This technology is a gas turbine combustion instability diagnosis system and method that measures combustion dynamic pressure using internal sensors, calculates instability threshold values based on the median frequency (spectral centroid) and dispersion (spectral spread) of the pressure signals, and controls combustion operations accordingly.
Gas turbine combustors reach temperatures of 1500°C, where unstable combustion causes pressure and flame fluctuations, leading to localized stress and thermal cycling that result in cracks. While such damage reduces power efficiency and can destroy turbine blades, existing monitoring methods based on exhaust or surface temperatures struggle to accurately detect combustion instability in real time.
This technology uses sensitivity analysis to determine the time window for dynamic pressure signals and sets the arithmetic mean of spectral centroid and spread values during stable and unstable combustion as the threshold. Since energy concentrates at resonant frequencies during instability, causing these indicators to decrease, the system clearly distinguishes combustion states in real time. It can be applied to power plant gas turbines, combined-cycle monitoring, and aviation or marine engines to prevent combustor cracking and turbine blade damage through rapid operational intervention.
This invention was developed with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT for the development of core technologies for precision diagnosis of thermo-acoustic combustion instability in power-generating gas turbines.
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