In the beginning there was an altimeter - Meggitt PLC

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Monitoring the world’s machines Pelton turbine A Pelton turbine is—to hugely oversimplify—like a modern version of a watermill. The heart of the turbine is a huge metal wheel, around whose circumference is a closely-spaced series of cup-shaped protrusions. Water strikes these protrusions, causing them to revolve and turn alternators, which generate electricity. 00 10 REVIEW | WINTER 2010
Above: Standing at 285m high, Switzerland’s Grande Dixence dam boasts the title of being the world’s highest gravity dam. Meggitt Sensing Systems’ Vibro-Meter range of conditioning monitoring equipment is now on three of the world’s largest turbines— hydro-, nuclear- and gaspowered—and it is pressing ahead with efforts to get its kit on to more class-leading turbines In the Bieudron hydro-electric power station, deep in the mountains of the Swiss canton of Valais, the world’s three largest Pelton turbines (see box, left) sit silently, waiting, as dusk falls in the towns and villages above them. As Swiss burghers start preparing their meals, power company technicians respond to the rapidly-rising demand for electricity by operating a series of controls to bring the huge turbines to life. In a 400 million m³ reservoir held back by the Grande Dixence dam several kilometres away from Bieudron, valves open. Tonnes of water—75m³ a second— roar through an underground duct, plunging down 1883 metres towards each turbine. Split into five jets moving at almost 200 metres a second, the flow—now effectively solid bars of water—strikes the turbines’ paddles, making them revolve. Within a few minutes, each turbine has powered up to its maximum rated power of 423MW, equivalent to the output of 4,000 family cars. Helping keep these huge machines working at peak performance is Meggitt’s VM600 condition monitoring equipment. And it’s not the only record-breaking turbine on which Meggitt Sensing Systems’ Vibro-Meter equipment keeps a watchful electronic eye. A newly-signed contract with Alstom France will see it installed on the huge steam turbine of the new Flamanville 3 nuclear power station on the Atlantic coast of Normandy. The machine will use heat from the nuclear core to turn water to steam as its power source. Rated at 1800MW, the turbine generates power equivalent to 36 of the largest aeroengines, with the biggest blades on the turbine two metres tall. The equipment will also monitor the same-sized Siemens machine that will be operated at Olkiluoto 3 nuclear power plant in Finland. And at Germany’s Irsching 4 combined cycle power station near Ingolstadt, the world’s most powerful gas turbine, a Siemens SGT5-8000H, is being converted from a simple-cycle to a combined-cycle powerplant. ‘Combined-cycle’ simply means that exhaust heat from the turbine is captured and used to heat water, generating steam and thus boosting the turbine’s output. In Irsching 4’s case, that output will surge from 340MW as a simple-cycle unit to 530MW in its new guise. The power plant, which is due to be handed over to Irsching’s operator E.ON for commercial use next year, will achieve an efficiency rating as a combined-cycle turbine of 60%. This is a new world record and brings performance that will contribute to it emitting around 40,000 tons of C0 2 greenhouse gas per year less than comparable existing plants. By measuring factors such as vibration, displacement and combustion dynamics, Meggitt’s VM600 and associated high-performance sensors help ensure that such levels of efficiency are maintained. The Sensing Systems’ team, meanwhile, is pressing ahead with efforts to get its equipment on to world-leading examples of other types of turbine. “There are two main reasons for monitoring equipment on critical rotating machinery,” says Henry Reinmann, director of energy sales for Europe andMiddle East for Meggitt Sensing Systems. “One is safety: you want to measure vibration levels in a turbine and if they suddenly increase to an unwanted level you would shut down the machine.” Of course, Meggitt’s condition monitoring equipment has been on aircraft engines for years but whereas on an aircraft the equipment provides the pilot > We are the only company to propose an efficient combustion monitoring system for gas turbines REVIEW | WINTER 2010 00 11
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In the beginning there was an altimeter - Meggitt PLC

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