REPORT ON ALTERNATOR’S ROTOR BALANCING ACTIVITY OF TG-3

As the Steam Turbine no: 3 was restarted after the overhauling routine of the alternator,
and the inspection of the Gear box on 30/11/2008, a little increase in the vibration trends
on some of the bearings were observed.
The comparison between Pre and Post washing results at various loads is given in
the table below:

*All Readings Overall

*Probe Type: Accelerometer

The bearing locations in the Equipment are shown below;

A=Thrust Bearing
B=Steam End Bearing
C=Exhaust End Bearing
D=Gear Box Bearing
E=Generator Bearing
For this reason consultants from SKF were called in and they arrived on 01/12/2008.
They first took the reading on the running turbine on almost half the load that is as we left
it the last night. Then after analyzing the trends form the vibration monitoring instrument
they decided that the rotor was unbalanced and it had to be balanced by adding correction
weight.

The trends of the vibration before and after washing are shown below;

Peak of high vibration

Trend before washing

 Peak of high vibration

Trend after washing

Then they started to balance the rotor. They first added a trial weight to the fan of the
alternator that is connected to the rotor, and run the turbine on full RPM and analyzed the
trends from the generator bearing. The results showed that a 23% variation (increase) in
the vibration magnitude has occurred which was not enough to decide about the
correction weight that had to be added. So they increased the trial weight and achieved
the results that showed a 35% variation (increase) in the vibration magnitude. After
analyzing the now produced results in their instrument they decided that around 350
grams correction weight had to be added to the rotor at an angle of 247o from the
reference
After adding the correction weight the turbine was run on full revolutions and a
significant change in the vibration at all bearings in the turbine as well as the alternator
was observed. The trend and overall vibration results are attached below;

The above trend shows that there was no significant vibration peak in several readings
that were taken from time to time and the results were satisfactory. Below are the
tabulated results.