More energy, lower costs – decentralised power generation with Photon know-how — Photon

As part of Germany’s Combined Heat and Power Act, Babcock Borsig developed the MGT100 micro gas turbine.

The aim was to enable considerably more efficient and environmentally friendly decentralised combined power and heat generation (e.g. in trade businesses) than with conventional solutions such as diesel generators.

A heat exchanger (recuperator) was designed, which consists of a number of extremely thin sheet-metal partitions to heat up sucked cold air using the warm exhaust gas flow.

But how thin is possible? The answer was provided by Photon. Instead of conventional 1.0-mm-thick sheets, Photon succeeded in producing a heat exchanger made of 0.1-mm-thin, corrosion-resistant stainless steel foil. An innovation that was made possible only by the many years of experience and technical possibilities of the laser-welding experts from Berlin.

Photon was responsible for engineering (consulting, design, process, components), 2D laser-beam cutting, forming, and 3D laser cutting and welding of the ultra-thin foils.

The result? The procurement volume of the material and the weight were reduced by up to 90%, while efficiency increased by 7%.