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GE Aerospace is investing over $130 million

 in its European maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) and component repair facilities as part of the company’s $1 billion MRO spending surge that was approved in early 2024. These funds will support engine test cells, new equipment, and new technology such as AI-powered enhanced inspection techniques.

One of GE Aerospace’s spokespersons shared how the recent investments support numerous activities across its MRO facilities and credits a growing aviation market and the company’s lean operating model, FLIGHT DECK, for spurring the demand for these investments.

FLIGHT DECK is a systematic, lean, and waste-reducing approach to running the business using 10 fundamentals that allow the company to deliver value for its customers. At the heart of FLIGHT DECK is “kaizen,” a method that achieves continuous improvement using data-driven, team-oriented, and structured problem-solving to eliminate waste and generate more value with fewer resources.

The spokesperson also offered insight into how the company utilizes AI, augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality to assist MRO operations.

TURBO: What factors are accelerating the growth of the global aircraft MRO market?

Growth is driven by increasing air travel demands, aging aircraft fleets, and technological advancements that necessitate more frequent MRO services.

TURBO: How does this investment support LEAP engines at the XEOS overhaul facility?

XEOS will focus exclusively on servicing LEAP engines as overhaul and repair demand for the maturing fleet continues to grow. Lean principles enhance turnaround times, thus minimizing downtime for airlines.

TURBO: How does employee use of FLIGHT DECK improve safety, quality, delivery, and cost and help spur investments in these facilities?

FLIGHT DECK improves safety, quality, delivery, and cost, and spurs investments by standardizing processes and fostering continuous improvement. This leads to higher operational efficiency and reliability, encouraging further investments in European MRO facilities to meet growing demand.

GE Aerospace and Waygate Technologies developed an 

 for commercial jet engines. It’s equipped with a computer-optimized object detection algorithm and temporal smoothing algorithm that increase model recall rates and decrease the false positive rate. It improves inspection workflows and increases reliability by reducing the inspector learning curve and identifying previously difficult-to-detect defects. It also features an automated data anonymization tool to protect partner data and enable integration into the training dataset.

GE Aerospace also deployed two AI-enabled inspection tools for the CFM LEAP and GE9X aviation engines. The AI selects consistent blade images and builds predictive models based on verified domain data. The AI-enabled Blade Inspection Tool delivers more accurate inspections to minimize turnaround times, maximize time-on-wing, and reduce engine service time for airline customers.

TURBO: What are the advantages of AI-enabled inspection techniques when applied to aircraft engine MRO work? How does this enhancement reduce turnaround times and expand component repair capability?

With our AI-enabled Blade Inspection Tool, the AI guides the selection of the blade’s most optimal images for engineers to analyze, assisting with the inspection itself. This has allowed us to reduce the processing time for inspections from 3 to 1.5 hours versus standard borescope inspections while improving the accuracy of inspections.

AI is also helping MRO organizations accurately forecast final work scopes and parts required for repairs months before an engine’s induction date. Using AI, we’re able to predict part requirements before an engine comes into an MRO shop, avoiding any undue delays in repairing and returning an engine to service.

GE Aerospace’s Customer Technical Education Center (CTEC) integrates AR training courses to supplement in-person training. CTEC used a GE9X engine for customer training courses, including line maintenance, borescope, and boroblend repair procedures as well as fan stator removal and installation. The virtual trainings accelerated the learning curve for these activities and since then, these platforms have been further integrated into aircraft MRO work.

TURBO: Does GE Aerospace use AR platforms to train maintenance personnel? If so, what are the advantages of using these technologies? Additionally, how does training occur with these technologies?

GE Aerospace uses AR platforms to train personnel for engine maintenance tasks. We make these experiences available through laptops, tablets, and smartphones with training occurring in both physical and virtual classroom settings.

With the adoption of AR-driven training, we’re seeing a faster skill ramp-up with maintenance personnel, optimized cycle times for maintenance activities, and an overall improved capacity to provide more training opportunities.

TURBO: What other needs does GE Aerospace plan to address with its MRO spending surge?

It addresses capacity expansion intended to reduce turnaround times for customers and expand component repair capabilities.

GE Aerospace’s lean operating model and overall industry growth have spurred investments by standardizing processes and fostering operational efficiency and reliability.

GE Aerospace’s MRO Investments Enhanced by AI Tools, Digital Training, and Lean Business Strategy

’s final edition of the year is here: November/December 2024. This issue focuses on decarbonized turbomachinery and the future of hydrogen in power generation.

In our cover story, Peter Kutne of the German Aerospace Center and Giuseppe Tilocca of ETN Global identify four key pre-conditions for hydrogen power plants:

Extensive hydrogen transportation infrastructure

They highlight hydrogen combustion and integration into power plants, including advancements and challenges, and give an inside look at global blue and green hydrogen projects and new machinery in the pipeline by country, OEM, and launch date.

 dives into three new technologies being developed by Siemens Energy: an advanced rotor hydrogen compressor, a Turbo Heater, and a rotating olefins cracker (ROC). Its advanced rotor hydrogen compressor addresses the challenges of using low-mole-weight gases like hydrogen and enables significant compressor stage count reduction. Its Turbo Heater employs high-speed gas dynamics to directly heat gas through a shock wave train and is driven by an electric motor. The ROC produces olefins without the combustion of fossil fuels, and, like the Turbo Heater, it can be driven by an electric motor or a hydrogen-fired gas turbine.

 research project in which the company is developing a four-stroke, medium-speed, dual-fuel test engine that uses ammonia for large-scale ship applications.

“An advantage for AmmoniaMot 2 is to have the two-stroke engine development in parallel to the project,” said Christian Kunkel, Head of Combustion Development and Four-Stroke R&D. “As far as ammonia is concerned, we can copy and adapt some of the technical concepts and ideas from two-stroke engine development, mainly in the fields of safety concepts, compatibility of materials, and lube oil.”

Pavini Shah of Ingersoll Rand gives a top-level overview of how advanced compressor technologies can lower energy usage, carbon emissions, and cost. In addition to traditional systems like variable-speed drives and heat recovery, Shah said cooling technologies can lower operating temperatures and minimize the energy required for compression. She also stressed the three Cs: commitment to sustainabil­ity, continuous innovation, and collaboration.

Tangential to decarbonization, Amin Almasi’s Turbo Tips column discusses how to simplify, re-configure, and eliminate components to improve turbomachinery operation. He targets simplifications in spacing and configuration, assembly, and mechanisms, and explains how sensors, predictive maintenance, and proper alignment reinforce machine reliability. The concluding case study showcases the benefits of removing unnecessary components, specifically a safety clutch that caused operational failures in a turbomachinery package.

Finally, the Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz address a hotly debated topic in alternative fuels: hydrogen transport and storage. Due to hydrogen’s challenging elemental properties, it cannot be handled without care and requires extensive modifications within global transportation and pipeline networks. In summation, “Hydrogen transport and storage are not trivial! They are technically challenging and present significant operational and safety issues that need to be addressed before large-scale hydrogen transport, storage, and distribution can become commercially viable.”

Click here to view November/December 2024

The November/December 2024 issue highlights emerging decarbonization efforts that integrate hydrogen, ammonia, and new technologies into increasingly intermittent grids.

Featured

Turbomachinery International: November/December 2024

Gone are the days when a combined-cycle gas turbine could be expected to run for 8,000 hours or more a year. Increasingly, gas turbines are being deployed at peaking capacity or to fill the gap on a winter's day when there's no wind and little sun, for example. Simultaneously, widespread projections of soaring electricity demand in response to the electrification of transport and the meteoric rise of power-hungry data centers leave no questions about whether gas turbines will continue to play a major role in the power-generation portfolios of the future.

Switching gas turbines from baseload to peaking-type operations reduces their operating hours and impacts the economic model that has supported turbine deployment over the last decades. This is prompting owners and operators to take another look at how gas turbines are financed.

Shifting Power Market Prompts Tough CapEx Decisions

The changes in energy macro trends coincide with another major influence specific to the gas turbine market: A period of rapid growth in gas turbine capacity during which many F-class machines were installed, such as the GE 7F.03. In the early 2000s, the bubble saw orders for baseload gas turbines skyrocket and the emergence of a standard model coupled with a set of ancillaries, such as the heat recovery steam generator. However, many of those machines are now reaching the end of their service life, having operated for around 200,000 hours, and a new trend is forming. 

Their turbine rotors will have to be replaced and either the whole machine will be scrapped and a new plant developed or, as an alternative strategy, the turbine internals will be replaced. This upgrade to later and more advanced technology offers higher efficiencies with a wider operating envelope, better ramp rates, and better part-load capabilities than previous generations. In addition, more significant economic and engineering factors are at play when deciding to completely replace a power plant or upgrade and refurbish an existing facility.

A new facility requires more substantial capital investment than refurbishment. And, while in both cases a more efficient and flexible machine will emerge, a wide range of economic and engineering factors must be considered. Critical factors include:

the anticipated volume of electricity sales,

the scale of capital investment and potential payback periods,

These considerations become more important in light of a new operating regime in which a plant may produce power for far fewer hours than a baseload facility.

Given the challenging economics facing new builds and supply chain issues, which tend to favor refurbishment, many plant owners are looking to replace turbine internals to achieve desirable performance characteristics as cost-efficiently as possible. However, uprating a turbine rotor comes with challenges, notably the requirement to increase airflow through the machine as a consequence of the new combustion characteristics. Essentially, more power means more air. Refurbishing the turbine internals means increasing the performance of the air inlet and its filtration systems without increasing the pressure drop across the filter house or diminishing filtration performance that might negatively affect the turbine efficiency.

An upgraded rotor and higher airflow would conventionally mean a bigger filter house, but this requirement is constrained by the available footprint at a brownfield site. Indeed, a larger filter house will not fit in the same footprint as an existing unit because an uprated system often has to be wider and taller. Many sites are critically restricted in width, especially if there is more than one gas turbine onsite with a fixed distance between them. In addition, height restrictions can also come into play due to power cables, fixed downstream ducting, or some other systems installed near the turbine. With space constraints affecting the available options, improving airflow performance is only possible by installing filters that run with a higher flow rate or fit within the same space.

Fortunately, while turbine technology has advanced to deliver improved performance, so have air inlet filtration systems. By using more modern and higher flow-rate technology, it is possible to have a filter house of similar dimensions to meet site constraints. Recent developments in filter elements can deliver appropriate airflow characteristics with no appreciable drop in air quality. The key development is that the filter geometry has changed, enabling a higher air flow rate for the same performance and improved nesting to optimize the space required for each filter. The changes in filter geometries—for example developing a generally triangular cartridge rather than a round one—were executed to reduce pressure loss and increase airflow throughput through the same space and reflect changing market demands. 

This is only part of a series of air inlet assemblies, such as weather hoods and coalescers, evaporative coolers, pulse cleaning, and anti-icing systems, that will be required to squeeze into the same footprint. With the correct technology in place, this is achievable, and it may be possible to use the same support structure that had served the existing filter house for additional CapEx savings.

Owners are increasingly attracted to replacing end-of-life rotors in gas turbines. As a strategy, it represents an opportunity to upgrade to the latest power-generation technology with the lowest CapEx. The promise of increased power output, higher efficiencies, and better part-load flexibility are within reach and increasingly important in the current and rapidly evolving generation. Removing the need to replace the entire air inlet system could be a significant factor when considering CapEx, ultimately driving the decision to refurbish a power plant or start again from scratch.

Steve Hiner is the Chief Engineer of Parker Filtration Group's Altair Business Unit, Filtration & Energy Solutions Division.

When deciding to refurbish or renew, gas turbine plant owners have to weigh engineering and economic factors, including the turbine’s footprint.

CapEx: New Gas Turbine Models and Filtration Footprints

GE Aerospace, Boeing, NASA, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory will develop an Open Fan engine design model. Engineers will simulate flight conditions to study the aerodynamics of a wing-mounted Open Fan engine. Simulation enables the design to achieve more efficiency, increased performance benefits, and lower noise levels. x

The Department of Energy awarded this project 840,000 supercomputing hours via its INCITE program, which supports computationally intensive projects. The partners have access to Argonne National Laboratory’s Aurora supercomputer and Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Frontier supercomputer, both capable of processing test data at over a quintillion calculations per second. 

Open Fan designs lack the traditional jet engine casing, permitting a larger fan size with reduced drag and improved fuel efficiency. Previously, GE Aerospace modeled the performance and noise levels of Open Fan engine parts with exascale computing. Increased computational power allows the replication of a full-size integrated engine and aircraft in the design phase.

“Advanced supercomputing capability is a key breakthrough enabling the Open Fan engine design,” said Arjan Hegeman, General Manager for Future of Flight Technology at GE Aerospace. “Airplane integration is critical. Today’s announcement with Boeing, NASA, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to simulate the latest airplane and engine designs continues a longstanding legacy in the aviation industry.”

CFM International’s Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) program, launched in 2021 and developing the Open Fan engine, demonstrates aviation technology and completed more than 250 tests. The RISE program develops advanced engine architectures and compact core and hybrid electric systems for compatibility with 100% or unblended sustainable aviation fuel. It also:

Targets more than 20% improved fuel efficiency

 emissions over modern commercial engines

“We aim to do something our company has never achieved before — introduce a new jet engine that is 20% more fuel efficient than our most advanced commercial engines today,” said Hegeman. “This represents a jump in technology development that usually takes multiple generations to achieve. Supercomputing helps make it possible.”

In early November, GE Aerospace signed a maintenance, repair, and offload (MRO) offload agreement with the Cyprus-based United Aerospace Maintenance Co. (UAMCO). The 

 for CFM LEAP engines and allow GE Aerospace to satisfy its MRO capacity and open ecosystem obligations for CFM. The ecosystem includes:

CFM internal capacity delivered by GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines

External capacity from Premier MRO workshops

External capacity from competing third-party MRO providers

Headquartered in Larnaca, Cyprus, UAMCO obtained EASA approval for quick-turn maintenance for LEAP-1A engines installed on Airbus A320neo fleets. The company also received MRO approval for LEAP-1B engines equipped on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. UAMCO will fulfill the engine maintenance requirements of customers in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Currently, the company is partnered with GE Aerospace On-Wing Support to perform on-wing and near-wing retrofits for the updated reverse bleed system in LEAP-1A engines. UAMCO employs two teams that can perform installations globally.

DOE awarded GE Aerospace, Boeing, and NASA supercomputer access to study open-fan aerodynamics to reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency.

GE Aerospace Teams Up to Simulate, Model Open Fan Engine on Aircraft Wing

Decentralized Energy Systems: Toward Carbon-Neutral Energy Solutions for Gas Turbines

, compares decentralized systems to centralized heat and power units and highlights its advantages—including modularity, the possibility to exploit waste heat avoiding energy transmission losses, and reducing energy distribution costs. 

Giuseppe Tilocca, Scientific Officer at ETN Global, reviews these advantages in detail, as well as trends and emerging market opportunities. He also dives into gas turbines and how they fit into decentralized energy systems.

Q: Can you provide a background on ETN Global and its report on decentralized energy systems?

ETN Global is a non-profit association. We have OEMs, users, the R&D community, suppliers—the entire spectrum of stakeholders. We mainly work on technology, but we also delve into market and policy. We gather users’ challenges every year through high-level meetings and transform them into pathways for technical requirements.

Considering this specific report, we all know that the energy sector is transforming very quickly, and it’s mainly driven by the increasingly high share of renewable energy sources. In this scenario, which is dominated by variable sources, the demand for daily, weekly, and seasonal flexibility is set to grow dramatically. To meet the system requirements while accomplishing the ambitious decarbonization goals, we need to support traditional centralized generation with a mix of centralized components, such as demand response and stability generation. 

It is about going into the critical role of decentralized energy systems to achieve carbon-neutral energy solutions, particularly focusing on the integration and application of gas turbine technology.

Q: How do you define a decentralized energy system, and what is its advantage over centralized heat and power units?

Historically, we established centralized energy systems, meaning large plants located far from consumers. The reason behind it is merely economy of scale and efficiency, so it is cheaper to have one big plant than many small ones; however, with the increasing integration of variable renewable energy sources, which are inherently decentralized, we now need to adapt our infrastructure and incorporate technologies that are traditionally used for centralized energy. By definition, a decentralized energy system is located close to the consumption nodes—so on the end user side of the network—and therefore it’s connected to the distribution grid rather than the transmission grid.

The advantages of a decentralized energy system are mainly modularity, the possibility of exploiting waste heat, and a positive contribution to stability. One of the main benefits of being close to consumption nodes is avoiding transmission and distribution losses and costs compared to centralized generation. Decentralized energy systems are pivotal in meeting the pillars of the energy trilemma, which stress the principles of affordability, security, and climate neutrality and hence align with the requirements for the transition toward 2030 but also 2040 and 2050.

Q: What are the biggest hurdles that decentralized energy systems face?

There are three main hurdles. Technologically, it is scale. Smaller equipment is proportionally more expensive than larger equipment, as are installation costs. As a result, capital expenditure per kW installed is less competitive than for larger equipment. Similarly, operating expenses may proportionally increase as size decreases; this includes maintenance, onsite operations, and fuel costs. (Smaller units usually have lower fuel-conversion efficiency.) These two hurdles may somewhat balance the benefits of reducing transmission and distribution losses.

On the user side, one of the many hurdles is commitment. This applies to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors. Investing in energy isn’t necessarily seen as a priority—in many cases, it’s far easier to plug into the grid and forget about it. This is not the case when energy is a primary cost, or you need heat or mechanical power.

One of the most challenging aspects of decentralized energy systems is the integration of different energy sources, energy technology, and energy products—they all need to coexist. You could have variable renewables providing power; you could have storage during a surplus or need storage as a battery or fuel; or you may have flexible technology to ensure available power. Having many sources, technologies, and products presents a huge quantity of data to manage and, in such complex systems, integration and controls are among the biggest challenges.

Q: What are some trends and emerging opportunities identified by ETN Global in this space?

With the increasing penetration of renewables and decentralization, we often hear the word “flexibility”, which we define as power balance. To maintain electricity and meet demand in Europe, we’ll need more than double the current flexibility by 2030 and five times more by 2050. There are not many available, affordable, and scalable alternatives for gas turbines’ long-term flexibility, so this is a focus of ours.

Energy balance is only part of the problem, as many auxiliary services are of critical importance to maintain a reliable power supply. We see the market moving toward integrating smaller units or virtual power plants in auxiliary market services. These two factors are even more relevant if we consider congestion and bottlenecks in the power grid that will limit interconnection capacity and flexibility—this will require substantial investment.

A matter we often forget is energy includes not only electricity but also mechanical power and heat, which are inherently decentralized. Electrifying high-temperature heat presents several challenges, which is why gas turbines in decentralized energy systems will have a role in providing flexibility, auxiliary services, mechanical power, and heat.

Q: How do gas turbines fit into decentralized and carbon-neutral energy systems?

In terms of decentralization, gas turbines are recognized for their low maintenance, fuel flexibility, and compactness. Their successful applications include primary generation, continuous power, and standby power. In these applications, they leverage low maintenance, especially for remote locations offshore. They’re fuel flexibility means they are often used with waste fuels that other technologies may struggle to run, such as flare gas from oil and gas, biofuels, etc. Gas turbines also have the potential to provide waste heat for residential, commercial, and industrial cogeneration applications.

Small turbines can help in remote locations with no access to the grid or access to an unstable grid. They’re expected to play a significant role in emerging economies like Africa, where natural gas will drive industrial growth. Standalone generation will provide cost-effective electricity access for nearly one-third of Africa by 2030. Here, smart grids and microgrids present significant opportunities. An EU-funded project studied the impact of integrating decentralized energy systems, including solar, wind, gas turbines, hydrogen, and biogas, onto an island near Norway. 

Gas turbines’ carbon neutrality is not a matter of technology but fuel. Gas turbines can already use fuels like hydrogen, but the infrastructure for these fuels is missing.

Q: What are the advantages and struggles of gas turbines in these systems? What solutions and applications are addressing these issues?

Gas turbines enable flexibility. In decentralized energy systems, clean and dispatchable solutions such as gas turbines enable the energy transition—in fact, there is no energy transition without dispatchable solutions. We’re now seeing the role of gas turbines change rapidly in decentralized energy systems—moving from 8,000 operating hours per year to about 1,000 and from two to three cycles per year to two to three per day. This operational change will impact energy systems both economically and technically.

On the technical side, new market requirements will affect maintenance and operations. The R&D community is working on fuel flexibility to minimize emissions like NOx, which will position dispatchable, affordable gas turbines as sustainable and clean technologies for the energy trilemma.

Listen to the full podcast with Giuseppe Tilocca at 

ETN Global takes a deep dive into decentralized energy systems—advantages such as modularity, roadblocks for integration, and the future of power demand—and the role of gas turbines in a decarbonized future.

Q&A: Gas Turbines and Decentralized Energy Systems

Video interview with Albert Gomez of FS-Elliott

Driving Innovation and Excellence: FS-Elliott’s Approach to Customer Support and ESG

At TPS 2024, Albert Gomez, Vice President of Global Services at FS-Elliott, speaks about the company’s scope of operations, including engineering/manufacturing, post-sales support, extended warrantee programs, maintenance programs, and ESG initiatives. Watch the video to learn more about:

The benefits of using genuine new OEM parts from the manufacturer;

The importance of having service personnel trained and certified by the manufacturer to provide service;

The importance of adhering to industry standards and regulations.

At Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia (TPS) 2024, Albert Gomez of FS-Elliott talks about the company’s scope of operations and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) initiatives.

David Hale

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