Press Release
March 4, 2003
GE's Aeroderivative Gas Turbines Show Excellent In-Service Record Aboard Cruise Ships
--GE's LM2500+ aeroderivative gas turbine-based propulsion systems aboard six cruise ships continue to demonstrate excellent in-service reliability and availability, the company reported today during the Seatrade Cruise Shipping Convention.
"The overall reliability and availability of the combined gas turbine and steam turbine integrated electric drive systems -- known as COGES plants -- aboard four Celebrity Cruise and two Royal Caribbean International cruise ships continue to meet or exceed expectations," said Karl Matson, general manager of GE Marine Engines.
"We believe that this strong in-service performance record can be attributed to several factors including the 'Reliability Centered' maintenance philosophy in place on these ships. Through our remote diagnostics system, GE's land-based specialists can track critical COGES plant parameters. This daily monitoring and trending helps identify needs for maintenance action in advance of an unscheduled event," Matson added.
The cruise ships are Celebrity Cruises' Millennium, Infinity, Summit and Constellation, and Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas and Brilliance of the Seas.
GE's LM2500+ gas turbines are the heart of the COGES plants aboard each of the six cruise ships. GE Aero Energy Products (GE AEP) supplied all the COGES plants. GE AEP is a GE Power Systems business headquartered in Houston, Texas, and a GE Marine Engines Marine Systems Supplier.
COGES Plant Performance
The LM2500+ gas turbines originally installed aboard Celebrity Cruises' Millennium have operated more than 17,000 hours each without maintenance. In fact, one LM2500+ was removed at the 17,000-hour mark for a more detailed internal inspection that confirmed internal hot section components to be fully serviceable.
Service life of at least 20,000 hours from the gas turbines before hot section maintenance is expected. The absence of soot formation within the gas turbines and heat recovery steam generators has been achieved. Similarly, inspection of other components within the COGES plant has not identified any significant equipment deficiencies.
This in-service record and the ability to exchange the gas generator during normal port calls has allowed Celebrity Cruises the flexibility to extend operation beyond the previously-projected 14,000 to 15,000 hour dry docking repair interval.
Other in-service experience shows:
GE's Reliability Centered maintenance plan is used on the two Royal Caribbean cruise ships and four Celebrity Cruises vessels. This means that corrective maintenance is performed on the basis of observed conditions rather than on fixed time intervals. This plan takes into consideration any repairs required to reach the next planned repair period.
The LM gas turbines are given a thorough internal borescope inspection every three to six months to check for any mechanical problems or wear that may have occurred. The remote diagnostics system also catches abnormal conditions in advance of plant outage.
This condition monitoring, along with borescope inspections and proper preventative maintenance, can provide an essential history of the engine condition versus operating time. This allows maintenance to be predicted and scheduled at the appropriate time.
Maintenance Support Agreements
GE implements the maintenance plan for the COGES plants through a maintenance support agreement with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises. Such arrangements reduce training requirements and maintenance investments for the customer. They also remove the risks associated with a large, unplanned maintenance event.
GE has similar maintenance agreements in place with other commercial and military marine customers.
GE Marine Engines is part of GE Aircraft Engines and is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio. GE Marine Engines is the world's largest designer, developer and manufacturer of aeroderivative gas turbines for a variety of commercial and military marine propulsion applications. Visit GE Marine Engines on the worldwide web at www.geae.com
GE Power Systems (www.gepower.com) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation technology, energy services and management systems with estimated 2002 revenues of nearly $23 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Power Systems provides equipment, services and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, distributed power and energy rental industries.
"The overall reliability and availability of the combined gas turbine and steam turbine integrated electric drive systems -- known as COGES plants -- aboard four Celebrity Cruise and two Royal Caribbean International cruise ships continue to meet or exceed expectations," said Karl Matson, general manager of GE Marine Engines.
"We believe that this strong in-service performance record can be attributed to several factors including the 'Reliability Centered' maintenance philosophy in place on these ships. Through our remote diagnostics system, GE's land-based specialists can track critical COGES plant parameters. This daily monitoring and trending helps identify needs for maintenance action in advance of an unscheduled event," Matson added.
The cruise ships are Celebrity Cruises' Millennium, Infinity, Summit and Constellation, and Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas and Brilliance of the Seas.
GE's LM2500+ gas turbines are the heart of the COGES plants aboard each of the six cruise ships. GE Aero Energy Products (GE AEP) supplied all the COGES plants. GE AEP is a GE Power Systems business headquartered in Houston, Texas, and a GE Marine Engines Marine Systems Supplier.
COGES Plant Performance
The LM2500+ gas turbines originally installed aboard Celebrity Cruises' Millennium have operated more than 17,000 hours each without maintenance. In fact, one LM2500+ was removed at the 17,000-hour mark for a more detailed internal inspection that confirmed internal hot section components to be fully serviceable.
Service life of at least 20,000 hours from the gas turbines before hot section maintenance is expected. The absence of soot formation within the gas turbines and heat recovery steam generators has been achieved. Similarly, inspection of other components within the COGES plant has not identified any significant equipment deficiencies.
This in-service record and the ability to exchange the gas generator during normal port calls has allowed Celebrity Cruises the flexibility to extend operation beyond the previously-projected 14,000 to 15,000 hour dry docking repair interval.
Other in-service experience shows:
- Maintenance activities required of the ships' engineering staff have been minimal;
- Absence of visible exhaust smoke emissions under all loads has been achieved;
- Marine Gas Oil of conforming quality from international ports has been available;
- Equipment noise has proven to be lower than diesel-electric counterparts in ships' public areas, both inside and outside the ships; and
- Operating costs have been as expected.
GE's Reliability Centered maintenance plan is used on the two Royal Caribbean cruise ships and four Celebrity Cruises vessels. This means that corrective maintenance is performed on the basis of observed conditions rather than on fixed time intervals. This plan takes into consideration any repairs required to reach the next planned repair period.
The LM gas turbines are given a thorough internal borescope inspection every three to six months to check for any mechanical problems or wear that may have occurred. The remote diagnostics system also catches abnormal conditions in advance of plant outage.
This condition monitoring, along with borescope inspections and proper preventative maintenance, can provide an essential history of the engine condition versus operating time. This allows maintenance to be predicted and scheduled at the appropriate time.
Maintenance Support Agreements
GE implements the maintenance plan for the COGES plants through a maintenance support agreement with Royal Caribbean and Celebrity Cruises. Such arrangements reduce training requirements and maintenance investments for the customer. They also remove the risks associated with a large, unplanned maintenance event.
GE has similar maintenance agreements in place with other commercial and military marine customers.
GE Marine Engines is part of GE Aircraft Engines and is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio. GE Marine Engines is the world's largest designer, developer and manufacturer of aeroderivative gas turbines for a variety of commercial and military marine propulsion applications. Visit GE Marine Engines on the worldwide web at www.geae.com
GE Power Systems (www.gepower.com) is one of the world's leading suppliers of power generation technology, energy services and management systems with estimated 2002 revenues of nearly $23 billion. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, GE Power Systems provides equipment, services and management solutions across the power generation, oil and gas, distributed power and energy rental industries.
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