The ever-increasing requirements on gas turbine efficiency and the simultaneous demand for reduced emissions, necessitate much more accurate calculations of the combustion process and combustor wall temperatures. Thermal history paints (THPs) is an innovative alternative to the established measurement techniques, but so far only a limited number of tests have been conducted under real engine conditions. A typical THP comprises oxide ceramic pigments and a water-based binder. The ceramic is synthesized to be amorphous and when heated it crystallizes, permanently changing the microstructure. The ceramic is doped with lanthanide ions to make it phosphorescent and as the structure of the material changes, so do the phosphorescent properties of the material. By measuring the phosphorescence, the maximum temperature of exposure can be determined, enabling postoperation measurements at ambient conditions. This paper describes a test in which THP was applied to an impingement-cooled front panel from a combustor of an industrial gas turbine. The panel was instrumented with a thermocouple (TC), and thermal paint was applied to the cold side of the impingement plate. The THP was applied to the hot-gas side of this plate for validation against the other measurement techniques and to evaluate its resilience against the reacting hot gas environment. The durability and temperature results of the three different measurement techniques are discussed. It is shown that the THP exhibited greater durability compared to the conventional thermal paint. Furthermore, the new technology provided detailed measurements indicating local temperature variations and global variations over the complete component.
The ever-increasing requirements on gas turbine efficiency, which are at least partially met by increasing firing temperatures, and the simultaneous demand for reduced emissions, necessitate much more accurate calculations of the combustion process and combustor wall temperatures. Thermocouples give locally very accurate measurements of these temperatures, but there is a practical limit to the amount of measurement points. Thermal paints are another established measurement technique, but are toxic and at the same time require dedicated, short-duration tests. Thermal History Paints (THPs) provide an innovative alternative to the aforementioned techniques, but so far only a limited number of tests has been conducted under real engine conditions. THPs are similar in their chemical and physical make-up to conventional thermographic phosphors which have been successfully used in gas turbine applications for on-line temperature detection before. A typical THP comprises of oxide ceramic pigments and a water based binder. The ceramic is synthesized to be amorphous and when heated it crystallizes, permanently changing the microstructure. The ceramic is doped with lanthanide ions to make it phosphorescent. The lanthanide ions act as atomic level sensors and as the structure of the material changes, so do the phosphorescent properties of the material. By measuring the phosphorescence the maximum temperature of exposure can be determined through calibration, enabling post operation measurements at ambient conditions. This paper describes a test in which THP was applied to an impingement-cooled front panel from a combustor of an industrial gas turbine. Since this component sees a wide range of temperatures, it is ideally suited for the testing of the measurement techniques under real engine conditions. The panel was instrumented with a thermocouple and thermal paint was applied to the cold side of the impingement plate. THP was applied to the hot-gas side of this plate for validation against the other measurement techniques and to evaluate its resilience against the reacting hot gas environment. The durability and temperature results of the three different measurement techniques are discussed. The results demonstrate the benefits of THPs as a new temperature profiling technique. It is shown that the THP exhibited greater durability compared to the conventional thermal paint. Furthermore, the new technology provided detailed measurements down to millimeters indicating local temperature variations and global variations over the complete component.
The measurement of surface temperatures of hot-gas path components of gas turbines under operating conditions provides a considerable challenge because the complexity of measurements under the prevailing conditions is substantial. The results from temperature measurements from an engine test using Thermal History Paint (THP) are presented here. The sensor material in the THP is an oxide ceramic which is doped with lanthanide ions to make the material luminescent. The properties of the luminescence depend on the temperature of exposure. The paper describes the first application of this technology in an extended, rather than dedicated, engine test in which components in both the hot gas path and the secondary air system were coated with THP. During the test campaign the engine components operated below maximum temperature for extended periods of time, which required a novel approach to the calibration of the paint. An overview over the correspondence between the temperatures measured with the THP, thermal paints and CFD calculations is provided for a sideplate and turbine blade. There is very good correlation between the results of the different methods. For the sideplate, the temperature measured with the THP was within 10K of the CFD calculation. Furthermore, the THP exhibited only minor erosion damage after over 50 hours of engine testing. The high durability and measurement accuracy demonstrate the feasibility of using the THP in extended engine tests.
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