General Electric LM6000
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The General Electric LM6000 is a turboshaft gas turbine. The LM6000 is derived from the CF6-80C2 aircraft turbofan. It has additions and modifications designed to make it more suitable for marine propulsion, industrial power generation, and marine power generation use. These include an expanded turbine section to convert thrust into shaft power, supports and struts for mounting on a steel or concrete deck, and reworked controls packages for power generation. It has found wide use including peaking power plants, fast ferries and high speed cargo ship applications.
The LM6000 provides 54,610 shaft horsepower (40,700 kW) from either end of the low-pressure rotor system, which rotates at 3,600 rpm. This twin spool design with the low pressure turbine operating at 60 Hz, a common electrical frequency, eliminates the need for a conventional power turbine. Its high efficiency and installation flexibility make it ideal also for a wide variety of utility power generation and industrial applications, especially peaker and cogeneration plants. When LM6000 power generation units are installed on a 50 Hz power grid, they require a gearbox between the turbine and the generator.
GE has several option packages for industrial LM6000s, including SPRINT (SPRay INTercooling), water injection (widely known as "NOx water"), and spray mist evaporative cooling (SMEC). The SPRINT and SMEC options are designed to increase efficiency and power of the turbine, and the water injection is for reducing emissions. The SMEC system is a water fogger system that sprays a fine mist of water into the inlet air before the air filters. This system is high maintenance and may be replaced by chillers in newer units. The SPRINT system injects demineralized water into the engine between the low pressure and high pressure compressors. The water injection system injects water into the primary or secondary fuel nozzle inputs, usually on natural gas fired engines.
The base GE LM6000 is rated to provide more than 40 MW with a thermal efficiency of around 42% at ISO conditions. With options, this can be increased to around 44MW rated power or more.
