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Title of Application Note:

Process Monitoring of Vibrations at Hydro Turbines




Introduction:
The customer is HIDROELECTRICA SA, which is the main electrical producer with the help
of hydro turbines. The company is divided in several branches depending on the
geographic area. HIDROELECTRICA has the installed power of 6438 MW and it produces
approximately 30% of the entire electrical power produced in Romania. The system of
Vibration Monitoring was implemented in Hidroelectrica Oradea SA.

Application / Problem:
For the vibration monitoring at hydro turbines and generators, the customer decided to
install a Delphin TopMessage with ProfiSignal to monitor the following parameters:

Global vibration peak-to-peak displacement
FFT analysis
Smax parameter
Orbit
Trend analysis etc.

The main objective is to install an easy to configure real time portable monitoring system
used for increasing the safety conditions and the prediction of faults.

Technical condition

The measurements were done according with the following standards:

ISO 7919-5:2005 Mechanical vibration, Evaluation of machine vibration by
measurements on rotating shafts. Part 5: Machine sets in
hydraulic power generating and pumping plants
ISO 10817 Rotating shaft vibration measuring system
Measurement direction: Rafial on two directions X Y with two proximity transducers
mounted at 90
Measured parameters: relative vibration of journal bearing
Measuring unit: peak-to-peak displacement of vibration [m]
The distance between the senzor and shaft
Analysed machine: Hydro turbine Vertical Kaplan with the power of 10 MW.
Monitored journal bearings: Turbine bearing - LT
Inferior radial bearing - LRI
Axial radial bearing Lrax

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Proposal / Solution / Hardware:
The customer has observed a suspect sound at the generator of one turbine, sound which
is believed to be caused by vibrations at a hydro turbine within the plant. Because of this
situation a vibration measurement was done using the TopMessage system.

For this application we recommended the following components:

TopMessage Master device
AMDT Module
Voltage divisor
Proximity systems Transducers with conditioner
ProfiSignal Basic

The scheme for the monitoring system is presented in Annex 1.

The vibration measurements were done with proximity systems which were mounted on
all three journal bearings of the turbine. Two transducers were mounted on each journal
bearing, with a radial direction and at an angle of 90 degrees between them. The
TopMessage system was mounted within an portable electric panel. The customer
requested that the system must be portable to be mounted on different hydro turbines
that present electrical or mechanical faults. Beside this, the system had to be modular so
that it could be extended in the future, for example: for making absolute vibration
measurements with piezoelectric accelerometers. The figure below shows the system
mounted in the electrical panel.









Figure 1 - The TopMessage system as a portable system

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The software used for fault diagnostic is ProfiSignal Basic and ProfiSignal Vibro.
Following the vibration measurements it has been established that the operating mark is
UNALLOWED according to ISO 7919.
The vibration diagnosis indicated a misalignment of the turbines shaft, but this offsetting
is caused by the instability of the inferior radial bearing LRI, practically an increased
mechanical looseness inside this bearing having the Y direction.
The figures below present the scheme of the turbine, trend analysis, orbit and FFT in the
ProfiSignal software



















































Figure 2 The scheme of the Kaplan turbine
Figure 3 Tracking the relative vibrations at different turbine loads

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The measurement bulletin is presented in Annex 2.


Figure 4 The shaft orbits within the journal bearings
Figure 5 FFT analysis recorded on the bearings, X and Y direction

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Following the vibration diagnosis it was recommended checking the
fixation mode of bearing LRI onto the foundation, the bushing state and the mechanical
looseness inside the bearing.
While checking bearing LRI, the repair team that the nuts that adjust the jocul in the
bushing, Y direction, were destroyed, as well as the thread on the bolts.
We must point out that absolute vibration measurements were done with accelerometers
using a portable analyser and the highest vibrations were recorded on the radial axial
bearing LRAx, and on the inferior radial bearing the vibrations amplitudes were small.
In conclusion we can say that the machine diagnosis which have in their assembly
journal bearings are done more precisely if the vibration measurements are done with
proximity transducers and are acquired using the on-line mode, simultaneously on all the
bearings of the machine. For this purpose the TopMessage system was one to be
appreciated and our customer was pleased.

Summary of Benefits:
The advantages of vibration monitoring using the TopMessage system and the Profisignal
software are as follows:

Simultaneously monitoring of vibration amplitudes on all the bearings of the
machine

The possibility of extending the system for on-line monitoring and other technical
parameters, except vibrations, needed for machine diagnosis

The creation of virtual channels for the calculation of jocurilor in the journal
bearings

The possibility of copying the measured data amplitude 1x and phase 1x in a
balancing program which allows the balancing, in situ, static and dynamic of the
rotors.

The precession movement simulation of the shaft within the journal bearings

The transmission with ease of the remote measured data and the storing of these
both within the TopMessage device and on the hard disk of a computer.

The possibility to connect vibration transducers with an output of 4-20 mA as an
economical solution for vibration monitoring

The increase in safety conditions and the prevention of machine damage with the
help of the Alarm Management software and the analog and digital outputs which
the TopMessage system has.


For more information please see: DelphinTechnology http://www.delphin.com/
















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Annex 1

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MEASURING BULLETIN OF THE GLOBAL VIBRATION LEVEL NO. 1


1. Measurement location: CHE LUGASU Hidroagregat nr.1 - KVB 9,4-23,2

Machinery characteristics: Power:9,4 MW, Revolution: 214,3 rpm, Nr.of rotor
blades: 6, Nr of AD blades: 24, Nr.of axiali segments: 10
Operating regimes: 1. MECHANICALLY EMPTY; 2. EXCITED EMPTY; 3. PARALLEL 25%;
4. PARALLEL 50%; 5. PARALLEL 75%; 6. PARALLEL 100%

2. Measured peak-to-peak values.

The measurement parameters is peak-to-peak displacement and Smax


Measuremen direction
X Y S
max
Measuring
point
[m] [m] [m]
LRAx 290 1204 540
LRI 1750 2153 960
LT 1210 1330 550

3. Operating mark according ISO 7919-5:2005.

Machine type
Hydro Turbine
P > 1 MW
peak - peak s
max

Measuring untis (peak-peak value, s
max
)
[m] [m]
Good < 150 < 83
Usable 150 - 250 83 - 140
Admitted under supervision 250 - 500 140 - 270
Operating
mark
Unallowed > 500 > 270

4. Technical characteristics of the turbine

Turbine
type
P
nominal
[MW]
n
[rpm]
P
effective

[MW]
Date Operating mark
KVB 9,4 216 5 11.04.2011 Unallowed

5. Turbine scheme


















Annex 2

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