Condition monitoring of Pump-turbines |
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| Carme Valero, Eduard Egusquiza |
- Abstract:
- At present, new renewables like wind, solar and marine energy are having a strong development. The generation of energy by renewables has the disadvantage that it depends on atmospheric conditions. It means that they can generate energy at any moment independently if this energy is required or not by the consumers.
For the stability of the electrical grid, supply and demand of energy has to be matched. The surplus of energy produced when consumption is low has to be stored and delivered again when consumption is high. Therefore, the future of renewables is tied directly to the future of energy storage.
At present, the only system to store huge amounts of energy is pumped storage (Pump-turbine machines). In these plants the surplus of energy in the grid is used for pumping water to a higher reservoir (pump operation). At peak hours or in case of emergency this water goes down generating energy (turbine operation). To guarantee this operation these machines have to be available at any time.
Pump-turbines (PT) are high performance machines that have to change operation from pump to turbine mode (reversing runner rotation and flow direction) in a short time. Due to their design characteristics (large power concentration) and operating conditions, they generate large pressure pulsations and forces when in operation. The PT structure has to resist all these forces and keep stresses below fatigue limit, for a lifespan of several decades.
With the increasing production of new renewables and the market regulations, new scenarios are appearing with:
- a large increase in the number of start and stop cycles
- a longer time of off-design operation at very low loads.
Due to these facts the machines suffer from large hydraulic forces generating strong vibrations and stresses especially in the runner. Improved (and affordable) monitoring techniques are necessary. - Download:
- IMEKO-TC10-2014-038.pdf
- DOI:
- -
- Event details
- IMEKO TC:
- TC10
- Event name:
- TC10 Workshop on Technical Diagnostics 2014
- Title:
13th IMEKO TC10 Workshop "Advanced measurement tools in technical diagnostics for systems' reliability and safety"
- Place:
- Warsaw, POLAND
- Time:
- 26 June 2014 - 27 June 2014