1960's Technology Plays Essential Role Today
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| SPACE AGE Technology developed in the 1960s for the Apollo moon missions is used today to generate electricity in remote locations such as this gas pipeline corrosion-monitoring station in India |
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| OFF THE GRID Electrical devices can still function |
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| LOW POWER, LONG LIFE Can operate for up to 20 years |
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Low-maintenance units, designed to generate electricity in remote locations, rely on nickel alloys and
stainless steels
Nickel magazine, Dec. 01 -- Supplying electricity to 68 corrosion-monitoring stations along
a 1,200-kilometre-long liquefied petroleum gas pipeline in India are 68 low-maintenance electric
generators.
Built by Global Thermoelectric Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, the units produce low voltages (typically
supplying a few hundred watts or a couple of kilowatts) and are ideally suited to run remote monitoring
stations or communications systems.
The generators use technology developed for the Apollo space program, whereby a temperature differential is used to produce a flow of electrons. A burner, fuelled from a propane tank or directly off a gas pipeline, heats a thermopile made of lead-tin telluride, maintaining a temperature of about 540°C on one side, 140°C on the relatively cool side.
"The key to the technology is that there are no moving parts 'nothing rubbing, nothing wearing out," says Bernie LeSage, vice president of Global's generator division. "You can stick [a generator] on a mountaintop or on a remote pipeline site, and if you can get out there once a year to spend an hour on it, that's great. And if you can't, no harm done."
The high temperatures -- up to 800°C where the burner produces flame -- require the toughness of nickel alloys. Internal fittings employ a variety of nickel alloys such as N06600, N06601, N06625 and N07718 while other nickel alloys are used to custom-build some electrodes. "They're there to take the heat and still provide sufficient strength," says LeSage. "We need high temperature. We need long life."
Global Thermoelectric builds these low-power generators to operate for 20 years in some of the most remote and inhospitable places on the planet. The firm wants to ensure that buyers never find a rusty casing when they check out the merchandise.
"A guy can go back in the field after ten years and look at our product, and it looks as a good as new," LeSage says. "And that's pretty important, because the internals are working as good as new, so you don't want the external packaging to lower the perception of the quality."
To preserve that appearance of quality, Global uses S30400 stainless steel for the cabinets that house its generators, and S31600 stainless if the power pack is destined for a marine environment, such as an offshore gas production platform.
Global is the world leader in building thermoelectric generators, accounting for 99% of the market, LeSage estimates. The firm, founded in 1975, has customers in 46 countries and builds more than 1,500 units each year, with annual sales of up to Cdn$20 million.
Photo: Global Thermoelectric Inc.
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Global Thermoelectric Inc., Generator Division, |
