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Podcasts

Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz discuss root-cause analysis—what it is, its methodologies, and why it’s so important to managing turbomachines.

TurboTime Podcast: Root Cause Analysis with the Myth Busters 

This episode of the TurboTime podcast features an onsite interview from our Turbo Tour of EthosEnergy’s Light Gas Turbine and Performance Center Facility in Houston. Assistant Editor James Cook talks with Daniel Tegtmeier, Director of EthosEnergy's Performance Center, about remote monitoring and operations, the changing energy landscape, and the benefits of remote start/stop and virtual capabilities.

Q: How does remote monitoring keep simple-cycle assets viable in a market focused on renewable energy?

 If you think about a machine built 20+ years ago and its efficiency, it still has a place in the market when competing with renewables. It’s not like it used to be though—these units used to run wide-open, 24/7. They’re now intermittent assets competing with renewables and zero-cost fuels, but once the wind stops blowing and the sun stops shining, that load is gone.

These are simple-cycle configurations, so they can come online quickly and be at 100 - 120 MW in less than an hour. So, you’re going to staff a facility 8,000 hours per year in case they call you up? That’s part of what we do and the justification for remote operations—you need the intermittent load from simple-cycle assets in rapid fashion, but you can’t afford to staff these places full-time.

Q: In addition to that justification, are there any safety improvements delivered through remote start/stop and control capabilities?

 Economics seems to drive most decision processes behind whether you’re remotely operating a facility or not; however, there’s a huge safety aspect. You don’t need people there 24 hours a day around equipment with a lot of pent-up energy, so exposure levels drop dramatically. For the most part, these machines are designed so well and over-engineered from day one that they’re conducive to [remote monitoring].

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Daniel Tegtmeier, Director of EthosEnergy’s Performance Center, talks about remote operations and monitoring. 

TurboTime Podcast: Remote Monitoring with EthosEnergy

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz talk about turbine degradation. They define terms such as fouling, corrosion, erosion, and rubbing and dig a little bit into what causes degradation, how it can be measured and minimized, and the difference between recoverable and non-recoverable degradation.

Burn explained: “A gas turbine system consists of a compressor, combustor, and one or several turbines, so degradation at its highest level is simply measured by what power output and efficiency to expect under certain operating conditions from a new machine and how much less power and less efficiency do you get after that machine has been running for thousands or tens of thousands of hours. The primary measurement is really on a macro level.”

During this episode, the Myth Busters break down the many terms associated with degradation, what components degrade, how it can be measured and minimized, and more. 

TurboTime Podcast: Turbomachine Degradation with the Myth Busters

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz talk about methane leakage in the oil and gas industry, which is only one of the many sectors that contribute to methane emissions in the United States. The biogas sector, including landfills and agriculture, contributes to methane leakage as do coal mines. That said, our industry still accounts for a percentage of methane emissions. The Myth Busters discuss where and how it occurs in the oil and gas industry, how different types of compressors compare in terms of leakage, the role of dry gas seals, and more.

“Methane leakage, in our industry, is primarily from natural gas; and natural gas is called natural gas because it is natural—it is naturally occurring and naturally created,” Brun said. “So, if you talk about methane leakage in the oil and gas industry—really what we should be talking about is natural gas leakage—it is a relatively small part overall of the total natural gas leakage in the world. It is roughly three times smaller than natural gas that is created by natural sources being wetlands and swamps and whatever. The oil and gas industry contributes about three times less than what natural sources do. Also, agriculture contributes about twice as much natural gas. The actual amount of leakage of natural gas into the environment due to the oil and gas industry is somewhat debated and a lot of numbers are floating around, but typically you're talking somewhere between 10 - 20% of the total natural gas that is emitted into the environment comes from oil and gas. The rest is, as I mentioned before, from natural-occurring sources, such as wetlands and agriculture.

“When you look at the oil and gas process, which basically means you're getting oil and gas out of the ground at a well, and then that oil and gas is transmitted to pipelines, and then it goes to either a consumer, you and me, or it goes to industrial places, or it goes to power plants,” Brun continued. “And so, there are many places in that process where it can leak. For very basic economic reasons, nobody wants this gas to leak, right? It costs a lot of money to get it out of the ground, and it costs a lot of money to transport it, and it costs a lot of money to do something with it. So, nobody really wants it to leak, so there is a natural desire by our industry to keep this gas from leaking, but it does.”

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz talk about methane leakage. 

TurboTime Podcast: Methane Leakage with Myth Busters 

In part two of this episode on digital twins, Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz expand on the applications of a digital twin, its advantages and limitations, and the integration of AI in the platform.

Rainer Kurz highlighted a best-use scenario for digital twin technology: “If you have large fleets of reasonably similar machines, it’s much easier to set up a system of digital twins for condition-based maintenance where you get constant data flow and are able to advise the users on maintenance decisions. It’s actually a very powerful tool.” 

Brun added his thoughts on modern digital twin integration: “The combination of a digital twin with other technologies such as fleet monitoring, forecasting, and condition-based monitoring provides an opportunity to improve the operation of the machine.”

Brun said he’s seen promising work being done with AI. “I recently read a doctoral dissertation from a university in Europe, which was interesting because AI was able to parse the data and come up with some intelligent forecasting of failures and at least, theoretically, improved the availability of the machine,” he said. “Learning algorithms have been around for about 30 years or so, but they’ve really only gotten good in the last five years. Now we’re starting to see AI make inroads into more complex things like compressors, gas turbines, steam turbines, plants, etc. I have no doubt that we’ll see more of this and better AI, but at this point in time it doesn’t replace any operator and it’s in its infancy.”

Kurz continued the discussion on AI applications: “One of the big promises of AI is guiding an operator through the system he’s operating. For example, helping the right warnings to show up at the correct time and giving him the right information. There is not AI that simulates complex systems, it simply augments the capability of the human to help make decisions.”

In part two of this two-part episode, Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz cover the applications of digital twin technology, its advantages and limitations, and pairing it with AI.

TurboTime Podcast: Part 2: Applications/AI for Digital Twins 

In part one of the TurboTime podcast on digital twins, Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz offer a simplistic description to provide a background on the technology. “At its very basic form, it’s a numerical representation of what a piece of equipment does," Brun said. "Of course, with the availability of far more data from our equipment and the availability of things like more computing power and potentially some forms of artificial intelligence, you can make these things really powerful. Ultimately, you build a model on how you think the equipment performs and then use data to determine if it really does what it’s supposed to do.

“The idea is to look at the machine and what it’s doing in the field, look at what the digital twin says it should be doing, and then compare to see if something’s gone wrong,” he continued. “Ultimately, this digital twin is supposed to simulate what the machine is doing, it should get input from the machine, it should correct itself over time—so if the machine is degrading over time, then hopefully the digital twin will figure that out.”

Regarding digital twin technology for gas turbine models, Rainer said: “For example, if you have a mechanical and thermodynamic model of a gas turbine where you can determine temperatures at various points of the machine, based on measured data and certain operating conditions, then you can simulate the remaining life of certain components that are limited by stress factors.”

Rainer continued to offer insight on the varying digital twin models within the turbomachinery industry and the importance of good data: “The tendency is moving away from physics-based toward more statistical, AI-based, big data model now. It is really important to understand that unless you have a lot of data and it’s good data, you have nothing.” 

Brun added: “That’s actually one of the big challenges specific to big data that we as engineers face. Data scientists will tell you to give them enough data and they’ll find all the correlations you want, but then you realize correlation and causation are often two very different things.”

In part one of this two-part episode, Myth Busters Klaus Brun and Rainer Kurz provide a background on digital twin technology and how it impacts the turbomachinery industry.

TurboTime Podcast: Part 1: What is a Digital Twin? 

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, sponsored by Rentech Boilers, 

talks with Shawn Brewer, Director of Business Development and Field Services at Rentech Boilers, about boiler repair and the company's field services. 

Brewer reviews the most common problems his company encounters in the field and the reasons these issues are common. He also discusses the differences between a successful servicing or support job and an unproductive one and provides an overview of the repair/support process. Brewer offers listeners a detailed report of the top challenges of working in field services and some preventive measures operators can take to ensure the longevity of their equipment.

In this episode of the TurboTime podcast, sponsored by Rentech Boilers, Shawn Brewer, Director of Business Development and Field Services at Rentech Boilers, talks about boiler repair and the company's field services. 

TurboTime Podcast: Boiler Repair, Field Services with Rentech

Rotating Machinery Services conducts specialty repair, maintenance, overhaul, and custom manufacturing for critical OEM and non-OEM turbomachinery infrastructure.

Arcline Purchases Rotating Machinery Services

The turboshaft engines will be built and delivered under a contract with the U.S. Army through the government’s Foreign Military Sales process.

GE Aerospace Powers Polish Armed Forces’ Helicopter Fleet with T700 Engine

Ana Amicarella, CEO of EthosEnergy, said One Equity Partners’ expertise in mergers and acquisitions will help expand service offerings and improve operational efficiencies.

Accelerating Growth: One Equity Partners Supports EthosEnergy Across Markets

Simplifying, re-configuring, and eliminating certain components can increase a turbomachine’s reliability, efficiency, and safety and, in some cases, reduce costs.

A Case Study: How to Upgrade, Improve, and Redesign Turbomachines

With over $80 million currently invested in the Global Repair Service Center, GE Vernova plans to meet regional population growth and power demand by keeping its fleets operational.

GE Vernova Invests $20M in HA Turbine Repair at Singapore Service Center

Turbo Tour of EthosEnergy’s facility in Houston, Performance Center Director Daniel Tegtmeier offered his insights into the growth and evolution of remote monitoring, its advantages and challenges, and how the company seeks to establish partnerships in all things turbine- and plant-related.

Daniel Tegtmeier of EthosEnergy shares how remote monitoring has grown over the past several years and the advantages and challenges of virtual capabilities. 

Remote Monitoring: Growth, Advantages, and Challenges

Q: How has remote monitoring grown and evolved over the past several years? What’s next?

What started as very manual processes has now evolved to mostly automatic and automatically generated monitoring activities. What used to take operators and engineers days to troubleshoot problems is now an automated process via advancements in technology.

Q: EthosEnergy now has full start/stop capability on natural gas-fired power plants. What advantage does this offer your customers?

It’s more than just start and stop in thermal plants; we can start and stop renewable assets as well. Some of the advantages of remote operation are efficiencies. You could streamline the staffing model for intermittent thermal assets. Secondly, our package includes remote monitoring and advanced analytics that’s applied to the remote operation of customer assets, ensuring that they stay competitive in today’s market.

Q: What’s the biggest challenge facing the power industry as it relates to remote operations?

The biggest challenge is the reluctance to shift operating modes from mostly on-site human presence—operating the plant as designed—to remote facilities that apply humans to asset monitoring.

Q: What are EthosEnergy’s five- to 10-year goals?

The five-year goal is growth. EthosEnergy aspires to be a partner in all things turbine- and plant-related, and it’s not just the power industry. Turbines are used in a host of operations like LNG and oil and gas—we seek to be the largest partner for all those industries in the realm of rotating equipment. We want to increase partnerships and our OEM presence.

Remote Monitoring: Growth, Advantages, and Challenges 

’s visit to EthosEnergy’s Houston-based light gas turbine workshop, Philip Booth, the Engineering Manager, shared his favorite part of day-to-day operations and offered insight into the available tools used in reverse engineering.

EthosEnergy’s Engineering Manager Philip Booth discusses available technology in reverse engineering for rotating equipment.

Reverse Engineering Adapts with Advanced Technologies

Q: What progress has been made over the last 10 - 20 years in available technology relating to engineering/reverse-engineering capability for rotating equipment?

The technology from OEMs has become increasingly complex, so reverse engineering must follow that complexity. Some of the available tools used to be computerized maintenance management systems (CMMs) where you get low-density data; we’re now using the most advanced blue-light scanning technology to capture the fit, form, and derive the function of parts.

We have a lot of technology available that is way beyond replicating a part. But we need to engineer solutions into that part so that we can make advancements to avoid early-life failure and bring that to bear so that our products are equal to anything from OEMs in the marketplace.

Q: What is your favorite part of day-to-day operations at your facility?

 It’s the range of subjects we cover. From an engineering point-of-view, the team can be looking at performance data in the morning; they can be working on a repair development program at lunch; we’re supporting the workshop in the afternoon; and we might be supporting a field-service technician across the world in the evening. I love being part of those conversations and being part of the problem-solving process.

Check out our video interview with EthosEnergy on 

Aftermarket, Repairs, and Overhaul Market.

Reverse Engineering Adapts with Advanced Technologies 

Turbomachinery International visited one of EthosEnergy’s Houston-based facilities: the light gas turbine workshop and performance center. During our tour, we spoke with Philip Booth, the Engineering Manager at EthosEnergy’s light turbine facility. He shares the changes he’s seen in the past several years in the repair and overhaul market and the impacts decarbonization has had on aftermarket repairs.

On our Turbo Tour of EthosEnergy, Engineering Manager Philip Booth spoke about the repair, overhaul, and aftermarket markets.

Aftermarket, Repairs, and Overhaul Market with EthosEnergy

Q: What changes have you seen over the past 5 – 10 years in aftermarket repair/overhaul? What trends are you seeing?

From an engineering point of view, we are increasingly seeing customers looking to aftermarket for our technical and engineering expertise. We answer questions about the turbines, yes, but increasingly [it’s about] balancing their plant—trying to support the customers, optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of their plant, extend the time between overhauls to bring down lifecycle costs.

Q: How has decarbonization impacted, if at all, aftermarket repairs?

 We've seen this two ways: The obvious one is as emission limits have dropped, OEMs have responded accordingly, developing new technologies. In the aftermarket, we've had to respond to that, so we're quite comfortable overhauling and testing all the technologies—conventionally fired units or wet NOx abatement engines—but increasingly we can test and overhaul right up to the sub 10 PPM NOx engines. So, we're comfortable supporting the most advanced technologies in the workshop.

Second, it's more about the life of the equipment—people are much more inclined to try to extend that as long as possible, so we have a repair-centric methodology for the overhaul process. We work with our other businesses in the Ethos network to develop advanced repair technologies, such as a part that would’ve been thrown away years ago, we're repairing and making sure it still has its effectiveness so that it's good for another four to five years of operation.

On our Turbo Tour of EthosEnergy, Engineering Manager Philip Booth spoke about the repair, overhaul, and aftermarket markets. 

Keeping Operations Running at Their Best

At Turbomachinery & Pump Symposia (TPS) 2023, 

 spoke with Phillip Schuepbach, Business Development Manager at Rotoflow, An Air Products Business. Topics covered in this video, sponsored by Rotoflow, include the company’s 24/7/365 global support offering, how Rotoflow is the total solution for manufacturing, operating, and support, as well as how Rotoflow operates as a full-service OEM for service in the field, a reliable spare parts inventory, or a provider of quick systems upgrades. Rotoflow keeps turbomachinery operating at peak performance.

Sponsored Content: At TPS 2023, Turbomachinery International spoke with Phillip Schuepbach, Business Development Manager at Rotoflow, An Air Products Business.

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