The University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Ind., and General Electric Power & Water, Schenectady, N.Y., announce plans to work together to build a $36 million research and test facility with the goal of making better massive gas turbines used by aircraft, power plants, and the oil and gas industry. The facility will have five test bays that will allow researchers to simulate full-scale engine operating environments. The turbo machines run under high stress and temperatures so hot that the metal would melt if not for the proper technology.
The partnership, which also includes the city, the state of Indiana, and a private equity firm, is expected to create research opportunities for Notre Dame and other universities, technological advances for GE and other companies, and economic development for South Bend.
GE has committed $13.5 million to fund research and testing for five years, while Notre Dame plans to contribute $7.5 million and the city of South Bend is contributing $4.4 million. The state of Indiana, through the Indiana Economic Development Corp., is providing up to $600,000 in training grants and up to $2 million in infrastructure assistance. Indiana Michigan Power will invest $2 million in a new substation.
“Trying to make turbines work more efficiently and more reliably takes an incredible commitment of scientists and engineers to keep pushing the boundaries — new materials, new cooling technology, new ways to put the pieces together mechanically,” said Rick Stanley, vice president and chief technology officer for GE’s Power and Water business. “Part of this facility is going to be dedicated just to that, pushing into the next generation.”
Construction is scheduled to begin this summer at a technology park south of downtown South Bend that once was the site of the Studebaker Corp., which closed in 1963.
Great Lakes Capital is providing about $6 million for construction of the 43,000-square-foot building. Notre Dame plans to lease about 25,000 square feet of the building. Jeff Smoke, Great Lakes Capital’s director of development, said the company hopes related businesses will move in to the rest of the building.
http://www.nd.edu/turbomachinery/
