axcontrol, Author at AX Control, Inc.

Gas Turbine Controls: A List of FAQs

Photo for article on gas turbine controls. Sheep graze in front of a locomotive as it passes in front of a power station. — Gas turbines (and gas turbine controls) are used for everything from power stations to locomotives.

What do you know about gas turbine controls?

Here at AX Control, we focus a lot on gas turbine control systems. GE Speedtronic components make up a good bit of our inventory. Starting in the 1960s, Speedtronic components have set the standard for industrial turbine control. So we’ve learned a lot about gas turbine controls in our day-to-day operations as we’ve bought, sold, cleaned, and repaired these boards.

Here are some of the most common questions we hear.

What is meant by “turbine control” or a “turbine control system”?

The term “turbine control system” refers to anything designed to safely manage turbines in a reliable and safe manner. Control can occur through mechanical systems, electrical systems, or programmable controller systems.

Servo Drive Features You Should Know About

Close-up of the Vectrive ACDA-33 Servo Drive from Reliance Electric. — The Reliance Electric Vectrive ACDA-33 Servo Drive

The servo drive of today is not the same as the basic power amplifier of yesterday. These complex equipment devices have dozens of available features that expand and improve their original motion control abilities. We don’t want you to miss out on any of these great features from lack of knowledge, so we’ve created a short blog post to introduce you to the top three features you should know about.

Auxiliary Feedback/Dual Loop Control

One important servo drive feature to understand is the auxiliary feedback/dual loop control option.

Servo drives read motor feedback, but many are also capable of reading an additional feedback source. This is called an auxiliary feedback. Typically, an auxiliary feedback is attached to the moving load, for example, connections in the drivetrain like gearboxes, couplings, or ball screws.

2021 AX Control Academic Scholarship Winner

We are pleased to announce Dane Justice IV is the winner of the 2021 AX Control, Inc Academic Scholarship. Dane earned a one-time $1,000 scholarship.

A woman works on her academic scholarship submission. — We appreciate all the hard work put into AX Control Academic Scholarship submissions.

Thank you to everyone who applied for the 2021 scholarship. We received so many excellent and deserving essays. It was a privilege reading through your stories. We wish you all well in your academic progress and in your future endeavors.

Please remember to bookmark the scholarship page so you can apply again in 2022. If you have any questions about the essay subject or scholarship requirements, our scholarship page has all requirements posted. You can also reach out to Muirae Kenney at muirae.kenney@axcontrol.com if you have further questions.