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Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions

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Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

Assembly design and turbine

maintenance in sediment –laden
conditions
B.Chhetry and B. Thapa, Kathmandu University, Nepal
B.S. Thapa, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

A major Challenge for maintaining hydropower plants on silt-laden rivers is the effect on machinery of large quantities of
sediment with hard abrasive mineral fragments. This article discusses some case studies in Nepal, including the effects of the
assembly design of components on the maintenance of Francis turbines. Some new concepts are discussed which are aimed
at optimizing the assembly design, and thus minimizing the outage time during maintenance.

Introduction

In the Himalayan Regions, Sediment Concentrations as high as 8 kg/m3 have led to the accumulation of millions
of tons of silt in the reservoirs. Despite elaborate de-silting arrangements, silt passes through generating units at
the rate of thousands of tons per day [Naidu, 19991]. Sediment induced high turbine wear problem in the
hydraulic machinery is probably the biggest problem in the Operation and maintenance of the hydroelectric
projects in the Himalayan Region [Naidu, 19991; B. Thapa, 20042; Sangroula, 20093]. Excessive turbine wear
causes operational problem, including a decrease in efficiency, generation loss, and loss of revenue.

The design of hydro plants in sediment-laden rivers, and maintaining the sediment concentration within a
specific design limit, is an engineering challenge which calls for pooling the knowledge of all concerned with
the problem. Unforeseen problems can occur during the operation of the plant as a result of the large quantities
of sediment with the fragments of hard abrasive mineral fragments, which causes the damages of turbine
components [Naidu, 19991; B. Thapa, 20042; Sangroula, 20093; Poudel et al., 20124]. Experience of running
hydropower stations in sediment-laden rivers has shown that even after careful project planning and control
measures from construction to commissioning, unexpected problems do occur during operation of the plant
resulting in low generation [Sharma, 20105]. This underlines the importance of considering the impact of silt
during investigation, design, operation and maintenance and even refurbishment and upgrading of the plant.
Several attempts have been done to investigate the problem of silt erosion in hydraulic turbines [Thapa et al.,
20126].

Many hydropower plants have experienced prolonged outages because of damages to turbine components and
other mechanical equipment such as cooling coils, shaft seal, and bearings, valves, caused by erosive action of
silt content in river. The problems encountered during the operation and maintenance is as a result of the erosion
of submerged components of the turbine. Operation and Maintenance engineers have persistently focused their
attention to minimizing plant outages.

In Countries like Nepal, the damage to generating machines have been more severe and frequent because of
high sedimentation concentration in Nepalese rivers which are highly abrasive, causing turbine wear [B. Thapa,
20042]. Despite adequate availability of surface water and thus the opportunity to develop hydropower in Nepal,
sedimentation has been providing major challenge for sustainable hydropower development. The topographical
condition and runoff mean Nepal has 83,000 MW of potential hydropower capacity, of which about 43,000 MW
is economically feasible [B. Thapa, 20042]. The current generating capacity of hydropower projects in Nepal is
only 700 MW. Of the total installed capacity 700 MW, the storage type of projects constitutes about 15percent
and the remaining 85 percent are run-of-river (RoR) projects [Sangroula, 20093; Poudel et al., 20124]. Run-of-
river hydropower projects play a vital role in the national electricity power system in Nepal [Sangroula, 20093].
More than 500 MW installed capacity is generated from RoR type whereas the biggest hydropower project
Kaligandaki A (144 MW) in Nepal is a Run –of-river type project [Poudel et al., 20124].

Run-of- river hydropower stations in Nepal have experienced forced outages because of damage to underwater
components of turbine [delete]. Apart from the damage caused to runner, guide vanes, rings and other
components, the erosive silt causes number of operation and maintenance problems. At most of existing run-off

Original Paper at: http://www.hydropower-dams.com/article_detail.php?c_id=208&aid=3250

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Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

river type hydropower stations in Nepal, turbines need annual overhauling and repair works because of severe
damage on the turbine parts due to wear and erosion. The entire submerged components of the turbine need to
be dismantled during these overhauls and all the damaged parts need to be repaired or replaced with new ones.

At some of the power stations, machinery including the generator needs to be re-commissioned in accordance
with the established commissioning practice during overhauling, because of the existing assembly design of the
machine. Overhauling of the turbine is often scheduled to occur during the dry season, so that generation losses
because of unit shutdown can be avoided. However, it is not always possible to do this, as the repair of the
machine may sometimes be urgent. Therefore it is not the cost of overhauling, but the cost of generation loss
also that needs to be considered when calculating total cost incurred during turbine maintenance.

Performance and status of Hydropower Plants in Nepal

The availability of the machinery at existing hydro power stations has been adversely affected by the high
sedimentation content in Nepalese rivers [B. Thapa, 20042]. This leads to unplanned outages of the units
resulting loss of generation with consequent loss of revenue. Outages, both planned and unplanned are an
excellent indicator of a plant’s technical status [delete].The provisions made for maintenance and repair work on
damaged components determine planned outages. Unplanned outage illustrates the real condition of the
machine such as assembly design of the electro-mechanical components, maintenance procedure and the
problems encountered during the maintenance [delete]. The generation details of some of major hydropower
stations in the year of 2009/2010 are shown in Table.1 [NEA, 20107].

All of other power stations have low energy output with their designed generation capacity, expect for Middle
Marsyangdi, which is a newly commissioned project. One of the major reasons of low generation is prolonged
outages of the machinery.

Table. 1: Generation Details of Major Hydropower stations of Nepal

Year of Installed Designed average Actual

Name of Hydropower Nos. of
S.N. Type of the Project Operation Capacity Type of Turbine annual generation Generation
Project Units
(A.D.) ( MWh) (MWh) (MWh)

1 Kali Gandaki 'A' Peaking Run-of- River 2002 144.00 3 Vertical Francis 842,000.00 760,241.00
2 Middle Marsyangdi Peaking Run-of- River 2008 70.00 2 Vertical Francis 398,000.00 390,038.10
3 Marsyangdi Peaking Run-of- River 1989 69.00 3 Vertical Francis 462,500.00 405,004.90
4 Kulekhani-1 Storage Reservoir 1882 60.00 2 Vertical Pelton 165,000.00 86,996.00
6 Kulekhani-2 Cascade of Kulekhani-I 1986 32.00 2 Vertical Francis 105,000.00 43,518.56
7 Trishuli Peaking Run-of- River 1967 24.00 7 Horizonatl Francis 163,000.00 135,302.50
8 Gandak Canal Drop 1978 15.00 3 Kaplan 107,000.00 15,006.30
9 Modi Run-of-River 2000 14.80 2 Vertical Francis 93,000.00 51,012.90
10 Devighat Cascade of Trisuli HEP 1984 14.10 3 Vertical Francis 114,000.00 96,041.35
11 Sunkoshi Run-of-River 1972 10.05 3 Vertical Francis 70,000.00 57,385.40
12 Ilam (Puwakhola) Run-of-River 2000 6.20 2 Horizonal Pelton 48,000.00 30,058.07
13 Chatara Canal Drop 1996 3.20 2 Kaplan 6,000.00 2,424.50
14 Panauti Run-of-River 1695 2.40 3 Horizonatl Francis 10,000.00 2,879.31
15 Seti Run-of-River 1987 1.50 3 Horizonatl Francis 9,800.00 11,197.73
16 Fewa Canal Drop 1967 1.00 4 Horizonatl Francis 6,500.00 1,425.18
17 Sundarijal Run-of-River 1936 0.64 2 Horizonal Pelton 4,770.00 4,349.73
18 Pharping Reservoir 1911 0.50 2 Horizonal Pelton 500.00 5.02
Total : 2,605,070.00 2,092,886.55

One of the important factors in analyze the performance of the plant is the availability of the machine for
specified period , known as availability factor and it is calculated as [delete]:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑀𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑅𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑

𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐹𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟 ( 𝐴. 𝐹) = 𝑥 100
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑

Original Paper at: http://www.hydropower-dams.com/article_detail.php?c_id=208&aid=3250

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Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

The availability factor of some major hydropower stations in 2012/2013 is shown in Table 2 [NEA, 20138]. On
average, machines were available for 62.8 per cent of the fiscal year 2012/2013. Except for Kulekhani, they are
Run-off-River projects and siltation problems are experienced in most of hydropower stations.

During this fiscal year, overhauling and repair works were carried out at most of hydropower station including
Kaligandaki A, Marsyangdi HEP and Modi Khola, as well as at other medium sized power stations, because of
wear and damage to the turbines. Kulekhani I and Kulekhani II are reservoir power plants, and do not
experience erosion problems, so only regular preventive maintenance exercises were undertaken.

Apart from the turbine repair works, several problems were faced during the operation and maintenance of
plants because of sediment issues, such as frequent blocking of trash racks, damage to the cooling system,
malfunction of drainage and dewatering system because of accumulation of sediment in the sump and
operational problem in draft tube gates due to damage to seal beam [delete].

Total generation at Modi Khola power station was at its lowest since its commissioning because of long shut
down for maintenance of a cooling system failure caused by sediment. Similarly, the balancing pipe of head
cover at Kaligandaki was replaced because of damage in pipe, requiring tunnel dewatering because the main
inlet valve had not been fully closed. This required a shut down for about 10 days. Usually, replacing or
repairing a balancing pipe can be done after closing the main inlet valve and dewatering of the unit. The
problem of closing of inlet valve is the pressure difference upstream and downstream of the valve. It was noted
that there was 10 m of water on the downstream side as compared with 130 m of water on upstream side after
one year of operation, because of leakage from turbine components.

Table 2: Availability factor of major hydropower stations of Nepal.

Installed Total Total Total Availabilt
Name of Power
S.No Capacity Machine Running Outage y factor in
Station
( MWh) Hours Hour hours %
1 Kali Gandaki 'A' 144.00 26,280.00 20,995.70 5,284.30 79.89
2 Middle Marsyangdi 70.00 17,520.00 13,102.70 4,417.30 74.79
3 Marsyangdi 69.00 26,280.00 21,716.28 4,563.72 82.63
4 Kulekhani-1 60.00 17,520.00 6,632.87 10,887.13 37.86
5 Kulekhani-2 32.00 17,520.00 9,879.08 7,640.92 56.39
6 Trishuli 24.00 61,320.00 51,182.06 10,137.94 83.47
7 Gandak 15.00 26,280.00 11,732.81 14,547.19 44.65
8 Modi 14.80 17,520.00 10,347.84 7,172.16 59.06
9 Sunkoshi 10.05 26,280.00 22,404.98 3,875.02 85.25
10 Ilam (Puwakhola) 6.20 17,520.00 10,596.68 6,923.32 60.48
11 Chatara 3.20 17,520.00 6,403.00 11,117.00 36.55
12 Panauti 2.40 26,280.00 2,606.00 23,674.00 9.92
13 Seti 1.50 26,280.00 22,782.76 3,497.24 86.69
14 Fewa 1.00 35,040.00 15,277.12 19,762.88 43.60
Total : 359,160.00 225,659.88 133,500.12

The seriousness of the problem is evident from the fact that the Francis turbine of Kaligandaki “A” severely
damaged within one year after the commissioning of the machine. Furthermore, after repairs and replacement of
the eroded components, the turbine components continue to get damaged after 3000- 4000 hours of operation.
Figure 1 shows the effect of sedimentation erosion in Francis turbine at Kaligandaki [NEA, 20139].

(a) (b) (c)

Fig.1: Photos of sedimentation erosion in Francis turbine at Kaligandaki HEP after one year of operation: (a)
Damages of runner blades. (b) Damages in spindle of guide vanes and (c) Damages in facing plates

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Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

It is noted that the high sediment content is one of the factor that affects the availability of the machines at
Kaligandaki The highest flood in Kaligandaki river observed in the past 100 years is about 4,500 m3/s at the dam
site and the lowest-recorded minimum flow has been about 40 m3/s in the dry season [Mitsui and Co, 200510].
The sediment concentration varies from 0.02 kg/ m3 in the dry season to sometimes 50 kg/m3 in the wet season
from June to September [Mitsui and Co, 200510].

According to the tender specifications (Lot 6, Vol. 2, Section D: Particular Specifications / Turbines, 1.3.8
Suspended Sediments), total suspended sediment load passing through the turbines is 2.8 x 106 tons/year.
Yearly average sediment concentration in the water passing through the turbines is 0.72 kg/m3.Suspended
sediments affecting the turbines and other powerhouse installations are a result of the presence of
approximately 90 per cent fines (particle size less than 0.063 mm diameter) and 10 per cent sand (particle size
between 0.063 and 0.2 mm diameter).

The Sampling data of suspended sediment measured at the Sediment Laboratory at the dam site from June to
August 2003 are as follows [Mitsui and Co, 200510].

- forebay canal( 0.445 to 7.818 kg/m3);

- collector channel ( 0.014 to 0.547 kg/m3); and,
- turbine (0.014 to 0.893 kg/m3 and 1.187 to 8.212 kg/m3 of silt and clay less than 0.063 mm diameter).

There are several reasons behind the unwanted outages at the plant, such as ineffective maintenance plan, a lack
of awareness of preventive maintenance techniques, unsystematic management and storage of spare parts, poor
documentations and drawings, lack of proper record- keeping of past maintenance of the machine components.

Aside from these, one of the major reasons affecting the plant availability performance is the time required to
overhaul the machine for turbine repairs because of the inappropriate assembly design of electro-mechanical
components of the machine. It is of great importance that the assembly design of turbines allows for easy
assembly and dismantling, reducing the overhaul time during turbine maintenance.

2. Case study of Modi Khola Hydro power Project

Modikhola is a run of river hydropower station, in the Central Western region of Nepal. The plant has an
installed capacity of 14.8 MW and annual design generation of 92.5 GWh. The net head is 66.96 m and
designed turbine discharge is 25m3/sec. The Powerhouse has two 7.4 MW generating units, both vertical Francis
turbines, with nominal speed of 428.57 rpm. The plant was commissioned in 2000 and developed with
assistance from EDCF (Korea), Government of Nepal and Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).

The Modi River has high abrasive sediment content [Poudel et al., 20124]. The existing sediment handling
facilities are insufficient, and this has led to intrusion of abrasive sediments, eroding the runner, guide vanes,
and butterfly valves along with other auxiliary components such as cooling coils and shaft seals.

The power plant has generated 610.41 GWh up to 2011/2012 since operation began. It generated 59.96 GWh in
the fiscal year 2010/2011 and 34.61 GWh in fiscal year 2011/2012 with a decrease of 42.2 per cent. In 2012 the
power station generated its lowest energy output since it was commissioned because of long shut down for
maintenance and frequent cooler failures. It was recorded that the total outage of the plant during 2012 was 7172
hours. Table 3 shows the generation records of the plant from the year of 2009 to 2012 and Table 4 shows the
load factor, plant factor and capacity factor of the plant during 2011/2012.

Table 3: Three Years Generation data of Modikhola Hydropower station

Designed Actual Generation With Forecast (MWh)

Year of Installed
average annual FY 2066/67 ( 2009-010) FY 2067/68 (2010-011) FY 2068/69 ( 2011-012)
Operation Capacity
generation Generation Actual Generation Actual Generation Actual
(A.D.) ( MWh)
(MWh) Target Generation Target Generation Target Generation
2000 14.80 93,000.00 71,000.00 51,012.90 61,440.25 59,961.35 65,368.50 34,608.40

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 Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

Table 4: Performance of Modi Khola Hydropower station in year of 2011/2012.

Installed Designed
No. of Per Unit Generation, Total Running Load Factor Plant Factor Capacity
Capacity average annual
Units Capacity MW MWh Hour % % Factor %
( MWh) generation
14.80 2.00 7.40 93000.00 34608.40 10347.84 45.20 26.69 37.21

Total availability of the plant in 2012 was 59.88 per cent which is low when compared with similar types of the
plant in Nepal.

2.1Overview on assembly design of electromechanical components

The turbine is of vertical shaft unit, with a single runner and movable guide vanes, a steel spiral case and elbow
type draft tube. The spiral case (6) is welded together with stay rings (4) and the ring consists of an upper and
lower steel ring held together by the stay vanes (5) (see Fig. 2a, which shows the assembly drawings of Modi
Khola hydropower station [Manual, 200011].

9. Shaft Seal 10. Turbine Bearing

19. Top cover

18. Exciter
8. Regulating ring with
arm for servomotor
17. Thrust block

16. Upper Bracket

7. Guide vanes
15. Rotor Shaft

6. Spiral case 14. Guide Bearing

5. Stay Vane 13. Lower Bracket

4. Stay 12. Oil

Ring tank
3. Runner
11. Turbine Shaft

2. Bottom 1. Head Cover

Cover
Draft tube cone

(a) (b)

Fig 2: Assembly drawings of Electro mechanical components of Modi Khola Hydropower Plant: (a) Turbine
Assembly Drawing, (b) Generator Assembly Drawing

The head cover (1) and bottom cover (2) are bolted to upper and lower stay rings respectively. The covers are
protected by exchangeable stainless steel facing plates to protect against rust and wear. The covers have a
changeable labyrinth ring and seal ring at the top and bottom respectively. The covers support the guide vane
stem bearings.

The head cover supports the turbine bearing (10), shaft seal box (9) and regulating ring (8), as shown in Fig. 2a.
The balancing pipe from the head cover to the draft tube serves as pressure relief for the turbine cover. The
bottom cover is bolted to the stay rings and draft tube cone.

The runner seals are of the labyrinths type with one stationary and one rotating ring. The rotating labyrinth ring
is part of the runner band and upper hub disc, and the stationary labyrinth ring is fixed to the head cover. The
turbine shaft has flanges on both sides; one end is connected to the runner and other to the generator shaft by

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Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

coupling bolts. A split oil lubricated shell- type guide bearing supports the turbine shaft in radial direction. The
oil is kept in the split bearing housing below the turbine bearing.

A split stuffing box is installed for shaft sealing, located below the housing of turbine bearing cover. Four strips
of “Titan” material (contains Poly tetra fluoro ethylene) sections are provided in the stuffing box.

The guide vanes (7) with stems are supported by self-lubricating bearings in lower and the upper cover. The
levers are fastened in to the stem by means of clamp seat. The guide vane is tightened with inserted Poly tetra
fluoro ethylene (PTFE) sealing rings. The connection to the regulating ring is by links with joints. The
regulating ring is guided on bronze bearing pads bolted to the head cover.

The rotor is comprises the shaft, rim and the poles. The connection between the generator rotating part and the
turbine rotating part is made at the lower face of the generator shaft (15) just below the lower bracket (13). The
generator and turbine shaft (11) are coupled by means of hydraulic pressed coupling bolts (see Fig.2 b).

The thrust block (17) is supported by an upper bracket (16). The bearing is self lubricated by oil circulation,
which is achieved by shaft rotation without need for an auxiliary pump at nominal speed. Oil cooling is
performed by oil -to- water cooling coils located inside the oil tank.

The guide bearing (14) is supported by a lower bracket (13). The guide bearing includes an oil tank (12)
composed of a sleeve split in two parts, a tank with a top cover. The bearing is self lubricated by oil circulation,
which is achieved by oil circulation, which is achieved by shaft rotation without the need for an auxiliary pump
at nominal speed. Oil cooling is performed through oil- to-water cooling coils located inside the oil tank. The
cooling coils for both the upper and lower generator bearings are connected to the generator cooling water
piping.

2.1.1 Observation

Heavy damage has been observed on the runner, labyrinth seals, facing plates, seal rings, guide vanes and shaft
seals of turbine. During overhauling of the machine, it was found that the gaps between the mating surfaces of
underwater components had increased significantly. The maximum and minimum side clearance value between
guide vanes and facing plates were 2.0 mm and 0.75 mm respectively, whereas allowable design value is 0.5
mm. Similarly, the maximum value of shutter gap between guide vanes was 1.0 mm whereas the design value is
0.0 mm. Some of the erosion damages of critical turbine components of Modi Khola are shown in Fig.3.

(i) (ii) (iii)

Fig 3: Photos of damage components of turbine at Modi Khola HEP during overhauling of the unit: (i) damage
of seal ring, (ii) eroded facing plate of bottom cover, (iii) leakage of oil from generator oil cooler due to damage
of cooling coils.

The labyrinth rings, seal ring, facing plates had become severely damaged because of erosion and could not be
repaired. Generally, it is common practice to repair and reuse the existing runner, guide vanes and guide vanes
stem bearings, whereas the upper and lower facing plates, labyrinth ring and seal ring are replaced with new
ones.
Besides the damages to turbine components, there are the some other mechanical problems which are commonly
encountered during the operation of Modi Khola, such as temperature increase in upper guide bearings,
temperature increase in generator thrust bearing, shaft seal leakage, and operation of Main Inlet valve, etc. It
can be observed from past maintenance records, the damage of cooling coils and leakage from shaft seals are
most commonly encounter during the operation of the plants, which causes the increasing of plant outages.

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Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

Some of the identified aspects, which are the main causes that increase the unit down time during turbine
maintenance, are described below.

2.2.2 Shaft Arrangement

As there is no intermediate shaft between generator shaft and turbine shaft, and insufficient space in turbine pit,
rotor and other generator accessories must be dismantle during repair of the turbine components, except the
runner. All turbine components are must be removed from the rotor side and taken to machine floor for repair
work. The only provision is the runner, which can be lowered and removed from the draft tube pit.

2.2.3 Head cover and Bottom cover

The covers are designed to be stiff in order to keep the deflections caused by the water pressure to a minimum.
The labyrinth ring and seal ring are designed to minimize the leakage between the runner and the covers. It is
necessary to repair or replace the facing plates, guide vanes, labyrinth ring and seal ring to keep the clearance
gap as per deigned value. The repair of the facing plates, labyrinth ring, and seal ring are depending on
condition of wear and tear on the parts. To repair any one of the above components, it is not possible to
dismantle them without removing the head cover.

The bottom cover is bolted with lower stay ring in such a way that the cover cannot be taken out, even via from
draft tube pit. Site repair of bottom ring is possible only when runner is lowered and taken out from draft tube
pit, but to repair the facing plate of bottom ring it is necessary to remove the guide vanes and head cover.

The upper stems of guide vanes are inserted in head cover with bushes, and links are connected to operating
ring. To remove the guide vanes, it is necessary to taken out the head cover from turbine pit. There is no
provision in the turbine pit for the head cover to be removed. Finally, it is necessary to dismantle all generator
components such as exciter, thrust block, generator upper bracket, rotor and also turbine shaft to remove the
head cover and bottom cover.

2.2.4 Guide vane operating linkage

The operating system for guide vane opening and closure is controlled by regulating ring, which is connected to
the links of guide vane levers. There is one servomotor to operate the operating ring, which moves on self
lubricated bearing pads on the upper part of the head cover. The connection between the lever and guide vane
stem are connected by clamp joint. The purpose of the friction joint is to slide if guide vanes are stuck because
of solid objects caught between vanes.

All joints between upper stem and levers are friction type, it was observed that all guide vanes were sliding from
their original position when the object became stuck between two guide vanes during operation of the unit.
Dewatering of the unit and setting of guide vanes are carried out from the inside of the spiral case and top of the
head cover.

2.2.5 Cooling coils for generator and turbine bearings

Three cooling coils are provided for cooling of generator’s upper guide bearing, generator lower guide bearing
and turbine guide bearing. These are located inside the bearing oil housing. The cooling coils for generator
bearings are formed in a single piece, which surrounds the rotor shaft. Each cooler is composed of a finned tube
bundle.

During the maintenance and replacement of the cooling coil for generator upper bearing, it is necessary to shut
down the unit and remove the exciter components. Access is provided to lower down the oil pan for generator’s
lower guide bearing, from turbine pit, but there is no sufficient space to inspect and repair the cooling coil. It is
necessary to shut down the unit and remove all generator components, including the rotor, during maintenance
of cooling coil for generator lower guide bearing.

2.2.6 Shaft Seal Arrangement

The function of turbine shaft seal is not to eliminate leakage but more to control the leakage totally, but to
control it to an acceptable level for effective operation of the machine. At Modi Khola, the stuffing box has
contact seal, which is used to control the leakage. Soft packing material expands within the housing of the

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Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

stuffing box and closes the gap between the shaft and its housing. To control the leakage, it is necessary to
maintain the correct level of compression on the packing material so frequent manual adjustments of the gland
follower are required during operation.

The stuffing box of shaft seal is located just below the turbine guide bearing housing. There is a very limited
space between the head cover and the turbine guide bearing housing in which to dismantle the stuffing box.

Sometimes it is necessary to repair or replace the shaft seal strips during rainy seasons, when the tail water level
is higher than the center level of the turbine. During this season, to dismantle the shaft seal box, it is necessary
to close the draft tube gate and empty the draft tube by opening the dewatering valve between the draft tube
cone and drainage sump.

3. Discussion
As a result of the e concentration of suspended abrasive sand in Nepalese River, the risk of sand erosion on
turbine runner, guide vanes, cover plates and labyrinth seals will continue unless some special measures are
taken. It is also essential to facilitate accessibility for the replacement of turbine parts exposed to erosion.

To avoid removing the generator rotor during replacement of runner and labyrinth seal, the assembly design of
machine should allow for the turbine runner to be removed by either of the following procedures. The first,
which is widely used in hydropower stations, is to remove the runner downwards, after removing the draft tube
cone through a recess in the turbine foundation. In this type of assembly design, generator shaft is directly
coupled to the runner shaft. The labyrinth seal rings, guide vanes, cover wear plates (facing plates) and other
vulnerable parts exposed to sand erosion can also be accessed and removed downwards, after removal of the
runner, and the upper and lower facing plates could be dismantled downwards. The upper facing plates can be
removed after removal of the guide vanes and, if necessary, the runner. The facing plates could be design to split
radially, to facilitate easy assembly and dismantling.

It is also possible to dismantle the bottom cover after removing the draft tube cone, thus allowing downwards
removal of the runner, with or without the turbine shaft connected, and without dismantling the upper cover or
guide vanes operating mechanism. With the bottom cover removed, dismantling and subsequent reassembly of
the guide vanes can be possible without dismantling the runner. A similar type of assembly design is adopted in
Modi Khola, but only the runner can be dismantled downwards, because of a restriction in taking out the bottom
cover from draft tube pit.

In second alternate procedure, the intermediate shaft is fixed between flanges of generator shaft and runner shaft
by coupling bolts. This type of assembly design is adopted in Kaligandaki A, Marsyangdi and Middle
Marsyangdi schemes and some other run-of-river hydropower projects in Nepal. Removal of the runner is
possible upwards, after removal of the intermediate turbine shaft, the head cover, guide bearing and shaft-seal.
With this arrangement, civil structure of powerhouse needs to be designed with the provision for the
intermediate shaft and the removal space for turbine components during maintenance. By removing the
intermediate shaft from turbine pit, it is possible to remove the turbine shaft, the turbine cover and the runner
without having to dismantle parts of the generator.

There are several designs of actuating mechanism used at hydropower stations to operate and control the guide
vanes as per their machine requirements. This type of actuating mechanism affects the design of distributor and
its layout. The guide vanes are usually operated by one or two servomotors. One servomotor and one connecting
rod type arrangement is used at Modi Khola to operate the turbine guide vanes. With this arrangement, the
operating ring is not uniformly stressed than with two rods. Two servomotors connected to the operating ring
arrangement are simple and widely used at many hydropower stations. The main advantage is the presence of
two connecting rods, which operate on the principal of forces which allow for gate ring to be relatively small
and thus to be easily guided on the head cover.

One of the features of the operating mechanism is the presence of a breaking element provided in the
connection, to allow the remaining guide vanes to close freely, without damage to the linkage, whenever two
adjacent vanes are jammed by a foreign body brought in by the water flow. A friction device needs to be
installed for guide vane assembly, so that a vane with a broken or displaced link will have a stable hydraulic
position and will not be allowed to touch the runner or to cause cascading failure of the other guide vanes.

Two types of seal are widely used at hydropower stations, differentiated by the orientation of the sealing face to
the shaft axis of the machine; these are radial and axial seals. Radial type sealing is normally used at medium

Original Paper at: http://www.hydropower-dams.com/article_detail.php?c_id=208&aid=3250

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Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

sized hydropower station such as Modi Khola. Leakage rates are usually low as compare with axial type sealing
however, there are two main shortcomings for the stuffing box arrangement. First, abrasive silt in the water can
become embedded in the packing material and then scratch the shaft surface, which then compromises the
sealing efficiency.

Second, it is necessary to maintain proper compression on the packing material so frequent manual adjustments
of the gland follower are required during operation. It also requires clean water to protect the sealing material
from abrasion. Mechanical face seals are also used as hydro-turbine main shaft seals. The traditional material
for this type of seal is carbon with stainless steel or bronze as the mating surface. At Modi Khola, where turbine
shaft diameter is 300 mm, a mechanical seal can be used for abrasive water. Carbon sizes are limited, however,
and for large shaft diameters the carbon ring needs to be segmented.

The experiences at some hydropower stations have shown that sand particles in the leakage water erode the shaft
surface. The leakage further damages the shaft and increases the leakage. Damage to the shaft in the stuffing
box zone cannot be repaired at site, and finally shaft has to be dismantled and sent to the workshop for repair. At
power stations which are located in sediment-laden rivers, proper selection of shaft seals plays important role
during operation of the plant.
In a vertical turbine, the turbine guide bearing is designed to hold the turbine shaft in a vertical position and to
carry the radial forces that arise during the operation of the unit. The guide bearing assembly needs to be located
as near to the runner as possible, consistent with convenient access to shaft seal during maintenance. There are
generally two types of bearing oil assembly; stationary lower oil reservoir; and, rotating lower oil reservoir. The
upper oil reservoir is mounted on housing and the housing is bolted on the head cover by special screw. The
lower oil reservoir is fastened to it from below. Bearings with the lower stationary oil reservoir are generally
used in high- speed turbines.

For low- and medium speed turbines, the lower oil reservoir can be attached directly to the main turbine shaft. A
rotary motion shaft is attached with oil reservoir and helps to raise the pressure to lift the oil into the upper
reservoir. During the unit stop condition, all the oil is contained in lower reservoir. With this type of
arrangement, during operation the rotating reservoir provides some cooling because of the air flow outside the
reservoir. Cooling coil is kept in the upper reservoir, as cooling introduces complications and can lead to unit
shut down because of leakage in the cooling coil and presence of water at oil. At Modi Khola, cooling coil is
kept in the lower oil reservoir, which is a stationary type. Frequent failure of cooling coils is one of the major
reasons for unit outage.

4. Conclusion

Sedimentation is causing problems for the development of hydropower plants in the Himalayan region. Almost
all the power plants in Nepal are affected by sedimentation, and need annual repair of their turbines. Most of the
hydropower stations are equipped Francis turbine, which need annual repair work because of severe damage to
the turbine parts caused by wear and erosion. Apart from damages of turbine components, the erosion silt causes
number of an operation and maintenance problem which consequently leads to forced outages and finally
decreases the plant availability factor.
It is of great importance that the turbine assembly design to be made for easy assembly and dismantling, to
reduce the overhaul time during the turbine maintenance. The assembly design of electro- mechanical
components of a hydropower project is site specific, and standard design cannot be applied to all projects to
achieve the same level of plant performance. Therefore, the assembly designs of these components need a wide
range of experience and research, so that appropriate planning and optimized design can be achieved for the
sustainable operation of the plant.

To analyze the plant availability performance, it is necessary to find the reason for unit outages. Reduction in
the shutdown period of the unit means increasing the availability hours of operation, therefore increasing the
plant availability factor. Further research should be carried out to investigate in detail the reasons for plant
outages so that optimized assembly designs of electro-mechanical components of the machine can be designed
to increase the plant availability by reducing the idle time of the machine during maintenance of the turbine.

Original Paper at: http://www.hydropower-dams.com/article_detail.php?c_id=208&aid=3250

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 Chhettry B, Thapa B, Thapa BS. Assembly design to ease turbine maintenance in sediment-laden conditions. International journal on
hydropower and dams. 2014:82-8.

References:

[1] Naidu, D. B. K. S., “Developing Silt Consciousness in the minds of Hydro Power Engineers”, Silting
Problems in Hydro Power Plants, New Delhi, India, 1999.
[2] Thapa, B., “Sand Erosion in Hydraulic Machinery”, Doctoral thesis at NTNU, 2004.
[3] Sangroula, D.P., “Hydropower Development and its Sustainability with respect to sedimentation in
Nepal”, Journal of the Institute of Engineering, Vol. 7, 2009, pp 1-9.
[4] Poudel, L., Thapa, B., Shrestha, B.P. and Shrestha, N.K., “Sediment impact on turbine material: case
study of Modi Khola River”, Kathmandu University Journal of Science, Engineering and technology,
Vol. 8, No. I, February, 2012, pp 88-96.
[5] Sharma, H. K., “Power generation in sediment laden rivers: The case of Nathpa Jhakri”, International
Journal on Hydropower & Dams, Issue 6, 2010, pp 112-116.
[6] Thapa, B.S., Thapa, B., Dahlhaug, O.G., “Current research in hydraulic turbines for handling
sediments” Journal of Energy, Vol. 47, Issue 1, 2012, pp. 62-69.
[7] Nepal Electricity Authority, “Annual review Report 2009/2010”, 2010.
[8] Nepal Electricity Authority “Annual review Report 2012/2013” 2013.
[9] Nepal Electricity Authority, “Kaligandaki “A” HEP Overhauling Report of unit II and Unit III”, 2013.
[10] Mitsui & Co., Ltd/J-Power (Electric Power Development Co., Ltd),“ Completion Report of Kali
Gandaki “A” HEP Rehabilitation Work”, 2005.
[11] Modi Khola Hydropower Station, “Operation and Maintenance Manual”, 2000.

Biography of Authors:

Balendra Chhetry is MS by Research Student at Turbine Testing Lab under Mechanical Engineering
Department at Kathmandu University, under the supervision of coauthors. His field of research is “Design of
Hydro Mechanical components of Francis turbine from maintenance and manufacturing perspective in context
to sediment laden projects. He has extensive experience in Hydropower Projects, has spent more than 13 years
in Hydropower filed.
Turbine Testing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kathmandu University, PO Box 6250,
Dhulikhel, Nepal

Bhola Thapa obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at The Norwegian University of Science and
Technology in 2004. Currently he is a Professor at Department of Mechanical Engineering and Registrar of
Kathmandu University. His research area is Sand Erosion of Hydraulic Machinery.

Turbine Testing Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kathmandu University, PO Box 6250,
Dhulikhel, Nepal

Biraj Singh Thapa holds MS by Research Degree in Design of Francis turbines. He has also worked as Faculty
In-charge of Turbine Testing Lab in Mechanical Engineering Department at Kathmandu University. He has
been involved in several R&D and professional projects to design and develop Francis turbines. Currently, he is
doing his PhD at Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

The Water Power Laboratory, Norwegian University of science and Technology, N-7491 Trondheim, Norway

Original Paper at: http://www.hydropower-dams.com/article_detail.php?c_id=208&aid=3250

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