Manufacturers focus R&D spending on materials technology, experts will tell Turbo Expo crowd

Using ceramics and advanced composite materials in gas turbines is improving aerodynamics and engine efficiencies as well as reducing equipment maintenance costs, according to current and former executives in the power industry who will speak June 6–9 at ASME Turbo Expo 2005 in Reno, Nev.

GE Transportation in Cincinnati is developing an advanced ceramic-based composite material for use in the company's next-generation aircraft engine. The new composite will increase the durability of system components, enabling GE to reduce maintenance costs for its customers, said David Calhoun, president and chief executive officer at the company.

Brian H. Rowe, chairman emeritus of GE Aircraft Engines in Cincinnati, makes a connection between advanced materials technology and improved compression ratios in today's gas turbine. "When I started in the business in the 1950s, the compression ratio in aircraft engines was about four to one; today it's 40 to 1," Rowe said.

On the stationary gas turbine side, Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. in Orlando, Fla., is experimenting with nanotechnology-based composites and other advanced materials and coatings in system components.

The goal of the research and development program is to "extend the physical life of operating plants, thus improving overall economics for the customer," said Randy Zwirn, president and chief executive officer at Siemens Westinghouse.

Zwirn will join Rowe and Calhoun in a special keynote session at ASME Turbo Expo — Power for Land, Sea and Air, which will be at the Reno Hilton in Reno-Tahoe, Nev.

The panel session is part of the events highlighting the 50th anniversary of Turbo Expo. The theme of the session is "Gas Turbine Technology: Focus for the Future."

Other panel speakers are Louis R. Chenevert, president of Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, Conn.; John G. Rice, president and chief executive officer of GE Energy Co., Atlanta; and Sir Ralph Robbins, former chairman of Rolls-Royce plc in the United Kingdom.

The Technical Congress, including more than 600 papers and tutorials, plus product exposition, will follow the keynote panel. Turbo Expo will draw engineers, research scientists and other professionals.

For more information about Turbo Expo, contact the ASME International Gas Turbine Institute at (404) 847-0072 or visit the Web site, www.asme.org/igti.

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