High reliability and availability of current production combustion turbines have been achieved only after the identification and the resolution of past operating anomilies. Technological advances in fields such as aerodynamics, metallurgy, cooling, and computer capability have played important roles in these solutions as well as in the development of new advanced heavy duty combustion turbines. This paper discusses experiences with the W501 and the MW 701D combustion turbines and how this background influenced the design of the 501F advanced heavy duty combustion turbine.

The 501F is a 150 MW-class 60 Hz engine jointly developed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. This paper describes the full-load shop test program for the prototype engine, as carried out in Takasago, Japan. The shop test included a full range of operating conditions, from startup through full load at the 1260°C (2300°F) design turbine inlet temperature. The engine was prepared with more than 1500 instrumentation points to monitor flow path characteristics, metal temperatures, displacements, pressures, cooling circuit characteristics, strains, sound pressure levels, and exhaust emissions. The results of this shop test indicate the new 501F engine design and development effort to be highly successful. The engine exceeds power and overall efficiency expectations, thus verifying the new concepts and design improvements.

A new 13 MW class heavy duty gas turbine “MF-111” with the combustor outlet temperature of 1250°C (1523 K) was developed and tested. The thermal efficiency of MF-111 is designed to be 32% for simple-cycle and 45% in combined-cycle operation. MF-111 has single-shaft configuration, 15-stage axial flow compressor, 8 cannular type combustors and 3-stage axial flow turbine. Advanced cooling technology was incorporated for the turbine and the combustor design to be capable of higher combustor outlet temperature. The prototype was shoptested at full load in April, 1986. The performance and the metal temperatures of hot parts were confirmed to well satisfy the design goal. The first machine of MF-111 started the commercial operation from August, 1986 and has logged satisfactory operations.