• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.738-744
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• 2011

The reliability of blade root fixing section is required to endure the centrifugal force and vibration stress for the last stage blade of steam turbine in thermal power plant. Most of the domestic steam turbine last stage blades have finger type roots. The finger type blade is very complex, so the inspection had been performed only on the exposed fixing pin cross-section area due to the difficulty of inspection. But the centrifugal force and vibration stress are also applied at the blade root finger and the crack generates, so the inspection method for finger section is necessary. For the inspection of root finger, inspection points were decided by simulating ultra-sonic path with 3D modeling, curve-shape probe and fixing jig were invented, and the characteristics analysis method of ultrasonic reflection signal and defect signal disposition method were invented. This invented method was actually executed at site and prevented the blade liberation failure by detecting the cracks at the fingers. Also, the same type blades of the other turbines were inspected periodically and the reliability of the turbine increased.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Pressure Vessels and Piping
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2013

Steam turbine blades and discs of nuclear power plants are one of the most highly stressed areas of turbine rotor, and periodic inspection of the blade roots is essential for monitoring integrity and preventing turbine failure. Ultrasonic technique is applied for volumetric inspection of blade root. However, the complexity of blade root geometry imposes challenges to inspection of blades and discs. Recently, phased array ultrasonic inspection technology is being applied to numerous power generation inspection applications including turbine rotor. The phased array ultrasonic technique requires customized inspection wedges which are generally necessary to generate effectively higher incident angle. But the usage of this wedge can cause access limitation for the lower stage blades of turbine because of the wedge front length. Therefore, the shear wave phased array probe which can generate high inspection angle without wedge is essentially necessary. In this study, feasibility study is conducted for the shear wave phased array ultrasonic probe application to blade and disc inspection. As results, the experimental results show that the shear wave phased array probe can detect the flaw and measure its size with reliable accuracy. Therefore if this shear wave phased array probe is applied to field inspection of blade and disc, more reliable inspection is expected for turbine having access limitation.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.236-245
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• 2017

Purpose: There is no established inspection system for composite wind blade during the fabrication stage even though the blades are one of the most important part at wind generation system, but phased array ultrasonic testing method has been continuously studied about wind turbine blade with composite. When wind turbine blade with complex shape by phased array probe is inspected, it is necessary to study for system keeping constant pressure using pressure device. Methods: In this paper, we propose constant pressure device for inspecting wind turbine blade by phased array ultrasonic test method. Design of the device controller is based on Hunt-Crossley model. We evaluate reliability of phased array ultrasonic inspection result that applicated constant pressure device. Result: Defect indication is precise and its error is small when constant pressure mechanism based on Hunt-Crossley model was used. Conclusion: When inspection is progressed using constant pressure mechanism, the reliability of composite wind blade inspection can be improved.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.24-30
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• 1993

The necessity of ultrasonic inspection to detect the cracks in turbine blade is being increased as the forced outage of nuclear power plants have been occurred due to blade failure in turbine components. However, the complex blade root geometry causes the ultrasonic inspection technique not to be established yet and much effort is required to set up a more reliable inspection. In this paper, the ultrasonic inspection technique for flaw detectability, skew angle effect, identification of flaw and geometric signal have been investigated with a test block and discussed the interpretation of ultrasonic signal through the acquisition and analysis of RF waveform. The experimental results show that the proper examination procedure can be established. It is required that the skew angle is essential to decrease the effect of signals from the complex blade geometry. The present results of this study can be applied to the site inspection without blade disassembly.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Systems Engineering
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.59-71
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• 2016

The Nuclear and Fossil Steam Turbines record a considerable number of failures annually. Some of these failures reported are as result of blade failure. The failure of the L-0 blade in a Steam Turbine is one of the most reported blade failure in Nuclear and Fossil steam turbines. This paper seeks to identify the best Non Destructive Evaluation (NDE) method or methods to be used in the steam turbine L-0 blades inspection process. The development of systems engineering processes presents an opportunity to apply NDE inspection to the L-0 blades. This process apply computer modelling of the L-0 using ANSYS and by simulating the stresses experienced by the L-0 blade during operation it is possible to identify the most susceptible areas for crack formation and growth. The results from these models compared to industry data for validation. The analysis of these results used to predict the most probable failure location and failure modes. Therefore NDE inspection can be applied to these areas with greater degree of accuracy. This would be beneficial in the increasing the accuracy in the detection of cracks and hence save inspection time and the overall inspection cost. Furthermore, not only the location for crack formation and NDE inspection determined but also best the NDE inspection technique/techniques to be applied appropriately on the L-0 blade are prescribed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.1-7
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• 2014

Gas turbines for generation are operated under high temperatures, high pressures and in corrosive environments for long periods of time. This environment causes serious damage to these parts. Therefore, the material, coating, and cooling technology used with a gas turbine are important factors with regard to turbine blade development. One method that can be used to protect a product from harsh conditions is the coating technology. A turbine blade undergoes very aggressive thermal stress and experiences high-temperature fatigue. In order to reduce the surface temperature of the components and protect the blade from high-temperature flames, a thermal barrier coating (TBC) is applied to its substrate. This study confirms the applicability of an inspection system for the turbine blade coating layer using an artificial heat source.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.126-131
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• 2017

Numerical analysis using commercial CFD code was carried out to develop the drag force type vertical axis hydraulic turbine for the improvement of the production efficiency of small hydro energy at low flow velocity condition. Blade pressure changes and internal flows were analyzed according to the presence or absence of the hydraulic turbine blade holes at flow velocity of less than 1.0~3.0 m/s. According to the numerical results, the pressure and flow velocity is severly affected by the flow velocity in turbine blade with no holes, while the influence of flow velocity is comparatively decreased in turbine blade with holes. It is also found that the pressure and flow velocity on the blade surface with holes are evenly distributed with no singular location and it is believed that forming a hole in the blade may be helpful in terms of structural safety.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.30 no.9
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• pp.969-975
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• 2013

As energy shortage is getting more serious, wind energy source is more promoted around the world. Blade is a key component of wind turbine. Local breakages and/or contamination in the blade bring degradation in aerodynamic efficiency and life-time. However, it is not easy and even dangerous for human workers to access the blade for inspection and maintenance since its size is huge and located at high mountains and rough sea, which are windy places. This paper deals with a novel moving mechanism that efficiently carries human workers or robots to the wind turbine blade. The proposed mechanism utilizes flexible tube with pressurized air that rolls and climbs over the blade surface. So, the tube naturally adapts the changing surface of the blade and acts no harm to it. This paper discusses about its concept, detail design, and advantages. The feasibility of the proposed mechanism is proved through experiments prototype.

• Clean Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.90-94
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• 2017

These days much efforts are being dedicated to wind power as a potential source of renewable energy. To maintain effective and uniform generation of energy, defect preservation of turbine blade is essential because it directly takes effects on the efficiency of power generation. For the effective maintenance, early measurements of blade defects are very important. However, current technologies such as ultrasonic waves and thermal imaging inspection methods are not suitable because of long inspection time and non-real time inspection. To supplement the problems, the study introduced a method for real time defect monitoring of a blade surface based on surface wave technology. We examined the effect of various parameters such as micro-cracks and peelings on the propagation of surface wave.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.209-214
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• 2011

A method to detect rotor mass imbalance, which is one of the typical faults of wind turbine, is presented for effective condition monitoring of wind turbine. Dynamic analysis for a three-bladed horizontal-axis wind turbine was carried out with adding mass to a blade for inflicting the rotor mass imbalance. It has been found that the added mass induce a resulting centrifugal force to nacelle and this leads to a transverse (relative to the rotor axis) oscillation of the nacelle. It has been also found that the amplitude of the oscillation is almost linearly increased as the added mass is increased.