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GE continually invests in its LM2500 family of marine
gas turbines. “For the MMP, the infusion of new technologies will
improve the manufacturing and maintainability of the LM2500 marine module,
all the while reducing module weight, noise, radiated heat – and
most importantly – life cycle costs,” said GE’s Brien
Bolsinger, Vice President, General Manager, Evendale, Ohio. “The
new marine module will meet global naval requirements, including Mil
901D shock. Once available in 2018, this lightweight design can easily
be applied to LM2500 family gas turbines used by other international
navies,” he added.
The U.S. Navy is GE’s largest marine gas turbine customer with
over 350 LM2500 engines in operation across multiple programs including
DDG-51 ARLEIGH BURKE, LCS-2 INDEPENDENCE and LHA-6 AMERICA class ships.
Products developed under the MMP will be introduced to the U.S. Navy’s
DDG-51 program starting with Flight III.
The MMP focuses on composite initiatives including the enclosure, inlet
barrier wall and inlet screen. The MMP also targets gas turbine and
package sensors to improve condition monitoring and manufacturability.
For instance, all bolted joints between the walls and roof panels will
be eliminated in the composite enclosure to improve noise attenuation
and simplify assembly. The composite enclosure will feature improved
entry points via the addition of an access panel to the inlet plenum,
enlarged rear access panels and improved top access hatch design (see
diagram below). These enhancements will significantly reduce the weight
of the door and the hatch and will improve ingress/egress, especially
in the nose-down orientation on board ship.
Other key composite improvements include: Reduced enclosure weight by
approximately 50%; Improved noise attenuation; Significant reduction
in radiated heat; and external surface temperatures are expected to
be less than 110°F.
Detailed design for MMP products is ongoing, with extensive fire testing
on subcomponents planned for 2016. The prototype enclosure is expected
to be complete in April 2017, and full scale fire, shock, noise and
vibration testing is planned to be completed mid-2018. The new composite
enclosure will be available by the fourth quarter 2018.
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