Advanced Repair Development in Stationary Gas Turbine Combustion Components

The H-class turbine was introduced almost a decade ago. With currently 108 gas turbines sold and 91 in in commercial operation on four continents and over 3.2 million fired hours, the SGTx-8000H is a market leader in its class and delivers top performance that’s been setting benchmarks throughout the industry. Since its introduction, the SGT5-8000H gas turbine has grown from 375 MW to 450 MW, with efficiency improvements to over 62 per cent in combined cycle operation. The platform combustion system, or PCS for short, of the SGT5-8000H has been undergoing refurbishment in Berlin since 2017. The project started in October 2017, with the first PCS system coming from the Samsun power plant in Turkey. A detailed overview of the refurbishment process of the Platform Combustion System parts basket is given, describing the individual steps including Inspect & Advice, the repair process, the recoating as well as the final work steps of the basket. New repair technologies such as patch repair with 3D printed parts using Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) have been introduced and are being implemented. A Laser-based cutting and welding technology enables a fully automated, high-speed repair with minimal heat input and distortion of the part.