Capstone Turbine Corporation

Edward C Edelman

Robert W Bosley

Steven W Lampe

Ronald F Miller

Joel B Wacknov

Mark G Gilbreth

Guillermo Pont

Jeffrey W Willis

Brian W Peticolas

Gunther Linzner

James Brian Dickey

Brian J Budzyn

Charles R Gilbreth, Jr

Upon shutdown of a liquid fuel turbine engine, the liquid fuel supply is turned off and compressed air is passed through the fuel lines and fuel injectors to purge all remaining liquid fuel into the combustion chamber to be combusted therein.

Combustion system with shutdown fuel purge

A fuel delivery system supplies fuel to a turbogenerator or to another heat engine. A fuel delivery system according to the present disclosure may include a fuel compressor, a fuel control valve, and a fuel flow controller. A fuel delivery system may have multiple modes of control permitting independent and simultaneous control by the compressor and the fuel valve. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Foil bearing rotary flow compressor with control valve

Combustion method

A command and control system and method for multiple turbogenerators in a grid parallel system includes a master controller to start, sequence, coordinate power commands, and provide fault handling to each of the individual turbogenerators and the specific control modes. A bidirectional power meter, that measures the load consumption (or production when a turbogenerator system is installed) in a building or application, may also be utilized. This power meter can provide a reference or setpoint to the master controller for controlling the individual turbogenerators.

Command and control system for controlling operational sequencing of multiple turbogenerators using a selected control mode

A power control system for a turbogenerator which provides electrical power to one or more pump-jack oil wells. When the induction motor of a pump-jack oil well is powered by three-phase utility power, the speed of the pump-jack shaft varies only slightly over the pumping cycle but the utility power requirements can vary by four times the average pumping power. This power variation makes it impractical to power a pump-jack oil well with a stand-alone turbogenerator controlled by a conventional power control system. This power control system comprises a turbogenerator inverter, a load inverter, and a central processing unit which controls the frequency and voltage/current of each inverter. Throughout the oil well's pumping cycle, the central processing unit increases or decreases the frequency of the load inverter in order to axially accelerate and decelerate the masses of the down hole steel pump rods and oil, and to rotationally accelerate and decelerate the masses of the motor rotors and counter balance weights. This allows kinetic energy to be alternately stored in and extracted from the moving masses of the oil well and allows the oil pumping power to be precisely controlled throughout the pumping cycle, resulting in a constant turbogenerator power requirement.

Turbogenerator power control system

A power control system for a turbogenerator which provides electrical power to one or more pump-jack oil wells. When the induction motor of a pump-jack oil well is powered by three-phase utility power, the speed of the pump-jack shaft varies only slightly over the pumping cycle but the utility power requirements can vary by four times the average pumping power. This power variation makes it impractical to power a pump-jack oil well with a stand-alone turbogenerator controlled by a conventional power control system. This power control system comprises a turbogenerator inverter, a load inverter, and a central processing unit which controls the frequency and voltage/current of each inverter. Throughout the oil well's pumping cycle, the central processing unit increases or decreases the frequency of the load inverter in order to axially accelerate and decelerate the masses of the down hole steel pump rods and oil, and to rotationally accelerate and decelerate the masses of the motor rotors and counter balance weights. This allows kinetic energy to be alternately stored in and extracted from the moving masses of the oil well and allows the oil pumping power to be precisely controlled. Historical data on the load inverter's frequency versus time profile throughout previous pumping cycles, which resulted in nearly constant turbogenerator power requirements, is utilized to further reduce variations in power.

The power meter, required in most utility grid connectged applications to measure load consumption, is utilized to provide a feedback to an associated turbogenerator power controller, providing a control system for peak shaving, load following, reactive power control, reverse flow protection and load analysis for scheduled turbogenerator operation. This control system operates with simple discrete signals for peak shaving operation, to more complex pulse signals for load following, to load profile analysis and scheduled operation based on a microprocessor based serial input from a digital power meter.

Turbogenerator power control system and method

A power control system for a turbogenerator which provides electrical power to pump-jack oil well. When the induction motor of a pump-jack is powered by three-phase utility power, the speed of the shaft varies only slightly over the pumping cycle but the utility power requirements can vary by four times the average pumping power. This variation makes it impractical to power a pump-jack oil well with a stand-alone turbogenerator controlled by a conventional power control system. This control system comprises a turbogenerator inverter, a load inverter, and a central processing unit which controls the frequency and voltage/current of each inverter. Throughout the pumping cycle, the processing unit increases or decreases the frequency of the load inverter in order to axially accelerate and decelerate the masses of the down hole pump rods and oil, and to rotationally accelerate and decelerate the motor rotors and counter balance weights. This allows kinetic energy to be alternately stored in and extracted from the moving masses of the oil well and allows the pumping power to be precisely controlled, resulting in a constant turbogenerator power requirement.

A reciprocating engine generator set and a permanent magnet turbogenerator/motor integrated into a single power generation package. Control means are provided to: (a) select between a load control mode of operation, a load following mode of operation, or a peak shaving mode of operation for the permanent magnet turbogenerator/motor when utility grid power is available to the load; (b) to start the reciprocating engine electric generator when utility grid power is unavailable; and (c) to start the permanent magnet turbogenerator/motor with power from the reciprocating engine electric generator when utility grid power is unavailable.

Integrated reciprocating engine generator set and turbogenerator system and method

A command and control system and method for multiple turbogenerators in a grid parallel system includes a master controller to start, sequence, coordinate power commands, and provide fault handling to each of the individual turbogenerators and the specific control modes. A bi-directional power meter, that measures the load consumption (or production when a turbogenerator system is installed) in a building or application, may also be utilized. This power meter can provide a reference or setpoint to the master controller for controlling the individual turbogenerators.

Command and control system and method for multiple turbogenerators

A gaseous fuel compression and control system is disclosed which utilizes a helical flow compressor/turbine integrated with a permanent magnet motor/generator and driven by a torque controlling inverter to compress or expand gaseous fuels, precisely control fuel pressure and flow, and precisely control the operations (speed, combustion temperature and output power) of a gaseous fuel fired turbogenerator.

Gaseous fuel compression and control method

A gas turbine engine light-off system and method in which the gas turbine engine is operated at a fixed speed to provide a substantially constant supply of combustion air for light-off and the fuel flow is ramped up to achieve the correct fuel-to-air ratio for light-off.

Gas turbine engine fixed speed light-off method

A turbogenerator/motor control system having a plurality of proportional integral control loops including a fuel command control loop and a current command control loop. The exhaust gas temperature of the gas turbine of the turbogenerator/motor is maintained at a constant value with stability is achieved by varying the sampling times of the different proportional integral controls within the control loops.

Turbogenerator/motor control system

A liquid fuel pressurization and control system is disclosed which utilizes either a helical flow pump, or a helical flow pump followed by a gear pump, to pressurize liquid fuel to precisely the pressure level required by a turbogenerator's combustor injectors. This eliminates the need to overpressurize the fuel then regulate the fuel pressure down using a flow control valve or a pressure control valve. The shaft torque and shaft speed of the pump are controlled by the turbogenerator's power controller so as to assure that the turbogenerator's speed is precisely controlled (e.g. within ten (10) rpm out of one hundred thousand (100,000) rpm), and that its turbine exhaust temperature is precisely controlled (e.g. within two (2) degrees Fahrenheit out of twelve hundred (1200) degrees Fahrenheit) over the full range of turbogenerator electrical output power. The system also provides cool, high pressure air to assist atomization of the liquid fuel in the injectors utilizing a variable speed helical flow compressor. The system also adjusts the relative fuel flow through the multiple fuel injectors to aid flame stability at low turbogenerator speeds and low output power levels.

Liquid fuel pressurization and control method

A gaseous fuel compression and control system is disclosed which utilizes one or more helical flow compressor/turbine integrated with a permanent magnet motor/generator and driven by a torque controlling inverter to compress or expand gaseous fuels, precisely control fuel pressure and flow, and precisely control the operations (speed, combustion temperature and output power) of a gaseous fuel fired turbogenerator.

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Agoura Hills, CA, United States of America

Edward C Edelman