STTR Phase I: Wireless High Temperature Sensor for Real Time Monitoring of Power Generation Turbine Engines

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This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project is for the development of a wireless sensor for continuous and real-time measurement of the high temperature in gas turbines. The new sensor offers turbine manufacturers and owners/operators the capability to place small-sized sensors in hard to reach areas in the turbine, and transmit sensed data wirelessly thereby enabling heat loads to be quantified. According to gas turbine engineers interviewed during National Science Foundation I-Corps program, increasing the firing temperature of a turbine by 100°C, due to accurate real-time temperature measurement, will result in 1% increase in efficiency. This translates to additional revenue of $48 million/year for a fleet of 100 turbines. In addition, these sensors can extend useful life by 10,000 - 25,000 hours per turbine due to enhanced maintenance planning, translating to an additional revenue of $76.7 Million ? $192 Million per turbine. In 2009, the United States Environmental Protection Agency established that emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants, leads to negative effects on human health and the environment. The new wireless sensor will help to design more efficient gas turbines and improve operations of existing turbines thereby reducing harmful emissions from power turbines. The intellectual merits of this project include: development of high-temperature sensing technology beyond its current stage; usage of newly developed materials (polymer-derived ceramics -PDC) for sensor applications; advancement of fundamental knowledge of process-property relationship of PDCs; improved sensor design and modeling; better understanding of sensor integration challenges and techniques for advanced sensing in gas turbine environment. The new wireless sensor is made of PDC. Advantages of PDC include high-temperature survivability, excellent oxidation/corrosion resistance, flexible manufacturing, and tunable electrical/mechanical properties. The sensor consists of a novel microstrip patch antenna for reliable wireless transmission of sensor data while keeping the overall volume of the sensor small so as not to distort gas flow profile in the turbine. High gain patch antenna will enable sensor to be interrogated at longer distances outside the turbine. The project objectives are: develop a wireless PDC sensor that can measure over 800°C to demonstrate high-temperature wireless sensing capability; demonstrate high-temperature wireless sensing beyond 50 cm; study sensor system implementation strategy in ultra-high temperature environment of a turbine engine; conduct preliminary investigation into sensor integration into existing turbine prognostic systems.