SERVICE BULLETIN

NOTICE: Service Bulletins are proprietary to Turbomach SA, Via Campagna 15, CH-6595 Riazzino,
Switzerland. The Type of Change and Recommended Compliance specified reflects Turbomach’s best
judgment regarding the Service Bulletin. All questions should be directed to your Turbomach Field Service
Representative. Solar, Saturn, Centaur, Taurus, Mercury, Mars, Titan, SoLoNOx, and Turbotronic are
trademarks of Solar Turbines Incorporated. Cat and Caterpillar are trademarks of Caterpillar Inc.
Specifications subject to change without notice.

TBM#: SB 14-044
ISSUED: 03.02.2015
PRODUCT: CENTAUR 40, CENTAUR 50, TAURUS 60, TAURUS 70,
MARS 100, TITAN 130, MERCURY 50
MODEL(S): Generator Set
Specifics: MAN: All engines
TTS1: All engines
TTS2: All CED engines, M100, T70HED
TTS3: All CED engines with Governor Vers 3.x, M100, M50
DISTRIBUTION: TBM Worldwide

SUBJECT: T5 ALARMS MONITORING BELOW SPEED DROPOUT LIMIT

Type of Change: Product Reliability

Recommended
Compliance: Information

Purpose:

Turbomach has found that, in many legacy control systems, the T5 monitor logic does not
prevent potential, extreme overfiring of the turbine in the case of incorrect maintenance of
the T5 thermocouples.

The purpose of this document is to:

• Emphasize the need to perform any maintenance of the T5 thermocouples with

due care in order to not damage them.

• Propose, to customers with TTS2 and TTS3 systems, who may be interested, a
modification to their control system that prevents this potential, extreme
overfiring of the turbine due to faulty T5 thermocouple readings.

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 GENERAL INFORMATION:

In the course of a maintenance intervention on a legacy turbine package, the T5 box had
been opened. On reclosing the box, three of the six thermocouples were inadvertently
crushed by the box cover. This resulted in the control system misreading the true T5
temperature due to the fact that the 3 damaged T5’s were “stuck” at 6-8°C while the
other 3 were reaching around 1300°C (double the normal temperature) so as to obtain the
required nominal T5 average (630°C). This extreme and extended over-firing caused very
significant damage to the turbine.

The principal issue is that in the older legacy systems, the control system only enables an
individual control of the T5 thermocouples above the drop-out speed (approximately
66%).

In the later control system, individual T5 control is enabled under all conditions and, even
below 85% NGP, there are delayed and instantaneous fast shut-down limits based on
individual T5 thermocouple readings.

ACTION REQUIRED

To avoid an extreme over-firing of the turbine due to faulty T5 thermocouple readings as

described above, without any modification to the currently installed control system, it is
recommended to take the following precautions following any maintenance that requires
opening the T5 box:

1- Exercise great care in re-closing the T5 box cover, to ensure that this does not
crush any of the thermocouples.
2- On start up of the turbine, during the crank sequence, view the six T5
thermocouple readings to make sure that they all “move” together. If one or more
of the readings appears “fixed”, stop the unit and re-check the T5 box, or contact
your local Turbomach District Office for support.

FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE ACTIONS CAN RESULT IN DAMAGE TO

PROPERTY

Alternatively, but only in the case of TTS2 and TTS3 systems, the control system can be
modified as per the latest specifications in order to prevent an extreme over-firing of the
turbine due to faulty T5 thermocouple readings, without having to rely solely on the skill
of the operator.

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 Should you have a TTS2 or TTS3 system and wish to have this modification, please
contact the local Turbomach District Office to arrange a quotation for a customized
technical solution by means of a modification to your control system

As indicated in the Turbomach Product Information Letter, TPIL 180 “Control & Package
Systems Renewal”, which is published by Turbomach, TTS1 and non-Turbomach control
systems, including MAN systems, are classified as “End-of-Life” systems which have
“severe constraints on product or system support”. Hence, some modifications, such as
that described above, cannot be performed on these systems. For further information,
please contact the local Turbomach District Office.

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