For Immediate Release

May 14, 1999

Contact:	Phil Levine
	Phone (508) 563-7181 Fax (508) 564-4851

Cape Cod, Massachusetts – Fern Engineering, Inc., a Cape Cod, Massachusetts engineering firm specializing in gas turbines, has been selected by the US Navy to conduct research on boosting the power output of ship-board gas turbines. The contract award is part of the Navy's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which sponsors research by small US businesses in areas of interest to the Navy.

Fern's idea of adapting its innovative gas turbine power plant inlet cooling technology to Navy ships powered by gas turbines was selected by the Navy among those ideas submitted under the research area entitled "augmented gas turbine propulsion engine".

Many Navy ships, including the Aegis-class cruisers, are driven by gas turbines. While gas turbines have the advantage of producing less vibration and requiring less space than diesel engines, they have the unfortunate characteristic of generating less power when the outside air temperature is hotter. Fern has already addressed this problem in land-based gas turbine power plants by developing its Direct Inlet Spray Cooling, or DISC, system. A DISC system generates a fine water mist or fog at the air intake of the gas turbine. The mist rapidly evaporates and cools the intake air, thereby allowing more power to be produced by the gas turbine. On a hot summer day, a DISC system has been shown to increase gas turbine power output by 10-15% with slight improvement in fuel efficiency or heat rate and a slight decrease in NOx emissions.

"Using water for evaporative cooling of gas turbine inlet air is a well-known technique and has been used for many years", said Steve Molis, Fern's DISC project manager, "but the real breakthrough that direct spray provides is that it takes up very little space and requires very little equipment." According to Molis, that makes it economical and very attractive for retrofits to land-based gas turbines.

Earlier this year Fern formed a strategic alliance with American Moistening Co. of Pineville, NC to provide DISC systems to electric power plant owners. "We've received a lot of requests for bids and our first system is being delivered this month and will be installed on a land-based GE LM6000 gas turbine", Molis reported. "The challenge now is whether we can fit a DISC into a Navy ship - that's the goal of this research program", he added.

The Navy contract calls for Fern to conduct a six-month study into the feasibility of adapting a DISC to a Navy ship. If the conclusions of the study are favorable, the project may be extended by the Navy to a second phase where a prototype system will be built and tested.