Overview
For decades, GE has supplied aeroderivative controls with Woodward and GE's Mark™ series of controls. In most applications, these were air-fuel governors with a PLC for sequencing the auxiliaries. Currently, there are thousands of analog and digital systems controlling, protecting, and monitoring units on generator and mechanical drives worldwide. With age, these systems become more difficult and costly to maintain and are often incapable of performing advanced functions to improve efficiency, reliability, emissions, etc.
Engine Control Platforms
Product Description
Today, GE offers the Woodward Atlas-II™ as a direct plug-n-play replacement for the original Woodward controls and Mark VIe to replace legacy GE controlled governors with expansion capability for auxiliaries and monitoring of supervisory instrumentation. In addition to turbine control, GE offers a full plant control system that integrates the entire package and skids into a single, plant level control solution. A variety of operator stations, communications, and mechanical upgrades are available to modernize the complete package. Controls upgrades for aero-derivatives for most other OEMs are also available to improve reliability and performance.
Value
Upgrading the air-fuel governor with modern controls technology improves reliability, eliminates periodic recalibration due to thermal drift, and extends support with readily available spare parts and service. Expanding the scope of the governor to include auxiliaries and monitoring systems for the engine and
driven-load equipment extends the benefits and provides economy of scale. Operators and maintenance personnel are no longer constrained by limited information available from meters, indicating lights, and annunciator windows for operational decisions and diagnosing faults.
