 What is a Microturbine?
 As
its name implies, a microturbine is a small size gas turbine.
Generally, anything below 500 kW can be considered a microturbine. There
are many types of microturbines. Some are used for model jet fighters; some
are being developed for use in very small spy drones; and others are used
to produce electricity. While the latter may sound a little blase compared
with the former, the technology it uses in power generation is cutting edge
and constantly evolving. When referring to the general class of
microturbines, we will only be speaking of the power-producing microturbine. Microturbines
have been used in many different applications
since the mid to late 1960's. Microturbines have powered cars and
functioned as APU's (auxiliary power units) in aircraft and missiles. The
telephone industry used turbines to create power for remote locations in
the late 60's and early 70's.
Today, microturbines are becoming
well known as energy management
solutions. Microturbines are being installed in many distributed
generation applications allowing end-users to better manage their energy
costs.
The Calnetix microturbine was engineered to be a prime mover for a generator
set. Originally a speed reduction gearbox was used to reduce the speed to
3600 RPM to run a generator. This concept required many moving parts and
did not maximize the low maintenance costs that microturbines offer.
Calnetix Microturbines developed a high-speed alternator, mounted on the
turbine shaft, to increase the electrical efficiency of the turbine and
reduce maintenance costs. The system generates a high frequency AC
voltage, which is converted from AC to DC then back to AC. This cleans the
output voltage and converts it to a useable voltage. This is accomplished
by a high current inverter/ rectifier system. The entire system is
computer controlled.
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