Maintenance Partners was contacted by a customer after the breakdown of a single stage steam turbine. The damage to the turbine was severe: the bearing housings, the pinion and bull gear teeth were damaged. To make matters worse, the top casing was cracked. Several parties advised the customer that the turbine was a total loss and the only solution was to replace the entire turbine.
Maintenance Partners, however, never says no to a challenge. Our experts found a solution and proposed the customer to repair the turbine. Repairing the turbine proved to be much quicker and more economical than replacing the turbine by a new one.
Reverse engineering and Repair
After the customer accepted the repair proposal, the turbine was disassembled in MP’s workshop and our engineers started the reverse engineering process. As the turbine had been running for over 4 decades, drawings were not available. The damaged parts were scanned in 3D and manufacturing drawings were prepared.
The pinion and bull gear could not be refurbished and new parts were manufactured using the drawings. The four bearings and bearing housings were renewed entirely as well.
A spare turbine wheel that the customer had in stock was mounted on the shaft with the pinion. The assembled rotor was balanced at low speed.
To restore the casing, a material analysis was performed to determine the alloy of the existing material. A new piece matching the material was manufactured to fit the gap in the casing. The casing was pre-machined before stitching the new piece to the casing. Finally, the casing was machined to original dimensions.
When all parts were manufactured, the turbine was assembled and ready for commissioning onsite.
Result for customer
The single stage steam turbine was considered to be a total loss, but Maintenance Partners found a solution that was quicker and more economical for the customer.
Contact us
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