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Turbine repair at Nesjavellir geothermal power plant During a quadrennial inspection of a 30MW Mitsubishi steam turbine at
Nesjavellir geothermal power plant, corrosion products were found on the
last set of labyrinth packing in the gland seal system which resulted
in erosion corrosion of the turbine rotor. [Erosion corrosion huh? I have never before noticed a lot of melody in Icelandic speak.] The rotor had worn by approximately 8mm. Because of the tight timeframe
of the overhaul, it was decided to repair this failure on site using the
experience of the staff and domestic industry. Labyrinth seals were
built by a domestic machine shop, decreasing cost and shutdown time
dramatically. This article describes the occurring failure and how it
was repaired within days with cooperation between the energy company and
domestic industry. I only posted this because it seems to me to show evidence of the feebleness of geothermal technology. Geothermal heating has shown huge leaps from a time I can remember when pipes carrying geothermal brines had to be periodically cleaned laboriously by plumbers with obvious high cost and inconvenience. Today I have little doubt cleaning is still routine but hardly the same technology that even drains off heat from geothermal brines to another working fluid. Compare this with oil companies working a petroleum resource in "iceberg alley" off Nova Scotia that has helicopters lassoing threatening icebergs in routine gale force winds to keep nearyl all from smashing into the oil platform. Long past time more investment was made in geothermal technology by Uncle Sam but we leave it up to others mostly. Best, Terry |
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