Inlet Air System Filtration

It is the responsibility of the Purchaser, in conjunction with the equipment installer, to assure that the
inlet air filtration system minimizes the possibility of foreign objects and erosive or corrosive material
entering the gas turbine. It is necessary for the Purchaser to review the atmospheric conditions at the
installation site early in the planning stage to assure that the inlet filtration system is suitable for the
particular application. Sites with high concentrations of airborne dust, sand, or salt - particularly when
most of the particles are small - require an effective (usually fairly complex) filtration system to assure
maximum life.
The inlet air quality entering the gas turbine must meet the following conditions:
1. 95% of the time - must not contain solid particles exceeding 0.004 grains/l000 ft
3
2. 5% of the time - must not contain solid particles exceeding 0.04 grains/1000 ft
3
Under severe conditions, such as dust and sand storms in desert environments, it is recognized that
commercially available air-filtration systems may allow these limits to be exceeded for limited periods.
To minimize degradation of engine life, operation under such conditions should be avoided whenever
practicable. In the event it is necessary to continue operation during severe conditions while the above
contaminant levels have been exceeded, it will be necessary to borescope the HPT blades and vanes to
ensure that the leading-edge cooling holes are open.
For engines operating in a marine environment, sodium in the sea salts entering the gas turbine should
not exceed 0.00045 ppm average or 0.003 ppm maximum. It is recognized that the average may be
exceeded under rough sea conditions, and more frequent compressor cleaning may be required. With
0.00045 ppm sodium, it is estimated that compressor cleaning may be required every 400 to 450 hours;
with 0.0018 ppm sodium, compressor cleaning may be required every 100 hours. These limits apply to
both the main inlet air supply to the gas turbine and the cooling air supply. The inlet air temperature
shall be in the range of -65 to l30F. The maximum allowable liquid water content in the inlet air is
0.5% of the inlet airflow weight. At inlet temperatures of 42F and below, no liquid water content is
allowed.
The level of trace metal contaminants (particularly sodium and potassium) in the gas generator
combustion products has a strong influence on engine performance and maintenance interval. Since
these contaminants can originate in the inlet air, in the fuel, and in water or steam injected for NOx
suppression, it is advantageous to use a total contaminant-controlling relationship that will allow the
contribution of a contaminant from one source to exceed that individual limit, provided the total
contributions from all sources are within a maximum limit. The maximum contaminant limits are
defined in MID-TD-0000-1 and MID-TD-0000-2.
Page 1 of 1 Inlet filtration
19/11/2005 http://inside-aep.ps.ge.com/insideaep/aep/iad/engine_prod_delv/idms/common/05filter.ht...