How to Test Capstone Micro Turbine Generators

Dear Friend

If you have not purchased the generators, then please also check the fuel quality requirements, typically max. permitted H2S content & calorific value of biogas etc. If required quality biogas is not available with you, then please relook into the whole deal.

Thanks and regards

Ashok Toshniwal, Bangalore, India

Contact Capstone directly. There are factors beyond just simple testing that they can help you with including:

Is this fuel approved for those turbines? How does the fuel have to be processed (all liquids removed, siloxanes removed, pH adjusted, compressed) before you can get them into the turbine. Dollars to doughnuts, they have already seen applications like yours and can provide a lot of guidance.

How have the units been stored, and for how long?

What site preparation is required? The overall installed cost is of interest, not just the turbine costs. I'll bet they can even give you an idea of maintenance requirements and costs.

How to hook them up electrically. How to ground them, and how to set them up so that they interact well in your particular situation. Those units will stop or fault out if they detect an unsafe electrical situation.

What sort of ventilation is required. Given the quantity of air used by a turbine, improper ventilation will eventually damage equipment.

What options are available for you to use. Did you want to use some of the combustion heat to warm up or cool down water? They have already worked that stuff out for other customers, they may have an off the shelf solution for you.

There may be parts that are likely to have failed, or should be replaced as a normal maintenance item. Batteries older than a few years probably are not going to work so well.

There are certain parts that are being obsoleted as the company discovers better ways to do things. You may want to take advantage of the newer and presumably better equipment.

The software which runs the turbines has most likely been improved upon, and your units may benefit from that.

The company offers training on how to run and repair the units. That could be invaluable to you. One of the things you will learn is how to perform an engine rotation check, to make sure the bearings are still working.

They may even provide you with the software required to diagnose and run the turbines.

Of course, you also run the risk of hearing that the turbines that you bought are so far out of date or have sufficient potential damage to the equipment that it would be more economical to simply buy some new ones. There are reasons that used equipment is for sale. That is one of them.