Sub-millimetre maintenance

The Wivenhoe Power Station, located on Wivenhoe Dam, about 90 kilometres from Brisbane, contains the largest hydromachines in Australasia. These machines consist of a turbine and pump set, weighing 1 450 tonnes each, and are housed inside a concrete silo. They have an impressive spin rate of 120 rpm.

Vibration in the power station can move the thrust bearings out of position which must be corrected by Wivenhoe engineers. An important part of maintenance for each turbine is checking the bearings are exactly perpendicular to the turbine’s shafts. A surveyor then needs to verify the bearing’s position and shape. This is a task made difficult by the cramped space inside the machine’s housing. As well as the fact that shutting down the turbines is very costly.

Surveyor for the Wivenhoe Power Station, F.R. Daniel, Huston and Associates, have upgraded their solution for measuring the thrust bearing levels. See how the Trimble DiNi digital level has reduced the survey time taken from two days to five hours while also producing higher quality results in this case study.