rAre rADiAl SteAM tUrBine
rejUvenAteD
p
recision reverse
engineering resolves
vibration issues
Overhauling a steam turbine as part of
a planned maintenance schedule is a
regular task for many large-scale industrial
enterprises that depend on these units to
generate electrical power. However, for
one pulp manufacturing plant in Eastern
Canada, the refurbishment of its 25 MW
Stal Laval radial steam turbine would
need expert engineering to resolve the
vibration issue – the first time this repair
has been completed in North America
and it would be successfully delivered by
Sulzer.
62
PECM Issue 29
Industrial processes that have high
power consumption often use on-site
power generation to provide a cost
effective power supply, but this entails
also providing the necessary levels
of maintenance support to keep the
turbine operational. In many cases, this
will be provided by a specialist service
engineering company that has the
necessary facilities and expertise to
deliver timely repairs and maintenance.
Minimizing repair times
Steam turbines are used around the world
to generate power, but the vast majority
are of the axial flow design. In situations
where radial flow designed units need to
be repaired, they are usually shipped to
Europe, where they are more accustomed
to this design. However, this increases the
total repair time, which is a crucial factor
when the entire manufacturing process
relies on this power source.
Manufactured in the 1970s, the 25 MW
Stal Laval radial turbine uses steam that
enters along the center-line of machine
and expands outwards through two
contra-rotating rotors until it reaches the
exhaust pipework on the periphery of the
turbine. The two rotors, left hand (LH) and
right hand (RH) are made up of nine and
eight stages respectively and are each
coupled to a generator.