Excerpt from an article in http://www.distributedenergy.com
By Ed Ritchie
For a small, highly mobile and lightweight approach to using a turbine generator related to the aeronautics industry, Turbine Marine products, Pompano Beach, FL, offer something unique, a 1MW, turbine-driven genset that weighs less than 9,000 pounds, and measures 12 feet long by 5 feet wide by 5 feet high.
The turbine is a Lycoming T-53 Engine, the US Military’s choice of power for its UH-1 and Cobra Helicopters. “We’ve made this ( generator ) product lightweight ( small ) in case it needs to be transported by a crane or helicopter,” explains John Arruda, president. “It’s very small, about the same size as a 180-kilowatt diesel genset, and I tow it with a [Cadillac] Escalade.Typically, a unit of this power would be stored in a 20- or 40-foot ISO container and have to be moved with a semi truck. In some applications, that’s just impractical.”
The small turbine ( generator ) doesn’t vibrate as a reciprocating engine would, and though the sound level is around 90 dBA at 10 meters, its character is similar to white noise. “It’s just a whole different type of operation,” adds Arruda, “and you can burn any kind of fuel you like. From Number 16 fuel oil, to diesel, kerosene, gasoline, ethanol, or methanol. This turbine doesn’t care, and fuels can be changed at any point in time, or they can be mixed.”
The turbine has seen use in a variety of standby and emergency generator applications, from water distillation plants and temporary disaster housing, to nuclear powerplants. The units are custom built to meet the requirements specified.