The General Motors Research GT-309 Gas Turbine Engine

The GT-309 regenerative gas turbine engine is the latest in the series of heavy duty vehicular gas turbine engines developed by the General Motors Research Laboratories. This new engine incorporates a major engineering advance, which not only improves part-load fuel economy to the point that rivals the diesel installed economy, but also provides engine braking equal to the rated output of the engine. These improvements result from a novel system called Power Transfer, which connects the gasifier and power turbine shafts through a controlled torque coupling. This paper describes the system, its several applications, and development and evaluation studies.