Hydroseles cure Endesa's hydropower shaft problems
A
James Walker and Co product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Aug 28, 2009
Spanish power utility Endesa Generacion will install a second James Walker Hydrosele cartridge seal at its Bosost hydropower plant in the Pyrenees, following the success of a first model.
A James Walker Hydrosele S was fitted to the shaft of one of the station's two 10MW vertical Francis turbines in February 2008.
It replaced a segmented carbon-ring system that leaked badly and had worn deep grooves in the turbine shaft's 400mm diameter chrome-oxide coated running sleeve.
Joan-Enric Torrent of James Walker Iberica said: 'Long-term and reliable shaft sealing is Endesa's objective at the Bosost hydropower station.
'After 12 months of operation with a 103m water head, our Hydrosele was in perfect condition and working efficiently with just two litres per minute of accurately controlled leakage.' This success inspired Endesa to convert the second Sulzer turbine at the station to Hydrosele.
Installation time for the new cartridge seal was also a decisive factor.
The complete operation, from start to finish, took only three hours with two fitters.
Tim Smith, who led the James Walker team, said: 'This reduced the turbine downtime in comparison with the previous sealing system.
'We have here a prime example of best-value fluid-sealing technology, saving both time and money for the operator.
'Hydrosele is easily paying for itself in terms of reliability, sealing efficiency, long life and minimal plant downtime.' When these Hydroseles eventually need refurbishing, the operation will be performed on site in just a few hours using a simple sealing element replacement kit.
Expensive stand-by cartridge units are not needed.
The Hydrosele S features sealing elements that operate within the fully split cartridge to improve the reliability and profitability of Francis and Kaplan water turbines.
Two elements work back-to-back with filtered flush water introduced between them.
In operation, the elements are pressure-balanced and run on a hydrodynamic fluid film that provides high-speed capability with a low level of controlled leakage.
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