General Electric introduced the MS7001EA in the early 1990s to much fanfare, and deservedly so. From the introduction of the first so-called Frame 7B two decades earlier, the 7EA evolved and soon proved to be a workhorse machine of the power generating industry. It is rated about 90 MW at ISO conditions, a good size [...]
In the 1950s, General Electric designed, constructed and installed hundreds of 2-shaft gas turbines. The units had two, mechanically-independent turbine stages. The high-pressure (HP) turbine powered the turbine’s own 15-stage, axial-flow compressor. The low-pressure (LP) turbine drove another manufacturer’s load compressor (Cooper-Bessemer, Nouvo Pignone, Dresser). These turbines were used primarily in the gas pipeline [...]
Rutland, Vermont is probably not a place one would expect to be in the forefront in new technology in power generation, unless perhaps it was in mountain stream hydropower. Even less likely is this town’s involvement with one of the first land-based gas turbines to drive an electric generator. But that is just what happened [...]
Black Start, Chapter One: The Brayton Cycle The individual most commonly associated with the concept of the combustion (gas) turbine engine was an American named George Brayton (1830-1892). He was an engineer with vision and ingenuity, who conceived the gas turbine thermodynamic cycle back in 1872, when he filed for a patent. Discussions about [...]