Technology Sessions will be offered on Monday, January 29th from 9:00 AM to 12:15 PM and on Tuesday, January 30th from 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM.

You will be able to choose up to two sessions on Monday morning and Tuesday afternoon. Each session will last 1 hour and 30 minutes.

During the course of your on-line registration, you will have the opportunity to register for the Technology Sessions of your choice. When you pick up your event badge it will contain a reference card indicating the sessions for which you have registered and the details for each. You can refer to this card to help you find the location of each session within the Palazzo dei Congressi.

Electric Solutions for Oil & Gas applications

This technical session will illustrate the state-of-the-art in power electronics, with a special focus on the new variable frequency drive developed by GE Oil & Gas in partnership with ASI Ansaldo Sistemi Industriali, with support from GE’s Global Research Center and the GE Energy Center of Excellence.

This new product which covers the 12 to 35 MW range, has been specifically designed to meet the needs of critical Oil & Gas applications such as LNG and Natural Gas Pipelines.

The product prototype as well as the test rig, built in just 9 months, are now available for viewing at our facility in Massa as permanent installations.

This session will also discuss the technologies applied to provide integrated motor compressors in the first step of the GE Oil & Gas Electrification strategy for Small to Medium size applications. This product line extends up to 15 MW and is ideally suited to pipeline and storage applications. The prototype has been successfully tested at the GE Oil & Gas facility in Le Creusot France.

The following aspects of GE’s electrification initiatives will be covered:

• product design concept
• test program and validation campaign
• validation results
• product range and application studies
• product evolution plan

Managing pipeline safety through the introduction of impact detection systems and inspection technologies

This technical session will cover two important new developments to ensure the safety and productivity of transportation pipelines.

ThreatScan
An innovative real-time, impact monitoring system that provides a cost effective means to safeguard pipelines against third party damage.
Third party damage can account for up to 50% of pipeline failures. Delayed response to immediate failures and deterioration of unidentified strikes can have significant consequences to both pipeline safety and the environment. New ThreatScan™ from GE’s PII Pipeline Solutions business provides fully managed acoustic monitoring of third party impacts. Critical event and location data is immediately transmitted to GE's remote monitoring center for validation and rapid notification of the customer’s operations team.

Ultrascan Duo
The new UltraScan™ Duo in-line inspection tool from GE’s PII Pipeline Solutions business is a revolutionary approach that uses phased-array ultrasonic technology to detect both cracking and metal loss in a single inspection.
Building on the reliability and accuracy of our UltraScan suite of inspection tools, proven in more than 100,000 miles of pipeline inspections, Duo offers industry-best crack detection capabilities and improves both detection and measurement of pitting corrosion.

Compression technology for re-injection, pipeline & Subsea applications

This technical session will discuss GE’s state-of-the-art of Centrifugal Compressors for Re-Injection and Pipeline applications.
The session will include:

• Our history in Re-Injection and Pipeline applications
• Technological challenges and GE Oil & Gas strengths
• Recent developments
• Recent achievements
  - Kashagan Compressors - full density tests
  - West to East Pipeline - performance tests

In addition, it will be presented GE Oil & Gas experience in the development of subsea gas compression technology and multiphase pumping from the early stages up to the recently announced project in the Ormen Lange subsea field. Our development of subsea gas compression technology began in the early 90’s with the design of a small subsea module prototype consisting of a vertical compression train equipped with a low speed electric motor, a gearbox and a lube oil system. The technology has evolved into an integrated motor compressor unit that incorporates a new compressor design, a high speed electric motor drive, and active magnetic bearings to produce an oil free machine without any mechanical seals. The design is currently being finalized for application in the Ormen Lange field. In parallel, over the last 15 years, subsea multiphase pump technology has also been evolving and five units have been built and tested. Current developments are underway to enhance the reliability and performance of these machines.

Gas Turbines Low Emissions Technology

This technical session will cover low emissions technology for aeroderivative and heavy duty gas turbines, including:

• The fundamentals of combustion are considered with respect to the fuel characteristics in order to identify the key points to be addressed when a specific technology with required performance is applied for a certain fuel.
  
• Special focus is given to the fuel flexibility of combustion systems dealing with the basic assessment of the combustor capability to burn different fuels and to the ways to enlarge the range of suitable fuels.
• Detail of design features and functional issues of typical low emission combustion systems, together with the current efforts to improve the product performance.
• The key hardware components are described as well as the fuel-to-air ratio control implementation.
• Examples of challenging low emissions operation - rapid load transients, extreme ambient temperature operation, gas property changes, and dual fuel operation - will be shown.

Development of new technologies for improved Mean Time Between Maintenance (MTBM)

Driven by the continuously increasing demand for oil and gas in our rapidly growing industrial world, one of today’s most important Oil & Gas industry concerns is equipment availability.

This technical session will introduce the latest GE Oil & Gas advances in Remote Monitoring and Diagnostic services, including new tools and technologies for the optimization of MTBM. Both drivers and driven equipment benefit from the adoption of these technologies which have been developed using knowledge gained from both Customer sites and lab analyses of parts returned after scheduled maintenance events.

Some of the key parameters affecting the analyses will be discussed, and a real-world example of how monitoring and diagnostics for the prediction of MTBM can positively impact customer asset availability and drive plants to higher production rates will be presented.

New Manufacturing Technologies and Lean for Leading Innovation

This technology session will focus on new manufacturing technologies and the concept of lean. We will explain how our technologies and lean applications are improving GE Oil & Gas capability & capacity.

This session will include:

• New Manufacturing Advanced Technologies introducing the latest innovations in impeller manufacturing such as Electro-Chemical Discharge Machining, Superfinishing, and Laser Welding. In addition, we will discuss new Reactors technology applications like simultaneous belt welding and advanced steel overlay.
• Lean Manufacturing is at the heart of our work. We will show you the great benefits of our latest successful lean applications with the revolutionary pulsing lines for gas turbines, compressors, reactors, and airfoils model line.

Enhancing customer asset value through complete upgrade solutions

New technology, different operating conditions, evolving environmental regulations, need for higher efficiency, increased reliability and availability, or extended plant life ... there are lots of good reasons to upgrade your equipment. GE Oil & Gas is able to provide complete engineered solutions for the entire turbomachinery train including turbines, compressors and other critical equipment to increase the output, the performance and the life cycle of your plant.