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The Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and General Electric (GE) have established an Expanded Gas Turbine Combustor Testing Facility at National Centre for Combustion Research and Development (NCCRD). This is the first such facility to come up in an academic institution globally, says a release from the institute.
This is among the few such facilities globally that can test combustor designs in realistic operating conditions. The NCCRD is an IIT Madras Research Centre arm that undertakes research on automotive, thermal power and aerospace propulsion, fire research and microgravity combustion.
The ‘Expanded Gas Turbine Combustor Testing Facility’ was inaugurated on Thursday in the presence of Alok Nanda, CEO, GE India Technology Centre and CTO - GE South Asia; Vikram Reddy, General Manager, Engineering, India, GE Aviation; V Kamakoti, Director, IIT-Madras, and SR Chakravarthy, Coordinator, NCCRD, other faculty and researchers.
Nanda, in the release, said this facility is an example of how to undertake research in India in a manner that makes India independent in solving problems. The facility will enable IIT-Madras researchers to further their research in the area of high-pressure combustion. IThis facility will lead to further understanding the combustion physics and cultivation of a talent pool in the field of gas turbine research.
Aatmanirbhar projects
According to Kamakoti, for the last 20 years, IIT-Madras has been focusing on building Aatmanirbhar Bharat projects. The institution is requesting the GE to consider IIT-Madras to be their top partner in the case of any academic venture that they are planning to have across the globe.
New combustor design concepts are already being tested and some of these designs may reach the market in the near future. This facility can also be a stepping stone for start-ups involved in combustion related product development. Over the long term, facilities such as these could enable India to become ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ in Gas Turbine Combustion technology, he said.
“Today, GE Aviation is focussed on sustainability. We want our products to be planet-friendly and combustion plays a significant role in that. This facility helps us to understand about future combustors and help us work on our products,” said Vikram Reddy.
Chakravarthy, Coordinator, NCCRD, said the facility has the capability to test sector/full annular combustors up to a flow rate of 3 kg/s at 10 bar, 350° C. The entire operation is automated and the experiments are run by operators remotely from a control room.
The facility also has a wide range of instrumentation and data logging capabilities. Specifically, it houses aviation-grade for continuous high-pressure emission measurements. The facility has been built in compliance with environmental pollution control requirements, he said.
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