Scientists at GE Global Research have been using the world’s most powerful supercomputers to simulate everything from fuel flowing through jet engine nozzles to water drops turning into ice. The results can be rewarding beyond solving research riddles. “Many times our work generates images that are visually breathtaking,” says Rick Arthur, who leads the Advanced Computing Lab at GRC.
Supercomputers are helping GE engineers speed up innovation, crack previously intractable problems, and shorten the business cycle. Take a look at our slideshow featuring a hypnotizing turbine flow, density gradients and other arresting images generated by GRC scientists.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ArtInScience1.jpg"]
The “blue blobs” shown in this picture represent particles in an advanced nickel alloy used to manufacture high-pressure turbine rotors and cooling systems for jet engines. The model is a simulation of what happens to the size and distribution of the particles when the alloy rapidly cools at a rate of 200 degrees Fahrenheit per minute.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/injector36in.jpg"]
This picture shows a simulation of a liquid spray from a jet engine fuel injector. Fuel injectors have an intricate design and must handle punishing heat and pressure. They are notoriously difficult to test and build. “High-fidelity computer simulations can significantly reduce the number of trials and can provide insights into why a fuel injector behaves the way it does,” says Madhu Pai, computational combustion engineer at GRC. This image was generated on the Sierra supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ArtInScience2.jpg"]
Arthur calls this computer-generated image of a low-pressure turbine “chromatic ring.” His team used the Jaguar supercomputer based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to model fluid dynamics inside the turbine. They were looking for tiny variations that could help them improve turbine efficiency.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ArtInScience3.jpg"]
Here is a close-up of the previous image.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ArtInScience4.jpg"]
This image does not represent a serving of Rice Krispies treats but three nickel-alloy computer models generated by a GRC server cluster. They help scientists understand the microstructure of the alloy molecules and gain insight into the properties of the metal.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ArtInScience5.jpg"]
This picture shows the density of a jet engine exhaust flow. GE engineers are using it to increase jet engine performance and reduce noise. The image was created on the Intrepid computer network at Argonne National Lab.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ArtInScience6.jpg"]
This picture is a two-dimensional cut-away from the previous image.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ArtInScience.gif"]
This hypnotizing image shows an unsteady flow inside the low-pressure turbine of a jet engine. GRC scientists are using an in-house code to visualize the “unsteadiness” and get a better understanding of the aerodynamic losses inside the turbine. This helps them design more efficient engines.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Nucleation.gif"]
This simulation shows ice spreading through a water droplet. The model shown above was developed on Titan at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, currently the top ranked supercomputer in the world. GRC scientists are using the research to develop icephobic surfaces that prevents ice creation and build up on turbine blades, oil and gas rigs and elsewhere. Video credits: Mike Matheson, Oak Ridge National Lab.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/CheckFlow2.jpg"]
This image shows noise generation due to turbulent flow over the trailing edge of a wind-turbine blade. High fidelity computer simulations provide engineers with better insights into noise sources and noise generation mechanisms, and help them design low-noise blades. These images were generated by the Red Mesa, one of the world’s fastest supercomputers based at Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico. Image courtesy of Prof. Sanjiva Lele, Stanford University
[/image]
[/slides]
Friday, August 30, 2013
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Go With the Flow: New Water-Based Battery Could Extend EV Range Beyond 240 Miles
Dr. Grigorii Soloveichik, a chemist at GE Global Research, combines the necessary ingredients for a water-based chemical reaction that generates electricity inside GE’s flow battery.
Imagine a brave new world where an affordable family EV sedan could cover the distance between New York City and Washington, D.C., on a single battery charge. It remains a fantasy, but perhaps not for too long. Scientists at GE Global Research and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are developing a new kind of water-based “flow” battery for electric vehicles that could achieve this driving range and go beyond it.
Grigorii Soloveichik, who leads the project at GRC and serves as director of the GE-led and Department of Energy-funded Energy Frontier Research Center, says that the batteries could be 75 percent cheaper than car batteries available on the market today and multiply current EV driving range. “The DOE wants a battery that can power a car for 240 miles,” he says. “We think we can exceed that goal.”
GE engineers say that unlike lithium-ion and other battery systems, the new technology will use water-based solutions of inorganic chemicals capable supplying high energy density by ferrying more than one electron at a time. They call the system a “flow” battery because the discharge and recharge occurs in electrochemical cells that stand apart from the energy storing tanks, which makes them safer. “We envision a flow battery with applications for both transportation and large-scale energy storage,” said Soloveichik. “Put simply, for EV’s, this represents a game-changing technology.”
The research is part of the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E RANGE program that seeks to develop game-changing electrochemical energy storage technologies. Engineers from the GRC and Berkeley Lab team says that they plant to develop a working prototype and “demonstrate feasibility” of the concept over the next year.
For comparison, the 2013 Nissan Leaf has an EPA-rated range of 75 miles. Tesla Motors' high-end 2013 Model S can reach 265 miles on a single charge. They both use lithium-ion batteries.
GE has a long history of EV research. A century ago, the company developed the first EV chargers. Most recently, GE engineers developed EV charging stations like the WattStation and sodium-based Durathon batteries, which are now part of the company's ecomagination portfolio.
Click to enlarge
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Popular Science: #6SecondScience Fair Gets 4-Minute Video Treatment
What happens when you mix cupcakes, Play-Doh, dry ice and a smartphone app? You get an eruption of playful videos illustrating basic elements of science raging from electromagnetism from frog anatomy in just six seconds. That’s what happened in mid-August when GE hosted its #6SecondScience fair and invited DIY scientists to film and upload their experiments on the video-sharing app Vine. The week-long event ended on August 18 and generated more than 600 submissions. GE’s social media team has now gathered some of the best and stitched them into a four-minute video. Take a look.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Science In Action: Inside GE’s Research Labs
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction2.gif"]
Engineers at GE Global Research are developing advanced devices called synthetic jet actuators. These piezoelectric bellows can make air and water flow more efficiently across aircraft wings, wind turbine blades and boat hulls. Here, a water-adapted synthetic jet actuator fires a jet like a fountain in a lab demonstration.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction3.gif"]
GRC engineers built this demonstration to show the power of non-thermal plasma. They generate a “cold” plasma inside the clear box on the right using high voltage, low current electricity. Smoke inside the box is pumped out through the vent in the middle when the electricity breaks the surrounding air into ions, which creates flow. This system transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy while using no moving parts. The team investigates non-thermal plasma technology to assist engine combustion by improving fuel burn and performance.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction1.gif"]
Researchers at GE Global Research are putting advanced insulation through its paces by zapping it with high voltage electricity.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction4.gif"]
Seyed Saddoughi, the principal engineer in Aero-Thermal & Mechanical Systems lab at GRC, inspects one of his creations. His research team developed a propeller by attaching a synthetic jet actuator to a rotatable arm. Like the device in the first image, this is a piezoelectric bellows, made of two slightly separated metallic sheets that suck in and expel air when electrified. Their motion generates a jet of air that powers the propeller up to 1,000 rotations per minute. The work is part of their investigations into advanced active flow and combustion control.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction5.gif"]
This ultra-efficient water-jet cutter can blast through slabs of metal with ease. GRC engineers are investigating the computer-guided advanced milling tool for use in several industries. Here, the water jet is being tested to cut wind turbine parts from a solid aluminum ingot. Firing an abrasive mixture of garnet dust and plain water at a pressure of 60,000 pounds per square inch, the water-jet cutter could dramatically reduce manufacturing time at GE plants.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction6.gif"]
GRC scientists are working on advanced "superhydrophobic" coatings that can completely repel water.
[/image]
[/slides]
Nobody likes turbulence. The familiar kind of air turbulence may rattle nerves and spill coffee into passengers’ laps. But planes also suffer from its less palpable form along aircraft wings and engines. A few years ago, Seyed Saddoughi, who works as principal engineer in the Aero-Thermal and Mechanical Systems lab at GE Global Research (GRC), developed thin devices the size of two stacked credit cards that can smooth the drag caused by turbulence and make flying more efficient. The devices, called synthetic jet actuators, work a little like our lungs and generate rapid pumping and sucking by applying electrical current across pieces of special ceramic material separated by a narrow space.
Saddoughi’s work intrigued his GRC colleague Peter De Bock, who used the tiny bellows to build an ingenious cooling system that could make tablets and laptops thinner and quieter and add as much as 30 minutes to laptop battery life. “Innovation is about talking to people, connecting with people,” De Bock says. “[It] is about knowing the field, knowing what’s out there, what’s needed.”
Saddoughi and De Bock’s labs are at GRC headquarters in Niskayuna in upstate New York, near where Thomas Edison opened GE’s first research labs in 1900. Nobel winners such as radio telegraph inventor Guglielmo Marconi, Niels Bohr, who cracked the structure of the atom, and I.P. Pavlov famous for his conditioned dogs came for a visit.
GRC has since grown global and added labs in San Ramon, California, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Bangalore, and Munich. The labs employ 3,000 people, including 1,125 PhDs. GE spends annually $6 billion on R&D and GRC scientists are working on a long list of problems, from new materials for jet engines and gas turbines to molecular diagnostics, better batteries, and software analytics for turbines and oil & gas rigs that crunch data coming over the Industrial Internet.
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction2.gif"]
Engineers at GE Global Research are developing advanced devices called synthetic jet actuators. These piezoelectric bellows can make air and water flow more efficiently across aircraft wings, wind turbine blades and boat hulls. Here, a water-adapted synthetic jet actuator fires a jet like a fountain in a lab demonstration.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction3.gif"]
GRC engineers built this demonstration to show the power of non-thermal plasma. They generate a “cold” plasma inside the clear box on the right using high voltage, low current electricity. Smoke inside the box is pumped out through the vent in the middle when the electricity breaks the surrounding air into ions, which creates flow. This system transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy while using no moving parts. The team investigates non-thermal plasma technology to assist engine combustion by improving fuel burn and performance.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction1.gif"]
Researchers at GE Global Research are putting advanced insulation through its paces by zapping it with high voltage electricity.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction4.gif"]
Seyed Saddoughi, the principal engineer in Aero-Thermal & Mechanical Systems lab at GRC, inspects one of his creations. His research team developed a propeller by attaching a synthetic jet actuator to a rotatable arm. Like the device in the first image, this is a piezoelectric bellows, made of two slightly separated metallic sheets that suck in and expel air when electrified. Their motion generates a jet of air that powers the propeller up to 1,000 rotations per minute. The work is part of their investigations into advanced active flow and combustion control.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction5.gif"]
This ultra-efficient water-jet cutter can blast through slabs of metal with ease. GRC engineers are investigating the computer-guided advanced milling tool for use in several industries. Here, the water jet is being tested to cut wind turbine parts from a solid aluminum ingot. Firing an abrasive mixture of garnet dust and plain water at a pressure of 60,000 pounds per square inch, the water-jet cutter could dramatically reduce manufacturing time at GE plants.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ScienceInAction6.gif"]
GRC scientists are working on advanced "superhydrophobic" coatings that can completely repel water.
[/image]
[/slides]
Nobody likes turbulence. The familiar kind of air turbulence may rattle nerves and spill coffee into passengers’ laps. But planes also suffer from its less palpable form along aircraft wings and engines. A few years ago, Seyed Saddoughi, who works as principal engineer in the Aero-Thermal and Mechanical Systems lab at GE Global Research (GRC), developed thin devices the size of two stacked credit cards that can smooth the drag caused by turbulence and make flying more efficient. The devices, called synthetic jet actuators, work a little like our lungs and generate rapid pumping and sucking by applying electrical current across pieces of special ceramic material separated by a narrow space.
Saddoughi’s work intrigued his GRC colleague Peter De Bock, who used the tiny bellows to build an ingenious cooling system that could make tablets and laptops thinner and quieter and add as much as 30 minutes to laptop battery life. “Innovation is about talking to people, connecting with people,” De Bock says. “[It] is about knowing the field, knowing what’s out there, what’s needed.”
Saddoughi and De Bock’s labs are at GRC headquarters in Niskayuna in upstate New York, near where Thomas Edison opened GE’s first research labs in 1900. Nobel winners such as radio telegraph inventor Guglielmo Marconi, Niels Bohr, who cracked the structure of the atom, and I.P. Pavlov famous for his conditioned dogs came for a visit.
GRC has since grown global and added labs in San Ramon, California, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Bangalore, and Munich. The labs employ 3,000 people, including 1,125 PhDs. GE spends annually $6 billion on R&D and GRC scientists are working on a long list of problems, from new materials for jet engines and gas turbines to molecular diagnostics, better batteries, and software analytics for turbines and oil & gas rigs that crunch data coming over the Industrial Internet.
Friday, August 23, 2013
Heavy Lifting: GE Tech Powers World’s Largest Passenger Jet
Five years ago this month, the world’s largest passenger plane, the A380 double-decker, took off powered by four Engine Alliance jet engines. Engine Alliance is a joint venture between GE and Pratt & Whitney and the engines, called GP7200, combine the most advanced technology and materials from each of the company’s most successful jet engines, the GE90 and the PW4000.
The GP7200 engine has outperformed projections and delivered better performance, including three separate improvements on fuel efficiency that equal to savings of about $11 million over the life of a single A380. Engineers have also shaved 200 pounds from each engine, or 800 pounds per aircraft.
Emirates, Air France, Korean Air and other airlines are operating the engines on 49 double-deckers. Other GP7200 customers include Air Austral, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. It total, airlines have picked the GP7200 engine to power 55 percent of all A380s. The manufacturer says that GP7200 engines have flown for more than 1.7 million hours and have a 99.9 percent departure reliability. Take a look at our A380 slideshow from the most recent Paris Air Show.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HeavyLifting4.jpg"]
Engineers shaved 200 pounds from each engine powering this A380, or 800 pounds per aircraft. Airbus' next-generation A350 plane is flying in the background. Credit: Adam Senatori
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HeavyLifting2.jpg"]
The GP7200 is the quietest engine for the A380. It generates up to 81,500 pounds of thrust and has been tested up to 94,000 pounds of thrust. Credit: Adam Senatori
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HeavyLifting3.jpg"]
Three separate fuel efficiency improvements mean that airlines can save about $11 million over the life of a single A380. Credit: Adam Senatori
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/AirbusThumb.jpg"]
The GP7200 contains a “hot section” developed for the GE90. Credit: Adam Senatori
[/image]
[/slides]
The GP7200 engine has outperformed projections and delivered better performance, including three separate improvements on fuel efficiency that equal to savings of about $11 million over the life of a single A380. Engineers have also shaved 200 pounds from each engine, or 800 pounds per aircraft.
Emirates, Air France, Korean Air and other airlines are operating the engines on 49 double-deckers. Other GP7200 customers include Air Austral, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways. It total, airlines have picked the GP7200 engine to power 55 percent of all A380s. The manufacturer says that GP7200 engines have flown for more than 1.7 million hours and have a 99.9 percent departure reliability. Take a look at our A380 slideshow from the most recent Paris Air Show.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HeavyLifting4.jpg"]
Engineers shaved 200 pounds from each engine powering this A380, or 800 pounds per aircraft. Airbus' next-generation A350 plane is flying in the background. Credit: Adam Senatori
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HeavyLifting2.jpg"]
The GP7200 is the quietest engine for the A380. It generates up to 81,500 pounds of thrust and has been tested up to 94,000 pounds of thrust. Credit: Adam Senatori
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/HeavyLifting3.jpg"]
Three separate fuel efficiency improvements mean that airlines can save about $11 million over the life of a single A380. Credit: Adam Senatori
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/AirbusThumb.jpg"]
The GP7200 contains a “hot section” developed for the GE90. Credit: Adam Senatori
[/image]
[/slides]
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Cool Computing: GE Scientists Use Supercomputer to Freeze Water Molecules in Time
This simulation shows ice spreading through a water droplet. The image is a real scientific model that’s being developed on Titan, the #1 ranked supercomputer in the U.S. Video credits: Mike Matheson (Oak Ridge National Lab)
In early 2011, a tide of icy weather smothered the Caribou Wind Farm in New Brunswick in Canada and shut down the farm’s 33 turbines for a month. “The cold weather is not an issue,” Mark Hachey, the farm’s manager told CBC News. “They can run in rain, they can run in snow. It’s when you get an accumulation of ice, much similar to an airplane.” Caribou has the capacity to power 30,000 homes and Hachey told the CBC that he was looking for solutions like non-stick coating to the turbine blades to crack the persistent problem.
Scientists at GE Global Research (GRC) are already on the case. According to a recent blog post, they’ve been running ice forming simulations on the U.S. top-ranked supercomputer, Titan Cray XK7, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to study how ice grows. Masako Yamada from GRC’s Advanced Computing Lab said that she can model water droplets that are 50 nanometers in size, far smaller than actual droplets, over incredibly short fragments of time called femtoseconds. (One femtosecond is to one second is what one second is to 31.7 million years.) “It’s analogous to creating a high-speed video using an atomic microscope,” Yamada said. “Titan is one of the few resources in the world that can handle our needs.”
Yamada and her team are using the research to develop icephobic surfaces that prevent ice creation and build up. This can be done by reducing “stickiness” between ice and surface, bouncing water droplets before they can freeze, delaying the onset of freezing, and lowering freezing temperature. “We can see exactly how the water molecules interact with the surfaces,” Yamada said. “This is simply impossible using any physical test. In addition, in the virtual world, the results are not impacted by dirt, defects and other random sources of noise.”
The research has applications everywhere, from windshields to the ideal ice cream scooper. “We have observed that certain types of surfaces hinder ice formation, but the exact mechanism was unknown,” says Rick Arthur, who leads the Advanced Computing Lab at GRC. “We use simulations as a means to gain insight into the conditions under which ice can be suppressed. Many industrial systems that operate in cold environments stand to benefit from resisting ice including wind turbines and offshore oil and gas drilling and production rigs operating in extremely cold environments.”
Ice stopped turbines at Caribou again in 2012, for the third year in a row. But if GE’s simulations work out, Hachey’s winter headache could be over.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Mind Meld: Where Edison Meets the Wright Brothers
Thomas Edison was not the first engineer to build a working light bulb and the Wright brothers were not the first aviators to fly an aircraft. But like Edison, they took an abstract idea and made it practical.
Edison came up with a carbon filament that made bulbs shine reliably for days. Orville and Wilbur Wright completed the first self-powered flight and invented the airplane. Their achievement was so momentous that in 1939 FDR chose to celebrate August 19, Orville Wright’s birthday, as National Aviation Day.
The innovative legacy of the Wrights and Edison now resonates inside a single company. GE, established by Edison, built the first American jet engine. Today, GE makes the most powerful jet engines from futuristic materials, designs technologies that make flying cheaper and more efficient, and helps planes land at some of the most forbidding airports. Take a look at our slideshow.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/LEAP@360.gif"]
GE’s latest jet engine, LEAP, uses parts made from revolutionary materials called ceramic matrix composites, or CMCs. The ceramic can handle the punishing forces inside a jet engine at temperatures as high as 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit. Since CMCs are also a third lighter than conventional alloys now used to make jet engine parts, they can shave hundreds of pounds from a jet engine and reduce fuel burn. GE developed the LEAP in a joint venture with France’s Snecma called CFM International.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IAEngine1.jpg"]
They called them the Hush-Hush Boys. In 1942, a top-secret group of GE engineers build the first American jet engine.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/106@335.gif"]
Unlike any other jet engine in history, the LEAP engine also uses metal fuel nozzles “printed” by lasers by adding one layer on top of another. CFM has already received orders for more than 4,500 LEAP engines. The company plans to start ground testing the first full LEAP engine for Airbus A320neo aircraft this September.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/CarbonFiberBlade.jpg"]
The GE90-115B jet engine is the most powerful jet engine ever built. At a 2002 test stand, it generated 127,900 pounds of thrust, earning it an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records (that’s more than the combined total horsepower of the Titanic and the Redstone rocket that took Alan Shepard to space). One of the engine’s blades made from advanced carbon fiber composites is now part of Architecture and Design Collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GEnxWaterTest@360.gif"]
The GE90’s successor, the GEnx, was developed for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft. A GEnx-powered Dreamliner now holds world speed and distance records on a round-the-world flight for its weight class. This GEnx engine is powering through a water ingestion test at GE Aviation’s testing site in Peebles, Ohio.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Qantas.jpg"]
When New Zealand’s Queenstown airport switched on a new data-based GE navigation system last year, the technology cut monthly cumulative delays from 2,400 minutes to just 200 minutes. Less holding pattern meant fewer gallons of fuel burned and lower emissions. The system, called Required Navigation Performance or RNP, relies on GPS signals rather than ground based beacons. It is an example of how airlines and airports can tap the power of data to improve operations. James Fallows, an aviation reporter and China expert, wrote that before RNP, much of western China was “effectively beyond the range of reliable air travel.” GE has recently launched GE Flight Quest and challenged data enthusiasts and coders to use big data sets like flight routes, weather, plane and airport system data, and design a solution that would maximize flight economics by telling the pilot the optimal route to fly a plane.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/China_Airlines.jpg"]
Running a leaner, more efficient airline does not have to involve spending capital on the latest, most efficient planes. A little bit of jet engine brain surgery can do the job. GE engineers have developed a brainy software system called Fuel and Carbon Solutions that crunches aircraft data, from jet engine performance, fuel burn and plane location to information coming from digital flight data recorders. GE estimates that the system can cut an airline’s fuel bill by up to 3 percent. That may not seem like much, but consider fuel costs can reach between 30 to 44 percent of an airline’s operating expenses. China Airlines and other oerators have signed up to use the system.
[/image]
[/slides]
Edison came up with a carbon filament that made bulbs shine reliably for days. Orville and Wilbur Wright completed the first self-powered flight and invented the airplane. Their achievement was so momentous that in 1939 FDR chose to celebrate August 19, Orville Wright’s birthday, as National Aviation Day.
The innovative legacy of the Wrights and Edison now resonates inside a single company. GE, established by Edison, built the first American jet engine. Today, GE makes the most powerful jet engines from futuristic materials, designs technologies that make flying cheaper and more efficient, and helps planes land at some of the most forbidding airports. Take a look at our slideshow.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/LEAP@360.gif"]
GE’s latest jet engine, LEAP, uses parts made from revolutionary materials called ceramic matrix composites, or CMCs. The ceramic can handle the punishing forces inside a jet engine at temperatures as high as 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit. Since CMCs are also a third lighter than conventional alloys now used to make jet engine parts, they can shave hundreds of pounds from a jet engine and reduce fuel burn. GE developed the LEAP in a joint venture with France’s Snecma called CFM International.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IAEngine1.jpg"]
They called them the Hush-Hush Boys. In 1942, a top-secret group of GE engineers build the first American jet engine.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/106@335.gif"]
Unlike any other jet engine in history, the LEAP engine also uses metal fuel nozzles “printed” by lasers by adding one layer on top of another. CFM has already received orders for more than 4,500 LEAP engines. The company plans to start ground testing the first full LEAP engine for Airbus A320neo aircraft this September.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/CarbonFiberBlade.jpg"]
The GE90-115B jet engine is the most powerful jet engine ever built. At a 2002 test stand, it generated 127,900 pounds of thrust, earning it an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records (that’s more than the combined total horsepower of the Titanic and the Redstone rocket that took Alan Shepard to space). One of the engine’s blades made from advanced carbon fiber composites is now part of Architecture and Design Collection at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GEnxWaterTest@360.gif"]
The GE90’s successor, the GEnx, was developed for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner aircraft. A GEnx-powered Dreamliner now holds world speed and distance records on a round-the-world flight for its weight class. This GEnx engine is powering through a water ingestion test at GE Aviation’s testing site in Peebles, Ohio.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Qantas.jpg"]
When New Zealand’s Queenstown airport switched on a new data-based GE navigation system last year, the technology cut monthly cumulative delays from 2,400 minutes to just 200 minutes. Less holding pattern meant fewer gallons of fuel burned and lower emissions. The system, called Required Navigation Performance or RNP, relies on GPS signals rather than ground based beacons. It is an example of how airlines and airports can tap the power of data to improve operations. James Fallows, an aviation reporter and China expert, wrote that before RNP, much of western China was “effectively beyond the range of reliable air travel.” GE has recently launched GE Flight Quest and challenged data enthusiasts and coders to use big data sets like flight routes, weather, plane and airport system data, and design a solution that would maximize flight economics by telling the pilot the optimal route to fly a plane.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/China_Airlines.jpg"]
Running a leaner, more efficient airline does not have to involve spending capital on the latest, most efficient planes. A little bit of jet engine brain surgery can do the job. GE engineers have developed a brainy software system called Fuel and Carbon Solutions that crunches aircraft data, from jet engine performance, fuel burn and plane location to information coming from digital flight data recorders. GE estimates that the system can cut an airline’s fuel bill by up to 3 percent. That may not seem like much, but consider fuel costs can reach between 30 to 44 percent of an airline’s operating expenses. China Airlines and other oerators have signed up to use the system.
[/image]
[/slides]
Friday, August 16, 2013
GE Records: The Fastest, Farthest, First, and Most Powerful
The Voyager 1 spacecraft is the farthest man-made object from Earth, and, along with its sibling Voyager 2, is also the longest running NASA mission to date. Today, both are heading into the unknown: interstellar space.
Launched in 1977, the Voyager spacecraft weren't expected to last this long. But it turns out, they were built to last. GE engineers designed the Voyagers’ command computers directing the flight path and providing communication links with NASA Mission Control. GE engineers also designed the spacecrafts’ power source, which is still converting heat produced from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity for the instruments, computers, radios, and other systems that allow them to beam data to Earth.
So what do the Voyagers have in common with the fastest train, the fastest ship and the most powerful jet engine? All were, at least partially, the products of GE engineering. Click through the slideshow to learn more about how GE helped reach new frontiers, break records, and solve some of the biggest challenges facing civilization.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords1.jpg"]
Breaking Speed Records in Trains: In 1966, railroad engineer Don Wetzel bought a pair of GE jet engines from a surplus Air Force bomber, bolted them to the roof of a stock commuter car, and took his contraption for a spin. On his second trip, the train sped along at 183, a North American rail speed record that still stands today.
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[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords2.jpg"]
Powering the Fastest Ship: The world's fastest ship, the Francisco, is powered by two aircraft engine-based GE gas turbines driving a pair of water jets. Built at Australia’s Incat shipyard, it can reach speeds of 58.1 knots, or 67 miles an hour. It's also the first ferry to use liquified natural gas as a primary fuel, which places it among the most environmentally friendly and efficient ships in the world.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords3.jpg"]
Powering Systems in the Farthest Man-Made Object: Voyagers 1 and 2, headed to interstellar space, are to date the farthest objects built by people from Earth. Launched in 1977, they are still beaming data back to Earth today. GE engineers designed their command computers to direct the flight path and provide communication links with NASA Mission Control, as well as the probes’ power source called radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords4.jpg"]
Helping Put the First Man on the Moon: GE engineering helped put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. Materials for their boots and helmet visors were designed by GE, as well as the Apollo program's radio command and guidance equipment. GE also engineers tested Apollo 11's command and lunar modules. Between 1961 and 1972, a total of 6,000 GE employees from 37 different operations helped NASA run the Apollo program and send 24 people to the moon and back.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords5.jpg"]
Pioneering the Use of Electronic Computers in Engineering: GE was the first company to use the world's first general purpose electronic computer (which was owned by the U.S. Military) to solve engineering problems. In 1954, GE bought its own computer, the Universal Automatic Computer I, to use on projects ranging from building the first industrial computerized payroll for GE Appliances to monitoring the liftoff of Apollo 11.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords6.jpg"]
Designing the Most Powerful Jet Engine: The GE90-115B jet engine is the most powerful jet engine. At a 2002 test stand, it generated 127,900 pounds of thrust, earning it a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records (that's more than the combined total horsepower of the Titanic and the Redstone rocket that took the first American to space). But the engine is still graceful enough that one of its blades was featured in New York's Museum of Modern Art for its Architecture and Design Collection.
[/image]
[/slides]
Launched in 1977, the Voyager spacecraft weren't expected to last this long. But it turns out, they were built to last. GE engineers designed the Voyagers’ command computers directing the flight path and providing communication links with NASA Mission Control. GE engineers also designed the spacecrafts’ power source, which is still converting heat produced from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity for the instruments, computers, radios, and other systems that allow them to beam data to Earth.
So what do the Voyagers have in common with the fastest train, the fastest ship and the most powerful jet engine? All were, at least partially, the products of GE engineering. Click through the slideshow to learn more about how GE helped reach new frontiers, break records, and solve some of the biggest challenges facing civilization.
[slides image_align="left"]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords1.jpg"]
Breaking Speed Records in Trains: In 1966, railroad engineer Don Wetzel bought a pair of GE jet engines from a surplus Air Force bomber, bolted them to the roof of a stock commuter car, and took his contraption for a spin. On his second trip, the train sped along at 183, a North American rail speed record that still stands today.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords2.jpg"]
Powering the Fastest Ship: The world's fastest ship, the Francisco, is powered by two aircraft engine-based GE gas turbines driving a pair of water jets. Built at Australia’s Incat shipyard, it can reach speeds of 58.1 knots, or 67 miles an hour. It's also the first ferry to use liquified natural gas as a primary fuel, which places it among the most environmentally friendly and efficient ships in the world.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords3.jpg"]
Powering Systems in the Farthest Man-Made Object: Voyagers 1 and 2, headed to interstellar space, are to date the farthest objects built by people from Earth. Launched in 1977, they are still beaming data back to Earth today. GE engineers designed their command computers to direct the flight path and provide communication links with NASA Mission Control, as well as the probes’ power source called radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords4.jpg"]
Helping Put the First Man on the Moon: GE engineering helped put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. Materials for their boots and helmet visors were designed by GE, as well as the Apollo program's radio command and guidance equipment. GE also engineers tested Apollo 11's command and lunar modules. Between 1961 and 1972, a total of 6,000 GE employees from 37 different operations helped NASA run the Apollo program and send 24 people to the moon and back.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords5.jpg"]
Pioneering the Use of Electronic Computers in Engineering: GE was the first company to use the world's first general purpose electronic computer (which was owned by the U.S. Military) to solve engineering problems. In 1954, GE bought its own computer, the Universal Automatic Computer I, to use on projects ranging from building the first industrial computerized payroll for GE Appliances to monitoring the liftoff of Apollo 11.
[/image]
[image src="http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/GERecords6.jpg"]
Designing the Most Powerful Jet Engine: The GE90-115B jet engine is the most powerful jet engine. At a 2002 test stand, it generated 127,900 pounds of thrust, earning it a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records (that's more than the combined total horsepower of the Titanic and the Redstone rocket that took the first American to space). But the engine is still graceful enough that one of its blades was featured in New York's Museum of Modern Art for its Architecture and Design Collection.
[/image]
[/slides]
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Desert Water Project Wins Rookie of the Year Award
The Ak-Chin Indian Community in Arizona’s Santa Cruz Valley has a history that stretches back centuries. But these days, the Community is both thriving and strikingly young, with many members under the age of 21. Add to that the presence of a successful casino and an active farming community that tills more than 70 percent of the land within the 22,000-acre tribal boundaries and it’s clear that the water needs of this desert community will only grow.
It was with those pressures in mind that the community turned to GE’s ZeeWeed 500 technology to provide up to 2.25 million gallons of drinking water per day to the community as well as Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino. The resulting plant won the 2013 Water Project of the Year award from the AZ Water Association, a non-profit organization comprised of 2,700 water and wastewater professionals dedicated to preserving and enhancing Arizona's water environment.
GE also provided its ZeeWeed technology for the community's nearby membrane bioreactor water reclamation facility, which produces Arizona Class A+ effluent for water reuse and recharge, and won an international and multiple state awards. Both of the plants helped the community support the recent expansion of its casino/hotel and family entertainment center. The Ak-Chin project is one of nearly 1,000 plants worldwide that use GE's ZeeWeed technology to produce superior quality water.
“For what this community has been doing economically, both of these plants have been key in their economic growth and expansion,” says Jayne Long, capital project manager for the Ak-Chin Indian Community.
In addition to driving economic growth, the technology is also helping keep the community’s environmental footprint small. For example, the water from the reclamation plant is reused in the community in a number of different ways, including for irrigation, fire hydrants and sprinklers, in a central cooling plant for the casino, and for watering the grounds. “All the reclaimed water from that facility is going out and being used,” Long says.
The ZeeWeed technology is also notably efficient, allowing the facility to utilize a smaller footprint than conventional plants and keeping energy and chemical usage low.
“Ak-Chin is definitely one of the more progressive communities when it comes to opportunities to re-use water, and to protect and preserve their water resources,” says Dave Sobeck, senior vice president of Carollo Engineers in Phoenix, which designed the two projects. “We enjoyed working with the Community to identify the most cost effective and flexible opportunities to produce high quality water for reuse throughout the area.”
It was with those pressures in mind that the community turned to GE’s ZeeWeed 500 technology to provide up to 2.25 million gallons of drinking water per day to the community as well as Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino. The resulting plant won the 2013 Water Project of the Year award from the AZ Water Association, a non-profit organization comprised of 2,700 water and wastewater professionals dedicated to preserving and enhancing Arizona's water environment.
Slaking the Thirst of A Thriving Community: The Ak-Chin Indian Community used GE’s Zeeweed technology in two plants to meet growing water needs.
GE also provided its ZeeWeed technology for the community's nearby membrane bioreactor water reclamation facility, which produces Arizona Class A+ effluent for water reuse and recharge, and won an international and multiple state awards. Both of the plants helped the community support the recent expansion of its casino/hotel and family entertainment center. The Ak-Chin project is one of nearly 1,000 plants worldwide that use GE's ZeeWeed technology to produce superior quality water.
“For what this community has been doing economically, both of these plants have been key in their economic growth and expansion,” says Jayne Long, capital project manager for the Ak-Chin Indian Community.
In addition to driving economic growth, the technology is also helping keep the community’s environmental footprint small. For example, the water from the reclamation plant is reused in the community in a number of different ways, including for irrigation, fire hydrants and sprinklers, in a central cooling plant for the casino, and for watering the grounds. “All the reclaimed water from that facility is going out and being used,” Long says.
The ZeeWeed technology is also notably efficient, allowing the facility to utilize a smaller footprint than conventional plants and keeping energy and chemical usage low.
“Ak-Chin is definitely one of the more progressive communities when it comes to opportunities to re-use water, and to protect and preserve their water resources,” says Dave Sobeck, senior vice president of Carollo Engineers in Phoenix, which designed the two projects. “We enjoyed working with the Community to identify the most cost effective and flexible opportunities to produce high quality water for reuse throughout the area.”
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Delays Byte the Dust: GE Asks Big Data Mavens to Make Flying More Efficient
When New Zealand’s Queenstown airport switched on a new, data-based GE navigation system last year, the technology cut monthly cumulative delays from 2,400 minutes to just 200 minutes. Less holding pattern meant fewer gallons of fuel burned and lower emissions. The system, called Required Navigation Performance or RNP, relies on GPS signals rather than ground based beacons. It is an example of how airlines and airports can tap the power of data to improve operations.
Click to enlarge
GPS information is one of many data sets that can help. GE is now asking the large open community of data enthusiasts and coders to use big data sets like flight routes, weather, plane and airport system data, and design a solution that would maximize flight economics by telling the pilot the optimal route to fly a plane.
The challenge is the second leg of the GE Flight Quest, a contest seeking to fight flight delays with big data and software. GE designed the challenge in partnership with Kaggle and Alaska Airlines.
Developers and data scientists from 58 countries generated more than 3,000 submissions during the first phase, which ended in the spring. They were competing for a total prize pool of $250,000 in cash awards. One set of winners built a mathematical model that helps improve runway and gate arrival time estimates by as much as 40 percent over an industry benchmark.
Winners of the second phase will divide a total prize pool of $250,000. The contest is open now and the first deadline is set for late September. For more details please visit the Flight Quest site.
Click to enlarge
GPS information is one of many data sets that can help. GE is now asking the large open community of data enthusiasts and coders to use big data sets like flight routes, weather, plane and airport system data, and design a solution that would maximize flight economics by telling the pilot the optimal route to fly a plane.
The challenge is the second leg of the GE Flight Quest, a contest seeking to fight flight delays with big data and software. GE designed the challenge in partnership with Kaggle and Alaska Airlines.
Developers and data scientists from 58 countries generated more than 3,000 submissions during the first phase, which ended in the spring. They were competing for a total prize pool of $250,000 in cash awards. One set of winners built a mathematical model that helps improve runway and gate arrival time estimates by as much as 40 percent over an industry benchmark.
Winners of the second phase will divide a total prize pool of $250,000. The contest is open now and the first deadline is set for late September. For more details please visit the Flight Quest site.
Monday, August 5, 2013
Tell Me What You Eat: Omnivorous Jenbacher Engines Use Whisky Mash, Manure, Old Lunches to Power Farms, Plants and Neighborhoods
What do you do when you run a growing business in a booming country in Africa and Asia but run out of electricity? What if your plant in America or in Germany gets slammed by a big storm or a heat wave and grid goes down? One answer is to build your own power plant.
This solution, which once looked expensive and preposterous, is not far-fetched at all. GE calls a network of small, independent power plants that can power farms, companies and even entire towns distributed power. The workhorse in GE’s distributed power portfolio is a family of Jenbacher gas engines. The engines often work with technology that turns a source of abundant waste including cheese whey, whisky mash, discarded school lunches, and sewage sludge into biogas. The Jenbachers then convert the biogas into electricity. Take a look at our infographic that explains the scope and spread of Jenbacher-powered power plants.
Click to enlarge
This solution, which once looked expensive and preposterous, is not far-fetched at all. GE calls a network of small, independent power plants that can power farms, companies and even entire towns distributed power. The workhorse in GE’s distributed power portfolio is a family of Jenbacher gas engines. The engines often work with technology that turns a source of abundant waste including cheese whey, whisky mash, discarded school lunches, and sewage sludge into biogas. The Jenbachers then convert the biogas into electricity. Take a look at our infographic that explains the scope and spread of Jenbacher-powered power plants.
Click to enlarge
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