Lignum Vitae North America awarded multiple contracts for Water Lubricated Main Guide Bearings for the Osage 225 MW Hydro Plant! Posted on Tuesday, June 27th, 2017 and is filed under News
After greatly increased bearing wear in one of the Osage 25MW Units using composites it was determined the material could not hold up to the excessive wear from the aging turbine. Lignum Vitae North America LLC was called in to make recommendations for a fix after the turbine failed to operate for a one hour test after a composite bearing adjustment. It was determined the bearing wore out completely on the downstream side leaving the upstream bearing untouched. Lignum Vitae recommended a new stave configuration using a special grade of Lignum-Vitae specifically designed for this condition. On start up the turbine displayed a total runout of about 3 mils that has held steady for over 3 months to date. This case study is a perfect fit for the unique ability of Lignum-Vitae to be adjusted to ZERO TOLERANCE in an effort to hold the shaft in position. Previous composites required some gap between the shaft and bearing allowing an imbalanced turbine the ability to wobble verses running true and balanced. The self/water lubricated properties of Lignum-Vitae are another key benefit of this extraordinary material. As a result of the first Lignum-Vitae bearing success with the Voith unit the plant has now converted over 30% of their turbines back to Lignum-Vitae over the last 4 months. A promise has been offered of total conversion back to Lignum-Vitae as the other units wear out. From: James Besha, Jr., P.E. Albany Engineering Corporation (Oldest continuous operating Hydro in the U.S.) Hydro is a pretty small world, in 2009 they replaced the two smaller (3MW) house units at that plant with new turbines that were designed to overcome some dissolved oxygen issues. The original house units were of identical design just 1/10 the size and still in good working order. We acquired those units and installed them at our new Stuyvesant Falls, NY facility and immediately started having the same wear problems with the composites. These are the units that will get the Lignum we just purchased last month from you! The first set of bearings are finished, installed, and will go into operation on Monday. Next time you talk to the Osage guys be sure to relay the story! If you have Main Guide Bearing problems with Ryertex, Thordon, Orcot or any composite/phenolics bearing or Oil Filmed lead babbitted bearings in your Francis or Kaplan turbine, stop by our booth and learn how we can save you millions of dollars in maintenance and bearing adjustment cost. We provide bearings for all turbine diameters and offer an exclusive warranty. Stop by and get the full details! “Discontent is the first necessity of change” -Thomas Edison [email protected] 804-337-7169 www.lignum-vitae-bearings.com
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