The Ceramic Stationary Gas Turbine (CSGT) Development Program was performed under the sponsorship of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT). The goal was to improve the performance (fuel efficiency, output power, and exhaust emissions) of stationary gas turbines in cogeneration through the selective replacement of hot section metallic components with ceramic components. The team was headed by Solar Turbines Incorporated and supported by ceramic component suppliers and national research institutes. The team performed a detailed engine and component design, fabrication, and field-testing of ceramic components. This program culminated in an engine test at 1121°C (2050°F) TRIT. This was a major challenge in that the engine ran with a continuous fiber reinforced ceramic composite liner (CFCC) and with silicon nitride (Si3N4) stage one ceramic blades and nozzles. The design and testing of all three components will be discussed in this paper, with emphasis on the ceramic nozzles. Another test that will be discussed in this paper is a heavily instrumented engine test that took place prior to the test mentioned above. This instrumented engine test was performed in order to better understand the temperature effects between the ceramic and metallic component interfaces. The results from this were then used to correlate the analytical model with test data. This led to additional design changes to the outer and inner shroud ceramic / metallic interfaces, as well as ceramic nozzles, fabricated from Kyocera SN 282 silicon nitride material. These nozzle changes were then engine tested successfully for a total of 100 hours at full load [1010°C (1850°F) TRIT and 100% speed]. During the engine test, the firing temperature was increased to 1121°C (2050°F) TRIT for an adequate duration to ensure meaningful performance data were gathered.
Ceramic Stationary Gas Turbine Development Program — Design and Test of a First Stage Ceramic Nozzle