Profile

Dr Vinod Kallianpur is an Executive Technical Advisor with Samsung’s EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) business segment that does the engineering, construction and commissioning of power plants as a contractor for projects around the world. He has spent 30+ years on the OEM side of advanced gas turbine technology development with General Electric (aviation and power systems), Mitsubishi (power systems), and AVCO Lycoming(aviation and defense). For the past 6 years he has been with Samsung’s EPC business. He has been involved in several cutting edge gas turbine technology developments, in all phases during his career with OEMs, and is presently involved in EPC implementation of various makes of advanced technology gas turbine models in combined cycle power plant projects worldwide. His broad cross-discipline technical background has been honed from practical experiences. He has worked on several air breathing open-cycle gas turbine technology development programs, including closed-loop steam cooled gas turbines. He also had some involvement with non air-breathing (closed-loop helium)gas turbine technology. He has held several Executive, Vice President and Management positions during his career. He has been a speaker at ASME Turbo Expo, PowerGen, ASM, EPRI, and CEPSI, and has contributed articles in prominent magazines such as Gas Turbine World, Turbomachinery International, and Modern Power Systems. He has been a speaker and author on EPC perspective on new advanced technology gas turbines, and the path for the future. He obtained his Ph.D degree in Mechanical engineering from RPI in Troy New York, and his undergraduate degree in Mechanical engineering from Bombay University.

Title of the Talk

Projecting future R&D needs for advancing Turbomachinery capabilities

Abstract

The author will share his perspectives on the past, present and future technology development trajectories for land based gas turbomachinery. The talk will cross-reference pertinent technology transfers from the aero engines that have paved the way for achieving spectacular performance and thermal efficiency levels in advancing modern land base GT technology developments in the industry. From a historical perspective, past technology progressions inland based GT engines have lagged behind aero engine technology by 10+ years, due to various factors that were both technical and market driven in nature. However, this gap in technology transfer from aero engine to land engines has become much shorter from around 2000. The earlier longer lag periods for technology transfers required longer periods for making various adjustments and adaptations. For example, casting technologies had to be adapted for significantly larger geometry turbine blades and vanes. Therefore, new physical resources, investments and technical capability had to be developed that were relevant for larger furnaces and several trial iterations for achieving proper defect free grain structure, dimensional tolerances, etc. Likewise, various base alloy metal chemistries had to be modified to accommodate more severe air quality and fuel quality conditions experienced by land engines. Similarly there were various other: Combustion technology validations for achieving lower emissions and lean combustion, with wider range of fuel options and more stringent emissions regulation requirements. Various other structural modifications were also necessary to address the relatively more severe thermal and mechanical strength capabilities associated with larger size rotor forgings, greater thrust loads, etc. As mentioned earlier, this technology transfer lag period has become significantly shorter since around 2000, thanks to various critical enabling technologies that were made possible under the Advanced Turbine Systems (ATS) program sponsored by the US Department of Energy. The program involved several OEMs, casting and forging suppliers, academia, etc(from the mid 1990’s for several years). The primary objective of the ATS program was to enable ultra-high efficiencies, environmental superiority, and cost competitiveness. This major milestone effort boosted several critical technologies, such as(1) the capability to scale to approximately 5x size of comparable investment castings in aero engines, (2) challenges for achieving proper freezing of molten metal with thin ligaments walls, that were necessitated by thermal mechanical strain and fatigue constraints,(3) capability to manufacture large size DS and single crystal castings for blades and vanes,(4) stronger high temperature capability in overall materials,(5) ceramics coatings technology, (6) advanced heat transfer and cooling methods, and many other. The success of the ATS program is evidenced by the current more rapid upgrading capabilities that are quite comparable to aero engine methods and processes, particularly for the more recent advanced technology land based GT models in the industry. The talk will conclude with potential ideas that are based on the author’s 40 yr experience in the aero and land based gas turbine engine industries, for future technology development considerations.