Open architecture · emissions-compliant · multi-fuel capable
Replace aging gas turbine control systems with modern, open architecture platforms. Innova Technologies upgrades legacy controls, including GE Mark I through Mark IVe, Solar Turbotronic and SCC, Siemens T3000, and Woodward governor systems, to improve reliability, reduce lifecycle costs, and give operators full control of their systems.
Control
Control systems installed on industrial gas turbines during the 1980s and 1990s have reached the end of their practical service life. OEM replacement programs often replace one proprietary platform with another, leaving operators with the same limitations on future upgrades, maintenance, and support. Innova Technologies takes a different approach. We design custom gas turbine control systems using open architecture hardware and documented IEC 61131-3 control logic. Each system is engineered for the turbine’s operating requirements and manufacturer specifications, giving operators complete access to their control logic, documentation, and long-term support.
Our control systems manage every aspect of turbine operation, including startup and shutdown sequencing, speed and load control, liquid, gas, and dual-fuel management, compressor inlet guide vane control, emissions monitoring integration, and machinery protection. Every system is factory acceptance tested using simulated field inputs and operating conditions to verify I/O, sequencing, alarms, interlocks, and fuel control logic before shipment. Complete documentation is provided with every project, giving maintenance and operations teams the information they need to support the system throughout its lifecycle.
The Problem
GE discontinued active support for the Mark IV control system in the early 2000s, followed by the Mark V. Today, many operators must choose between sourcing increasingly scarce spare parts, continuing to operate unsupported control systems, or investing in an OEM upgrade that often comes with significant cost while maintaining a proprietary platform. Similar challenges exist with Solar Turbotronic, legacy Siemens systems, Woodward governors, and other OEM-specific control platforms.
The challenge extends beyond aging hardware. Proprietary control systems often limit access to application software, engineering tools, documentation, and replacement parts. This can increase maintenance costs, complicate future upgrades, and reduce operational flexibility throughout the life of the turbine.
Innova Technologies provides an open architecture alternative. Our gas turbine control systems are built on commercially available hardware with documented IEC 61131-3 control logic, giving operators full access to their control software, documentation, and long-term maintenance resources. The result is a control system that is easier to maintain, simpler to upgrade, and no longer tied to a single equipment supplier.
Capabilities
Our gas turbine governors implement isochronous and droop speed control with dynamic response tuned to the specific turbine, driven equipment, and fuel system dynamics. Fuel control valve positioning responds to speed error through a proportional-integral algorithm with acceleration limiting, output limits, and anti-windup protection. Control modes may include speed control, load control, process-driven control, remote setpoint, base load, load sharing, and grid frequency droop where applicable.
Gas turbine startup involves auxiliary systems sequencing, purge sequencing, ignition, light-off detection, speed acceleration, warm-up, runup to idle and rated speed, synchronization, and loading, a sequence with dozens of timed and conditional steps that must be executed correctly on each start. Drawing on decades of field experience across different applications, we design and automate startup and shutdown sequences reflecting the specific operating philosophy, equipment constraints, and performance requirements of each installation.
Our fuel control systems manage the complete fuel system for natural gas, diesel, distillate, and dual-fuel configurations. Gas fuel systems include split-range valve control for purge, pilot, and main fuel paths, with flow-based combustion reference curves. Liquid fuel systems include metering valve control, flow divider monitoring, and nozzle purge sequencing. Dual-fuel systems add fuel transfer logic with bumpless switching between fuel modes under load.
Gas turbine protection logic covers the complete set of machinery protective functions: radial and axial vibration (API 670), exhaust temperature averaging, exhaust temperature spread with individual thermocouple monitoring, and independent overspeed protection. All protective trips are hardwired through independent trip relays with annunciation and first-out capture.
Innova Technologies integrates CEMS (Continuous Emissions Monitoring System) data with the turbine fuel control loop to implement closed-loop emissions trim. Our systems support dry low-NOx (DLN) combustion management, including piloted premix staging transitions, combustion mode logic, and dynamics monitoring, as well as wet emissions control via water or steam injection. Emissions alarm and trip logic is configured to site permit requirements.
For upgrades of existing OEM control systems, we perform a complete I/O audit of the existing wiring and develop a field terminal block interface design that allows the new control hardware to connect to the existing turbine wiring without re-pulling field cables. This approach dramatically reduces the installation and commissioning scope, and the associated outage duration, compared to approaches that require complete re-wiring of the turbine junction box or skid.
Inlet guide vane control significantly affects both turbine output and compressor stability. We implement IGV position control as a function of compressor discharge temperature (exhaust temperature control), load, and ambient temperature, following the OEM's specified IGV schedule while allowing operator-defined modifications within safety limits. IGV actuator position feedback is monitored continuously with alarm logic for actuator failures and stuck vane conditions.
Why Innova Technologies
Before your system ships, your team participates in a Full-Function FAT where the complete turbine functions, auxiliary systems, startup, load modes, fuel transfer, and trip scenarios are tested by simulating and monitoring all inputs and outputs for a full check of the system.
Technical Resources
FAQ
Yes. Our gas turbine control systems support integration with plant DCS and SCADA systems using industry-standard communication protocols, including Modbus TCP, OPC UA, DNP3, EtherNet/IP, FOUNDATION Fieldbus, PROFIBUS, and others, depending on your existing automation infrastructure. The turbine control system operates as an independent controller capable of fully automatic operation without the DCS. Integration with the plant control system provides supervisory monitoring, remote control and setpoint management, alarm and status indication, and historical data collection. During the engineering phase, we coordinate all interface requirements with your plant team or DCS integrator. Communication interfaces are verified during Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) to ensure reliable operation before the system is shipped.
On hot days a gas turbine’s output can fall well below its rated capacity as inlet air density drops. Innova Technologies integrates power augmentation methods, inlet air cooling, evaporative or fogging systems, and water or steam injection into the combustion or compressor path, directly into the turbine control sequence so they engage in coordination with load demand and ambient conditions. Because the augmentation logic shares the same platform as fuel control and load governing, transitions can be managed smoothly and within the machine’s operating limits. The specific methods available for a given installation depend on the turbine model, the fuel system, and site water treatment capacity.
Emissions management is engineered into the same control platform that handles fuel and combustion, allowing closed-loop coordination rather than a separate bolt-on system. Innova Technologies supports fuel control, water- and steam-injection wet control, and Dry Low-NOx (DLN) combustion staging, including piloted premix transitions and combustion-mode logic, to help operators meet their emissions objectives across the operating range. The control system interfaces with Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) and plant monitoring platforms so that alarm and trip logic can be configured to the site’s permit requirements. The exact emissions scope, staging strategy, and monitoring interfaces are defined per installation and per applicable permit.
Independent control for every turbine class.
Anti-surge, loadshare, performance, and capacity control.
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Single-source
A MESSAGE FROM JOHN KAZOUR, CEO
To our customers and partners,
For more than 50 years, our team has helped customers keep critical operations running. We built our reputation as Petrotech by taking responsibility for control systems on important rotating machinery.
As more industries came to us with similar challenges across power generation, compression, and hydro applications, our engineering team kept finding ways to solve them. Eventually, the business outgrew the Petrotech name.
We are entering our next chapter as Innova Technologies. The new name reflects the full scope of our work as a rotating machinery control systems specialist. We engineer controls around the machine, deliver complete projects from design through commissioning, and provide support that stays with the problem until it is solved.
Our name is changing, but the people, engineering experience, and commitment behind the work continue. Our responsibility to active projects and installed systems carries forward under the Innova Technologies name. Your current contacts remain the right place to start, and we will communicate directly if an administrative record requires an update.
We appreciate the trust you have placed in us over the decades, and we look forward to continuing that work as Innova Technologies.
CEO, Innova Technologies
