on the
major overhaul (MO). The target set by one of
the leaders in the LNG industry for execution
As a result of the introduction of the engine
swap concept, the duration of site activities
decreased to 13 days (26 shifts). The major
overhaul turn around was cut from an average
634 hours and Best record 560 hours, to
average 428 hours and best record 332 hours.

Implementing the lessons

Year 2 Year 4 Year 6 Year 8 learned and fine tuning the
16,000 32,000 48,000 64,000 procedures, a major over-
Standard
CI HG CI MI haul using modular exchange
Maintenance
5days 14 days 5days 24 days
Extendor could potentially be further
improved by an additional
Modular CI HG CI MR
3 days. The areas to explore
Replacement 5days 14 days 5days 12 days
are: team relationship and
Table 3 Duration of planned maintenance site activities communications, and the

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GE Oil & Gas

selection of the team members based on PROS CONS

skills and experience.
Planning
Skillfull problem
Lessons learned VISA problems
Flexible
tools and certifications not in place
Relationships and communication channels
are key to the success of the effort. Table 4 Team players Manpower not enough skilled (lack

reports the highlights of specific experience of experience)
Optimized
Slow pace of mechanical workers
from this case study.
Bad English speakers
PROS CONS Communications problems
Daily progress meetings Permit to work system
Continuous intern too complex Table 6 Contractors selection lessons learned
between parties Delays & confusion

Customer very sensitive Arbitrary interpretation Finally some low-impact engineering

to EHS matters of safety rules
Accident-free campaign Unnecessary suspension
Toolboxes of work
Stop cards Recertification of
tools and devices
modification proposed by the outage field
team and maintenance engineering can
further facilitate the modular replacement
operation speed.

Instead of delivering rigid pipes for lube oil

Table 5 Relationships and communication
lessons learned adduction and cooling air line, enhanced
alignment devices, and pre-packaged new
Additional outage experience provides the turbine modules, these kits will be pre-
following lessons learned: packaged with flex pipes to reduce outage
time by one day or more.
Improve preliminary agreements with
customer (outage excellence) The engineered solution addresses the
following areas:
Clarify operating and safety procedures to
avoid delays due to misunderstandings or Cooling & sealing air piping
arbitrary interpretation of rules - Air manifolds pre-installed on new engines
- Use of flexible piping
Improve the issuing of work permits
Exhaust plenum
Single interface between GE and the
- Use insulation mats
customer
Alignment
It is estimated that by applying the lessons
- Jacking bolts to facilitate positioning
learned, the team could save an additional
on the 2 axes
two shifts in the next modular replacement.
- Guiding frame for reduction of turbine
People are the other key to success. The misalignment
lesson learned is to carefully select the
Lube oil piping
personnel and all contractors specifically for
- Use of flexible pipes for lube oil line inlet
the shutdown, ensuring that each individual
possesses all of the necessary skills for the New engine preparation
execution of his role in the project. - Tailored spare parts list for engine
exchange procedure
The estimated savings by precise staffing based
on the specific project is about three shifts. Lighting system
- Redesign of lighting system in turbine
compartment

4
GE Oil & Gas

Figure 2 From left to right: bearing #1 flexible lube oil piping, bearing #4 flexible lube oil piping, extended pin for
engine positioning

These improvements optimize the hardware the maintenance intervals recommended by

for modular replacement and allow the team
to save one shift.
In total, based on the FR5/2 modular
replacement experience, a reduction of 10
days is potentially achievable. To further
reduce the turn around time, another
breakthrough in the maintenance approach
would be required, but associated with
dramatic change in the GT package design.
Days Standard major overhaul
26
the OEM.
Departing from standard maintenance
intervals can have a very positive impact
on plant production but, at the same time,
might compromise machinery reliability.
Careful and rigorous management of reduced
maintenance activities can help in extending
the maintenance intervals while at the same
time avoiding the deterioration of reliability.
Days

Engine swap
5 initiation
early mature breakthrough
18 phase
(planning)
phase phase needed

10
Jet
13 12 13 15

5 20
2006 2006 2007 2007 2008
Events
Experience
Figure 3 Left: GE Oil & Gas modular replacement experience. Right: Modular replacement learning curve

Required information for this assessment

Enhancing availability of hot gas path
includes:
parts by departure records
Technical risk analysis of the critical turbo Full remote monitoring (torquemeter
compressor components allows the OEM and fuel flow rate measurements are
to assess by how much the maintenance normally required)
intervals can be extended. The aim is to
Presence of site engineer
manage the technical risk when extending

5
GE Oil & Gas
Supervision of inspection activities
Tracking of repair activities
Laboratory analyses including destructive
testing of removed parts (depending on the
type and severity of damage)
Unit history and spare parts tracking
Phases of the assessment
The various phases of the project are
described below:
1. Analysis of operating conditions
A detailed analysis of the actual operating
conditions is needed in order to identify
factors impacting the aging of turbine
components, such as fuel type and quality,
over/under-firing, etc.
2. Analysis of unit configuration
A detailed analysis of the actual machinery
configuration is performed in order to
identify the part numbers of the installed
components
3. Analysis of the fleet maintenance history
When working on defining the potential
failure modes of a specific unit, GE Oil & Gas
takes advantage of the extensive feedback
from sites which is continuously collected
and which includes various applications
and all possible ambient conditions. A fleet
analysis is always conducted to identify
the failure modes.
4. Analysis of unit maintenance history
The above-mentioned fleet experience
shows that in specific installations some
failure modes may predominate. For this
reason, the fleet experience is compared
with the specific history of the unit over
time, in terms of events, part damage,
inspections, findings, etc.
5. Run-test plan
On the basis of the above analyses, a
gradual increase in planned maintenance
intervals is usually defined. During planned
maintenance shut downs, RAM Engineers
participate in the site inspection to collect
all the information needed for defect maps,
accumulated damage assessment, etc.
6. Lab test plan
As a part of the interval extension program,
a residual life assessment of the critical
parts is performed to provide quantitative
information on how much additional
operation the parts might sustain without
maintenance.
Such an analysis, together with the site
inspection findings and the operating para-
meters record from RM&D, are used to validate
the programs assumptions and manage the
risk of stretching the intervals.
As an additional step, the need for the injection
of new technology into the parts design may
be raised, leading to the initiation of research
and development programs dedicated to the
successful achievement of interval extension
targets.
GE Oil & Gas has substantial experience in
the use of departure records for maintenance
planning and diagnostic purposes. One of the
most significant availability improvement
successes was with a series of 10 turbo-
compressor trains driven by FR5/2C and
D model gas turbines. The analysis of operating
data combined with the information obtained
through laboratory analysis of the metallurgy
of similar components and the findings from
parts removed in previous inspections provided
the necessary information for assessing the
risk of extending the combustion inspection
interval The risk of failure due to skipping the
combustion inspection of these particular
turbocompressors while maintaining the
operating conditions the same was determined
to be negligible, and the owner accepted the
OEM recommendation to move the combustion
inspection from the original 12,000 hours to
24,000. As a result of the use of the departure
record, the availability expected over the full
life of the turbocompressor trains improved
by 0.6 points.
6
GE Oil & Gas

Data from RM&D Info from laboratory Info from inspections

Firing temp. Destructive analyses Statistical analyses
Trip trends Residual life assessment Defect maps
Pulsations

MTBM extension
Figure 4 Departure record enablers

Figure 5 The Power Crystal kit

Enhancing availability by injecting the In those plants where plant down time is
latest design technology critical, plug and play is a winning solution.
GE Oil & Gas over the years has consistently A heavy-duty machine plus centrifugal
invested in new technology and new compressor, customized to meet the required
materials to improve the mean time between plant pressure and service configuration is
maintenance of its products. The focus of the most common type of train for oil and gas
the research and development team has applications. In these designs, maintenance
also extended to the installed fleet, seeking activities are scheduled to match the plant
solutions that can be easily retrofitted into production cycle and the life cycle of the
a machine that has been running for years, critical components of the machinery that is
without increasing the plant complexity and driven by the hot gas path of the gas turbine
the management of the turbotrain. and the compressor wear parts.

7
GE Oil & Gas
GE Oil & Gas R&D efforts strive to create
products and solutions that closely match the
MTBM targets demanded by applications, the
market and customer expectations. The Power
Crystal kit, for the GE frame 5 two shaft
machine is one of the outcomes of this effort.
The Power Crystal kit builds on the long history
of successful Frame 5 upgrades since the
introduction of the first A model in 1970.
The features of the kit allow the maintenance
schedule to be extended with no impact on the
reliability and availability of the gas turbine.
The Power Crystal kit is composed of the
turbine first stage buckets made of single
crystal material that have given the name to
the kit, and of other hot gas path components
such as combustion hardware, shrouds and
first stage nozzles that complete the supply.
Power Crystal technology
The latest advance in hot part technology
has seen the introduction of single crystal
buckets, which offer the potential of further
improving the strength of high temperature
materials through the control of crystal
orientation. With a single crystal material, all
grain boundaries are eliminated from the
structure and a single crystal with controlled
orientation is produced in an airfoil shape.
By eliminating all grain boundaries and with
associated strengthening additives, a subst-
antial increase in the melting point of the alloy
can be achieved, thus providing a corresponding
increase in high temperature strength. The
creep and fatigue strength are also increased,
compared to equi-ax or directionally solidified
structures. This technology has been applied
in GE, especially in aero engine applications,
for more than 15 years. Almost all aviation
engines produced after 1990, including the
famous CFM, CF6 and the latest GE90, rely on
the outstanding properties of single crystal
alloys. GE also has extensive experience in the
use of single crystal material in aeroderivative
gas turbines such as the LM2500+, LM2500+G4,
LM6000PD and LMS100 along with all FB
and H class industrial turbines.
The first stage nozzle and shroud complete
the path of the turbine components that have
been analyzed to rejuvenate the product, and
light modifications have been included.
A new material has been applied to the shroud
and a new cooling system design is now embed-
ded into the final machined first stage nozzle.
Combustion hardware is a critical area for the
operating life of a gas turbine that requires
periodic inspection. The duty cycle and type
of fuel used are the key factors in determining
the recommended combustion intervals since
these factors directly influence the amount
of thermal barrier coating erosion, material
creep, thermal stress and wear of the
combustion components.
The Power Crystal kit includes extendorized
combustion parts that can increase inspection
intervals by significantly reducing combustion
component wear. Wear is the most critical
failure mode of combustion hardware in HD
gas turbines.
The new extendor kit consists of the latest
hard coating material and the redesign of
parts to reduce wear on various combustion
system components.
CL OF CROSSFIRE TUBE
Figure 6 FR5/2 liner showing redesigned areas to
improve wears resistance
The redesign was implemented to reduce
the relative movement between combustion
components and to reduce the forces and
vibrations at wear interfaces.
8
GE Oil & Gas
Figure 7 FR5/2 transition piece showing redesigned
areas to improve wear resistance
By incorporating proven wear-resistant
materials developed by the GE Global
Research Center, the new design provides
critical clearance control at the various wear
interfaces such as the liner stops, fuel nozzle
tip to combustion liner, fuel nozzle collar,
crossfire tube to combustion liner tube collar,
combustion liner hula seal to transition piece
forward sleeve, transition piece forward
supports and bracket, and transition piece
aft picture frame seal.
As a consequence of the redesign of the
wear contact points, some of the gas turbine
combustion inspections can be skipped,
increasing the availability of the whole machine
by about 0.6 points over the life cycle.
With these proven advanced materials derived
from jet engine technology and from our
research centers, the life of the critical turbine
components and hence the MTBM can be
extended to 24,000 hours for the combustion
parts and 72,000 for the other components.
This kit delivers to customers increased
availability and production with a moderate
investment and a simple plug
Engineering content
and play installation that is, in
terms of time and complexity,
the equivalent of a normal hot
gas path inspection.
Abstraction
Data analysis
All the recent technology
developments have been
conducted in partnership with
Customers, fully exploiting the Figure 8 Data layers
extensive operating and laboratory data
available, and represent incremental evolution
of the products in accordance with the
conservative philosophy of the oil and gas
industry. Recently available communication
technologies have dramatically increased the
capability of technical groups to share data
which has been very useful in pushing the
availability boundaries with controlled risk.
Considering that the majority of site
technicians are focused on daily operations,
the remote support services and highly
specialized diagnostic capabilities provided
by gas turbine and centrifugal compressor
manufacturers have strengthened the
relationship between industrial plants and
original equipment manufacturer technical
teams. The main components of a distributed
diagnostic system are site data acquisition
systems and sensors, connectivity devices,
and finally, remote data centers staffed with
experts. The principle services delivered
by remote diagnostic centers are anomaly
management and engineering analysis of
performance. Recent studies have shown that
the availability of monitored units increases
compared to unmonitored units. The benefits
of improved communication between the site
and remote support teams include solving
technical issues proactively and quickly, and
also, better coordination of site activities.
Starting from the data available at the site, the
value of the information increases with the data
analysis and abstraction that is achieved
through the use of specialized tools and
expertise available from the equipment manu-
facturer. Figure 8 illustrates the different levels
of data abstraction starting from site data.
Post processed data
Normalized data
Site raw data
9
 GE Oil & Gas
Examples of raw data are the parameters
acquired by the unit control system to control
and protect the machine during site operations;
normalized data are typically ratios between
raw data to decrease the level of variation of the
phenomena and enable easier data manage-
ment both at the unit and fleet level. Post-
processed data represent the maximum level
of abstraction and are normally derived
parameters or performance parameters
including polytropic and isentropic efficiencies,
power at reference conditions and non-
dimensional coefficients or internal design flows.
As an example of a set of data, we can
start from an axial compressor discharge
temperature, then normalize it to the inlet
temperature, and calculate the expected
values at the same thermodynamic conditions.
Comparing data at the same inlet guide
vane angle and plotting the data against the
compression ratio, the following results can
be obtained:
Axial Compressor is. eff. vs. corrected speed
0.91
0.89
PRT-GT:E2D3 [-]
0.87
0.85
0.83
0.81
0.79
0.77
0.75
4600 4700 4800 4900 5000 5100 5200
NHP_CORR [RPM]
Figure 9 Data analysis (actual data vs. baselines)
In general, data are available as raw measure-
ments and the following levels of abstraction
are normally reached through the use of design
and diagnostic tools. Applying this approach
systematically to data acquired remotely,
the analysis of the diagnostic engineer can
be concentrated at higher levels to increase
the effectiveness of service and to support
maintenance technicians in making decisions
during scheduled maintenance activities or in
case of emergencies.
Remote monitoring and diagnostic tools
represent a means of increasing the value of
information from raw data; using site data
acquired and processed by an RM&D system
and taking into account the added accuracy [2]
that this process provides, a set of systematic
analysis can be started and used to help in
the troubleshooting of rotating equipment
under real operating conditions.
The following diagram represents the link
between site data sources and intermediate
tools used to define the symptoms of
performance losses.
Statistic feedback
Set of Machine system
symptoms or component
Weighted
RCA
Figure 10 Definition of symptoms
Once the symptoms have been defined, a
sophisticated system is used to define the link
between the symptoms and root cause analysis.
Recent development efforts have been
dedicated to developing the root cause
analysis (RCA) process.
On the anomalies management side, diagnostic
engineers are assisted by a prognostic engine
designed to manage anomalies by exceptions,
based on diagnostic rules. By analyzing site
5300 5400 data and using the historical unit behavior or
signatures, a set of prognostic rules is used to
trigger anomaly notifications. The prognostic
engine for anomaly evaluation and an expert
system to expedite the RCA are important
tools in used by the RM&D team .
10
GE Oil & Gas

feedback the condition as an anomaly. As soon as

advised, the customer bypassed the faulty
Site data sensor to avoid a trip and maintained the unit
in production avoiding an availability loss of
Current
performance about 5 hours. Figure 6 shows the trend and
main events relevant to this anomaly.
Expected
Performance Symptoms (increased
information)

Figure 11 Root cause analysis

As a first example of anomaly detection,

a deviation from a system signature is
considered. When running at normal conditions,
a centrifugal compressor driven by an FR5/2D
gas turbine presented the following ratio
between the inlet and discharge temperatures
vs. the compression ratio. After some period
Figure 13 Trend captured around the event; DIAG is the
of operation, the rule processor identified a
diagnostic threshold used to trigger notification
step change and highlighted it with colors in
the pictorial representation shown in Figure 13. All the above processes and analyses are used
The colors are associated with the timing of to help maintain high availability by enabling
the event in hours, the reddish ones are closer a continuous link between the site equipment
to the event. A step change in the efficiency is and diagnostic engineers, providing a continuous
strongly linked with the step highlighting wear process to improve machine performance in a
of an internal component. controlled risk environment both for customers
1.095 0
and external service providers. Significant MTBF
1.09 -5 improvements derive from this approach and
1.085
-10 availability is significantly enhanced by the
1.08 short anomaly resolution time.
TT OUT/TT IN

-15
1.075

1.07
-20
Conclusions
1.065
-25
We saw how the availability of a FR5/2 turbo-
1.06
-30 compressor can be dramatically improved.
1.055 -35
The modular replacement maintenance
1.05
approach can result in savings of nearly 50%
-40
1.22 1.24 1.26 1.28 1.3 1.32
PT OUT/PT IN
1.34 1.36 1.38 1.4
of the major overhaul down time. This means
an average of an additional 2 days of up time
Figure 12 Compressor anomaly identified by variation
of historical baseline
per year over the life of the gas turbine.

After notification, the compressor was opened We also saw that the introduction of the Power
to replace the component, and efficiency was Crystal kit allows the combustion inspection
recovered thereby avoiding loss of production to be pushed from 12,000 to 24,000 hours and
at the same available power. the Major Overhaul from 48,000 to 72,000
hours, with an expected availability improve-
In another case, a temperature sensor started ment of 2 days per year over the entire gas
to deviate from its normal behavior. The change turbine life.
was detected by the prognostic engine below
the trip limit of the machine and identified

11
GE Oil & Gas

Finally, exploiting the departure record can For more information

improve the availability by extending the Via Felice Matteucci, 2
MTBM of components through analysis of 50127 Florence, Italy
the information that operating data provides T +39 055 423 211
F +39 055 423 2800
in combination with the OEM know-how. The customer.service.center@ge.com
data and analysis available through RM&D Nuovo Pignone S.p.A.
can result in as much as 1 point of additional
availability ge.com/oilandgas
The information contained herein is general in nature and is
As an overall result of the initiatives discussed, not intended for specific construction, installation or application
purposes. GE reserves the right to make changes in specifications
the up time of an FR5/2 can theoretically be or add improvements at any time without notice or obligation.
improved by 4-7 days considering the combin-
ation of modular replacement to shorten site 2009 General Electric Company
All Rights Reserved
activities, maximizing the exploitation of the
operating data for proactive identification of
incipient faults and faster diagnosis of failures,
as well as by modifying the hardware with
the application of Power Crystal or through
the use of departure record initiatives. The
specific FR5/2 case initiatives discussed in
this article can be easily extended to other
gas turbine models.

References
[1] IEEE Transactions of Industry Application vol 31, no. 4
July/ August 1995

[2] K.Brun, R.Kurz; Measurement Uncertainties

Encountered During Gas Turbine Driven Compressor
Field Testing