Westinghouse Combustion Turbine Systems Division - Changing Market, New Facility

Changing Market, New Facility

In the mid 1970s, CTSD moved its headquarters and operations to a new site adjacent to a commercial park in Concordville, Pa., 20 miles northwest (junction of U.S. 1 and 322), in the heart of historic Concord Township. Manufacturing, however, remained in Tinicum. The new CTSD complex consisted of two buildings: a modern, two-story office building for engineering, marketing, human resources, and support functions, and the Combustion Turbine Development Center.

Completed in 1976, the Development Center was capable of full-scale testing of compressor, combustor, turbine, and auxiliary system components over the entire range of operating conditions (exhaust system designs were developed at reduced scale). The lab included a high-bay area that could accommodate a full-size gas turbine, the size of a large truck, for testing and development purposes, as well as a large conference room and offices for the managers, engineers and technicians who operated the facility. It was sized to enable full-scale combustion testing, which required a large, motor-driven air compressor. It also required a gas-fired heater to simulate combustor inlet conditions (Ref 1). This facility was critical for development of the W251 (40-MW) and the W501 (100-MW) series.