How did gas generators develop?

The development of gas generators is a vivid portrayal of the continuous evolution of energy utilization technology, and its history can be traced back to the late 19th century and early 20th century. At that time, with the discovery and exploitation of natural gas resources, gas engines gradually entered the field of power generation. In the early days, gas generator sets mainly used natural gas as fuel. Due to technical limitations, their application scope only covered small industrial and civil projects.

In the 20th century, gas generator technology made major breakthroughs. With the development of aerodynamics and the advent of high-temperature resistant materials, the efficiency of compressors and turbines has been improved, and the application problems of high-temperature fuel gas have been solved, which has laid the foundation for the efficient operation of gas generators. In 1939, Switzerland manufactured a 4MW gas turbine for power generation with an efficiency of 18%, marking the official commissioning of the first generation of gas turbines. Since then, the "F" type gas turbines such as 7F and 7FA developed by GE in the United States have a gas temperature of ≥1050℃; ABB's GT24 and GT26 units have a pressure ratio of up to 30 and a gas temperature of 1235℃, leading the gas generator into the second generation.

In the 21st century, gas generators are moving towards higher efficiency, lower emissions, and wider fuel adaptability. For example, the world's first 30MW pure hydrogen gas turbine "Jupiter No. 1" was successfully ignited, overcoming the technical difficulties of hydrogen combustion and laying a solid foundation for the integrated application of "wind, light, hydrogen, storage and combustion". The "Taihang 7" gas turbine independently developed by my country has the advantages of high power, fast start-up and low energy consumption. It has realized the application of dual-fuel technology for the first time, filling the gap in the application of domestic gas turbine offshore platforms.

Today, gas generators have been widely used in industrial production, commercial facilities, emergency rescue and distributed energy systems, and continue to inject strong power into the stable operation and energy transformation of various industries.