Design, Optimization and Relocation strategy for GE Gas turbine exhaust frame blowers to reduce overheating and operational trips

Abstract This research study aims at solving industrial turbine issues using a relocation strategy by evaluating the existing blower at Warri refining and petrochemical company and comparing with a modified blower, designed and simulated to provide a permanent solution to the costly way of repairing and replacing the electric motors and blowers bearing of the 88TK-O1/02 in Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company and in extension to the entire sub Saharan African leading to cost effectiveness and enhance safety in the industry. The research method involves collection of data from the blower design specification at WRPC with the focus on the speed, frame blade diameter, designed operating temperature and frame mesh. This was to ascertain the behavior of the existing blower and establish the extent of the challenges in the entire turbine system. After which, a new blower model was designed using solid works with some specified dimensions of an impeller with 9600mm diameter, inlet blade of 35° and an outlet angle of 26°with two different modification setups. The result indicated that in comparison to the original set up, the second modification achieves the same output parameters with a higher angular velocity requirement of about 3600 RPM, this indicates that the modified blower design optimizes colling efficiency compared to the existing blower. The CFD analysis shows that the backward inclined impeller geometry presents a stable, high-volume airflow that effectively reduces the risk of overheating under the challenging ambient weather condition exposure in the Niger Delta region. This study solves an impending long-term practical issue on the gas turbine plants at WRPC and extends its application to countries with high climate temperature 30° and above. In the future, this study might be a tender manual to a new trend of Gas turbine purchase agreement. It will be a reason for buyers to demand turbines from original equipment manufacturers (OEM) along with this modification. Keywords Gas turbine, Blower, Thermal management, CFD simulation, WRPC, Reliability, Gas turbine cooling.