Centrax, also known as Centrax Limited is an engineering company based in Newton Abbot, Devon in the power generation industry making generating sets with Siemens gas turbine engines. These are known as industrial gas turbines.

History

Centrax was founded in 1946 by Richard HH Barr OBE, the chairman, Geoffrey R White, the technical director, who had worked with Sir

Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with inventing the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 fo ...

in the early stages of jet engines at

Power Jets Power Jets was a British company set up by Frank Whittle for the purpose of designing and manufacturing jet engines. The company was nationalised in 1944, and evolved into the National Gas Turbine Establishment. History Founded on 27 Januar ...

and Joseph Salim Peress. In 1955 Centrax opened its compressor and turbine blade factory in Devon and became Centrax Ltd. In 1964 it entered into a joint arrangement with Misco Precision Casting (the

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

-based Misco division of

Howmet Castings Howmet Aerospace Inc. (formerly Arconic Inc.) is an American aerospace company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company manufactures components for jet engines, fasteners and titanium structures for aerospace applications, and forged alumin ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

) of the US and formed Central-Misco Ltd, a division of the company that made metal products with

investment casting Investment casting is an industrial process based on lost-wax casting, one of the oldest known metal-forming techniques. The term "lost-wax casting" can also refer to modern investment casting processes. Investment casting has been used in var ...

. It operated separate to the main company. Centrax has two main operating Divisions: Centrax Limited and Centrax Turbine Components Limited. The Gas Turbine Division designed, built and packages its own small gas turbine for industrial uses and since 1979, Centrax has been packaging the Rolls-Royce 501 aeroderivative gas turbine engine. In 2007 signed an exclusive deal with Rolls-Royce to package the 64 MW Rolls-Royce Trent 60 engine in a generating set in Europe-wide industrial projects. It opened a new factory on its site to build the Trent 60 sets. In 2011 Centrax Limited signed an agreement with Siemens to package the Siemens 300 and 400 industrial gas turbine for markets in UK, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Belgium.

Awards

In 2010 and 2002 it won a

Queen's Award for Enterprise The Queen's Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation, sustainable development or promoting opportunity (through social mobility). They are the highest ...

, and in 1969 a Queen's Award to Industry for export achievement.

Structure

Centrax has two divisions:

Gas Turbine Division

Centrax Limited packages the Rolls-Royce 501 range of industrial gas turbines (Now part of the Siemens portfolio and brought to market as the Siemens SGT-A05 AE since 2017) which range from 3.9 to 5.2 Megawatts as well as the Rolls-Royce Trent 60 gas turbine (64 Megawatts). Since 2011 Centrax has been packaging the Siemens 300 and 400 industrial gas turbines for 5 countries in Europe. This has since been expanded to all EU countries + Turkey. The main market for the division is the combined heat and power market in Europe including Eastern Europe and previously Russia.

Turbine Components

Centrax manufactures precision components for jet engines, namely compressor and turbine aerofoils (

blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...

s), discs, shafts and casings.

Worldwide

Centrax Ltd. has service depots in: *

Zoeterwoude Zoeterwoude () is a municipality in the province of South Holland, Western Netherlands. It covers of which is water. It had a population of in . Located to the southeast of Leiden and north of Zoetermeer, the municipality of Zoeterwoude consist ...

, Netherlands *

Gießen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

(Wieseck), Germany * Warsaw, Poland * Montale Rangone, Italy *

Ormes, Loiret Ormes () is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. See also * Communes of the Loiret department The following is the list of the 325 communes of the Loiret department of France. The communes cooperate in the following ...

, France *

Oeiras Municipality, Portugal Oeiras () is a town and municipality in the western part of Lisbon metropolitan area, located within the Portuguese Riviera, in continental Portugal. The municipality is part of the urban agglomeration of Lisbon and the town of Oeiras is about 16&n ...

* Castellón, Spain

Market

Centrax sells turbine blade components to civil and military aircraft companies and operators around the world. Centrax industrial gas turbine generating sets are sold for power generation and combined heat and power systems - usually large manufacturing plants that require large amounts of heating or steam. It exports 95% of its turnover.

Products

Throughout its history, Centrax's generating sets ranged from 3.9MW to 64MW and are based on the Rolls-Royce 501 (c.5MW) and Trent 60 engines. Centrax turbine components include much of a complete jet engine except to combustion equipment. Since the signing of an exclusive packager agreement with Siemens in 2011 Centrax offers the following options of generating sets: * CX501 KB5 - 3.9MW * CX501 KB7 - 5.3MW * CX300 - 7.9MW * CX300 - 8.5MW * CX400 - 10.4MW * CX400 - 12.9MW * CX400 - 14.4MW In the past they did offer the generating sets listed below, however they are no longer apart of the product range: * CX211 - 33MW * Trent 60WLE - 60.5MW * Trent 60WLE ISI - 64MW

References

{{Reflist

External links

Centrax website
Electrical generation engine manufacturers Engineering companies of England Newton Abbot Companies based in Devon British companies established in 1946 Electronics companies established in 1946 Manufacturing companies established in 1946 1946 establishments in England Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom