Transmission and Distribution

1 ABB MT100 microturbine combined heat and power unit

Microturbines:
speeding the shift
to distributed
heat and power
Anders Malmquist, Ola Aglén, Edgar Keller, Marco Suter, Jari Wickström

22 ABB Review 3/2000

Fewer large power plants and overhead power lines, more efficient use of natural resources,
and cheaper electricity – this scenario is within reach thanks to a brand new concept for
distributed power generation. Key to its success is the microturbine – a small, highly efficient
turbine that can be run on natural gas or biogas. Able to generate even more heat than
electricity, the microturbine is eminently well suited as a power source for facilities ranging
from hospitals and hotels to shopping malls and factories. With the help of telecommunications
systems, such power plants can be linked together to create network solutions that will
revolutionize how power is generated and delivered in the future.

1 2 3 4 5 6

12

A
s part of its business strategy, ABB
Distributed Power Generation in
1998 set up a 50/50 joint venture with 11

Volvo Aero Corporation to develop a new 7

generation of microturbines. The

partnership draws on Volvo’s experience 10 8
with gas-turbine-driven hybrid electric
vehicles as well as ABB’s experience in
high-frequency power generation and
conversion [1, 2].
9
The first product to come out of this 2 Component parts of the CHP unit
new company, called Turbec AB, is the 1 Generator, 2 Gas turbine engine, 3 Recuperator, 4 Exhaust-gas heat-exchanger,
ABB MT100 Microturbine Combined 5 Ventilation air outlet, 6 Exhaust outlet, 7 Water inlet, 8 Hot-water outlet, 9 Power electronics,
Heat and Power unit 1 . Run on natural 10 Control system, 11 Combustion chamber, 12 Air inlet
gas, the ABB MT100 generates 100 kW
of electricity and 167 kW of thermal become a ‘hot’ product as the market ■ Low upfront investment due to series
energy. grows and commercialization drives manufacture and simple design
At the heart of the ABB MT100 is a costs downwards. Features likely to ■ Fuel flexibility
small gas turbine, mounted together with speed up this development include: ■ High efficiency
a compressor on a single shaft and ■ Compliance with the latest emissions
integrated with a new high-speed standards Designed for a new era of
generator, the HISEM 110/70. ■ Compact and lightweight, passes distributed power generation
through a standard door The ABB MT100 microturbine is a
A ‘hot’ new product with a string ■ Low noise level combined heat and power (CHP) unit, ie
of benefits ■ Minimal maintenance it produces electricity and thermal
Still a relatively new technology, ■ Remote control for unsupervised energy. It is mounted in a small cabinet
microturbines have the potential to operation 2 and runs on natural gas. A compres-

ABB Review 3/2000 23

Transmission and Distribution

sor may be necessary, depending on the ■ Electrical generator Design and operation
natural gas pressure. The ABB MT100 is ■ Electrical system In the microturbine, a turbine wheel
designed for indoor installation and ■ Exhaust-gas heat-exchanger drives a compressor wheel mounted on
takes air from an outside intake. Its main ■ Supervision and control system the same shaft 3 . The compressor feeds
parts are: The technical data of the CHP unit are process air into the combustion chamber,
■ Gas turbine engine and recuperator given in Table 1. where fuel is added and continuous
combustion takes place.
The hot gas stream is expanded in the
Table 1: ABB MT100 CHP unit - main characteristics turbine, causing a large part of the thermal
Property Data energy to be converted into mechanical
Dimensions energy, which drives the compressor and
Width 840 mm the load. In conventional power plants
Height 1900 mm the load is either a two-pole or four-pole
Length 2900 mm generator, driven via a gearbox. The
Weight 2000 kg generator speed is fixed, since it is syn-
Noise level 70 dB (A) at 1 meter chronized with the frequency of an
Performance1) electric network. In the ABB MT100
Net electrical output 100 kW microturbine the high-speed generator is
Net electrical efficiency 30% coupled directly to the turbine shaft and
Net thermal output (hot water) 167 kW a static frequency converter adjusts the
Net total efficiency 80% speed electronically.
Volumetric exhaust gas emissions (15% O2 and 100% load) The remaining thermal energy can be
NOx <15 ppm v dissipated through the stack, but such a
CO <15 ppm v gas turbine will suffer from poor efficiency
UHC <10 ppm v unless several compressor and turbine
Ambient inlet stages are added. The ABB MT100 over-
Air temperature – 25°C to +40°C comes this problem with a recuperator,
Air inlet humidity 0-100% which recovers the exhaust heat and uses
Gas pressure min/max 6/9.5 bar (a) it to preheat the compressed air before it
Wobbe index 43–55 MJ/m3 enters the combustion chamber. Less fuel
Mass flow, at 100 kW load (39 MJ/kg) 31 Nm3/hour is therefore required to reach the desired
Surrounding air operating temperature. Another heat-
Temperature 0°C to +40°C exchanger, after the recuperator, heats the
Surrounding humidity 0–80% water in the external circuit.
Exhaust-gas flow 0.79 kg/s Gas turbine emissions are very low as
Exhaust-gas temperature 55° C the continuous combustion can be care-
Water inlet temperature 50° C fully controlled. The external combustion
Water outlet temperature 70° C
chamber can also be optimized for low
1)
Based on ISO conditions and taking into account power consumption and losses emissions.
for all auxiliaries, including the gas compressor.
Gas turbines often feature what is

24 ABB Review 3/2000

 3 ABB MT100: thermodynamic processes
1 Generator, 2 Inlet air, 3 Combustion chamber, 4 Air to recuperator, 5 Compressor,
6 Turbine, 7 Recuperator, 8 Exhaust gases, 9 Exhaust-gas heat-exchanger,
10 Exhaust-gas outlet, 11 Hot-water outlet, 12 Water inlet
Gas turbine engine
2 3 4 The gas turbine is a single-shaft engine
with the following main components:
9 ■ Housing
■ Compressor
1 8 10
Pe=100 kW ■ Recuperator
■ Combustion chamber
■ Turbine
5 6 7 11 12

Housing: The electrical generator and

the rotating components of the gas
known as ‘variable geometry’; adjustable converter permits variable-speed operation, turbine are mounted on the same shaft.
guide vanes control how the gas flows which allows the power to be controlled The engine parts and the shaft are
towards the turbine and compressor, by adjusting the turbine speed within a located in the same housing.
allowing the operating point of the gas wide range. A simpler turbine concept
turbine to be controlled. Here too, the can therefore be chosen, keeping product Compressor: In the ABB MT100, a
designers of the ABB MT100 took a costs down. Details of the microturbine radial centrifugal compressor is used to
different approach. The electric power and a description of gas turbines in general compress the ambient air. The pressure
generation system with the frequency can be found in [3] and [4], respectively . ratio is about 4.5:1. The compressor is

Microturbines: the ‘upside’ of downsizing

Following ABB’s transformation into a knowledge safety areas. Although no longer so common, power
company, ABB Distributed Power Generation was outages still do occur occasionally. And each one poses a
established as a new business unit to serve the changing severe risk to the customer’s processes, and by extension
power market. to his revenues. Installing a microturbine unit, combined
Instead of selling hardware, the business of the new with connection to the public grid, makes power outages
unit is to sell energy service solutions to customers in need extremely unlikely, thereby securing reliable operation for
of power, heating and/or cooling. processes and computer systems, as well as an
Selling service rather than equipment calls for a uninterrupted revenue stream.
combination of technology and financing. ABB Distributed Summing up: ABB is able to offer an energy service
Power Generation installs, on the customer’s premises, a which costs less and offers more than competing solutions,
compact generating unit which it owns, operates remotely and which requires no upfront investment by the customer.
and maintains as necessary. Customers pay only for the Typical application areas are office buildings, shopping
output, freeing up capital which they can invest in their core centers, greenhouses, regions with a weak grid connection,
business. hospitals, leisure centers, etc.
How else does the customer benefit? By gaining a cost Transmission and distribution systems in some areas
advantage over competitors in the marketplace. We are tend to be overloaded, and environmental or other
able to offer locally generated energy services at a lower legislation may make expanding them a long and tedious
price than with conventional solutions by avoiding the process. Using state of the art information technology, such
transmission and distribution costs, with heat provided as a as the Internet, a large number of microturbines and other
useful by-product. distributed power generation resources can be linked and
The second, and perhaps even more important, controlled by an operator who is in charge of what is, in
advantage to the customer lies in the power quality and effect, a large ’virtual’ utility.

ABB Review 3/2000 25

Transmission and Distribution

4 Schematic of the electric power generation

1 Generator, 2 Rectifier/start-up converter, 3 DC bus, 4 Converter, 5 Line filter,
6 EMC filter, 7 Main circuit-breaker

mounted on the same shaft as the 2333 Hz 50 Hz

500 VAC 400 VAC
turbine and the electrical generator. 3
G ~ =
Recuperator: The recuperator is a gas- = ~ 7

to-air heat-exchanger attached to the 1 2 4 5 6

microturbine. It increases the efficiency

of the gas turbine by transferring the
heat from the hot exhaust gases to the temperature and mass flow. The exhaust eliminated. The result is a more efficient,
compressed air fed to the combustion gases leaving the heat-exchanger pass compact and reliable machine. With such
chamber. through an exhaust pipe to the stack. a system, the shaft speed is normally
above 30,000 rev/min and may exceed
Combustion chamber: The preheated Supervision and control system 100,000 rev/min.
compressed air is mixed with the natural The ABB MT100 is controlled and High-energy permanent magnets and
gas, and an electrical igniter in the supervised automatically by the Power high yield-strength materials are state of
combustion chamber ignites the mixture. Module Controller (PMC), so that in the art, and have proved very suitable for
The combustion chamber is of the lean normal use the CHP unit can be left high-speed electrical machines. For
pre-mix emission type, guaranteeing low unsupervised. If a critical fault should example, the use of neodymium-iron-
emissions of NOx, CO and unburned occur, the PMC initiates either a normal boron (NdBFe) magnets reduces the
hydrocarbons in the exhaust gases. stop or an emergency shutdown, generator rotor losses.
whichever is necessary. A fault code is A prerequisite for direct mechanical
Turbine: The radial turbine drives the recorded by the PMC and shown on the coupling is highly efficient frequency
compressor and the generator at a display on the control panel. conversion. Insulated gate bipolar
nominal speed of 70,000 rev/min. On The gas turbine and the electric power transistors (IGBTs) not only provide this
leaving the combustion chamber the generation system are operated and good efficiency, they can also be
combustion gases have a temperature of controlled automatically by the PMC. switched at an appropriately high
approximately 950°C and are at a Values from a number of sensors are frequency. Machines based on these
pressure of about 4.5 bar. As the gases needed by the PMC for this: devices are tailor-made for certain high-
expand through the turbine the pressure ■ Heat demand speed applications.
decreases to close to atmospheric and ■ Electric power demand An advantage of the high-speed
the heat drops to approximately 650°C. ■ Gas pressure generator is that the size of the machine
■ Oil temperature decreases almost in direct proportion to
Exhaust-gas heat-exchanger: The ■ Vibrations the increase in speed, leading to a very
exhaust-gas heat-exchanger is of the ■ Speed small unit that can be integrated with the
gas/water counter-current flow type. It gas turbine.
transfers the thermal energy contained in High-speed electric power
the exhaust gases, which enter the heat- generation system Electrical system
exchanger at a temperature of approx- Small gas turbines benefit in particular Before the generated power can be sent
imately 270°C, to the hot-water system. when the gearbox that reduces the to the grid, it has to be converted to the
The outlet water temperature depends turbine shaft speed to the speed of grid frequency 4 . The AC of the
on the incoming water conditions, ie its conventional electrical machines is generator is first rectified to DC and then

26 ABB Review 3/2000

5 HISEM 110/70 generator and turbine being set up for testing
converted to three-phase AC. An
inductor stabilizes the AC output, while
an EMC filter protects the grid against
generated interference. The electrical
system can also be used as a power
supply for starting the gas turbine.

High-speed generator
The electric power is generated by an
HISEM 110/70 high-speed permanent
magnet synchronous generator, which is
integrated with the microturbine 5 .
The rotor is suspended by one bearing
on each side of the permanent magnet
rotor; there are no additional bearings on
the turbine shaft. The output frequency
of the generator is high, being up to
2.3 kHz. The generator – acting as an
electric starter for the gas turbine – also
6 Cutaway view of the HISEM 110/70 generator starts the CHP unit.

Generator design: The generator

design is derived from the HSG100
generator [5], developed for use in hybrid
vehicles. Experience gained from micro-
turbine applications and the need to take
account of some new requirements, have
led to several major improvements,
especially with regard to reliability and
production costs. Also of benefit was ABB
Motors’ experience with high-volume pro-
duction, which could also be incorporated
in the design.
The generator stator can be seen
in 6 . Its core consists of thin laminations
of low-loss electrical steel and the
winding is made with litz wire to achieve
good high-frequency characteristics. The
four-pole arrangement contributes to
short end-windings, making it possible to

ABB Review 3/2000 27

Transmission and Distribution

7 Generator rotor 8 Frequency converter

keep the distance between the bearings stiffness and the largest magnet thickness Frequency converter
short. Water-cooling is used to keep the that can be retained by a reasonably thin The factors that provided the biggest
temperature low in the winding. This bandage. Using the rotor radius as a basis, challenge to the designers of the
feature, plus the vacuum pressure the stator core radius and the axial length frequency converter were the high input
impregnation and extra insulation, are determined in an iterative process. frequency of 2300 Hz and the product
ensures a long lifetime for the winding. The discrete nature of the stator winding, cost target. The microturbine converter is
The rotor 7 consists of a magnetic with its very limited number of turns, is a derived from the ACS 600 converter
steel body with surface-mounted key constraint. platform, while the grid-side functions
permanent magnets. A carbon-fiber It is important to make sure that the were available in the ACA 635 Inverter
bandage holds the magnets firmly in rotor never reaches a temperature that Supply Module. However, extensive
place, even at 70,000 rev/min. As the would de-magnetize the magnet. This is application programming was needed to
operating conditions differ considerably ensured both by reducing the rotor losses implement the interface and control
from those for conventional machines, and providing efficient cooling in the air- functions required for the microturbine
ordinary analytical programs are not gap. Two factors, air friction and application.
enough for the electrical machine design. asynchronous mmf waves in the air-gap, The generator input stage, including
One hugely influential factor is the high are the main cause of temperature rise in the start-up converter, is based on
fundamental frequency of 2.3 kHz at the rotor. The latter is mainly due to hardware from the ACS 600, but a new
70,000 rev/min, which makes the harmonics in the stator current. Because control board had to be developed to
parameters of conventional design the high speed causes high friction losses regulate the speed of the turbine and
programs – parameters empirically and the carbon-fiber bandage acts as a control starting. In the start mode, the
determined over years of conventional thermal insulator, the rotor is more rectifier is used as an inverter to
machine design – invalid. A design sensitive to current harmonics than the accelerate the turbine to 30,000 rev/min,
strategy was therefore chosen that rotor in a conventional machine. A the speed from which the turbine starts to
combines analytical calculations with current harmonics limit was therefore produce net power for further
finite element analysis. defined which is based on the acceptable acceleration to the operating range of
The rotor radius is selected according rotor losses. 50,000 to 70,000 rev/min. The start-up
to mechanical design criteria, and is a converter acts as a rectifier and supplies
trade-off between an optimum bending electric power to the DC bus, from where

28 ABB Review 3/2000

9 Grid interface problems having an impact on DPG units

the sub-systems. Possible problems are

Impact Impact
shown in 9 . It goes without saying that
Grid ⇒DPG unit DPG unit ⇒grid
ABB MT100 must be able to handle all of
10/20 kV
these without damage being caused to
Voltage step
itself or to equipment outside of the
10/20 kV
microturbine system.
Faults Flicker Harmonics Other models are frequency-domain-
0.4 kV based [8], allowing a more straightforward
analysis and identifying possible locations
Load Impedance
Load /
of instabilities in the system, mainly
compensation Short-circuit towards the grid. This work is based on
switching impedance DPG 1 DPG 2 experience with railway systems, where a
(option)
Startup /
shutdown
shutdown due to such instabilities
occurred some years ago [9]. Such models
are defined by generating a frequency
the grid converter transfers it to the utility generation units have to be coordinated, spectrum of every component involved in
network. the risk of grid instability may be very the system, eg the inverter or a special
The ACS 600 series converters are pronounced. Since there is more than type of grid topology. By combining
designed to operate in an industrial one controller, even internal oscillations these spectra and analyzing them,
environment, while in the microturbine may appear all of a sudden, as tests on instabilities in the system can be rapidly
application they have to meet the the pre-prototype CHP unit [7] at ABB located. This analysis results in the
requirements for residential area Corporate Research in Dättwil, components – mainly the controllers –
installations. Although distributed power Switzerland, showed. being designed such that stable
generation applications are still a ‘gray To avoid this kind of instability, interoperability of the entire system and
zone’ with respect to grid regulations, it different simulation models have been its neighbors is ensured.
was decided to adapt the converter to established. These were derived from
comply with EN50081. previous work on the hybrid bus [6], from Maintenance concept
While the source of the functional the topology of the CHP system and from A key property of the ABB MT100 CHP
hardware is the ACS 600 series, the measurements. Some of the models are unit is that it requires only very little
mechanical installation has been tailored time-domain-based and are used to maintenance. Preventive, ie scheduled,
for the microturbine application 8 . An understand and study the entire system as maintenance is divided into inspections
important feature here is the use of water- well as the different interfaces between and overhauls (see Table 2). Due to the
cooling.

System analysis
Table 2: Maintenance intervals
In a typical microturbine application it is
likely that the grid topology will not be Type Interval (h) Outage (h)
known, so that controlling the system Inspection 6,000 24
stability can be a challenging task. In Overhaul 30,000 48
cases where distributed power

ABB Review 3/2000 29

Transmission and Distribution

with IT functionality that provides safe,

Table 3: Maintenance unsupervised operation, the ABB MT100
Inspection Overhaul microturbine points the way to a whole
General checks Same procedure as under new era in distributed power generation.
‘Inspection’
Inspection of combustion Replacement of entire
chamber and replacement combustion chamber Authors
of fuel nozzle
Dr. Anders Malmquist
Replacement of consumables, Engine refurbishment ABB Motors AB
oil and water refill (if necessary) SE-721 70 Västerås/Sweden
General visual check New bearings for lubrication anders.malmquist@se.abb.com
oil pump, ventilation fan and Ola Aglén
buffer air pump ABB Motors AB
SE-721 70 Västerås/Sweden
Fuel gas compressor inspection,
ola.jw.aglen@se.abb.com
oil refill and change of oil filter
Edgar Keller
New air filters ABB Industrie AG
Cleaning of cooling-water strainer CH-5300 Turgi
Switzerland
New lubrication oil filter
edgar.v.keller@ch.abb.com

Marco Suter
ABB Corporate Research Ltd
CH 5405 Baden-Dättwil
Switzerland
small number of moving parts, challenging one. To be successful in this marco.suter@ch.abb.com
maintenance can be limited to the work market, a standard unit is required that is Jari Wickström
shown in Table 3. affordable, reliable and environmentally ABB Distributed Power
benign. The ABB MT100 microturbine Thurgauerstrasse 54
CH 8050 Zürich
Outlook meets these requirements with Switzerland
The potential market for distributed subsystems that have been derived from jari.wickstroem@ch.abb.com
power resources is a large and vanguard ABB technologies. Combined

References
[1] P. Chudi, A. Malmquist: A hybrid drive for the car of the future. ABB Review 9/93, 3-12.
[2] G. Lagerström, A. Malmquist: Advanced hybrid propulsion system for Volvo ECT. Volvo Technology Report no 2, 1995.
[3] D10365 v1 - Technical Information, Turbec AB 2000.
[4] D.K. Mukherjee: State-of-the-art gas turbines – a brief update. ABB Review 2/97, 4-14.
[5] P. Chudi, A. Malmquist: Development of a small gas turbine driven high speed permanent magnet generator.
Licentiate thesis, The Royal Institute of Technology. KTH 1989.
[6] A. Malmquist: Analysis of a gas turbine driven hybrid drive train for heavy vehicles. Ph.D. thesis, The Royal Institute of Technology. KTH 1999.
[7] M. Suter: Do it yourself. Akzent, ABB Switzerland, no 2/2000.
[8] E. Moellerstedt, B. Bernhardsson: Out of control because of harmonics: an analysis of the harmonics response of an inverter locomotive. IEEE
Control Systems Magazine, August 2000.
[9] M. Meyer, J. Schöning: Netzstabilität in grossen Bahnnetzen, Eisenbahn-Revue, July-August 1999.

30 ABB Review 3/2000