Development and F-Class Industrial Gas Turbine Engine Testing of Smart Components With Direct-Write Embedded Sensors and High Temperature Wireless Telemetry

The potential for savings provided to worldwide operators of industrial gas turbines, by transitioning from the current standard of interval-based maintenance to condition-based maintenance may be in the tens of millions of dollars per year. Knowledge of the historical and current condition of life-limiting components will enable more efficient use of industrial gas turbine resources via increased operational flexibility, with less risk of unplanned outages as a result of off-parameter operations. To date, it has been impossible to apply true condition-based maintenance to industrial gas turbines because the extremely harsh operating conditions in the heart of a gas turbine preclude using the necessary advanced sensor systems to monitor the machine’s condition continuously. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology – Advanced Technology Program (NIST-ATP) awarded the Joint Venture team of Siemens Power Generation, Inc. and MesoScribe Technologies, Inc. a four-year, $5.4 million program in November, 2004, titled Conformal, Direct-Write-Technology-Enabled, Wireless, Smart Turbine Components. The target was to develop a potentially industry-changing technology to build smart, self-aware engine components that incorporate embedded, harsh-environment-capable sensors and high temperature capable wireless telemetry systems for continuously monitoring component condition in both the compressor and turbine sections. The approach involves several difficult engineering challenges, including the need to embed sensors on complex shapes, such as turbine blades, embedding wireless telemetry systems in regions with temperatures that preclude the use of conventional silicon-based electronics, protecting both sensors and wireless devices from the extreme temperatures and environments of an operating gas turbine, and successfully transmitting the sensor information from an environment very hostile to wireless signals. The program included full-scale, F-class industrial gas turbine engine test demonstrations with smart components in both the compressor and turbine sections. The results of the development program and engine testing to date will be discussed.