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Turbine Blade Balancing

Achieve Balance in Power Generation Turbines

Raptor Scientific Physical Properties Systems (PPS) has been in the balancing industry for over 60 years. Ten years ago, we expanded our Measurement Services Lab at our Berlin, CT facility. This lab provides balancing services to those customers who have an occasional need for testing and don’t have the budget to purchase one of our instruments.

Raptor PPS’s involvement in the static balancing of turbine blades goes back to the late 1990’s. Initially directed toward the high-precision needs of the jet engine industry, we have an increasing footprint in the power generation turbine world, in part due to our ability to accommodate all types and sizes of blades. The high accuracies and traceability of our measurements ensure the success of our customers.

Gasturbine des Typs SGT5-4000F / SGT5-4000F gas turbine

Static balancing, known as moment weight measurement, is the vital first step in balancing a turbine rotor. Although dynamic balancing often follows the static balancing process, accurate static measurements combined with a proper blade distribution plan sets up the ideal conditions for an efficient dynamic balancing process.

High accuracy static balance starts with moment weighing each of the turbine blades using Raptor PPS’s full suite of instruments from small single-axis instruments (for compressor blades) to three-axis instruments for large blades. These instruments are readily available on short notice to accommodate your scheduling needs.

The resulting measurements allow you to balance your rotor quickly and with more precision. In some cases, static balance alone is good enough for operation. In other cases, the rotor moves on to dynamic balancing. Dynamic balancing has a high cost per hour, and scheduling constraints often complicate the task. For large rotor assemblies, dynamic balancing may require the use of a vacuum chamber with premium cost. When a successful and highly accurate static balance is done in advance, the time needed for dynamic balance is significantly reduced, which minimizes cost.

A well-balanced rotor will exhibit minimum vibration during operation. Benefits include increased bearing life and mean time between failure (MTBF), improved reliability, minimized down-time, and optimized maintenance schedules.

Allowing you to get to a balance solution sooner, precision static balancing is the best first step in a rotor balancing process.

The Raptor Scientific PPS Measurement Services Lab can:

  • Test blades weighing from 100 grams up to 3000 Kg
  • Offer both Single-axis and Three-axis measurement
  • Provide blade sorting software for optimizing static balance solutions· Service quantities from one or two blades up to batches of hundreds
  • Accommodate all types of blades from flight-hardware jet engine compressor and fan blades, power generation gas turbine, and power turbines.