Overcoming trouble-ridden installation with Superbolt® in hydropower plants
The size and lack of accessibility in hydropower turbines constantly presents operators with significant installation and maintenance challenges. For one customer, it entailed difficulties when trying to achieve a high, lasting preload.
Tricky torquing and loose bolts
There is a range of bolting solutions used in the hydropower industry, and the one previously adopted by our North American customer was installing socket screws using a hex key or Allen wrench. However, because the bolts on the turbine’s guide bearing split were in a tight area where the necessary tooling would not fit, meeting the high preload requirements turned out to be challenging.
Because of the difficulties of achieving the proper preload in such a tight area, doing proper installation proved difficult, and as a result, the customer noticed that the bolts came loose over time. Not only did this pose a security risk, but as more time and money had to be put into doing maintenance to re-tighten the bolts repeatedly, there were also lengthy periods of costly downtime.
The customer needed a bolting solution that allowed for torquing to lower torque specs that still managed to achieve high preloads in the joints. The solution? Superbolt.
The same preload with everyday hand tools
Based on the customer’s application and challenges, the Superbolt team was able to manufacture and ship the customized SB8 Jackbolt-Tensioners before the next scheduled upcoming outage. With Superbolt on site, operators could proceed with installing the jackbolts in the tight space using only general hand tools without compromising preload levels.
“We believe the Superbolt product to be a great solution for our application”
A decades-long partner in the hydropower industry
Superbolt has a long tradition of supporting the power generation industries in taking on the toughest bolting challenges. As with this case of the hydropower customer, hard-to-access locations, and the need for some of the highest preload values is a recurrent combination that operators must solve. The masterfully simple design of Superbolt, which breaks down such high preload requirements into lighter torque values, is the ideal solution.