Dressler-Rand Helps Power Engineering Success at Colorado State University
 |
|
|
The new Dresser-Rand K5X
two-cycle engine is delivered to Colorado State University's Engines and
Energy Conversion Laboratory.
|
|
The following article was published in the Dresser-Rand Insights magazine, Volume 6, Number 1.
To help further the education and training of the next generation of engineers, Dresser-Rand Company has donated a development test engine and related components to Colorado State University’s (CSU) Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory (EECL). Since 1988, the EECL research facility has trained students in developing technologies designed to reduce harmful emissions and improve fuel efficiencies.
The 22-foot long, K5X two-cycle engine was shipped to EECL in January 2003, with installation to be completed by mid-year. A Dresser-Rand field representative will be on location for the installation and assist in the start-up. The engine represents the second major equipment donation made to CSU. In 1989, the company presented the center with a water brake dynamometer, which uses water flow to simulate a load on an engine without using compressed gas.
As part of CSU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, the EECL facility provides undergraduate, masters and Ph.D. students with practical hands-on experience applying the latest technologies and methodologies of engine operation and testing.
“Through this program, students act as apprentice engineers, designing systems that can be applied to real applications,” said Ted Bestor, EECL director. “In addition to learning how these systems operate, students apply their knowledge to everything from manufacturing and welding methods, to reducing emissions and fuel use.
The EECL has been part of several industry-funded research programs in the past, including the Pipeline Compression Research Council, and has tested and collected information for the Gas Research Institute in an effort to study advanced methods of reducing hazardous air pollutants for the natural gas industry. In conjunction with Dresser-Rand, the EECL will help study new high-pressure fuel gas systems
“This is unique in that we’ve never had this level of involvement from an equipment manufacturer before. It’s an advantage to our students to work directly with Dresser-Rand, and it’s our hope that we can develop a new technology that the company can market to help reduce emissions,” Bestor said.
The donated engine, which was originally built at the Dresser-Clark facility in Olean, New York, has been used as a development engine at the company’s Painted Post, New York facility since the early 1990s. In this role, it helped Dresser-Rand design and develop electric fuel gas injection systems, as well as their Screw-In-Precombustion (SIP) systems currently available for most two and four-cycle engines used in the industry today.
“We’re happy to have the opportunity to assist Colorado State University’s EECL research facility,” said David Iocco, manager, Gas Engine Engineered Solutions at Dresser-Rand. “Their educational and research efforts benefit all of the natural gas industry, and Dresser-Rand can play a role in developing the next generation of engineers.”
Information on Colorado State University’s Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory can be found online at: www.engr.colostate.edu/eecl/.
For more information about Dresser-Rand, visit the company website: http://www.dresser-rand.com/.