Tim Nicholas, power generation market manager, Gas Turbine Filtration Division, said that 10 years ago, the clearcurrent filtration was developed to meet the diverse demands of maintaining gas turbine performance. “It protects turbines from harmful contamination to ensure predictable, reliable performance, optimised output power and reduced heat rate.” He added that the company has continued to develop and refine clearcurrent products to match the advances of gas turbine technology and to protect the performance of these increasingly efficient and precisely engineered machines.
The benefits to operators of the clearcurrent range include reduced offline washes, increased turbine availability and the assurance of no unexpected shutdowns due to sudden pressure spikes.
Nicholas added that the company’s filtration solutions are designed based on the unique challenges of each installation. They are assessed against the specific gas turbine’s performance as opposed to relying on industry standard filtration performance. The filters are tailored to manage environments with high volumes of dust, moisture and contaminants such as salt, which is particularly perilous to turbine performance and reliability.
The latest, most efficient gas turbines give power plants net efficiencies of more than 60% when run in combined cycle mode. Any compromise in the filtration effectiveness therefore comes at a high cost. The newest products in the clearcurrent range, the clearcurrent ASSURE, were specifically designed to protect the efficiency of these turbines and have been tested to extreme levels to ensure rapid investment payback.
