Abstract: A process for testing a combustor or a compressor of a gas turbine engine, where a large volume of compressed air is stored in a large reservoir of at least 10,000 m3 such as an underground storage cavern, compressed air from the storage reservoir is passed through an air turbine to drive a compressor to produce high pressure and temperature compressed air, and where the compressed air can be discharged into a combustor and burned with a fuel for testing of the combustor under simulated conditions of a real gas turbine engine.

Abstract: The present invention is an industrial gas turbine engine with a circulating fluidized bed cooling system to provide cooling to certain parts of the engine such as a transition duct or a stator vane. The circulating fluidized bed cooling system can be used to cool a stator vane, a casing, or any stationary part of the engine. A circulating fluidized bed cooling system uses very fine particles that pass along with a cooling fluid such as cooling air and provide for a much higher heat transfer coefficient than does turbulent flow cooling air because of the particles. The fine particles produce conduction cooling from the hot surface to the particles that are then carried along in the circulating fluid flow to another location where the heat picked up by the particles is then transferred out from the particles.

Abstract: An air riding seal between a rotor and a stator in a turbine of a gas turbine engine, where an annular piston is movable in an axial direction within a housing that extends from the stator, and a bellows is secured to the annular piston to form a flexible air passageway from a compressed air inlet through the annular piston and into a cushion cavity that forms an air riding seal between the annular piston and the rotor sealing surface. In another embodiment, a flexible seal secured to and extending from the annular piston forms a sealing surface between the annular piston chamber and the annular piston to provide a seal and allow for axial movement.