ThirdQuarter

August2008

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Industry case studIes

Table of Contents - Q3 2008

Electronic Fuel Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Eliminate Skid Vibration Problems . . . . . . . . . 5

Digital Fuel Valve Retrofit . . . . . . . . . . 10

Ignition Controls Test Finds Major Fuel Savings. . . . 12

NEW FEATURE: US Published Patent Overview . . . 13

Business Briefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

LTX Better reliability for high-speed natural gas applications

MTX For natural gas and process applications

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ATX Advanced non-metallic valve sealing elements for air compressors

3X material for valve plates and ringsHOERBIGER is proud to introduce a new line of valve sealing element materials. These high-performance materials are proprietary non-metallic blends that have been designed for a large range of temperatures and operating conditions.

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Introducing...

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Q4 - “year In review / 2009 Preview” Pub. Date: November 15, 2008Editorial Deadline: October 31, 2008 Ad Deadlines: Space Res: October 24, 2008 Art: November 7, 2008

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p. 4 Q3 - “Industry case studies” GM Journal

James J. McCoy, Jr.Consulting Engineer, Hoerbiger Engineering ServicesHouston, Texas

Problem:Many of the engines that are in use today in pipeline compressor stations were designed and built in the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s. Most of these engines are two-stroke, spark-ignited integral engines (compressors rods and power rods connect to same crankshaft). These engines burn a small fraction of the natural gas (methane) product that they are pumping, and compress the gas in large, low-speed reciprocating compressors that are very efficient at moving large volumes of gas down the pipeline with each stroke of the compressor. Because the compressors are so efficient, the engines remain in service despite the fact that on the power side, the engines were designed when fuel costs were very low, and not a lot of design emphasis was placed on fuel economy. The timing of the injec-tion is accomplished by a camshaft driven at engine speed,, usually via a push-rod/rocker arm assembly that activates a mechanical valve once per revolution of the engine. This mechanical drive system causes the fuel valve open/close event to be subject to variations on a cycle-by-cycle basis that can cause fuel to be wasted.

Before about 1980, most of the ignition systems were magneto powered system that timed the firing of each cylinder’s spark plug through a sys-tem of gears that turned in conjunction with the flywheel. Some of these gears were turned by chains, and between the chain slack and gear mesh error, the timing of the firing of each cylinder could be off as much as plus or minus one to three degrees. This erratic firing has a detrimental effect on the performance of the engine. By that time, automotive igni-tion systems had gone to a system that timed the firing of each cylinder’s plug by sensing the position of the flywheel with magnetic sensors, and this led to improved performance. In the eighties and nineties, the gas pipelines began to retrofit ignition systems that incorporated a similar system, with a much improved result. This type of ignition system is an essential part of most upgraded engine systems sold today.

One important factor discovered in the pursuit of more modern and effec-tive engine sub-systems is the effect of the fuel injection system on the engine’s fuel efficiency. Most of the fuel injection modifications offered to date have been very expensive and involve a major modification to the fuel system. This HES system is an effort to obtain the fuel saving ben-efits of electronic fuel injection without most of the costs involved with many of the current electronic retrofits. This paper demonstrates what an important improvement that can be.

The PlanIn order to evaluate such a system, cylinder-by-cylinder control of the gas is needed, instead of a system that feeds fuel in from a manifold where the pressure is varied in order to control speed. The system tested incorporates an electronic fuel valve that is attached as close as possible to the mechanical valve. This electronic valve is fed fuel at a constant pressure of < 80psi, and is controlled by a computer that sends a pulse width signal to tell the valve how long to stay open in order to maintain speed. The control system is able to bias the signal to each individual cylinder, to enable a particular cylinder to get more/less fuel than all the others, depending on what is needed to keep the output from each cylin-der balanced. Also, the valve is triggered to open at exactly the correct crank angle (piston position), much like the spark is triggered in the igni-tion system.

Hoerbiger Engineering Services has been involved in the retrofitting of large bore gas engines with efficiency improving systems for more than five years, and some of these systems involve the use of low pressure valves on four cycle engines. These valves have operated on some en-gines for three or four years, and have proved to be reliable and accurate gas admission valves. Because these valves are designed to operate at pressures below 150 psi, there is a need to protect them from the high cyl-inder compression and combustion pressures, which can vary from 250 psi to over 800 psi. With a custom designed adapter, this valve can be mounted right before the mechanical fuel injection valve. The fuel line from the manifold is now connected to this electronic valve, and the man-ifold now becomes a constant pressure fuel rail. Since this valve operates in a constant-pressure, variable-time mode, the governor that has been needed to maintain speed by varying the fuel pressure can be eliminated.

This is a significant changed that allows fuel to be accurately metered to each cyl-inder. With the old system, the governor was located upstream of the manifold, and thus quite some dis-tance from each valve. As the governor made changes to the flow of fuel, the response of the engine took a lon-ger time. With the new system, the valve is right at the cylinder, and the response to changes from the control system is seen by the engine is on each individual cycle. This allows the engine to run more consistently on a cycle-by-cycle ba-sis, thus improving fuel efficiency.

The valves are controlled by a special control system, which sends a sig-nal to each electronic fuel valve to tell it exactly when to open, based on a position sensing system that monitors the position of the flywheel. The global signal that controls speed can be ‘biased’ in fractions of a milli-second on a per cylinder basis to balance the power cylinders. Normally, the electronic fuel valves are opened at the same crank angle that the mechanical fuel valve opens, but with this electronic system, this can be varied to optimize the combustion. Since the pressure to the electronic fuel valve on each cylinder is higher than the normal pressure supplied to the mechanical valves (usually ~70 psi compared to ~30 psi), the elec-tronic valve is not open as long as the mechanical valve. The speed of the electronic valve enables the fuel to be precisely metered into each cylinder, and this improves cycle-to-cycle combustion stability.

The graph above (Figure 1) demonstrates the improvement in fuel rate on a sixty year old Cooper GMV-10. This engine normally runs at less than 80% torque, but with this system, it can easily be configured to ‘drop’ a cylinder if the power requirement drops below a certain level. The ben-efit of this skip-firing has been known for some time, and to be able to do it automatically is a real benefit. This feature is now being incorporated into the control system, and the expected result is a ‘flattened’ fuel curve. This yields specific fuel rates that approach the levels seen near full load, even when the load drops into the 70%, 60%, and even 50% levels.

The PossibilitiesOne major advantages of this system is the ability to configure it in such a manner that it will automatically balance the power cylinders. It has long been known that a balanced engine, i.e., one where the power cylinders each produce power with the optimal peak pressure and peak pressure angle, is the most fuel efficient way to run an engine. Before now, the only way to get a real-time engine balancing system was to install an ex-pensive, high pressure fuel injection system. Many of the smaller, legacy engines will never be fitted with that type of system because of both the cost of the system, and the cost to upgrade the fuel system to handle the high fuel pressures needed. This system, while lower in initial cost with no cost (or very little) cost for upgrading the fuel system, offers the same ability to do real-time engine balancing, thus ensuring optimal fuel performance. Papers have been published that demonstrate a fuel rate improvement of 1-3% based on balance alone. Now this is achievable with a relatively inexpensive upgrade to this system by adding the peak pressure sensors, and the control system software to do that function. The balancing upgrade can pay for the additional cost in a few months of operation, based on today’s high cost for natural gas. (As of July 1, 2008, that cost was over $11.00/MCF)

Another major function this system offers is the ability to “lay-down” one or more cylinders when the power from all cylinders is not needed. This is particularly important if the engine is a two cycle and is blower or pump scavenged. The two cycle engine needs the positive air manifold pressure to accomplish scavenging of the burned gasses in a short period of time. When this is done with an air pump or blower, there is no way to reduce the amount of air going into the cylinder. Because of this, when the air becomes dense (low ambient temperatures) or when the load de-

creases, the ratio of fuel-to-air in the cylinder is reduced, so the mixture in the cylinder becomes very lean. Lean to the point, usually at less than 85% torque, that the engine begins to misfire. These misfires, with the original fuel system, are fueled misfires, and this caused the up-turn in the fuel curve at light load (see Fig. 1). In many cases, these engines will waste as much as 20%-25% of the fuel with these fueled misfires. With the EFC system, this can be prevented by automatically, and temporar-ily, “lay-down” of a cylinder or two. This is done by having the control system programmed to not fuel a certain cylinder for so many cycles, then bring that cylinder back up before it has any detrimental effect on the engine.

Summary - HES Electronic Fuel Control System - Low Cost, payback in <1.5 yrs in most cases - Operates with existing fuel system - Engine can be started and run at much lower speeds - Offers better fuel rate across load range - Eliminates the need for mechanical or electronic governor - Offers ability to automatically balance engine (upgrade) - Offers ability to “disable” power cylinder when operating lightly loaded, with big savings in fuel. - Reduces mechanical failures on lightly loaded engines by reducing misfires - Simple installation (Can be done by station personnel after a particular

GM Journal

case study: eLectrOnIc FueL cOntrOLLow-Cost Solution for Legacy Pipeline Engines

The ResultsFigure 1

clark Ba-8

cooper GMV-10

GM Journal Q3 - “Industry case studies” p. 5

GM Journal

- continued next page

Background

Skid mounted high speed machinery has become commonplace in the gas compression industry today. Various skid designs exist and with each design, there exists a different set of mechanical responses of the skid and machinery that are mounted on the skid. These natural mechanical frequencies of the skid can be excited by engine and compressor unbalanced forces and moments as well as rolling torques, which can result in mechanical resonance and an increase in vibration levels of skid components.

Mechanical finite element (FE) modeling of these skid structures and machin-ery is important so that mechanical resonance and excessive skid component vibration can be predicted and avoided. Due to the complexity and uncertainty in these types of models, it is sometimes necessary to obtain the appropriate field vibration measurements to give insight into various ways to reduce vibra-tion levels of the skid and supported components. This article will present a case study where engine vibration levels were an issue due to mechanical resonance, which resulted in excessive vibration of the engine and associated components. The article will discuss the field data that was acquired on the en-gine and skid, the finite element analysis (FEA) that was performed to predict the skid modes and vibration levels, and some options to reduce the vibration levels of this particular engine and skid. Follow up data will also be presented that documents the reduction of vibration levels due to the option selected for implementation.

Test Procedure

Excessive vibration was reported on two separate physically identical skid

mounted engines (Units A & B) that drive high speed re-ciprocating compressors and operate in parallel. To ac-quire the necessary data to document the engine and skid vibration levels, velocity probes were placed as needed to measure vibration levels while engine operating speed was varied. Figure 1 shows a photograph demonstrating some of the velocity test points on Unit A. A similar test-ing configuration was used for Unit B. A description of testing locations is given in Table 1.

Baseline data was recorded for Units A and B. Another data set was acquired while the engine speed was varied throughout the operating range. Vibration data was re-corded in peak hold mode during speed changes so that the maximum vibration amplitudes were captured.

During the test program, Unit A experienced difficulties with start-up and Unit B was shut down to replace auxil-iary equipment. This presented an opportunity to conduct impact tests on both engines while the engines were not in operation and therefore background noise was minimal. This allowed for the capture of accurate modal response data and identification of distinct mechanical responses on both units. Data Analysis

Impact data was acquired on Engines A and B to identify the natural mechanical frequencies of each engine as it sits on the adjustable engine mounts, pedestal, and lower skid structure. Figures 2 and 3 present this data, which is essentially the same for both engines as it should be for physically identical units. The two modes of interest oc-cur at approximately 16.5 Hz and 65.5 Hz. Unfortunately, these modes are easily excited by 1 times operating speed forces (1x) and 4 times operating speed forces (4x) from the engine during operation. Significant 1x forces are al-ways present for reciprocating engines and 4x forces are significant for eight cylinder four cycle engines at half orders, which are manifested in the rolling torques.

Both units were operated over an 850 rpm to 1,000 rpm speed range while vibration data was acquired. Figures 4 and 5 present the horizontal vibration data acquired at crankshaft level (top spectrum) and engine foot level (bottom spectrum) on Unit A and Unit B, respectively. The 1x vibration levels reached 0.7 ips on Unit A and 0.3 ips on Unit B at crankshaft level. The 4x vibration levels reached 0.8 ips on Unit A and 0.8 ips on Unit B at the engine foot level. SwRI’s criteria for allowable vibra-tion levels on high speed units is 1 ips at any discreet fre-quency or 1.5 ips overall. The vibration of these engines does not exceed the 1 ips criteria but does exceed the 1.5 ips criteria. Although the SwRI overall criteria is allow-able on some piping or attached components, this level should not be seen on the foot of a major component, such as the engine. The author’s opinion of the vibration levels experienced by both units is that it is excessive and should be reduced. There is excessive buzzing of small engine components that are susceptible to fatigue damage if these vibrations are not addressed. The vibration levels of Unit A are worse due to the larger 1x vibration levels.

case study: MetHOds and OPtIOns tO eLIMInate sKId VIBratIOn PrOBLeMsA Dynamic Skid Analysis Combined with the Appropriate Field Vibration Measurements Can Give Insight into Various Ways To Reduce Vibration Levels of the Skid and Sup-ported Machinery. These Analyses are particularly important for Flexible Skid Mounted Packages that Support High Speed Compressors and Engines where Mechanical Reso-nance is oftentimes an Issue.

Marlan Jarzombek, PE & Zora Raoufpour, PE, PMP, Atmos Energy Angel Rivera & Robert McKee, Ph.D., Southwest Research Institute®

Figure 1. Vibration Measurement Locations for Unit A and Unit B

Table 1. Description of Test Points

Figure 2. Unit A Impact Data

Figure 3. Unit B Impact Data

Figure 4. Unit A Operating Data

Figure 5. Unit B Operating Data

GM Journal

p. 6 Q3 - “Industry case studies” GM Journal

Figure 6. Engine Vibration Profiles at 1x Operating Speed

Figure 7. Engine Vibration Profiles at 4x Operating Speed

Figure 8. Engine Vibration - Horizontal Profile at 1x and 4x (plan view)

Figure 9. Unit A Overall Vibration Levels

Figure 10. Unit B Overall Vibration Levels

Figures 6 and 7 present vibration profile data acquired on en-gines A and B at 1x and 4x, respectively. The data was ac-quired at various locations in the horizontal direction from the bottom of the lower skid and up to crankshaft level. Both fig-ures indicate that there is little movement of the bottom skid, but vibration levels do increase through the pedestal height. Vibration levels also increase across the engine supports, and the rate of increase through this region at 4x is significant. This vibration profile data indicates significant flexibility across the upper pedestal and engine support region. Figure 8 presents a plan profile of the Unit A vibration data acquired at the top of the pedestal along its horizontal profile at 1,000 rpm. The data indicates that the engine rocks back and forth with similar vibration levels along the engine length at 1x but the 4x vibrations are more significant near the center and non-drive end of the engine.

The overall vibration levels found in the time-wave data are shown in Figures 9 and 10 for Engines A and B, respectively. The upper time-wave of each plot shows the vibration at the crankshaft level while the lower time-wave shows the vibra-tion at the engine foot. The vibration criteria of 1.5 ips over-all is slightly exceeded by Engine A at crankshaft level but is clearly exceeded at the engine foot level for both units. Once the field data was obtained, the next step was to compare the measured data to what was predicted by the finite element model. The FE skid analysis was revisited and the model was tuned so that the engine modal frequencies and amplitudes were similar to what was measured in the field. To accom-plish this, the adjustable support stiffness was reduced signifi-cantly in the model. By making this change, the model was in good agreement with the field data and the predicted modes are found in Figure 11. The next model was created to investigate the effects of re-placing the adjustable supports with steel chocks and shims. Figure 12 indicates that this modification would push both of the engine modes off of resonance, which would significantly reduce vibration levels. The original model was modified to include one inch thick t-section pedestal restraints (six total), as shown in Figure 13. This modification also resulted in a significant increase in the frequency of the two engine modes of concern. The model predictions indicate that the pedestal restraints would also re-duce engine vibration levels. Figure 14 shows the modal results that include all of the modi-fications applied simultaneously. The modifications include replacing the adjustable mounts with steel chocks, adding ped-estal restraints, and extending the pedestal end plate by eight inches in height. These simultaneous modifications would result in a significant increase in the engine modal frequen-cies and a significant decrease in vibration levels during op-eration. Figure 15 shows all of the potential modifications as well as descriptions of each modification. Based on the analyses pre-sented and various options available to reduce vibration lev-els, a decision was made to just replace the adjustable engine supports with steel chocks and shims.

Figure 11. Original Skid Model Tuned to Field Data

Figure 12. Stiff Engine Supports (replace adjustable supports with steel chocks and shims)

Figure 13. Pedestal Restraints (T-sections)

Figure 15. All Potential Modifications

Figure 14. All Potential Modifications

case study: MetHOds and OPtIOns tO eLIMInate sKId VIBratIOn PrOBLeMs cont’d from previous page

- continued p. 8

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p. 8 Q3 - “Industry case studies” GM Journal

GM Journal

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Figure 16 presents the largest reduction in vibration levels which occurred at 1x due to this modification. Vibration levels also de-creased at 4x, but were not as significant as the decrease in vibration levels at 1x. The overall vibration levels decreased from 2.7 ips down to 1.4 ips at the engine foot. This data is found in Figure 17. This level is be-low SwRI’s overall vibration criteria of 1.5 ips. Due to the significant reduction in vi-bration levels, this modification will also be implemented on the adjacent engine.

Summary

This article presented several methods that can be used to reduce vibration levels of skid mounted machinery in comparison to the original adjustable mounted engine configu-ration. Due to the variation in skid design and supporting techniques, it is generally recommended that a dynamic skid analysis be performed to optimize the skid design and minimize the potential for mechanical resonance. If vibration problems arise in the field, it may be necessary to acquire detailed vibration data to gain a better understand-ing of the inherent problem with the skid or

support design. The data will also serve to reconcile differences between the model pre-dictions and actual machinery vibration be-havior. Furthermore, the field data will add credence to the model and potential modifica-tions can be investigated with confidence so that the optimum change to the system can be implemented to minimize vibration levels.

This article presented one case study of an engine/skid resonance problem and options to reduce the vibration levels of the engine driver. It should be emphasized that ev-ery skid design will have a different set of resonant frequencies depending on the skid and/or pedestal configuration, overall mass and stiffness, machinery support details, and variations in machinery exciting forces and moments in terms of amplitude and forcing frequency. Therefore, the solution that was implemented and resulted in a reduction in the vibration levels of the engine in this ar-ticle, may not work for your particular appli-cation where vibration is an issue. However, the methodology of detailed vibration testing, modeling, and appropriate modifications can be used to resolve a wide range of vibration problems.

Figure 16. Key Post Modification Results

Figure 17. Overall Vibration Levels Before and After Modifications

Adjustable Engine Mounts Steel Chocks, Shims & Epoxy Resin

case study: MetHOds and OPtIOns tO eLIMInate sKId VIBratIOn PrOBLeMs cont’d from p. 6

p. 10 Q3 - “Industry case studies” GM Journal

GM Journal

Since its tar-mining days in the 1860s, McKittrick, pop. 200, has been near the forefront of petrochemical pro-duction in California’s 400-mile-long San Joaquin Valley. Just a few miles outside town lies the Cymric oil field, one of the Big Valley’s al-most two dozen giant fields and the producer of some 346 million barrels of oil between 1909 and 2000 [1]. Now, almost a century later, many of the producing wells in this section of Kern County are classified as “strip-per” or marginal wells, defined by the DOE as producing 10 or fewer bar-rels of crude per day over a 12-month period.

Though nearing the end of their eco-nomic usefulness by conventional recovery means, stripper wells nev-ertheless comprise around 84% of all producing wells in the U.S. [2] Under ideal conditions, traditional primary and secondary recovery methods ac-count for the extraction of only 40% or so of a reservoir’s original oil in place (OOIP). Once production tails off the wells are often prematurely plugged, leaving almost two-thirds of the OOIP still in the ground—where the prohibitive cost of resuming pro-duction at some later date will likely leave such wells permanently aban-doned [2].

case study: XVG FLOW LIMItInG at cHeVrOn’s cyMrIc 36W sIte

By Paul D. ZafutaAftermarket Engineering ManagerPrecision Engine Controls Corporation

The good news is that tertiary recov-ery technology, called enhanced oil recovery or EOR, is driving a resur-gence of some of the nation’s oldest oil fields, with the result that many thousands of stripper wells once indanger of premature closure are now meeting and even exceeding their production peaks of bygone years [3].

One widely used EOR method, steam flooding (Figure 2, below), has been successfully applied for a long time, especially in “heavy oil” fields like those in southern Kern County. A proprietary variation of cyclic steam flooding in use at Chevron Explora-tion & Production Co.’s McKittrick operation has proven quite successful since its implementation in the mid-1970s.

In operation, steam is pumped into the reservoir zone at a temperature and pressure sufficient to induce frac-tures in the rock, resulting in new ac-cess paths to reservoir contents. After three days, steam injection stops and the well is allowed to “soak.” During this time the rock absorbs the water and heat, thinning the molasses-like “heavy oil” and increasing its mo-bility. The pressure induced during

the injection phase propels the oil into existing production well bores where it is recovered. After pres-sure is depleted 30-45 days later, the production wells are converted back to injection wells and the process is repeated. New high-resolution 2- and 3-D interwell seismic imaging tech-niques allow operators to monitor flow characteristics, track fluid move-ment and record changes in reservoir volume as the EOR progresses, thus optimizing production [5].

Chevron’s Cymric 36W cogen fa-cility is a textbook example of how EOR technologies like steam flood-ing are literally injecting new life into mature wells while, at the same time, the facility is paying its way by generating most of its own electrical power—with enough left over to ex-port the surplus to the grid.

Cymric 36W Turbine Operations

The cogeneration process here is powered by four gas turbine genera-tor sets—each about 32’ feet long and weighing almost 36 tons—that to-gether output about 12MW of power. The driveshaft of each engine is con-nected to an epicyclic speed-reduc-tion gear box that couples the turbine to the generator to output 60Hz pow-er for field operations and for connec-tion to the utility grid via the facility’s

on-site power station. The tremen-dous heat produced by the gas turbine exhaust is not released directly into the atmosphere but is harnessed to a thermal-generation system that cre-ates steam up to 500ºF for transport to the various injection well locations through a maze of above-ground pip-ing (Figure 3, below).

Only a percentage of the generated capacity is actually used to power oil field operations, including the pumpjacks for 36W’s almost 50 pro-ducing wells. The cyclic steam-flood-ing process requires periodic engine start/stops as the existing wells are

Figure 3: Cymric 36W cogen plant in operation at McKittrick, Calif. Silver piping in foreground dis-tributes steam many hundreds of yards to distant injection wells.

Figure 2: One of almost 240 pumpjacks powered by gas turbines at Chevron’s five Cymric sites. Just to the left center of the picture may be seen a steam line with a characteristic “loop” used for trapping water out of the steam line on its way to the injection wells. At one point, almost half of Chevron’s producing wells at Cymric employed steam flooding, a commonly used EOR technique in “heavy oil” fields [4].

Figure 1: One of four 3MW gas turbines at Chevron’s Cymric 36W cogen plant about 35 miles west of Bakersfield, Calif. When operating, the turbines run 24/7 generating electricity for oil field operations and producing steam for numerous injection wells. Excess electricity is sold to the grid to help defray operating costs.

“toggled” between the thermal injec-tion and production phases. Consid-ering the economic impact of engine downtime—which effects not only well production but power exporta-tion to the grid—it is easy to see why optimum turbine performance and reliability are of paramount concern to facility engineers at the McKittrick site.

Digital Fuel Valve Retrofit Improves Gas Turbine Starts in Oil Field Cogeneration Application

Retrofitting the existing pneumatic fuel-metering system with an all-electronic type eliminated problematic turbine light-offs and inspired similar user-in-stalled efficiency upgrades at this and other company sites.

GM Journal

Performance and Reliability: Still the Bottom Line

New power-generation technol-ogy, particularly solar, is still in the early stages of oil field implementa-tion. However, maintaining the safe, efficient and reliable operation of Chevron’s installed base of some 20 turbine gensets at various Cymric sites—without resorting to costly control system upgrades—remains a key objective for keeping costs down while maximizing production effi-ciency.

This was the crux of the matter at Cymric 36W, where the cyclic starts and stops of the turbine gensets were beginning to take their toll on op-erational efficiency. Normal engine use revealed a recurring pattern of fuel-delivery-system problems that required frequent inspection and maintenance to reduce the chronic in-cidence of engine “hard starts.”

Problem: Maintenance-Intensive Mechanical System

As shown in Figure 4, the turbine’s stock fuel-delivery system featured a hydro-mechanical design consisting of a pressure regulator and an actua-tor driving a butterfly-type modulat-ing valve operated by inherently maintenance-intensive hydraulic and mechanical linkages.

The existing control system’s relay-based architecture utilizes several proprietary electronic devices to drive the actuator with a 0 to 50mA signal. During engine startup, the ramp-ing of the actuator from minimum

to maximum causes the butterfly to move from fully closed to a full-open position. The fuel flow is primarily controlled open-loop by the pressure regulator until 90% speed is reached. At that point, the actuator becomes “closedloop” and control is passed to the governor, which modulates the fuel flow via the actuated butterfly valve to regulate the engine to the de-sired speed.

“Once the unit was up and running, everything worked just fine,” said Cogen Operator Larry Stipling. “But coming back on line after a shut-down, we usually had problems with hard starts, not to mention the main-tenance issues with the mechanical fuel-delivery system that we had to keep an eye on.”

Solution: Digital Fuel-Metering Valve Retrofit

About two years ago, the operator was contacted by Precision Engine Controls Corp. of San Diego, Calif. who, in a beta test, installed a special electronic control module to augment operation of the company’s VG series valve that was used in the test. This combination culminated in a new configuration, the all-electric XVG (referred to as flow-limiting mode of operation) fuel valve. This valve, designed to provide an easy drop-in replacement for the three hydro-me-chanical components, required no changes to the engine’s existing elec-trical control system interface.

In operation, the XVG’s built-in sen-sors allow the valve to calculate and schedule flow based on back-pres-

Figure 4: Callouts show pre-retrofit gas turbine fuel-delivery components. Note fewer elements, elimination of mechanical linkage and less “clutter” after all-electronic XVG valve retrofit shown in Figure 6.

case study: XVG FLOW LIMItInG at cHeVrOn’s cyMrIc 36W sIte sure. The valve is configured with a PC via RS-232 (Figure 7) to pro-vide the required acceleration and deceleration fuel schedules to start the engine reliably without exceeding engine temperature and surge limits. A shunt resistor implemented at the interface terminal strip within the XVG converts the existing 0 to 50mA signal to a standard 0 to 5V signal which the valve uses to modulate be-tween the acceleration and decelera-tion limits. The only other electrical connection(s) required by the XVG is 24V power for the solenoid and elec-tronics.

Results

Efficiency improvements designed to help the company produce its products more cost-effectively, while reducing impact on the environment, are being encouraged at every level of corpo-rate operations through a company-instituted plan called OEMS—the Operational Excellence Management System. In place since 2006, strin-gent OEMS program requirements often exceed those of ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 environmental stan-dards. Key program objectives in-clude industry-leading asset reliabil-ity and maximizing the efficient use of resources and assets [6]. A perfect example of this policy being put into practice at the site level has been the digital fuel-metering system upgrade at Cymric 36W.

Now in its third year of operation, the installation of the XVG fuel-meter-ing system—called the “blue valve” by site personnel—has proven a re-sounding success. “Since we put the blue valve in, we haven’t had a single light-off problem or any of the fuel system headaches we used to experi-ence on a regular basis,” Stipling said. “And that makes my job a whole lot

easier,” he smiled. Looking forward, digital fuel valves will be retrofitted into additional units at other local sites to further increase operational excellence.

Summary

Precision Engine Controls installed the first digital fuel-metering valve on site in June 2006. Since then, Chevron personnel have installed three additional units without any ad-ditional PECC help on site, where all units continue to run with no report-ed problems. Cymric 36W is one of many similar operations in theMcKittrick area and elsewhere in the San Joaquin Valley that can benefit from improved engine performance and reliability.

Based on the success of the first op-erational unit at Cymric 36W, the op-erator has been very satisfied with the ease of installation and demonstrated reliability of such a cost-effective so-lution to several nagging fuel system issues. Thanks to PECC, problem-atic turbine light-offs and frequent fuel system preventative mainte-nance schedules are no longer on the operator’s “to do” list. With almost two years of uninterrupted uptime to its credit, the XVG has dramatically

increased engine reliability and im-proved “Operational Excellence” at this and, soon, other Kern County oil field locations.

About the Author:A 25-year industry veteran, Paul Zafuta is manager of field service and aftermarket engineering with San Diego-based Pre-cision Engine Controls Corp., a division of Hamilton-Sundstrand. Zafuta holds a Master’s Degree in Physics from Pittsburg State University.

Sources and Links:

1. “The Kern County Oil Industry,” San Joaquin Geo-

logical Society. See:

www.geocities.com/mudsmeller/oilfacts.html#cogen.

2. “Marginal & Stripper Well Revitalization,” U.S. Dept.

of Energy. See:

www.fossil.energy.gov/programs/oilgas/marginalwells

3. “DOE Project Turns Abandoned Oil Lease Into Mil-

lion-Barrel Producer,” National Energy Technology Labo-

ratory, Mar 27, 2001.

4. “Producing Thermal EOR in U.S.,” Oil & Gas Journal,

April 20, 1998, P.60.

5. “Direct Imaging of Reservoir Fluid Changes: A New

Tool for Managing Production,” Meyer, J.S. et al, Hart

Publications, Houston, TX.

6. See “Efficiency & Conservation,” “Environmental

Management” and “Operational Excellence.” www.chev-

ron.com.

7. For further information about Precision Engine Con-

trols Corp., visit: www.precisioneng.com.

Figure 5: Precision Engine Controls Corp. engineer retrofits the all-electronic XVG 1.5 fuel-metering valve into the supply line of the gas turbine. The June 2006 installation of the initial unit, shown here, followed a one-year successful test of a pro-totype concept that led to the subsequent upgrade of all of the site’s turbines, with no vendor assistance needed after the second install.

Figure 6: Retrofitted XVG electronic fuel-metering valve with onboard fuel schedules provided a seamless interface with the turbine genset’s existing control system. In-stallation and commissioning of subsequent valves in other gensets was easy enough to be performed by the customer with minimal initial vendor assistance.

Figure 7: PECC engineer downloads engine acceleration / decel-eration schedules into the gas fuel metering valve retrofit in one of Cymric 36W’s four gas turbine cogen units.

GM Journal Q3 - “Industry case studies” p. 11

p. 12 Q3 - “Industry case studies” GM Journal

GM Journal

Reducing operating costs by maxi-mizing fuel usage is becoming less a bottom-line issue and more a matter of survival. Record-high fuel prices and constantly changing market con-ditions necessitate maximum use of each fuel dollar.

Quicksilver is very proactive; always looking for savings on fuel use and cost. The company has traditionally been willing to test new equipment if it can deliver improved performance.

“I used Murphy Power Ignition at my previous company, and I wanted to try a couple at Quicksilver. I planned to datalog the fuel usage before and after the installation to see what kind of savings we could get,” said Randy Reiman, Emissions tech for Quicksil-ver. “If there’s an opportunity to save money, we’ll do it.”

According to Reiman, Quicksilver’s fuel savings came as a result of the installation of Murphy Power Igni-tion controls. The company’s testing on several sites in 2006 and 2007

showed a significant savings in fuel usage and associated costs.

Reiman tested MPI on several dif-ferent engines, loaded differently, to see the difference on fuel savings. “Within days, the fuel savings was clear,” he said

In a test coordinated with Hague Equipment Company, which provid-ed the MPI control system hardware, Reiman recorded the fuel usage tested on four compressor sites throughout Michigan.

Reiman used the MPI-16 ignition con-troller, which includes coils, wires, sensors and mag pickups. He tested the system on a CAT 399, a CAT 398, and two Waukesha 7042 engines. All engines were set up before and after MPI installation to meet required emission standards as prescribed by the local air board.

Average fuel usage for each install was monitored the same engine with and without the MPI ignition controller.

case study: QuIcKsILVer resOurces tests MurPHy POWer IGnItIOn cOntrOLs, FInds MaJOr FueL saVInGs The average fuel savings consistently

fell between seven to 10 thousand cu-bic feet (MCF) per day. “I saw only a small improvement on the 398, but the 399 had a very large savings,” Reiman said.

With an average fuel price of $6 per MCF, the lowest results save Quick-silver $42 per unit each day. At that rate, Reiman conservatively esti-mates that Quicksilver will save at least $15,330 per unit each year.

On the CAT 399 located at Quick-silver’s Charlton East site, Reiman was getting an average fuel savings of 21.93 MCF per day. At the same average fuel price ($6 per MCF), Rei-man estimated that he saves $131.55 per day and $48,016.19 per year.

The MPI Ignition System is a micro-processor based, capacitor discharge ignition system applicable to low, medium and high speed engines with 4-20 cylinders. This state-of-the-art system utilizes crankshaft-reference timing which provides unparalleled timing accuracy and stability by eliminating the dependence on me-

chanical engine gears, chains and couplings.

These features have lead to improved engine operation and efficiency thru consistent and accurate ignition tim-

ing, essential to achieving balanced and stable peak firing pressures. In addition to the efficiency, Quicksil-ver will also realize reduced engine maintenance due to a more balanced and consistent combustion process.

HOUSTON, TX – Dover Corporation has announced the promotion of Don York to Presi-dent of Cook Compression. York is responsible for all aspects of the business, which provides a comprehensive range of gas compression products and services. The appointment of York concludes a series of strategic moves begun in late 2007 as Dover united a number independent gas compression product and service companies into a single, integrated organization.

In announcing the move, Dover Fluid Manage-ment President and CEO William W. Spurgeon said, “Don was instrumental in the recent for-mation of Cook Compression. His background, experience and skills give him a unique ability to move the organization forward with a single vision and direction. Under Don’s leadership, Cook Compression will continue to maximize organizational synergies, drive international expansion and foster long-term growth.”

York commented, “This is an exciting and challenging time for our company, as well as for our customers. Cook Compression is well-positioned as a leader in the reciprocating compres-sor and engine markets. We offer a complete package of products and services, encompassing various options that are tailored to meet specific customer applications and requirements. We’re truly a single-source solution for all of their compressor and engine needs.”

Don York is a veteran of more than 24 years with Dover Corporation, having previously served with C. Lee Cook and Cook Airtomic in positions of increasing responsibility in various func-tional areas. Most recently he was President of the Products Group of Cook Compression. York will be based in Houston at the Dover Fluid Management Energy Platform office.

August 7, 2008: James R. Hutton, author of How to Sell Technical Equipment and Services (PennWell, 2005) and Vice-President of Compressor Engineering Corporation (CECO), is cel-ebrating his 50th anniversary as a Professional Engineer and 60 years of incomparable service to the petroleum and gas industry.

Hutton joined CECO in 1986, after he retired as pres-ident of Dresser Machinery International Division, where he worked for 38 years. A

graduate of Columbia University Engineering Midshipman’s School, Hutton served in the US Navy during World War II as a Chief Engineer. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engi-neering and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas in Austin. He is married to the former Margaret Berry and has two children, Heather and Jeb.

In How to Sell Technical Equipment and Services, Hutton shares the wisdom gleaned from de-cades of experience in the petroleum industry to help readers master the challenge of industrial sales. The book covers topics such as knowing the product, always keeping promises, identify-ing the real decision makers on orders and how to deal with difficult, complicated projects. The book is available from PennWell books, or directly from Hutton.

“When I think of Mr. Hutton, two words come to mind, ‘honesty and integrity.’ He lives by these words and inspires each of us in the CECO family of companies by his example,” said Joe Miniot, Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at CECO.

Richard Hotze, President of CECO, said, “Mr. Hutton has made an incalculable contribution to our business and has helped innumerable companies over the last 60 years with his knowledge, leadership and responsible approach to sales. We don’t want him to retire anytime soon.”

yOrK aPPOInted PresIdent OF cOOK cOMPressIOnJaMes r. HuttOn: saLesMan, enGIneer, autHOr, GentLeMan

James and Margaret Hutton at the Gas Machinery conference in 2007

GM Journal Q3 - “Industry case studies” p. 13

GM Journal

The GM Journal is pleased to welcome Randall Schwartz as a new contributor. A former NGML student, Randy Schwartz (BSME and MSME from K-State) is now a patent lawyer in the Kansas City area af-ter working in the Houston area as an en-gineer.

Each quarter, he will provide abstracts of US Patents Issued that are of interest to the gas machinery industry.

Thanks, Randy, and welcome!

abstracts of Issued u.s. PatentsThe following list includes abstract and biblio-graphic information for recently issued U.S. pat-ents. The inventions listed below may also be the subject of one or more related foreign patent applications or patents. More information con-cerning patents can be found on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website: www.uspto.gov.

7,403,850 Issue date: July 22, 2008 automated fault diagnosis method and system for en-gine-compressor sets The automated fault diagnostic system operates on engine-compres-sor sets with one vibration sensor per sub-group of engine cylinders and one sensor per compressor cylinder. Vibration signals linked to crankshaft phase angle windows (“VT”) mark various engine events and compressor events. In data-acquisition-learning mode, VT is stored for each engine and compressor event per operating load condition, statistical process control (SPC) theory identifies alarm threshold bands. Operator input-overrides are permitted. If no base-line data is stored, the system automatically enters the learn mode. To monitor, current VT are obtained and current load condition is matched to the earlier load set and alarms issue linking predeter-mined engine or compressor event to the over-under VT. Baseline data, SPC analysis, alarms and monitoring are set for crankcase flow, engine cylinder exhaust temperatures, ignition system diag-nostic messages. Compressor performance alarms use suction and discharge temperatures and pressures. Inventors: Boutin; Benjamin J., Webber, Jr.; Robert J., Oliva; Ferdi-nand G., Kealty; John F. , Fernandez; Javier, Kitchens; Thomas J.Assignee: Dynalco Controls Corporation

7,402,335 Issue date: July 22, 2008 Layer structure and method for producing such a layer structure The invention relates to a temperature resistant layered structure comprising a substrate and a porous layer arranged on the substrate having a pore defined by a wall, and a ceramic coating on an interior surface of the wall. The invention also relates to a layered turbine component arrangement comprising a substrate having a cooling passage adapted to allow a cooling gas medium to pass through the substrate and a porous layer arranged on the substrate, the porous layer having cooling passages formed by gas-permeable inter-con-nections between pores in the porous layer. Inventors: Bolms; Hans-Thomas, Heselhaus; AndreasAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

7,398,749 Issue date: July 15, 2008 Method and device for controlling an internal combustion engine The invention relates to a method and device for controlling an inter-nal combustion engine comprising an inlet pipe leading to a cylinder input where a gas input valve is placed. Said engine also comprises a drive for the gas input valve which makes it possible to adjust a gas input valve lift for at least two values. The engine also comprises an injection valve for metering fuel and a spark plug which controls the crankshaft angle of air-fuel mixture ignition. Said internal combustion engine is controlled in a following manner: a fuel is metered at least once during the intake stroke of a cylinder when the valve lift (VL) passes from one value to the other and at least one final injection is carried out in a dosing manner only when the valve lift (VL) is really carried out. Inventors: Weiss; Frank, Zhang; HongAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

7,398,743 Issue date: July 15, 2008 compression ignition initiation device and internal combustion engine using same An internal combustion engine having a compression ignition ini-tiation device is provided. The compression ignition initiation device includes a body defining a chamber and an outlet from the chamber. The device further includes means, within the chamber, for generat-ing a combustion initiating shock front from the outlet. A method is provided, including compressing a mixture of fuel and air in an inter-nal combustion engine cylinder to a point less than a compression ignition threshold, and initiating ignition of the mixture by subjecting it to a shock front. Inventors: Fiveland; Scott B. Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.

7,398,649 Issue date: July 15, 2008 system and method for influencing the induction gas temperature in the combustion chamber of an internal combustion engine The invention relates to a system and method for use in a homoge-neous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion engine that is preferably equipped with an exhaust gas recirculation device. This system and method enable an improved adjustment of the tempera-ture level inside the combustion chamber. In addition to adjusting the temperature by using the exhaust gas recirculation device, an influencing of the temperature, which is independent thereof, ensues based on the compression of the induced fresh air by the exhaust gas turbocharger. An increase in temperature is maintained even after the compressed air is expanded on a throttle valve, and this increase in temperature can, in the end, be used for influencing the energy content inside the combustion chamber. Inventors: Bauer; Erwin, Ellmer; Dietmar, Lauer; ThorstenAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

7,398,642 Issue date: July 15, 2008 Gas turbine system including vaporization of liquefied natural gas A gas turbine cycle that utilizes the vaporization of liquefied natural gas as an intercooler in an open loop gas turbine system. The system provides an increase in gas turbine cycle efficiencies while providing a convenient system for vaporizing liquefied natural gas. The sys-tems and methods of the present invention permit the vaporization of liquefied natural gas using air that has been compressed in a first compressor, with the resulting cooled air being easier to compress and/or having fewer contaminants therein for compression in a second compressor. As the air is easier to compress, less energy is needed to operate the second compressor, thereby increasing the ef-ficiency of the system. Additionally, unlike prior art systems that use water as an intercooler, no additional equipment is needed to cool the vaporized natural gas, such as cooling towers. Inventors: McQuiggan; GerardAssignee: Siemens Power Generation, Inc. 7,393,183 Issue date: July 1, 2008 trailing edge attachment for composite airfoil A trailing edge attachment for a composite turbine airfoil. The trailing edge attachment may include an attachment device for attaching the trailing edge attachment to the airfoil. The attachment device may include a plurality of pins extending through the attachment device and into the trailing edge blade. The trailing edge attachment may also include a spanwise cooling channel for feeding a plurality of cooling channels extending between a leading edge of the trailing edge attachment and a trailing edge of the attachment device. The attachment device may be configured to place the leading edge of the composite airfoil in compression, thereby increasing the strength of the composite airfoil. Inventors: Keller; Douglas A.Assignee: Siemens Power Generation, Inc.

7,392,792 Issue date: July 1, 2008 system for dynamically detecting fuel leakage A fuel control system for an engine is disclosed. The fuel control sys-tem may have a source of pressurized fuel and at least one injector configured to receive and inject the pressurized fuel. The fuel system may also have a sensor configured to generate a signal indicative of an actual fuel pressure at the at least one injector, and a controller in communication with the sensor. The controller may be configured to determine a desired fuel pressure at the at least one injector, and compare the signal to the desired fuel pressure. The controller may also be configured to initiate a leak detection sequence in response to the comparison. Inventors: Puckett; Daniel Reese Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.

7,392,791 Issue date: July 1, 2008 Multi-source fuel system for variable pressure injection A fuel system for an engine is disclosed. The fuel system has a first source configured to pressurized fuel to a first pressure, and a sec-ond source configured to pressurized fuel to a second pressure. The fuel system also has a fuel injector configured to receive fuel at the first pressure and the second pressure, and a valve disposed be-tween the fuel injector and the first and second sources. The valve is configured to modify the pressure of fuel from the first source based on a pressure of fuel from the second source. Inventors: Gibson; Dennis H. Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.

7,390,471 Issue date: June 24, 2008 apparatus and method for catalytic treatment of exhaust gases An exhaust gas treatment apparatus (20) for reducing the concentra-tion of NO.sub.x, HC and CO in an exhaust gas stream (18) such as produced by a gas turbine engine (12) of a power generating sta-tion (10). The treatment apparatus includes a multifunction catalytic element (26) having an upstream reducing-only portion (28) and a downstream reducing-plus-oxidizing portion (30) that is located downstream of an ammonia injection apparatus (24). The selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO.sub.x is promoted in the upstream portion of the catalytic element by the injection of ammonia in excess of the stoichiometric concentration, with the resulting ammonia slip being oxidized in the downstream portion of the catalytic element. Any additional NO.sub.x generated by the oxidation of the ammonia is further reduced in the downstream portion before being passed to the atmosphere (22). Inventors: Sobolevskiy; Anatoly (Orlando, FL), Rossin; Joseph A. (Columbus, OH) Assignee: Siemens Power Generation, Inc. (Orlando, FL) 7,390,282 Issue date: June 24, 2008 directional shift in hydrostatic drive work machine A method of performing a directional shifting event in a hydrostatic drive work machine, and a hydrostatic drive work machine is pro-vided. The method includes the step of adjusting a pump displace-ment of a variable displacement pump coupled with an engine and a hydraulic motor of the work machine, at a rate based at least in part on one or both of a predetermined acceleration limit and a predeter-mined jerk limit of the work machine. The work machine includes an electronic control module having a computer readable medium with a directional shifting control algorithm recorded thereon. The control algorithm is operable to adjust a pump displacement in a hydrostatic drive of the work machine at a rate based at least in part on one or both of the predetermined acceleration limit or jerk limit of the work machine. Inventors: Shah; Vaibhav H. Assignee: Caterpillar Inc.

7,389,771 Issue date: June 24, 2008 closed loop eGr control method and system using water content measurement The present invention provides an internal combustion engine sys-tem that includes an internal combustion engine system includes an internal combustion engine having an intake manifold fluidly coupled to a compressor adapted to receive ambient air through an air conduit of the engine, a first sensor positioned at least one of inside and outside the air conduit and configured to measure a first water content in the ambient air, and a second sensor positioned at least one of inside the intake manifold and upstream of the intake manifold and configured to measure a second water content in the intake manifold. Inventors: Andrews; Eric B., Lindner; Frederick H., Frazier; TimAssignee: Cummins, Inc.

PuBLIsHed Patent aBstracts 7,389,767 Issue date: June 24, 2008 Method for diagnosis of a volume flow control valve in an internal combustion engine comprising a high-pres-sure accumulator injection system The invention relates to an internal combustion engine comprising a high-pressure accumulator injection system wherein the swept volume and the pressure are regulated by means of a volume flow control valve (VCV) and a pressure control valve (PCV). The inven-tive method consists in checking, during the overrun condition of the internal combustion engine, whether predetermined release condi-tions for carrying out the diagnosis are fulfilled, and in the event of a positive result, the control valve (VCV) is closed for a predetermined period of time (t1). During said period (t1), values relating to fuel pressure (FUP) are detected by means of the pressure sensor (21) and compared with a predetermined threshold value (FUP-SW), the control valve (VCV) being deemed faultless if said fuel pres-sure (FUP) values are sufficiently often below the threshold value (FUP_SW) during the cited period of time (t1). Inventors: Kasbauer; Michael, Stadler; WolfgangAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 7,389,752 Issue date: June 24, 2008 use of engine lubricant as ignition fuel for micro-pilot ignition system of an internal combustion engine A method and system for providing pilot fuel for a pilot ignition sys-tem of an internal combustion engine having one or more cylinders and having a lubrication system. A portion of the lubricating oil is diverted from the lubricating system. During the pilot ignition phase of the engine combustion cycle, the diverted lubricating oil is injected into the one or more cylinders. Inventors: Alger, II; Terrence F., Gingrich; Jess W., Hahne; Stephen F.Assignee: Southwest Research Institute

7,389,683 Issue date: June 24, 2008 Method and device for detecting a combustion misfire An internal combustion engine has a plurality of cylinders that have been allocated in at least two groups to one exhaust gas tract each. In each exhaust gas tract, an exhaust gas catalytic converter and an exhaust gas probe are fitted upstream of the exhaust gas catalytic converter. In order to detect combustion misfires in a combustion chamber of one of the cylinders, the following steps are carried out in each case. A combustion misfire is detected in one of the cylinders and allocated to one of the groups of the cylinders depending on at least one operating variable of the internal combustion engine. Inventors: Beer; Johannes, Kainz; JosefAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

7,389,173 Issue date: June 17, 2008 control system for an internal combustion engine operating with multiple combustion modes A method of controlling a diesel engine that is capable of multiple combustion modes and equipped with a turbocharger and EGR loop. The control method avoids a singularity condition inherent in turbo-charged diesel engine having multiple combustion modes. For dif-ferent combustion modes, different system states, control variables, and actuators are carefully chosen for different controllers based on the characteristics of the corresponding combustion mode as well as sensor and measurement limitations. Inventors: Wang; JunminAssignee: Southwest Research Institute 7,388,303 Issue date: June 17, 2008 stand-alone electrical system for large motor loads An electrical power system that can be used to interconnect a plural-ity of generators to a plurality to loads while being rated at less than a total power consumed. The system is preferably used to distribute power for a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility. The system broadly comprises a primary bus connected between the generators and the loads, such as electrical compressor motors used in the LNG facility. The generators and the loads are arranged along the primary bus in order to distribute the power from the generators to the loads, without overloading the primary bus. Inventors: Seiver; John R. Assignee: Conocophillips Company

7,383,813 Issue date: June 10, 2008 Method and device for controlling the transition between normal operation and overrun fuel cut-off opera-tion of an Otto engine operated with direct fuel injection The problem during overrun fuel cut-off operations, i.e. cut-off of fuel injection during trailing throttle conditions of the vehicle, is that the transition entails an undue torque jump, resulting in the smooth operation of the engine and the driving comfort of the passengers of the vehicle being affected. The aim of the invention is to reduce the torque jump. Said aim is achieved by injecting fuel into a cylinder of the Otto engine in a multiple injection process, at least a partial quantity of the fuel that is to be injected being injected during the compression phase, whereby the quantity of air that is taken in ad-vantageously decreases because no internal cooling takes place while the efficiency is advantageously reduced due to the lesser degree of swirling, resulting in lower torque. Overall, torque (DM) is reduced to a significantly greater extent than by merely adjusting the spark angle (ZW) while smooth operation of the Otto engine is not affected. Inventors: Weiss; Frank, Zhang; HongAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 7,383,806 Issue date: June 10, 2008 engine with carbon deposit resistant component Carbon deposits on engine components can negatively affect engine performance. An engine of the present disclosure includes at least one carbon deposit resistant engine component attached to an en-gine housing. The engine component includes at least one relatively high surface tension surface that is a non-contact wear surface and to which a relatively low surface tension coating is attached. The rela-tively low surface tension coating has a surface tension at least one of equal to and less than 30 dyne/cm. Inventors: Abi-Akar; Hind, Jiang; Xiangyang, Agama; Jorge R., Kelley; Kurtis C., Jarrett; Mark W.Assignee: Caterpillar Inc. 7,380,983 Issue date: June 3, 2008 Method and device for checking temperature values of a temperature sensor of an internal combustion engine In a method for checking temperature values of a temperature sen-sor of an internal combustion engine, a first temperature value is recorded during a first predefined time period close in time to an operating state of the starting of the internal combustion engine. With the method a check is made to determine whether a cold start of the internal combustion engine is present. An error in the first temperature value is detected if the cold start is detected and the first temperature value is greater than a temperature threshold value. Inventors: Bayerle; Klaus, Moser; Wolfgang, Prinz; OliverAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

7,380,540 Issue date: June 3, 2008 dynamic control of a homogeneous charge compression ignition engine A homogenous charge compression ignition engine is operated by compressing a charge mixture of air, exhaust and fuel in a combus-tion chamber to an autoignition condition of the fuel. The engine may facilitate a transition from a first combination of speed and load to a second combination of speed and load by changing the charge mixture and compression ratio. This may be accomplished in a consecutive engine cycle by adjusting both a fuel injector con-trol signal and a variable valve control signal away from a nominal variable valve control signal. Thereafter in one or more subsequent engine cycles, more sluggish adjustments are made to at least one of a geometric compression ratio control signal and an exhaust gas recirculation control signal to allow the variable valve control signal to be readjusted back toward its nominal variable valve control signal setting. By readjusting the variable valve control signal back toward its nominal setting, the engine will be ready for another transition to a new combination of engine speed and load. Inventors: Duffy; Kevin P., Mehresh; Parag, Schuh; David, Kieser; Andrew J., Hergart; Carl-Anders, Hardy; William L., Rodman; An-thony, Liechty; Michael P.Assignee: Caterpillar Inc. 7,380,401 Issue date: June 3, 2008 Method for monitoring the speed of a bi-turbocharger A method and a device for monitoring a rotational speed of a first charger for an internal combustion engine, especially an exhaust gas turbocharger, are provided. A first exhaust value representing an exhaust gas composition of the internal combustion engine in a first exhaust section is defined, and a first speed value representing the rotational speed of the first charger is determined according to the defined first exhaust value. The first exhaust value is regulated to a predefined first reference value using a first correcting variable which is ascertained as required for regulation. The first rotational speed value is determined depending on the first correcting variable. Inventors: Henn; Michael, Kunz; Franz, Zhang; HongAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 7,377,260 Issue date: May 27, 2008 Method and device for controlling an internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine has a plurality of cylinders hav-ing combustion chambers and each being associated with a spark plug designed for igniting a mixture of air and fuel in the combus-tion chamber, and at least two adjusting devices for adjusting the air supply to the combustion chambers of the different cylinders. To control the internal combustion engine, an individual ignition angle is detected for each group of cylinders to which the same air mass per working cycle is respectively supplied and during the respec-tive working cycles of which the same loss torque is decisive. The decisive loss torque is the one associated with the cylinder that is in its intake cycle during the respective working cycle of the respec-tive cylinder of the respective group. The individual ignition angle for each group is detected as a function of the decisive loss torque for the respective group. Inventors: Jehle; Martin, Schneider; DirkAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft 7,377,250 Issue date: May 27, 2008 system and method for balancing an engine during cylinder cutout The method includes reducing output of one or more cylinders of an engine system without reducing output of the remaining cylinders of the engine system. The method also includes reducing imbalance of the engine system by supplementing the engine system with power in response to the output reduction of the one or more cylinders. Inventors: Duffy; Kevin Patrick Assignee: Caterpillar Inc. 7,377,237 Issue date: May 27, 2008 cooling system for hybrid power system A cooling system for a hybrid power system that includes an engine employs an engine cooling circuit to deliver coolant to the engine, the engine cooling circuit including a radiator and a main fan to draw air through the radiator. When the hybrid power system further in-cludes an inverter, then the inverter is cooled via an inverter cooling circuit that is formulated as one portion of the cooling system to deliver coolant to the inverter, the inverter cooling circuit including a heat exchanger located such that the main fan draws air through the heat exchanger when the main fan is active. The cooling system also includes a secondary fan to selectively draw air though the heat exchanger during operation of an inverter cooling circuit coolant pump. Inventors: Carney; Allen B., Hughes; John C., Keene; Kevin J., Klinkert; Deborah A., Padget; Bradley D.Assignee: Cummins Power Generation Inc. 7,377,116 Issue date: May 27, 2008 Gas turbine combustor barrier structures for spring clips A barrier structure (302) blocks exit of spring clip fragments (317) that may break off from a spring clip assembly disposed between a gas turbine engine combustor (300) and a transition piece compo-nent (360). The barrier structure (302) may additionally comprise an aspect (326) effective to restrict a spring clip’s (310, 311) radi-ally inward compression, thereby reducing or eliminating damage to the spring clip (310, 311) during shipping and handling. The barrier structure (302) additionally may comprise an aspect (330) to restrict access by a human hand to the free ends (318) of the spring clips (310, 311). This aspect (330) reduces or eliminates the undesired lifting of the compressor by grabbing the spring clips (310, 311) dur-ing combustor transport, installation or removal. Accordingly, barrier structure embodiments are provided that reduce stress on spring clips, and that prevent the exit of spring clips from a containment space partly formed by the barrier structure. Inventors: Parker; David Marchant, Wetzl; Kristian I.Assignee: Siemens Power Generation, Inc. 7,373,823 Issue date: May 20, 2008 Method for determination of the stress on blades of a turbine machine during operation and corresponding device for carrying out said method The method serves to determine the vibrational state of turbine blades, arranged on a rotor shaft, mounted such as to rotate in a housing and/or of guide vanes. At least one electromagnetic wave is transmitted into a flow channel in the vicinity of the blades, using means for the generation of at least one electromagnetic wave. The electromagnetic waves are at least partly reflected from at least one blade. The reflected part of the at least one electromagnetic wave is received by means for receiving and the vibrational state of the cor-responding blade is determined from a signal corresponding to the at least one received electromagnetic wave. Inventors: Bosselmann; Thomas, Eiermann; Franz, Huber; Klaus, Willsch; MichaelAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

7,372,253 Issue date: May 13, 2008 Magnetic field sensor for measuring the rotational speed of a turboshaft A sensor for measuring the rotational speed of a turboshaft of a tur-bocharger includes a sensor housing and a sensor element which is positioned in the sensor housing and which senses a variation of a magnetic field caused by the rotation of the turboshaft. In order to provide a sensor for measuring the rotational speed of a turboshaft which can be produced simply and at low cost and also can be inte-grated in a turbocharger without major structural modifications, the sensor element can be positioned outside the turbocharger, on or in a compressor housing, and a pole piece is arranged on the sensor element in such a way that it concentrates the magnetic field in the sensor element. Inventors: Biber; Peter, Gilch; Markus, Roux; Jean-Louis, Simonnet; AntoineAssignee: Siemens AktiengesellschaftSiemens VDO Automotive 7,371,352 Issue date: May 13, 2008 catalyst element having a thermal barrier coating as the catalyst substrate A combustion catalyst coating (36) applied to the surface of a ce-ramic thermal barrier coating (34) which is supported by a metal substrate (32). The microstructure of the thermal barrier coating surface provides the necessary turbulent flow and surface area for interaction of the catalyst and a fuel-air mixture in a catalytic com-bustor of a gas turbine engine. The temperature gradient developed across the thermal barrier coating protects the underlying metal sub-strate from a high temperature combustion process occurring at the catalyst surface. The thermal barrier coating deposition process may be controlled to form a microstructure having at least one feature suitable to interdict a flow of fuel-air mixture and cause the flow to become more turbulent than if such feature did not exist. Inventors: Campbell; Chris, Subramanian; Ramesh, Burns; Andrew JeremiahAssignee: Siemens Power Generation, Inc. 7,370,613 Issue date: May 13, 2008 eccentric crank variable compression ratio mechanism A variable compression ratio mechanism for an internal combustion engine that has an engine block and a crankshaft is disclosed. The variable compression ratio mechanism has a plurality of eccentric disks configured to support the crankshaft. Each of the plurality of eccentric disks has at least one cylindrical portion annularly sur-rounded by the engine block. The variable compression ratio mecha-nism also has at least one actuator configured to rotate the plurality of eccentric disks. Inventors: Lawrence; Keith Edward, Moser; William Elliott, Roozenboom; Stephan Donald , Knox; Kevin JayAssignee: Caterpillar Inc. 7,370,466 Issue date: May 13, 2008 extended flashback annulus in a gas turbine combustor An extended flashback annulus (520) is formed between an exterior surface (506) of a shroud or casing (508) associated with a main swirler assembly inner body (500) or other fuel/air mixing device and the inner surface (514) of an annulus casting (510) which are in operational relationship with one another in a gas turbine combustor assembly. The extended flashback annulus (520) is capable of form-ing an extended protective cylindrical air barrier (550) that extends farther into the combustion zone, this barrier being more robust and providing for the reduction or prevention of flashback to the base-plate and other heat-susceptible upstream components. Inventors: Cai; WeidongAssignee: Siemens Power Generation, Inc. 7,368,827 Issue date: May 6, 2008 electrical assembly for monitoring conditions in a combustion turbine operating environment An electrical assembly for use in various operating environments such as a casing of a combustion turbine 10 is provided. The assem-bly may include an electrical energy-harvesting device 51 disposed in a component within the casing of the turbine to convert a form of energy present within the casing to electrical energy. The harvest-ing device is configured to generate sufficient electrical power for powering one or more electrical devices therein without assistance from an external power source. One example of electrical devices wholly powered by the energy harvesting device may be a sensor 50 connected for sensing a condition of the component within the casing during operation of the combustion turbine. Another example of electrical devices wholly powered by the energy harvesting device may be a transmitter in communication with the sensor for wirelessly transmitting the data signal outside the casing. Inventors: Kulkarni; Anand A., Subramanian; RameshAssignee: Siemens Power Generation, Inc. 7,367,223 Issue date: May 6, 2008 Method and device for assessing the quality of a fuel, in particular a diesel or petrol fuel Fuels that are used nowadays can have a different densities or differ-ent heating values. Even when filling the fuel tank (7) the quality of the fuel in the fuel tank (7) can change since different fuels are mixed. For example a low density or a low heating value can lead to reduced performance of the internal combustion engine (1). It is therefore proposed that a fuel-specific factor k be determined using a sensor (2, 2a), with which the characteristic of the combustion chamber pressure and/or a lambda value is measured, and using an algorithm. In a further embodiment the operating parameters (injected quantity, start of injection, end of injection, injection pattern, exhaust gas re-circulation rate, etc.) are corrected using the factor k. Inventors: Kettl; Thomas, Zhang; HongAssignee: Siemens Aktiengesellschaft

randall W. schwartzHovey Williams LLPrws@hoveywilliams.com

p. 14 Q3 - “Industry case studies” GM Journal

Announcements may be sent to gmjournal@striker-ent.com or faxed to 972-692-8956. Deadline for GMC Today is September 29, 2008; Deadline for Q4 GM Journal is October 31, 2008.

atcO nOIse ManaGeMent OPens denVer OFFIce

New Office To Specialize in Acous-tical Engineering Services for the Rocky Mountain Energy Sector

CALGARY, Alberta -- ATCO Acous-tical Consultants, a business unit of ATCO Noise Management, has ex-panded to Denver, Colorado. The new office of ATCO Acoustical Con-sultants will enable ATCO Noise Management to better provide local-ized expert industrial noise consulting services to energy and engineering companies in the Rocky Mountains region of the United States.

“ATCO Noise Management has been servicing clients in Denver’s energy and engineering sectors from its Cal-gary headquarters for over five years. We have grown our customer base to the size where it makes sense to now bring our expertise much closer, en-suring more immediate response to clients in Denver, the State of Colo-rado, and across the Rocky Mountain region,” said Boris Rassin, President of ATCO Noise Management.

The ATCO Acoustical Consultants business unit is staffed with a total of eleven experienced acoustical engi-neers and several project administra-tors, who work closely with members of the mechanical and structural engi-neering departments of ATCO Noise Management. ATCO Noise Manage-ment formed the business unit to fo-cus on growing industry needs across North America for proven consulting expertise in noise management and reduction.

Latin American clients will continue to be serviced from the company’s of-fice in Curitiba, Brazil.

t.F. HudGIns naMed reGIOnaL dIstrIButOr OF IMI sensOrs In-dustrIaL VIBratIOn MOnItOrInG eQuIPMent

HOUSTON, TX – T.F. Hudgins, In-corporated, recently reached an agree-ment with the IMI Sensors Division of PCB Piezotronics to distribute IMI Sensors industrial vibration monitor-ing instrumentation products. These products include industrial vibration sensors and transmitters, switches, reciprocating machinery protectors, bearing fault detectors, panel meters, cables and accessories. Under terms of the agreement, T.F. Hudgins will provide sales and support to custom-ers in the oil, gas, petrochemical and refining industries in a region that includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma

Business Briefs

and Texas. T.F. Hudgins has also been named an exclusive distributor for IMI Sensors new Series 649Axx Reciprocating Machinery Protec-tor and Series 680x Smart Vibration Switches.

IMI Sensors designs and manufac-tures industrial accelerometers and vibration sensors, 4-20 mA vibration transmitters, smart vibration switch-es, bearing fault detectors, recipro-cating machinery protectors, signal conditioning, cables and related ac-cessories for predictive maintenance, equipment protection, condition monitoring and machinery vibration analysis. Sensors are used to monitor bearings, gears, motors, spindles and other rotating machinery in harsh fac-tory environments.

acI serVIces, Inc. annOunces tHree ManaGeMent addItIOns

CAMBRIDGE, Ohio -- John J. Ba-zaar has joined ACI Services Inc. as Manager, Design Engineering, reporting to Chuck Wiseman, Direc-tor of Mechanical Design. John has 25 years of mechanical design and analysis experience from various in-dustries including gas compressors. He holds a BSME degree from Union College, Schenectady, NY.

Derek A. McIntire has joined ACI as Manager, Manufacturing, reporting to Larry Burnett, VP of Operations. Derek has more than 14 years of oil field and manufacturing experience, including engineering and supervi-sory assignments with Ford Motor Company. He holds a BS in Indus-trial Technology and a MS in Indus-trial Systems Engineering from Ohio University.

Nak Nortey has joined ACI as a Sr. Project Engineer. Nak brings 30 years of industrial experience and a strong background in project management, product design and stress analysis. He holds a BSME degree from City University of New York, an MS in Engineering Science from Penn State University, and is near a PhD in Me-chanical Engineering after extensive post-graduate studies at Columbia University, Polytechnic Institute of New York and Auberdeen Univer-sity.

cOMPressOr PrOducts Inter-natIOnaL and acI serVIces an-nOunce aLLIance aGreeMent

HOUSTON, TX – Compressor Prod-ucts International (CPI) and ACI Services Inc. announced today that the two companies are forming an international sales, marketing and

development alliance to expand ser-vices and product availability to each company’s customers - worldwide. Under the agreement, CPI gains ac-cess to ACI’s custom-designed cyl-inders and compressor engineering capabilities; and ACI obtains CPI polymer alloy materials and radius disc valves for use in product devel-opment.

cOMPressOr PrOducts Interna-tIOnaL acQuIres naVItas (u.K.) Ltd.

STAFFORD, Texas – Compres-sor Products International (CPI) is pleased to announce the acquisition of Navitas (U.K.) Ltd., a business located in Berkshire, U.K., which developed the Valvealert™ condition monitoring systems.

The Valvealert™ product is a condi-tion monitoring tool which analyzes the operation of compressor valves over a period of time. This equipment allows service engineers to reduce down time of machines by detecting and pinpointing operational problems before they impact operating per-formance. In addition, Compressor OEM’s have used this product within testing and quality routines of new machines.

Valvealert™ is a non-intrusive meth-od for monitoring and trending the mechanical condition of reciprocat-ing compressor valves. Valvealert™ can be used on all types of compres-sors from small air compressors to 3000 bar L.D.P.E. compressors and oxygen machines. The product encompasses both off-line and on-line monitoring hardware. This hardware interfaces with the Valvealert™ software that provides automatic analysis and report gen-eration through a simple graphical user interface. The system will also trigger alerts to compressor operators notifying them of potential valve is-sues.

The Valvealert™ system is a patented product that provides a flexible in-frastructure to integrate compressor monitoring and allows for the auto-matic assessment and control of com-pressor valves.

aLtrOnIc, Inc. unVeILs cPu-95 enHanced dIsPLay MOduLe

Significantly larger display allows for viewing additional information provided by new datalogging capa-bilities

GIRARD, OH - Altronic, Inc. has

announced an op-tional Enhanced Display Module (791909-1) which is backward-com-patible for the CPU-95 Digital Ignition System. The new display will be of inter-est to users seek-ing an expanded level of capability or intending on integrating their CPU-95 system into an existing or planned super-visory control or remote monitoring system.

In addition to incorporating a Mod-bus RTU-enabled serial port for com-munication with a remote monitoring system or local controller, the En-hanced CPU-95 Display Module also supports USB connectivity to a PC and the associated CPU-95 Termi-nal Program. An innovative ignition memory “cloning” system allows this advanced Module to upload the igni-tion system configuration file (num-ber of cylinders, firing pattern, num-ber of monitored gear teeth, 4-20mA or RPM curve, etc.) from a connected Ignition Module, retain it indefinitely in its own memory, and–without need of a laptop–to download that memory information to a new Ignition Module in the event that the existing module is damaged or requires replacement.

The larger system display allows for the simultaneous display of large amounts of information, and the abil-ity to “map” the CPU-95 Ignition Outputs to the appropriate cylinder designation. Thus, the user retains indication of the appropriate CPU-95 output (A, B, C, etc.) while also get-ting diagnostic indications in terms of the on-engine cylinder reference (5L, 3R, #6, etc.). Advanced spark refer-ence number graphing is also made possible by the incorporation of the larger display (see sample displays above). “Live” and datalog-based XY graphing of the monitored Spark Ref-erence Number for a given cylinder and “at-a-glance” indication of the relative value of the Spark Reference Number across all cylinders gives the user unparalleled access and con-venience in ignition system trouble-shooting and monitoring.

Added capabilities also include an on-board datalogging function which retains up to one-hundred (100) date and time-stamped records of the Spark Reference Number for each output which have been recorded at

user-adjustable intervals. These re-cords are stored in a rolling “first in-first out” fashion and are accessible for download via the Enhanced Dis-play Module for offline trending and analysis.

Thomas G. Drenan, 52, passed away on July 19, 2008 after a valiant two-year battle with a malignant brain tumor. Prior to his declining health, Tom was Direc-tor of Compressor Connection for ACI Services Inc. in Cambridge, Ohio, U.S.A. He knew integral engine compressors inside and out, and was instrumental in the development of ACI’s Compressor-Connection.com and the underlying used compression equipment business.

Prior to joining ACI in January 2005, Tom spent more than 24 years with Ten-nessee Gas Pipeline in various engineer-ing and supervisory positions. A native of Huntington, W.V., Tom had a BSME degree from West Virginia Tech. He was an avid racing fan and enjoyed working on his classic 1969 Plymouth Road Runner. A friend to everyone he met, Tom was a caring, Christian family man who leaves behind wife, Karen, son, Tyler, and daughter, Courtney. Personal condolences may be sent to the family at www.thorn-blackfuneralhomes.com.

In MeMOrIaM

• Redesigned KVG Power Head - Runs cooler. No cracking.

• Improved COOPER-BESSEMER® GMV Water Inlet Header - Better durability.

• New AJAX® Integrated Governor - Fast response to load change.

• New Eco Jet™ and SUPERIOR® 825 Combustion Chamber - Reduced emissions.