The
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable ene ...
LM6000 is a
turboshaft
A turboshaft engine is a form of gas turbine that is optimized to produce shaftpower rather than jet thrust. In concept, turboshaft engines are very similar to turbojets, with additional turbine expansion to extract heat energy from the exhaust ...
aeroderivative gas turbine
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...
engine. The LM6000 is derived from the
CF6-80C2 aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or by using the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in ...
turbofan
The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft engine, aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which ac ...
. It has additions and modifications designed to make it more suitable for marine propulsion, industrial power generation, and marine power generation use. These include an expanded
turbine
A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating ...
section to convert thrust into shaft power, supports and struts for mounting on a steel or concrete deck, and reworked controls packages for power generation. It has found wide use including
peaking power plant
Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just "peakers", are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity. Because they supply power only occasionally, the powe ...
s, fast
ferries
A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...
and high speed
cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...
applications.
Design and development
The LM6000 provides from either end of the low-pressure rotor system, which rotates at 3,600 rpm. This twin spool design with the low pressure turbine operating at 60 Hz, the dominant electrical frequency in North America, eliminates the need for a conventional power turbine. Its high efficiency and installation flexiility make it ideal also for a wide variety of utility power generation and industrial applications, especially
peaker and
cogeneration
Cogeneration or combined heat and power (CHP) is the use of a heat engine or power station to generate electricity and useful heat at the same time.
Cogeneration is a more efficient use of fuel or heat, because otherwise- wasted heat from elec ...
plants.
GE has several option packages for industrial LM6000s, including ''SPRINT'' (Spray Inter-Cooled Turbine), water injection (widely known as "
NOx water"), STIG (Steam Injected Gas Turbine) technology and DLE (Dry Low Emissions) which utilizes a combustor with premixers to maximize combustion efficiency. The SPRINT option is designed to increase efficiency and power of the turbine, while the water injection, STIG and DLE are for reducing emissions. An alternative form of power augmentation is Evaporative Cooling, which is a water fogging system that sprays a fine mist of water into the inlet air before the air filters. This system is high maintenance and may be replaced by chillers in newer units. The SPRINT system injects demineralized water into the engine either upstream of the low pressure compressor or between the low pressure and high pressure compressors. The water injection system injects water into the primary or secondary fuel nozzle inputs, usually on natural gas fired engines.
The GE LM6000 PC is rated to provide more than 43 MW with a
thermal efficiency
In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc.
For a ...
of around 42% LHV at
ISO conditions. With options, this can be increased to around 50 MW rated power.
GE LM6000 page
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Applications
Over 1000 LM6000 gas turbines shipped and over 21 million hours of operation. Applications include power generation for combined cycle or peak power. Other applications include combined heat and power for industrial and independent power producers.
See also
References
External links
GE LM6000 website
{{Aero-derivative engines
Aero-derivative engines
Marine engines
Gas turbines