Temperature profiling of components in gas turbines is of increasing importance as engineers drive to increase firing temperatures and optimize component’s cooling requirements in order to increase efficiency and lower CO2 emissions. However, on-line temperature measurements and, particularly, temperature profiling are difficult, sometimes impossible, to perform due to inaccessibility of the components. A desirable alternative would be to record the exposure temperature in such a way that it can be determined later, off-line. The commercially available thermal paints are toxic in nature and come with a range of technical disadvantages such as subjective readout and limited durability. This paper proposes a novel alternative measurement technique which the authors call thermal history paints and thermal history coatings. These can be particularly useful in the design process, but further could provide benefits in the maintenance area where hotspots which occurred during operation can be detected during maintenance intervals when the engine is at ambient temperature. This novel temperature profiling technique uses optical active ions in a ceramic host material. When these ions are excited by light they start to phosphoresce. The host material undergoes irreversible changes when exposed to elevated temperatures and since these changes are on the atomic level they influence the phosphorescent properties such as the life time decay of the phosphorescence. The changes in phosphorescence can be related to temperature through calibration such that in situ analysis will return the temperature experienced by the coating. A major benefit of this technique is in the automated interpretation of the coatings. An electronic instrument is used to measure the phosphorescence signal eliminating the need for a specialist interpreter, and thus increasing readout speed. This paper reviews results from temperature measurements made with a water-based paint for the temperature range 100–800 °C in controlled conditions. Repeatability of the tests and errors are discussed. Further, some measurements are carried out using an electronic hand-held interrogation device which can scan a component surface and provide a spatial resolution of below 3 mm. The instrument enables mobile measurements outside of laboratory conditions. Further, a robust thermal history coating is introduced demonstrating the capability of the coating to withstand long term exposures. The coating is based on thermal barrier coating (TBC) architecture with a high temperature bondcoat and deposited using an air plasma spray process to manufacture a reliable long lasting coating. Such a coating could be employed over the life of the component to provide critical temperature information at regular maintenance intervals for example indicating hot spots on engine parts.

Thermal barrier coatings are used to reduce the actual working temperature of the high pressure turbine blade metal surface and; hence permit the engine to operate at higher more efficient temperatures. Sensor coatings are an adaptation of existing thermal barrier coatings to enhance their functionality, such that they not only protect engine components from the high temperature gas, but can also measure the material temperature accurately and determine the health of the coating e.g., ageing, erosion and corrosion. The sensing capability is introduced by embedding optically active materials into the thermal barrier coatings and by illuminating these coatings with excitation light phosphorescence can be observed. The phosphorescence carries temperature and structural information about the coating. Accurate temperature measurements in the engine hot section would eliminate some of the conservative margins which currently need to be imposed to permit safe operation. A 50 K underestimation at high operating temperatures can lead to significant premature failure of the protective coating and loss of integrity. Knowledge of the exact temperature could enable the adaptation of the most efficient coating strategies using the minimum amount of air. The integration of an on-line temperature detection system would enable the full potential of thermal barrier coatings to be realized due to improved accuracy in temperature measurement and early warning of degradation. This, in turn, will increase fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Application: This paper describes the implementation of a sensor coating system on a Rolls-Royce jet engine. The system consists of three components: industrially manufactured robust coatings, advanced remote detection optics and improved control and readout software. The majority of coatings were based on yttria stabilized zirconia doped with Dy (dysprosium) and Eu (europium), although other coatings made of yttrium aluminum garnet were manufactured as well. Coatings were produced on a production line using atmospheric plasma spraying. Parallel tests at Didcot power station revealed survivability of specific coatings in excess of 4500 effective operating hours. It is deduced that the capability of these coatings is in the range of normal maintenance schedules of industrial gas turbines of 24,000 h or even longer. An advanced optical system was designed and manufactured permitting easy scanning of coated components and also the detection of phosphorescence on rotating turbine blades (13 k rotations per minute) at stand-off distances of up to 400 mm. Successful temperature measurements were taken from the nozzle guide vanes (hot), the combustion chamber (noisy) and the rotating turbine blades (moving) and compared with thermocouple and pyrometer installations for validation purposes.

Thermal barrier coatings are used to reduce the actual working temperature of the high pressure turbine blade metal surface and hence permit the engine to operate at higher more efficient temperatures. Sensor coatings are an adaptation of existing thermal barrier coatings to enhance their functionality, such that they not only protect engine components from the high temperature gas, but can also measure the material temperature accurately and determine the health of the coating e.g. ageing, erosion and corrosion. The sensing capability is introduced by embedding optically active materials into the thermal barrier coatings and by illuminating these coatings with excitation light phosphorescence can be observed. The phosphorescence carries temperature and structural information about the coating. Accurate temperature measurements in the engine hot section would eliminate some of the conservative margins which currently need to be imposed to permit safe operation. A 50K underestimation at high operating temperatures can lead to significant pre-mature failure of the protective coating and loss of integrity. Knowledge of the exact temperature could enable the adaptation of the most efficient coating strategies using the minimum amount of air. The integration of an on-line temperature detection system would enable the full potential of thermal barrier coatings to be realised due to improved accuracy in temperature measurement and early warning of degradation. This in turn will increase fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Application: This paper describes the implementation of a sensor coating system on a Rolls-Royce jet engine. The system consists of three components: industrially manufactured robust coatings, advanced remote detection optics and improved control and readout software. The majority of coatings were based on yttria stabilized zirconia doped with Dy (dysprosium) and Eu (europium), although other coatings made of yttrium aluminium garnet were manufactured as well. Coatings were produced on a production line using atmospheric plasma spraying. Parallel tests at Didcot power station revealed survivability of specific coatings in excess of 4,500 effective operating hours. It is deduced that the capability of these coatings is in the range of normal maintenance schedules of industrial gas turbines of 24,000 hours or even longer. An advanced optical system was designed and manufactured permitting easy scanning of coated components and also the detection of phosphorescence on rotating turbine blades (13k RPM) at stand-off distances of up to 400mm. Successful temperature measurements were taken from the nozzle guide vanes (hot), the combustion chamber (noisy) and the rotating turbine blades (moving) and compared with thermocouple and pyrometer installations for validation purposes.

By adapting existing thermal barrier coatings a sensor coating has been developed to enhance their functionality, such that they not only protect engine components from the high temperature gas, but can now also measure the material temperature accurately and the health of the coating e.g. ageing, erosion and corrosion. The sensing capability is introduced by embedding optically active materials into the thermal barrier coating and by illuminating these coatings with excitation light phosphorescence can be observed. The phosphorescence carries temperature and structural information about the coating. Knowledge of the exact temperature could enable the design of advanced cooling strategies in the most efficient way using a minimum amount of air. The integration of an on-line temperature detection system would enable the full potential of thermal barrier coatings to be realized due to improved accuracy in temperature measurement and early warning of degradation. This in turn will increase fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Application: The work carried out included the successful implementation of a sensor coating system on a Rolls-Royce Viper engine. The system consists of three components: industrially-manufactured robust coatings, advanced remote detection optics and improved control and readout software. The majority of coatings were based on yttria stabilized zirconia doped with Dy, although other coatings made of yttrium aluminium garnet were manufactured as well. Coatings were produced on a production line using atmospheric plasma spraying. Parallel tests at Didcot power station revealed the durability of specific coatings in excess of 4,500 effective operating hours. It is expected that the capability of these coatings is in the range of normal maintenance schedules of industrial gas turbines of 24,000hrs or even longer. An optical energy transfer system was designed and developed permitting scanning of coated components and also the detection of phosphorescence on rotating turbine blades (13,000 RPM) at probe-to-target distances of up to 400mm. The online measurement system demonstrated precision (around ±5K) comparable to commercial thermocouples and has shown calibration accuracy of ±4K. Transient temperatures were tracked at maximum at 8Hz which is fast enough to follow a typical power generation gas turbine. Repeatable measurements were successfully taken from the nozzle guide vanes (hot), the combustion chamber (noisy) and the rotating turbine blades (moving) and compared with thermocouple and pyrometer installations.