The Manufacturing Process of a 100-KW Prototype Microturbine as a Distributed Generation Method in Iran

With ever increasing importance of distributed generation, especially microturbines, it is absolutely vital to carry out feasibility study and research on manufacturing such systems in Islamic Republic of Iran to shed light on manufacturing capabilities, limitations and constraints. The design process of a semi-industrial prototype microturbine was conducted by Niroo Research Institute (N.R.I.). The design process and the results have been presented in several papers. Having completed the initial evaluation, the research team was able to determine and prepare production processes and workshop plans. With the technical cooperation of the companies specialized in different areas of manufacturing, the main components of the prototype were manufactured. Investment casting and CNC machining are among the most important processes involved in the manufacturing of the prototype microturbine. In this paper, we present manufacturing method of the main components and identify current and potential manufacturing capabilities in the country along with the existing limitations and constraints.