July 22, 2021

Advanced Pump System Case Study

RDI Technologies

AGL Loy Yang, the largest power station in Victoria, Australia, has two stator coolant pumps (SCPs) critical to the operation of each 500+ megawatt turbo generator at the station. One of the two SCPs for Unit 1 turbo generator experienced more than 10 years of high lateral vibration, sometimes reaching 20 mm/sec RMS.

The many unsuccessful attempts to remedy the problem resulted in an estimated material cost of AU$160,000, labor costs of 500+ person-hours, and lost power generation revenue. They tried laser alignment, base frame spot welds, bracing of pipework, fitment of flexible bellows to the pump suction and discharge pipework, pump replacements, motor replacement, coupling replacement, and more.

Finally, Motion Amplification® (MA) technology from RDI Technologies helped to diagnose the long-running problem within one hour. Nine MA videos were captured in the field to visualize and analyze the root cause of the high vibration. It was a structural fault, including a soft-foot condition between the pump base frame and skid base plate and a twisting operational deflection shape of the pump base frame. A series of fillet welds made during a scheduled outage succeeded in reducing vibration by 70 percent and yielding a savings of AU$150,000.

“This has proved to be a great assistance to rectifying a long-term plant issue. After only a short setup time, it confirmed our vibration and phase measurements without physically touching the asset,” says Peter Fanning, condition monitoring team leader at AGL Loy Yang.

“The ability to very quickly identify and communicate the underlying root cause has really changed the speed at which people can get things fixed and see considerable savings,” adds Jeff Hay, CEO of RDI Technologies.

To read the entire case study, click here.

GET IN TOUCH

GET IN TOUCH.

Want to learn more? For more information or a quote on our products or services, please contact us.

GET IN Touch