17 Facts About Solar Turbines

Solar Turbines Incorporated, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc, designs and manufactures industrial gas turbines for onshore and offshore electrical power generation, for marine propulsion and for producing, processing and transporting natural gas and oil.

Solar Turbines was purchased by International Harvester Company in early 1960, becoming the Solar Division of International Harvester in 1963.

In 1973, the Solar Division exited the aerospace industry to focus solely on industrial turbines.

Solar Turbines Incorporated became a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Tractor Co.

Solar Turbines was reincorporated in 1937 as the Solar Aircraft Company, dropping the "Ltd" from its name.

Related searches

Solar Turbines Aircraft began to design and manufacture completed turbine engines for the United States military for applications such as auxiliary power units, fuselages, and rocket engine components of guided missiles.

Solar Turbines Aircraft continued to expand its product line and grow its business until it was purchased by International Harvester Company in early 1960, becoming the Solar Turbines Division of International Harvester in 1963.

Solar Turbines did win the contract to provide the APU for the first 632 KC-135A tankers for the Strategic Air Command.

In 1956, the Navy turned to Solar Turbines to provide a slightly larger design to power a small helicopter, the Gyrodyne XRON-1.

The Navy had Solar Turbines adapt the Titan into a free-turbine version designated by the Navy as the T66, but this unit was never put into use.

Solar Turbines started marketing the Saturn to industrial users needing a 1,000-horsepower unit for any role, and it went on to become the world's most widely used industrial gas turbine with some 4800 units in 80 countries.

In 1973, Solar exited the aviation industry to concentrate its resources on industrial gas turbines.

In 1977, the Solar Turbines Division introduced a larger version of the Centaur, the 10,600 horsepower Mars, re-using the name from the earlier smaller engine.

Solar Turbines Incorporated continued to introduce new versions of their axial-flow industrial engines throughout the 1980s and 90s, often re-using older names instead of introducing new names.

In 1997, Solar Turbines Incorporated announced the Titan 130, a 19,500 horsepower design much larger than the original Titan.

Solar Turbines Incorporated has been involved in a number of projects to improve the fuel economy of industrial turbines of all sorts.

In 1997, Solar Turbines introduced a ceramic hot-section design for the Centaur 50 and introduced a recuperator for the Mercury 50, in experiments conducted with the US Department of Energy.