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POWER SERVICES ENGINEERING

GE Power
TIL 2046
PRODUCT SERVICE 24 JULY 2017
Compliance Category – M
Timing Code - 6

TECHNICAL INFORMATION LETTER

DLN1 PURGE VALVE SYSTEM AND 3-WAY VALVE ORIENTATION

APPLICATION
Gas turbines with Dry Low Nox (DLN) 1 gas only combustion systems.

PURPOSE
To communicate purge valve maintenance and inspection recommendations to mitigate the potential for a combustion
wrapper deflagration.

Compliance Category
M - Maintenance Identifies maintenance guidelines or best practices for reliable equipment
operation.
C - Compliance Required Identifies the need for action to correct a condition that, if left uncorrected,
may result in reduced equipment reliability or efficiency. Compliance may be
required within a specific operating time.
A - Alert Failure to comply with the TIL could result in equipment damage or facility
damage. Compliance is mandated within a specific operating time.
S – Safety Failure to comply with this TIL could result in personal injury. Compliance is
mandated within a specific operating time.

Timing Code
1 Prior to Unit Startup / Prior to Continued Operation (forced outage condition)
2 At First Opportunity (next shutdown)
3 Prior to Operation of Affected System
4 At First Exposure of Component
5 At Scheduled Component Part Repair or Replacement
6 Next Scheduled Outage

© 2017 General Electric Company

The proprietary information published in this Technical Information Letter is offered to you by GE in consideration of its ongoing sales and service
relationship with your organization. However, since the operation of your plant involves many factors not within our knowledge, and since operation
of the plant is in your control and ultimate responsibility for its continuing successful operation rests with you, GE specifically disclaims any
responsibility for liability based on claims for damage of any type, i.e. direct, consequential or special that may be alleged to have been incurred as
result of applying this information regardless of whether it is claimed that GE is strictly liable, in breach of contract, in breach of warranty, negligent, or
is in other respects responsible for any alleged injury or damage sustained by your organization as a result of applying this information.
This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power Services Engineering. All rights
reserved.
 TIL 2046

BACKGROUND DISCUSSION
A recent event occurred where DLN1 combustion hardware was found damaged after several attempts to transfer
from lean-lean to premix mode. It was determined that both purge valves were leaking and the purge inter-valve cavity
pressure switch was valved out, allowing gas to backflow into the combustor. An investigation at site found both purge
valves (VA13-3 and VA13-4) were in the closed position but were leaking significantly. In addition, the 3-way valve was
incorrectly orientated therefore the system bypassed the protective sequence that would have aborted the transfer to
premix mode and entered extended lean-lean mode. These contributing factors allowed for gas fuel to backflow into
the combustion wrapper and combust between the combustion liner and flow sleeve.

Figure 1: Gas fuel purge typical schematic

RECOMMENDATIONS
In addition to the following, it is recommended to continue general maintenance of the purge system and associated
purge valves per vendor Operating & Maintenance manuals and the GE Inspection and Maintenance manual (GEK
120870).

• Confirm that the 3-way valve is in the correct orientation. If the orientation is not correct the 3-way valve can
be adjusted while the unit is online. Once the orientation is confirmed, the 3-way valve should be match
marked (yellow paint in figure 2) as a preventative action for future removal/installations. The arrow on the
handle of the valve, circled in red, should be pointing the opposite direction of flow.

Figure 2: Match marked 3-way valve in correct orientation

© 2017 General Electric Company
This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power Services Engineering. All rights
reserved.
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 TIL 2046
• The purge valves should be removed and shipped to the manufacturer to be fully inspected/refurbished at
scheduled hot gas path or 3-year interval whichever comes first.

• A leakage test should be performed on the purge valves during a scheduled outage closest to every year. The
purge valves (VA13-3 and VA13-4) should be pressure tested per GEK 120870. The purge inter-valve cavity
pressure switch (63PG-2) needs to be checked and verified to be valved in.

This TIL can be considered complete when the recommendations above have been included in the site's operating and
maintenance procedures. Please contact your local GE Service Manager for additional support.

Leakage Test Procedure for Gas Fuel Purge Valves (Preferred Method)

1.0 Measure the interstage piping length L between VA13-3 (air side) and VA13-4 (gas side) in the double block and
bleed system, see Figure 3.

Figure 3: Purge cavity with 1082 valve and vent valve

1.1 Apply 100 PSIG (P1) to the interstage cavity between VA13-3 (air side) and VA13-4 (gas side) via the gas fuel purge
vent line. After 20 seconds, record the pressure (P2) in the interstage cavity.

1.2 Compare recorded length L and pressure P2 with following table and plot. If measured P2 is above the line as shown
in table 1, the valve is considered to meet ANSI IV leakage requirement and no adjustments are required.

Table 1: Pressure (with tolerance) vs. Cavity length

© 2017 General Electric Company

This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power Services Engineering. All rights
reserved.
Page 3 of 5
 TIL 2046

Table 2: Pressure vs. Cavity length

Note: Data in table 1 are P2 valves calculated under ambient temperature 60F, pressure 0 PSIG.

1.3 If the measured P2 value falls under the line as shown in table 1, which means the leakage rate across the valves
exceeds the maximum allowable leakage rate, then cycle both VA13 valves open and closed 20 times and repeat steps
1.1 through 1.2.

1.4 Measure P2. If the measured P2 value still falls under the line as shown in table 1, the valves need to be recalibrated
to the ANSI Class IV specification. Once the valves have been recalibrated, repeat steps 1.1 through 1.2.

Alternative Leakage Test Procedure for Gas Fuel Purge Valves

2.0 Place a simple hand held flow meter over the purge vent discharge.

2.1 Apply 50 PSIG to both the upstream side of VA13-(air side) and downstream of VA13-(gas side) while the valves are
in the closed position. See Figure 4.

Figure 4: Purge cavity with 50 PSIG or 64.7 PSIA

2.2 Open vent valve, wait 10 secs, measure the flow rate across vent valve via the hand-held flow meter. It is assumed
that both valves are leaking at the same rate.

2.3 Divide the measured flow M through the purge vent by 2, M2=M/2. M2 is the leakage per valve.

2.4 Compare this flow rate (SCFM) with the maximum allowable leakage rate for the appropriate sized valve in Table 2.

2.5 If the leakage rate across the valves exceeds the maximum allowable leakage rate, then cycle both VA13 valves
open and closed 20 times. Repeat steps 2.0 through 2.4, and then go to step 2.6.
© 2017 General Electric Company
This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power Services Engineering. All rights
reserved.
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 TIL 2046
2.6 If the leakage rate across the valves exceeds the maximum allowable leakage rate, the valves need to be
recalibrated to the ANSI Class IV specification. Once the valves have been recalibrated, repeat steps 2.0 through 2.4,
skipping 2.5.

2.7 If the leakage rate across the valves is less than or equal to the maximum allowable leakage rate, the valves are
compliant with ANSI Class IV standards and do not require adjusting.

PLANNING INFORMATION
Compliance
• Compliance Category: M
• Timing Code: 6

Manpower Skills
Qualified technician

Reference Documents
• GEK 120870 - Inspection & Maintenance
• GEK 110727 - Plant Instrument Air System
• ANSI-FCI-70-2 - Valve Specifications

Scope of Work
Visual inspection of the 3-way valves orientation, if an adjustment to the valve orientation is need it can be performed
during the inspection with the unit on/off line.

The purge valve leakage test is estimated to take two (2) hours to perform during a scheduled outage.

TIL DISPOSITION
Disposition of TILs should be entered in local records and also in GE Power ServiceNow. Follow the below instructions for
entering the disposition record;

• Log into the Power ServiceNow at https://gepowerpac.service-now.com/til_new/ using your GE SSO number
and password.
• Select "TIL Disposition".
• Click on the TIL for the serial number you want to update.
• Choose the most appropriate “Disposition Status” and enter “Disposition Notes”.
• Click "Save".

Contact your local GE service representative for assistance or for additional information.

© 2017 General Electric Company

This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power Services Engineering. All rights
reserved.
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