Improving turbocompressor availability

I
n 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 optimising
plant uptime. Original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) have
concentrated signifcant engineering
efforts on developing new hardware to
extend the mean time between
maintenance (MTBM) 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 retroft 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 without any
additional impact on plant downtime
and, in some cases, can even
signifcantly reduce downtime.
In addition, substantial improve-
ments have been made in specialised
software to manage and analyse data
on operating equipment, which
provides 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
Modular replacement maintenance can reduce major overhaul downtime by nearly
50%, and time between combustion and major overhauls can also be extended
FIlIppo CInellI, RICCaRdo ValoRosI, GIannI MoChI, antonIo puMo and dante sabella
GE Oil & Gas
additional days of production and
reduced life cycle cost.
Increased uptime
Uptime is one area where oil and gas
OEMs are concentrating their efforts,
investing in new technology for
products that address this key need.
Maximising uptime means reducing
outages, extending the mean time
between maintenance, shortening site
activities and reducing unplanned
shutdowns due to failures.
Reliability and availability are the
metrics used to measure uptime and
are specifed by the ISO 3977-9
defnition:
1
Reliability R = [(PH-FOH)/PH]x100
Availability A = [(PH-(FOH+POH))/PH]x100
Where:
F = Number of failures
PH = Period hours: cumulative hours
of monitoring
FOH = Forced outage hours: period of
time 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
uptime include:
Reduction of site activities
at turnaround time
Reduction of planned maintenance
Reduction of unplanned
maintenance.
The cases addressed by this article
concentrate on the FR5-2D model gas
turbine. The FR5-2 is a heavy-duty,
double-shaft gas turbine. The 17-stage
axial compressor is a high effciency
model. The 12 combustion chambers,
which have individual burners, are set
parallel to the machines centreline.
Expansion is achieved in two turbine
stages with impulse rotor buckets: the
frst 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 frst-stage fxed
nozzles are cooled with air from
compressor bleed, while the partition
airfoils of the second-stage fxed nozzles
have an adjustable angle that enables
broad speed range and load fexibility.
Owing to their fexibility, 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.
Maintenance
Operation of a gas turbine, like any
other rotating machine generating
mechanical power, must include a
maintenance programme for repair
and/or replacement of parts when
needed to ensure maximum availability
and reliability of the unit. Naturally,
this maintenance programme 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
programme can be split into:
Preventive maintenance inspection
during operation
www.digitalrefning.com/article/1000602 PTQ Q3 2009 117
turbine was on the critical path of the
entire LNG plant shutdown. A 100%
reduction in time could not be achieved
with the standard maintenance
approach of stripping the unit and
replacing the hot gas path parts at the
site as recommended by the mainte-
nance policy. The breakthrough came
directly from the aero-derivative
approach of swapping the entire engine
with a fully refurbished engine.
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 turnaround
was cut from an average 634 hours and
best record 560 hours to an average 428
hours and best record 332 hours.
By implementing the lessons learned
and fne-tuning the procedures, a major
overhaul using modular exchange
could potentially be further improved
by an additional three days. The areas
to explore are team relationship and
communications, and the selection of
team members based on skills and
experience.
lessons learned
Relationships and communication
channels are key to the success of the
effort. Additional outage experience
provides the following lessons learned:
Improve preliminary agreements
with customer (outage excellence)
Clarify operating and safety
procedures to avoid delays due to
misunderstandings or arbitrary
interpretation of rules
Improve the issuing of work permits
Single interface between GE and the
customer.
It is estimated that by applying the
lessons learned, the team could save an
additional two shifts in the next
modular replacement.
People are the other key to success.
The lesson learned is to carefully select
the personnel and all contractors
specifcally for the shutdown, ensuring
that each individual possesses all of the
necessary skills for the execution of
their role in the project. The estimated
savings by precise staffng based on the
specifc project is about three shifts.
Finally, some low-impact engineering
modifcations proposed by the
outage feld team and maintenance
engineering can further facilitate the
Standby inspection.
Preventive maintenance inspection
during operation consists of logging
the key operational parameter during
startup and while the unit is in service.
Subsequent analysis of this data
establishes the general conditions of the
unit and auxiliary systems. Standby
inspection is conducted when units are
out of operation due to the plant
schedule and therefore does not
interfere with availability but increases
reliability. Activities may include
changing flters, checking the lube oil
level, and checking and regulating
instrumentation.
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 disassembled
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 machine at subsequent
increased inspection levels:
Combustion inspection = CI
Liners and transition pieces
inspection = LTPI
Major inspection = MI.
scheduled maintenance frequency
Based on a wide variety of actual
operating experience of heavy-duty gas
turbines installed worldwide, the
scheduled maintenance spacing method
has been developed as an initial
guideline.
The frequency of scheduled
maintenance indicated in Table 2,
expressed in terms of fred hours
accumulated by a machine, is to be
considered as a standard based on the
following operating conditions:
Natural gas fuel
Continuous operation
Base load (100%)
No water/steam injection
Best maintenance practice
A day of site activities equivalent to
12 working hours.
optimisation of site activities
Initial 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 of the MO on-
site challenged GE to complete it in 12
days vs the standard 24 days,
considering that the site team was
organised for double shifts of 12 hours
each.
The major overhaul of the FR5-2 gas
118 PTQ Q3 2009 www.digitalrefning.com/article/1000602
Cycle Simple
Fuel Natural gas
NO
x
emission reduction system Not installed
Type of application Mechanical drive
Type of operation Continuous
Type of installation site On shore
Inlet plenum Side
Exhaust plenum Side
Type of enclosure Acoustic enclosure under shed (with an overhead crane)
Case study gas turbine confguration
table 1
FR5-2d
Inspections scheduled maintenance standard frequency whichever occurs frst
CI
LTPI
HGPI
MI
Firing hours: 0 12 000 24 000 36 000 48 000
Firing starts: 0 800 1200 2400
Turnaround day 3 14 5 3 36
oeM recommended maintenance plan
table 2
modular replacement operation speed.
Instead of delivering rigid pipes for
lube oil adduction and air line cooling,
enhanced alignment devices and pre-
packaged new turbine modules, these
kits will be pre-packaged with fex
pipes to reduce outage time by one day
or more. The engineered solution
addresses the following areas:
Cooling and sealing air piping

Air manifolds pre-installed on new
engines

Use of fexible piping
Exhaust plenum

Use of insulation mats
Alignment

Jacking bolts to facilitate positioning
on the two axes

Guiding frame for reduction of
turbine misalignment
Lube oil piping

Use of fexible pipes for lube oil
line inlet
New engine preparation

Tailored spare parts list for engine
exchange procedure
Lighting system

Redesign of lighting system in
turbine compartment.
These improvements optimise the
hardware for modular replacement and
allow the team to save one shift
(Figure 1).
In total, based on the FR5-2 modular
replacement experience, a reduction of
ten days is potentially achievable. To
further reduce the turnaround time,
another breakthrough in the
maintenance approach would be
required but associated with a dramatic
change in the GT package design.
enhancing availability of hot gas path
parts by departure records
Technical risk analysis of the critical
turbocompressor components allows
the OEM to assess by how much the
maintenance intervals can be extended.
The aim is to manage the technical risk
when extending the maintenance
intervals recommended by the OEM.
Departing from standard mainte-
nance 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. Required
information for this assessment
includes:
Full remote monitoring (torquemeter
and fuel fow rate measurements are
normally required)
Presence of site engineer
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
include:
analysis of operating conditions A
detailed analysis of the actual operating
conditions is needed to identify factors
impacting the ageing of turbine
components, such as fuel type and
quality, and over/underfring
analysis of unit confguration A
detailed analysis of the actual
machinery confguration is performed
in order to identify the part numbers of
the installed components
analysis of the feet maintenance
history When working on defning the
www.digitalrefning.com/article/1000602 PTQ Q3 2009 119
Lvents
2006 2006 2007 2007 2008
s
y
a
D
Standard major overhaul
Engine swap
Jet
26
18
13 13
12
5
20
l5
l0
5
Lxperience
Initiation
phase
(planning)
Early
phase
Mature
phase
Breakthrough
needed
s
y
a
D
Figure 1 Above: GE Oil & Gas modular replacement experience. Below: modular
replacement learning curve
potential failure modes of a specifc
unit, it is important to take advantage
of the extensive feedback from sites,
which is continuously collected and
includes various applications and all
possible ambient conditions. A feet
analysis is always conducted to identify
the failure modes
analysis of unit maintenance history
The previously mentioned feet
experience shows that in specifc
installations some failure modes may
predominate. For this reason, the feet
experience is compared with the specifc
history of the unit over time, in terms of
events, part damage, inspections and
fndings
Run test plan On the basis of the
analyses, a gradual increase in planned
maintenance intervals is usually
defned. During planned maintenance
shutdowns, reliability, availability,
maintainability (RAM) engineers
participate in the site inspection to
collect all the information needed for
defect maps and accumulated damage
assessment
lab test plan As a part of the interval
extension programme, 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 fndings and the
operating parameters record from
remote monitoring and diagnosis
(RM&D), is used to validate the
programmes 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 programmes dedicated to
the successful achievement of interval
extension targets. In addition,
substantial experience has been
accumulated in the use of departure
records for maintenance planning and
diagnostic purposes.
One of the most signifcant availability
improvement successes was with a
series of ten turbocompressor 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 fndings 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 keeping the
operating conditions the same was
determined to be negligible, and the
owner accepted the OEMs
recommendation to move the
combustion inspection from the original
12 000 to 24 000 hours. 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.
enhancing availability by injecting the
latest design technology
Over the years, there has been a
consistent investment in new
technology and new materials to
improve the mean time between
maintenance of GE products. The focus
of the research and development team
has also extended to the installed feet,
seeking solutions that can be easily
retroftted into a machine that has been
running for years, without increasing
plant complexity and turbotrain
management. In those plants where
plant downtime is critical, plug and
play is a winning solution.
A heavy-duty machine plus
centrifugal compressor, customised to
meet the required plant pressure and
service confguration, is the most
common type of train for oil and gas
applications. In these designs,
maintenance activities are scheduled to
match the plant production cycle and
the life cycle of the critical components
of the machinery that is driven by the
hot gas path of the gas turbine and the
compressor wear parts. R&D efforts
strive to create products and solutions
that closely match the MTBM targets
demanded by applications, the market
and operator 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
frst A model in 1970. The features of
the kit allow the maintenance schedule
to be extended with no impact on gas
turbine reliability and availability.
The Power Crystal kit is composed of
the turbine frst-stage buckets made of
single-crystal material, which has given
the name to the kit, and of other hot gas
path components such as combustion
hardware, shrouds and frst-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 substantial 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 equiax or directionally
solidifed 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. Extensive
experience has also been accumulated
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 frst-stage nozzle and shroud
complete the path of the turbine
components that have been analysed to
rejuvenate the product, and light
modifcations have been included. A
new material has been applied to the
shroud and a new cooling system
design is now embedded into the fnal
machined frst-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
120 PTQ Q3 2009 www.digitalrefning.com/article/1000602
fuel used are the key factors in
determining the recommended
combustion intervals, since these factors
directly infuence the amount of thermal
barrier coating erosion, material creep,
thermal stress and wear of the
combustion components.
The Power Crystal kit includes
extendorised combustion parts that can
increase inspection intervals by
signifcantly 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. The redesign was
implemented to reduce the relative
movement between combustion
components, and to reduce the forces
and vibrations at wear interfaces. By
incorporating proven wear-resistant
materials, the new design provides
critical clearance control at the various
wear interfaces, such as the liner stops,
fuel nozzle tip to the combustion liner,
fuel nozzle collar, crossfre tube to the
combustion liner tube collar,
combustion liner hula seal to the
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 GE research centres, 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 the industry
increased availability and production
with a moderate investment and a
simple plug-and-play installation that
is, in terms of time and complexity, the
equivalent of a normal hot gas path
inspection.
data analysis
All the recent technology developments
have been conducted in partnership
with operators, fully exploiting the
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 specialised diagnostic
capabilities provided by gas turbine
and centrifugal compressor
manufacturers have strengthened the
relationship between industrial plants
and OEM technical teams. The main
components of a distributed diagnostic
system are site data acquisition systems
and sensors, connectivity devices and,
fnally, remote data centres staffed with
experts. The principle services delivered
by remote diagnostic centres are
anomaly management and engineering
analysis of performance. Recent studies
have shown that the availability of
monitored units increases compared to
unmonitored units. The benefts 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 specialised tools and
expertise available from the equipment
manufacturer. Figure 2 illustrates the
different levels of data abstraction
starting from site data.
Examples of raw data are the
parameters acquired by the unit control
system to control and protect the
machine during site operations;
normalised data are typically ratios
between raw data to decrease the level
of variation of the phenomena and
enable easier data management both at
the unit and feet level. Post-processed
data represent the maximum level of
abstraction and are normally derived
parameters or performance parameters
including polytropic and isentropic
effciencies, power at reference
conditions and non-dimensional
coeffcients or internal design fows. As
an example of a set of data, we can start
from an axial compressor discharge
temperature, then normalise it to the
inlet temperature and calculate the
expected values at the same
thermodynamic conditions.
In general, data are available as raw
measurements and the following levels
Post processed data
Normalised data
Site raw data
n
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c
a
r
t
s
b
a

t
n
e
t
n
o
c

g
n
i
r
e
e
n
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g
n
L
Figure 2 Data layers
Set of
symptoms
Machine system
or component
Statistic feedback
weighted
PCA
Figure 3 Defnition of symptoms
122 PTQ Q3 2009 www.digitalrefning.com/article/1000602
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
the 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. Figure 3
represents the link between
site data sources and
intermediate tools used to
defne the symptoms of
performance losses.
Once the symptoms have
been defned, a sophisticated
system is used to defne the
link between the symptoms
and root cause analysis (RCA).
Recent development efforts
have been dedicated to
developing the RCA process (Figure 4).
On the anomalies management side,
diagnostic engineers are assisted by a
prognostic engine designed to manage
anomalies by exceptions, based on
diagnostic rules. By analysing site data
and using the historical unit behaviour
or signatures, a set of prognostic rules
is used to trigger anomaly notifcations.
The prognostic engine for anomaly
evaluation and an expert system to
expedite the RCA are important tools in
use by the RM&D team.
As a frst 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, the ratio between the inlet and
discharge temperatures vs the
compression ratio was observed and
recorded. After some period of operation,
the rule processor identifed a step
change. A step change in the effciency is
strongly linked with the step
corresponding to wear of an internal
component. After notifcation, the
compressor was opened to replace the
component and effciency was recovered,
thereby avoiding loss of production at
the same available power.
In another case, a temperature sensor
started to deviate from its normal
behaviour. The change was detected by
the prognostic engine below the trip
limit of the machine and identifed the
condition as an anomaly. As soon as
advised, the operator bypassed the
faulty sensor to avoid a trip and
maintained the unit in production,
avoiding an availability loss of about
fve hours.
All of these previously discussed
processes and analyses are used to help
maintain high availability by enabling a
continuous link between the site
equipment and diagnostic engineers.
This provides a continuous process to
improve machine performance in a
controlled risk environment both for
customers and external service providers.
Signifcant MTBM improvements derive
from this approach, and availability is
signifcantly enhanced by the short
anomaly resolution time.
Conclusion
The availability of a FR5-2 turbo-
compressor can be dramatically
improved. The modular replacement
maintenance approach can result in
savings of nearly 50% in major
overhaul downtime. This means an
average of an additional two days of
uptime per year over the life of the gas
turbine.
The introduction of the Power Crystal
kit allows the combustion inspection to
be pushed from 12 00024 000 hours
and the major overhaul from 48 000
72 000 hours, with an expected
availability improvement of two days
per year over the entire gas turbine life.
Finally, exploiting the departure
record can improve availability by
extending the MTBM of components
through analysis of the information that
operating data provide in combination
with the OEMs know-how. The data
and analysis available through RM&D
can result in as much as one point of
additional availability.
As an overall result of the initiatives
discussed, the uptime of an FR5-2 can
theoretically be improved by four to
seven days considering the combination
of modular replacement to shorten site
activities, maximising the exploitation
of the operating data for proactive
identifcation 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 specifc FR5-2 case initiatives
discussed in this article can be easily
extended to other gas turbine models.
This article is based on a presentation from the
SAOGE 2008 in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, 1517
November 2008.
References
1 IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications, 31,
4, July/August 1995.
2 Brun K, Kurz R, Measurement uncertainties
encountered during gas turbine driven
compressor feld testing, J. Eng. Gas Turbines
Power, Jan 2005, 127, 1.
Filippo Cinelli is New Solution Introduction
Manager with GE Oil & Gas in Florence, Italy.
Email: flippo.cinelli@ge.com
Riccardo Valorosi is New Solution Introduction
Engineer with GE Oil & Gas, Global Services, in
Florence, Italy. Email: riccardo.valorosi@ge.com
Gianni Mochi is Diagnostic and Prognostic
Manager with GE Oil & Gas, Leonardo Center,
in Florence, Italy. Email: Gianni.mochi@ge.com
antonio pumo is with GE Oil & Gas in Florence,
Italy. Email: antonio.pumo@ge.com
dante sabella is Director, Testing, Packaging
and Shipping, with GE Oil & Gas in Florence,
Italy. Email: dante.sabella@ge.com
Site
data
Current
performance
Peedback
Lxpected
performance
Symptoms
(increased information)
Figure 4 Root cause analysis
www.digitalrefning.com/article/1000602 PTQ Q3 2009 123

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