First released in 1970, GE’s Frame 7 turbine (starting with the MS7000) is still one of the most popular gas turbines in use today. Let’s take a brief look at the history of the GE 7B-7EA gas turbine and how you can uprate your existing Frame 7 to be more productive without needing to replace the entire turbine.
Need help maintaining, repairing, or uprating your GE 7B-7EA turbine? Allied Power Group (APG) can help. Since 2005, we’ve been working on building the most efficient, comprehensive, and synergistic aftermarket solutions company in the power generation industry. Whatever your needs are, we can likely meet them. Contact us today for more information.
The History of GE Gas Turbines
Gas turbines were originally designed to power aircraft, whose engines rarely ran for more than 10 hours at a time. The engineers at GE redesigned these early gas turbines based on creep-rupture tests of S-816 cobalt-base alloys for turbine buckets. This resulted in a more efficient design to create a long-running utility power system.
GE’s first commercial power-generating gas unit was a 3.5-MW gas turbine known as the Frame 3. Arranged with a horizontal axis, it was installed in 1949 at Belle Isle Station to support an existing steam turbine owned by the Oklahoma Power and Electric Company. The turbine ran on natural gas, drove a 3,500-kilowatt alternator (which frequently exceeded that output) at 3,600 revolutions per minute, and served the utility until the Belle Isle Station closed in 1980.
The exhaust from the gas turbine was used to heat feedwater for the existing steam turbine, making it the first gas turbine in the country to use a “combined cycle” configuration.
The low-cost, trouble-free service provided by Frame 3 led to its wide adoption, with more than 45 million kilowatt capacity (over 9% of U.S. output) being installed between 1966 and 1976.
The Belle Isle gas turbine was declared a National Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1984 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. After being on display outside the GE plant in Schenectady (where it was made) for nearly 30 years, it’s currently housed in the Greenville, South Carolina home of gas turbine manufacturing and testing for the General Electric Company.
History of the GE 7B-7EA Gas Turbine
After installing the first gas turbine in Belle Isle, GE continued improving and refining their turbine designs, releasing the MS7000 Frame 7 turbine in 1970. The MS7000 is rated at 47.2-MW. Throughout the 1970s, GE further refined the design, eventually releasing the 7B (rated at 51.8-MW) and the 7E, which was first put in service in Shoreham, UK.
To this day, the 60-HZ GE Frame 7 is recognized as an industry leader and is still one of the most common gas turbines found in power generation and oil & gas applications. In particular, the 7E.03 gas turbine features a 90-MW simple cycle output, a 52% combined-cycle efficiency, and up to 100% hydrogen capability. Without selective catalytic reduction (SCR), it emits less than 3 ppm NOx.
With more than 750 7E/EA units in service, which have accumulated tens of millions of accumulated hours of service, this model is well-recognized for its high reliability. Versatile, uncomplicated, and medium-sized, the GE 7E/EA can be used in simple or combined cycle applications in many industrial, power generation, and cogeneration applications.
Uprating a GE MS7001
Thanks to advances in design techniques, cooling technology, and materials, you may be able to uprate your GE MS7001 to operate with higher firing temperatures and airflows, resulting in improved efficiency and higher output without needing to replace the entire turbine. Improvements in combustion technology can also significantly reduce emission levels.
Some of the available uprate programs include the MS7001 uprate packages to 2020°F, 2035°F, and 2055°F and the MS7001 “B to E” turbine uprate package, all of which use current production advanced technology MS7001EA components to meet user demand for increased performance and reliability.
To discuss uprating your GE 7B-7EA gas turbine, contact APG today. We can create the customized solutions you need to get more efficiency out of your system by maintaining, repairing, uprating, or upgrading your turbines.
Why Partner With APG?
Located in Houston, Texas, we at Allied Power Group envision ourselves as a true partner to our global clients, who trust us to ensure maximum efficiency, reliability, and availability of their power generation assets. While we always remain flexible when it comes to solving our customers’ power generation challenges, we are immovable regarding our core values.
Reading these core values will provide you with the assurance that APG is your perfect power partner. At APG, we:
- Elevate Others by actively looking for chances to empower and enable others to be resourceful, creative, and whole. Through respect, humility, and diversity, we create a collaborative space to enable the best capabilities and accelerate development.
- Own the Outcome by clearly communicating expectations and holding each other (and ourselves) accountable regardless of position or title. We work together to ensure we always deliver high-quality results.
- Lead With Service by using a spirit of partnership and collaboration to build sustainable relationships with our communities, team members, and customers. With the courage and integrity to always do the right thing, we deliver unique solutions and a high level of responsiveness.
- Change the Game by constantly challenging the status quo by looking for opportunities to lead through disruptive technologies and solutions that create sustainable impacts. We elevate the best solutions, have the courage to express our ideas, and embrace intellectual curiosity.
Become a Power Partner With APG
Allied Power Group (APG) offers a wide range of technology and solutions for the power generation industry, including output & capacity upgrades, heat rate improvements, reliability & availability upgrades, part life extensions, capital assets & consumables, plant & field services, rotor repair, fuel nozzle repair, component repair, and custom solutions.
If you’re ready to become a power partner with APG, contact us by filling out this form, calling 281-444-3535 or 888-830-3535, or checking out our LinkedIn page.