An Advanced Extreme-Environment Wireless Telemetry System for Turbine Blade Instrumentation

Abstract

As advanced natural gas power generation systems evolve, the thrust for increased efficiencies and reduced emissions results in increasingly harsh conditions inside the turbine environment. These high temperatures, pressures, and corrosive atmospheres result in accelerated rates of degradation, leading to failure of turbine materials and components. Wolfspeed, A Cree Company, Siemens Energy, and Siemens Corporate Technology, in collaboration with the Department of Energy (DOE)'s National Energy Technology Laboratory, are developing a reliable and long-term monitoring capability in the turbine hot gas path in the form of novel ceramic-based thermocouples and wide bandgap instrumentation electronics that will contribute to the overall reliability of gas turbines. When equipped with better monitoring and controls, power plants can operate with increased fuel-burning efficiency, improved process dynamics and gas concentrations, and increased overall longevity of the power plant components. This will result in increased turbine availability and a reduction in outages and maintenance costs. The technology being developed in this program is based on advanced techniques and innovations in nearly every aspect of high-temperature electronics, including materials, semiconductor devices, subcomponents, electronic packaging, and system integration. The environment in which this wireless system must operate has continuous centrifugal loads with a gravitation force on the order of 16,000 times the force of gravity (16,000 g) and temperatures exceeding 400°C. This article will specifically discuss the background and motivation for the high-temperature instrumentation system and will explain the high-level electrical system, the construction of the instrumentation package, the techniques used for integration onto rotating components, as well as the wireless power and data transmission systems. In addition to the electrical and mechanical design, this article will also discuss results from laboratory bench testing as well as heated spin rig testing. Finally, this article will highlight the future direction of the instrumentation system evolution, with a final objective of insertion into Siemens natural gas turbine power plants.