Solar Turbines
Parent Caterpillar Inc. | | |
Website | solarturbines | |
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Footnotes / references [1][2][3][4] |
Solar Turbines Incorporated, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., designs and manufactures industrial gas turbines for onshore and offshore electrical power generation, for marine propulsion and for producing, processing and transporting natural gas and oil.
The company traces its history to the 1927 founding of the Prudden-San Diego Airplane Company, which became the Solar Aircraft Company in 1929. Through the Great Depression, they mainly produced components for other manufacturers, growing during World War II and diversifying into non-aircraft products after the war. During this period, they won a number of contracts to produce jet engine components. Convinced that the gas turbine was the prime mover of the future, the company invested heavily in the development of small turbines.
The turbine never came to be the main prime mover, but Solar's expertise in small turbines found a number of niche roles. The company was purchased by International Harvester Company in early 1960, becoming the Solar Division of International Harvester in 1963. In 1973, the Solar Division exited the aerospace industry to focus solely on industrial turbines. In 1975, the development and manufacture of the Solar Division's radial engines was moved into a newly formed Radial Engines Group, renamed the Turbomach Division in 1980.[5]
Solar Turbines Incorporated became a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Tractor Co. after Caterpillar purchased the assets of the Solar Division and the Turbomach division from International Harvester on 31 May 1981. In 1985, Caterpillar sold the Turbomach Division to Sundstrand Corporation.
Prudden-San Diego Airplane Company
Solar Turbines traces its roots to the Prudden–San Diego Airplane Company, a partnership founded in 1927 between George Prudden and seven San Diego area businessmen. Due to differences in management philosophy between Prudden and his investors, Prudden left the company in November 1928.[6]
Solar Aircraft Company
First product—a trimotor airplane
In March 1929, Prudden-San Diego Airplane Company changed its name to Solar Aircraft Company, a reference to San Diego's sunny climate.
From airplanes to airplane components
The sales failure of the tri-motor airplane due to the Great Depression led Solar Aircraft Company into making parts for other manufacturers, especially hard-to-manufacture parts able to withstand high-temperatures, such as stainless steel exhaust manifolds. The company was reincorporated in 1937 as the Solar Aircraft Company, dropping the "Ltd" from its name.[8] By 1939, Solar Aircraft Company had a work force of 229.[9] Military orders during World War II led to rapid expansion and by the end of the war the company had a workforce of 5,000, largely part of a massive effort to build more than 300,000 exhaust manifolds for U.S. airplanes.[2][9]
Business dropped considerably after World War II and the management developed a plan to diversify into producing other stainless steel products including caskets, frying pans, bulk milk containers and even redwood furniture;
Developing expertise in gas turbines
Solar Aircraft Company's expertise in high-temperature metallurgy led to work producing components for some of the first US
Solar Aircraft Company's work in the jet engine field convinced the company's president, Edmund Price, that the turbine would be the main prime mover in the future. Solar Aircraft Company assembled a team under the direction of Paul Pitt in 1946 and started developing a small 80 horsepower (60 kW)
Solar did win the contract to provide the APU for the first 632
In 1947, Leon Wosika and Eric Balje set up a second design line and developed a
In the late 1950s, the Navy once again turned to Solar, this time for a larger 750-kilowatt (1,010 hp) unit that would be used as an engine in a high-speed boat. The result was the axial-flow "Saturn" engine, which entered production in 1960. Solar started marketing the Saturn to industrial users needing a 1,000-horsepower (750 kW) unit for any role, and it went on to become the world's most widely used industrial gas turbine with some 4800 units in 80 countries. It remains in production today in two uprated and enhanced configurations. In order to make the system more attractive, Solar also started the design of various "front ends" that could be purchased as a complete unit with the Saturn. These included gas compressor sets, pump-drive packages and generator sets. These units, especially the gas compressors, are widely used in the natural gas industry as pumping units on pipelines.[2]
Solar Division of International Harvester
Just prior to the release of the Saturn, International Harvester purchased Solar Aircraft Company in early 1960.
In 1963, Solar Aircraft Company was re-organized as the Solar Division of International Harvester.
During the next decade, the Solar Division introduced a number of new designs, both larger and smaller than the Saturn. The Centaur, which first entered service in 1968, supplied 2,700 horsepower (2,000 kW), while the modern versions supply 4,700 horsepower (3,500 kW). In 1973, Solar exited the aviation industry to concentrate its resources on industrial gas turbines.[11]
Products separated into two divisions
In the spring of 1975, International Harvester placed Solar Division's radial engine designs into the newly formed Radial Engine Group.
In 1980, the Radial Engine Group was renamed, becoming the Turbomach Division.[11]
In 1977, the Solar Division introduced a larger version of the Centaur, the 10,600 horsepower (7,900 kW) Mars, re-using the name from the earlier smaller engine. The Mars is currently sold as the 13,220 horsepower (9,860 kW) Mars 90 and 16,000 horsepower (12,000 kW) Mars 100.[11]
Wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Tractor Co. purchased the assets of the Solar Division and the Turbomach Division from International Harvester on May 31, 1981. The newly acquired assets were organized as a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Tractor Co. named Solar Turbines Incorporated.
After the purchase, Caterpillar assigned development and manufacturing of the Caterpillar Model 5600 to Solar Turbines. The 5600 was originally developed by The Boeing Company as the Boeing 551/553 series, which Caterpillar had purchased when Boeing decided to exit the gas turbine business in 1966.[11]
Sale of Turbomach Division to Sundstrand
In 1985, Caterpillar sold the Turbomach Division to Sundstrand Corporation (now Collins Aerospace), exiting the Centrifugal gas turbine engine business.[15]
New products in the 80s and 90s
Solar Turbines Incorporated continued to introduce new versions of their axial-flow industrial engines throughout the 1980s and 90s, often re-using older names instead of introducing new names. In 1997, Solar Turbines Incorporated announced the Titan 130, a 19,500 horsepower (14,500 kW) design much larger than the original Titan. The latest model, the Titan 250, delivers 30,000 horsepower (22,000 kW).[2]
Solar Turbines Incorporated has also been involved in a number of projects to improve the fuel economy of industrial turbines of all sorts. In 1992, Solar Turbines introduced the SoLoNOx system. The SoLoNOx system uses lean-burn technologies to reduce
Purchase of Turbomach S.A.
In 2004 Caterpillar acquired Swiss company Turbomach S.A. which had long been a packager of industrial turbines from Solar, Rolls-Royce, and Trent.[16]
Current product line
Solar Turbine Incorporated's product line currently consists of the Saturn, Centaur, Mercury, Taurus, Mars and Titan turbines, and a variety of attachments that are sold with them. To date, Solar has sold more than 15,000 gas turbine systems, with a combined operating history of over 2 billion hours of use, equivalent to over 100,000 years.[3]
Products
Electrical Generation Specifications [17] | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model | POWER RATING
ISO Base Load (MW) |
HEAT RATE
Lower Heating Value (LHV) (Btu/kWhe) |
POWER SHAFT
SPEED (RPM) |
PRESSURE
RATIO |
NUMBER
OF COMBUSTORS |
Exhaust
Flow (kg/sec) |
Exhaust
Temp (°C) |
Year Entered
Production |
Saturn 20 | 1.2 | 14025 | 1500/1800 | 6.7 | 1 (annular) | 6.5 | 505 | 1960 |
Centaur 40 | 3.5 | 12240 | 1500/1800 | 10.1 | 1 (annular) | 19.0 | 445 | 1968 |
Centaur 50 | 4.6 | 11630 | 1500/1800 | 10.6 | 1 (annular) | 19.1 | 510 | |
Mercury 50 | 4.6 | 8865 | 1500/1800 | 9.9 | 1 (annular) | 17.8 | 365 | 1998 |
Taurus 60 | 5.7 | 10830 | 1500/1800 | 12.4 | 1 (annular) | 21.8 | 510 | 1989 |
Taurus 65 | 6.3 | 10375 | 1500/1800 | 15.1 | 1 (annular) | 21.1 | 550 | |
Taurus 70 | 8.0 | 9955 | 1500/1800 | 17.6 | 1 (annular) | 26.9 | 510 | 1995 |
Mars 90 | 9.4 | 10,710 | 1500/1800 | 16.3 | 1 (annular) | 39.7 | 465 | 1977 |
Mars 100 | 11.4 | 10365 | 1500/1800 | 17.7 | 1 (annular) | 42.6 | 485 | |
Titan 130 | 16.5 | 9695 | 1500/1800 | 17.1 | 1 (annular) | 54.7 | 495 | 1997 |
Titan 250 | 21.7 | 8775 | 1500/1800 | 24.1 | 1 (annular) | 68.2 | 465 | 2008 |
Taurus 60 MPU | 5.7 | 10830 | 1500/1800 | 12.4 | 1 (annular) | 21.8 | 510 | |
Titan 130 MPU | 16.5 | 9695 | 1500/1800 | 17.7 | 1 (annular) | 68.2 | 490 | |
Taurus 60 SMT | 5.7 | 10830 | 1500/1800 | 12.4 | 1 (annular) | 21.8 | 510 | 2013 |
Note: Specifications are for natural gas fuel. MPU stands for Mobile Power Unit (trailer mounted). SMT stands for Solar Mobile Turbomachinery which is specifically designed to not need a crane to set up.
Mechanical Drive Specifications [18] | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Model | POWER RATING
ISO Base Load (hp) |
HEAT RATE
Lower Heating Value (LHV) (Btu/hp-hr) |
POWER SHAFT
SPEED (RPM) |
PRESSURE
RATIO |
NUMBER
OF COMBUSTORS |
Exhaust
Flow (kg/sec) |
Exhaust
Temp (°C) |
Saturn 20 | 1590 | 10360 | 22300 | 6.7 | 1 (annular) | 6.5 | 520 |
Centaur 40 | 4700 | 9100 | 15500 | 10.3 | 1 (annular) | 18.2 | 450 |
Centaur 50 | 6130 | 8485 | 16500 | 10.3 | 1 (annular) | 18.8 | 515 |
Taurus 60 | 7700 | 7950 | 14000 | 12.2 | 1 (annular) | 21.7 | 510 |
Taurus 70 | 11150 | 7190 | 11000 | 16.5 | 1 (annular) | 27.2 | 500 |
Mars 90 | 13220 | 7655 | 9500 | 16.3 | 1 (annular) | 40.2 | 465 |
Mars 100 | 15900 | 7395 | 9500 | 17.1 | 1 (annular) | 42.6 | 485 |
Titan 130 | 22490 | 7020 | 8500 | 16.1 | 1 (annular) | 56.1 | 495 |
Titan 250 | 30000 | 6360 | 7000 | 24.1 | 1 (annular) | 68.2 | 465 |
References
Notes
- ^ Caterpillar Inc 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g Solar Turbines 2006.
- ^ a b Solar Turbines 2006a.
- ^ SolarTurbines 2006b.
- ^ Leyes & Fleming 1999, pp. 83–84.
- ^ a b Leyes & Fleming 1999, p. 77.
- ^ Cunningham, Frank (November 1939). "Pots and Pans but No Airplanes". Flying. Vol. 25, no. 5. pp. 36–37, 68, 86, 88. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "Business Reports". Aero Digest. Vol. 30, no. 1. January 1937. p. 88. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Leyes & Fleming 1999, p. 78.
- ^ Missiles and Rockets, March, 1957, v. 2, no. 3, p. 11.
- ^ a b c d e Leyes & Fleming 1999, p. 83.
- ^ "jet nozzle | variable-area jet | microjet pressure-ratio | 1955 | 1728 | Flight Archive". www.flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 2013-01-22.
- ^ a b Leyes & Fleming 1999, p. 79.
- ^ Leyes & Fleming 1999, p. 81.
- ^ Ansley 1985.
- ^ "Caterpillar buys Turbomach S.A." Equipment World. June 28, 2004. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
- ^ International Turbomachinery Handbook 2017 p. 90
- ^ International Turbomachinery Handbook 2017 p. 98
Bibliography
- Ansley, Mary Holm (1985-04-20). "Caterpillar To Sell Turbine Division To Sundstrand". chicagotribune.com. Chicago, Illinois, United States: Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on 2011-08-07. Retrieved 2010-11-22.
- Leyes, Richard A. II; Fleming, William A. (1999). The History of North American Small Gas Turbine Aircraft Engines. Library of Flight. with contributions by A. Stuart Atkinson; foreword by Hans von Ohain (Hardcover ed.). Reston, Virginia, United States: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. ISBN 978-1-56347-332-6. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
- "Officers - D. James (Jim) Umpleby". cat.com. Caterpillar Inc. 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-11-20. Retrieved 2010-11-19.
- "About Solar". mysolar.cat.com. Solar Turbines Incorporated. 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2011-05-27.
- "Careers". mysolar.cat.com. Solar Turbines Incorporated. 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-05-27.
- "History". mysolar.cat.com. Solar Turbines Incorporated. 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2010-11-19.