Paper no.

059

T e chnol o g y W h iTe Pa P e r

innovative Use of a laser Tracker Measurement System in hydro Turbine and generator refurbishment
hal Turner, P. eng., Manitoba hydro Doug Ursel, P. eng., Pine Falls Technical Services ltd.
ABSTRACT An alternative to traditional alignment techniques is being employed during Manitoba Hydros refurbishment of its Kelsey Generating Station in order to reduce outage durations and construction effort. Manitoba Hydro investigated three-dimensional measurement systems before settling on a laser tracker measurement system. The accuracy, repeatability, and the time required to take measurements with the laser tracker system were proven to be superior to traditional methods. Use of a laser tracker reduced outage time by an estimated 2 to 3 weeks per unit overhaul and allowed the construction team to work more effectively and produce a better result. The laser tracker was so effective that it was used for significantly more applications than originally anticipated. The laser tracker measurement system can provide savings in schedule and construction effort in both unit rehabilitations and new construction. InTRoduCTIon Manitoba Hydro is refurbishing all seven units at its Kelsey Generating Station. Kelsey is located on the Nelson River in Northern Manitoba, approximately 700 km north of the City of Winnipeg. Kelsey Generating Station was built between 1957 and 1961 to supply electricity to the International Nickel Companys (INCO) mining and smelting operations and to the City of Thompson. The station consists of seven 32 MW vertical shaft hydro generators. The scope of work includes replacing the runners, bottom rings, discharge rings and draft tube liners, as well as a generator rewind. The existing stators are embedded in the powerhouse concrete. For schedule and reliability reasons, it was decided to cut out the stators and re-install them, so that the rewind could occur in the service bay. On past projects, component alignments such as the discharge ring and stator were time consuming. Part of Manitoba Hydros culture is to seek innovative ways to accomplish tasks. Manitoba Hydro felt that there was a better way to align these components than the traditional method. deSCRIpTIon of The TRAdITIonAl MeASuRIng MeThod The traditional method for aligning the stationary and embedded components of a vertical shaft turbine generator is to use both a plumb line and an optical level. The plumb line is hung down the center of the unit and used to position all the components so that they are concentric and their axis is plumb. An optical level is used to set the components at the desired elevation. The plumb line is usually centered in an embedded component and then the stationary components are adjusted so that they are concentric to the plumb line. The plumb line is a non-magnetic stainless steel piano wire. The top end of the line is suspended from a centering bracket mounted on a beam. The centering bracket allows translation in four directions so that the plumb line can be centered within the embedded component. A heavy weight is attached to the bottom of the line and is suspended in a bucket of oil to dampen any movement of the wire. Measurements between the piano wire and the components are taken with an electric inside micrometer. The electric micrometer consists of an inside micrometer, an extension, a battery and a set of headphones. The piano wire and the components to be measured must have electrical continuity. The end of the extension piece, without the micrometer, is held in contact with the component to be measured. The micrometer is slowly adjusted until it contacts the plumb line. When the micrometer contacts the plumb line, current begins to flow and an audible click can be heard in the headphones. To ensure that the electric micrometer is square to the plumb line, it is adjusted until the hydroVision 2008 - copyright hci Publications, 2008 - www.hcipub.com

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Traditional plumb line method

inside micrometer is at its shortest length when contact occurs. The inside electric micrometer readings are also used to verify that the component meets its circularity tolerances. The accuracy of the inside electric micrometer is between 0.003 to 0.005 depending on the measurement environment, the operator(s) and the distance being measured. It should be noted that an absolute measurement of the distance is not necessary to ensure that the components are concentric and circular. For large components like discharge rings, Manitoba Hydro generally uses a wooden extension piece for the electric inside micrometers so that the electric micrometer will be lighter and to reduce the effect of temperature changes. An optical level, such as a Wild Leica N3 precision level, is used to measure the elevation of the components. One component is used as a reference or control for the elevation measurements of the remaining components. Depending on the elevation difference, one or more transfer points may be needed to achieve relative elevation measurements. negATIveS of The TRAdITIonAl MeThod There is no question that the traditional method could continue to be used to align hydro turbine and generator components. It has served the industry well for a long time. However, there are some negatives with this method. Electric micrometer readings are very time consuming. The Kelsey discharge rings are 230 in diameter. Sixteen measurements are required at each of the top, middle and bottom of the discharge ring to ensure that it is plumb, concentric and circular. This usually takes between 6 and 8 hours to take one set of readings. Measuring with an electric micrometer is sensitive to outside influences. If the plumb line is bumped, or if the pail of damping oil is disturbed, measurements cannot be taken until the wire vibrations have diminished to acceptable levels. This can take up to 5 minutes. Repeatability of electric micrometer readings between technicians is difficult to achieve. There is a lot of feel in taking electric micrometer measurements. As a result, for critical measurements it is common practice to rely on one person or a team of two people to take measurements. This may lengthen the time required to take readings. For example, this may mean that readings can only be taken on day shift. The optical level readings can be affected by the vibration of neighboring units. This adds to the time required to take the readings and introduces uncertainty. If the difference in elevation between the components is large, then multiple set ups are required to use a precision level to

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Paper no. 059

Millwrights use an electric micrometer to check if the plumb line is centered within a stay ring.

measure elevations. This takes more time and reduces the accuracy of the measurements. ThRee dIMenSIonAl MeASuRIng SySTeMS Manitoba Hydro was not satisfied with the traditional measuring technique and began researching and using different threedimensional measurement systems. During the planning of the Kelsey Refurbishment, a unit inspection was performed to provide data to the turbine manufacturer on the turbine components and water passages. A total station was used to perform these measurements. The accuracy of the total station was acceptable and the time required to take readings was significantly less than using plumb line methods. In the time between the unit inspection and the start of the first outage, laser tracker technology became available. Manitoba Hydro had previously used Pine Falls Technical Services (PFTS) to provide laser tracker services at some of its other generating stations. Measurements had proven to be very accurate and could be taken extremely quickly. The accuracy of a total station and laser tracker are comparable, however the laser tracker measurements can be taken much quicker. Based on Manitoba Hydros experience, it was decided that PFTS would be contracted to provide laser tracker measurement services for the Kelsey unit refurbishments. deSCRIpTIon of The lASeR TRACkeR MeASuRIng SySTeM A laser tracker is a portable device that can measure in three dimensions to an accuracy of 0.001 within a range of 230 feet. It uses a high accuracy laser to measure the distance between it and a target, which is a Spherically Mounted Retro-reflector (SMR). Two precision angular encoders measure the zenith and azimuth angles. The software converts these polar coordinates to Cartesian coordinates. The software allows the precise measurement of many different geometric shapes. These shapes can then be checked against user definable datums for parallelism, concentricity, etc. The laser tracker measures the location of the SMR at a rate of one thousand times per second. A typical recorded measurement takes about one second and provides an average value thereby negating any errors due to moderate vibrations. The number of readings per measurement can be adjusted to suit the conditions. A FARO Laser Tracker Xi was used along with FARO CAM2 Measure X software. This laser tracker is portable and has a built-in precision level. Its enclosure is well suited for the environment found during a unit refurbishment.

pRepARATIon of The CooRdInATe SySTeM The key step when using a tracker to perform an alignment is the creation of a coordinate system. Every component is aligned with respect to a discrete point or series of discrete points. These points are defined by a conventional Cartesian Coordinate system. hydroVision 2008 - copyright hci Publications, 2008 - www.hcipub.com

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Constructing the coordinate system must be done with sufficient foresight. Since components are embedded or machined in place with respect to one coordinate system its usually costly and time consuming to change to another system. The origin should be defined by the center of a component that is not being moved. Components like the discharge ring, stator, or as at Kelsey, the outer head cover can be used as the origin. Gravity is typically used to define the XY Plane and the X-axis is from the origin to the upstream direction. For the Kelsey refurbishments the origin of the coordinate system was the projection of the center of the outer head cover onto the plane created by the stay ring flange. The direction of the X-axis was chosen to be upstream. This was defined by a point equidistant between the centers of the two servomotor pockets on the pit liner. Gravity was used to define the Z-axis. The direction of the Y-axis ends up being 90 counterclockwise from the X-axis. The Z-axis then becomes the theoretical centerline of the unit. Circular components such as bearing fits, the stator and the discharge ring are all aligned so that the coordinates of their center points are, within a tolerance, on the Zaxis. MovIng The lASeR TRACkeR One of the major advantages of using a tracker is that it can be moved anywhere in the unit and is able to establish its position relative to the coordinate system, even if the features that were used to create the coordinate system are no longer visible. This is accomplished by

The coordinate system used at Kelsey

defining benchmarks within the unit that can be used to tie the location of the tracker into the coordinate system. At Kelsey, the tracker was set up horizontally on the outer head cover. Six magnetic SMR nests, which we commonly refer to as pucks, were strategically placed around the walls of the turbine pit. An SMR was placed in each puck and its position measured to create benchmarks. The location of each benchmark relative to the coordinate system is now known. These benchmarks remain in place until the unit is reassembled. The tracker was then moved up to the generator enclosure and mounted horizontally on one of the main bracket sole plates. The six benchmarks on the pit liner were measured. This tied the tracker into the previously established coordinate system. Six more pucks were mounted on the generator enclosure walls below the stator. These six pucks were then measured as additional benchmarks. At this point, the position of all twelve benchmarks is known relative to the coordinate system. The tracker can therefore be moved to any location, as long as it can see at least four benchmarks, and its position with respect to the coordinate system is known.

AlIgnMenT of The dISChARge RIng And STAToR Fifty-eight measurements are required to align the Kelsey discharge ring, bottom ring, and draft tube liner assembly. Sixteen measurements each on the bore of the discharge ring at the top, middle and bottom and ten measurements on the top of the bottom ring. A complete set of measurements could be taken in about ten minutes. The same measurements taken with the

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traditional method would take six to eight hours. The laser trackers software calculated the concentricity and plumb of the discharge ring axis and the discharge ring circularity. Results were available as soon as the measurements were complete. With the traditional method an hour or two of engineering would be required to analyze the data. It is estimated that between one and two weeks of outage time was saved on the alignment of the discharge ring, draft tube liner and bottom ring alone. The laser tracker was also used to measure the concentricity and plumb of the axis of the stator core axis, the stator core circularity, and the elevation of the stator magnetic

Tracker set up on the outer head cover to align the discharge ring, bottom ring and draft tube liner.

centerline. Two or three days were saved on the stator alignment by using the laser tracker. Another benefit of using the laser tracker was improved powerhouse crane access to the unit. The Kelsey generator enclosures are square and over 40 feet wide. If we had used a plumb line a very large beam would be required to span this opening. This would have restricted access with the overhead crane.

oTheR lASeR TRACkeR ApplICATIonS Manitoba Hydro originally only intended to use the laser tracker during the alignment of the new discharge ring, bottom ring and draft tube liner and during the alignment of the stator. After becoming familiar with the technology it was decided to review all of the site measurements with PFTS. We determined that the technology could be applied to tasks such as checking the level of the stay ring flange, align boring of the wicket gate bushing housings and aligning the servomotors, the generator slip rings and the PMG. The laser tracker was used to check the stay ring flange level. The stay ring flange level exceeded tolerances. Machining or grinding of the flange was required. PFTS had an innovative method to make grinding the stay ring flange easier. The following steps were used to ease the stay ring flange grinding: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Based on the stay ring flange survey a target elevation for the stay ring flange was chosen. A puck was glued to the head of a magnetic base drill. An SMR was installed in the puck on the magnetic base drill. The distance from the SMR to the tip of the drill bit was measured. Small dimples were drilled into the stay ring flange. The bottoms of all the dimples were at the target elevation. The dimples were colored with a black marker.

The technicians then ground the stay ring until the dimples disappoeared. This proved to be a very quick and easy way to indicate how the stay ring should be ground. In order to shorten the overall outage schedule, Manitoba Hydro decided to align bore the outer head cover when it was on the powerhouse floor. This removed the head cover align boring from the critical path. The laser tracker was used to check the circularity

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Measuring the stator to determine its centerline

of the outer head cover. Based on the readings the outer head cover was adjusted so that it was circular within tolerance. The radial locations of the center of the upper wicket gate bushing housings were measured. The upper wicket gate bushing housing is used as the control for align boring both the intermediate and lower wicket gate bushing housings. In the past, Manitoba Hydro did not check the location of the upper wicket gate bushing housings. Based on the readings, 8 of the 20 upper wicket gate bushing housings were machined to correct their radial location with respect to the center of the outer head cover. A result of improving the radial locations of the upper wicket gate bushing housings was that no grinding was required on the wicket gates to ensure a proper wicket gate circle. The effort and time required for the extra machining was small compared to the effort and time required to grind wicket gates. The laser tracker was used to transfer the upper wicket gate bushing housing center to the lower wicket gate bushing housings. This allowed us to eliminate the use of plumb wires for wicket gate bushing housing align boring and reduced the time required to align bore the lower wicket gate bushing housings. The laser tracker was used to align the servomotors by determining how the servomotor alignment plates were to be machined. The alignment plates are sandwiched between the servomotors and the pit liner. These plates are custom machined with a taper so that the lines of action of both servomotors are level and parallel to upstream. The traditional method of determining how to machine these plates involves the following steps: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Install the servomotors and alignment plates. Measure their orientation of the lines of action with piano wires and an optical level. Remove the servomotors and alignment plates. Machine the alignment plates. Re-install the servomotors and alignment plates.

To use the laser tracker to determine how to machine the alignment plates we: 1. Shot each servomotor pocket to determine the orientation of the planes created by their faces. 2. Shot the back face of the servomotor and found the center of the rod, with the rod both extended and retracted, to determine the orientation of the rods line of action for each servomotor. 3. From the above two pieces of information we were able to machine the alignment plates. 4. Installed the servomotors and alignment plates. The above procedure worked well. Using the laser tracker for the servomotor alignment saved time and effort on the outage. The laser tracker was also used to align the generator slip rings and the drive for the permanent magnet generator (PMG). The traditional method to align the slip rings and PMG drive is to rotate the unit and measure the runouts with dial indicators. At Kelsey, six to eight people are required to rotate the unit. Other work near the rotating parts must stop while these measurements are taken. The verticality of the axis of rotation was measured during the shaft alignment with a precision level. From this we were able to calculate the desired location of the center of the slip rings and the PMG drive. The laser tracker was used to measure the centers of the generator thrust block, slip rings and PMG drive. The slip rings and PMG drive were then adjusted to achieve their

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Checking the Outer Head Cover Circularity

desired location. Using the laser tracker meant that the unit did not have to be rotated. Only two technicians were required to align the slip rings and PMG drive and there was no interruption of any other work on the unit. Pine Falls Technical Services has developed other measurement and alignment procedures which have been used at various generating stations. These include the insitu measurement of the rotor diameter. This procedure took less than a day, and saved the utility several millions of dollars in lost production by avoiding the need to remove the rotor for this measurement. Other such procedures include measurements to determine the offset for bottom ring wicket gate bushings, real time measurements for stator re-rounding and runner centering. The benefits of the laser tracker are not limited to rehabilitation projects. The majority of the benefits discussed in this paper can be realized for new construction. SuMMARy Using a laser tracker allowed more accurate and faster capture of information. Measurements that traditionally would take 6 to 8 hours could be accomplished in 5 to 10 minutes. The accuracy and repeatability of the information is superior to traditional measurement techniques. The software used was able to calculate circularity, concentricity and plumb saving engineering time. A laser tracker also allowed the capture of information that was unavailable using traditional measuring techniques. This allowed Manitoba Hydro to work more effectively and to produce a better result. By using a laser tracker during the Kelsey refurbishments, significant savings in the construction effort and a 2 to 3 week savings in schedule, per unit, were realized. The use of the laser tracker has taken several tasks off the critical path and put other tasks on the critical path. These types of challenges will create an opportunity for creative thinking to achieve further schedule benefits. The laser tracker measurement system can provide savings in schedule and construction effort in both unit rehabilitations and new construction.

Hal Turner is a senior design engineer in the Turbines and Heavy Machinery Section of the Mechanical Engineering Department. Mr. Turner was the lead mechanical engineer on the Kelsey Rerunnering Project. He can be reached at hcturner@hydro.mb.ca. Doug Ursel P.Eng. is a mechanical engineer and the senior partner in Pine Falls Technical Services Ltd, a contract measurement provider located in Manitoba. Mr. Ursel can be reached at dursel@pfts.mb.ca.

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