Apr 5 2009
The Wheelabrator Group Technology Centre based in Charleville Meziere, France has designed and manufactured a CNC shot peening system for reconditioning and maintenance facility, Alstom Power Service in Dubai.
Alstom Dubai is a major player in the development of power generation in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Pakistan and Qatar. Representing superior shot peening, the machine range (MP1000 TS), manufactured by Wheelabrator Group engineers can process the widest variety of Gas Turbine blade components Alstom produces to improve or restore their resistance to fatigue.
This superior equipment meets and exceeds the peening requirements of various blade airfoils and roots as well as buckets and vanes from any gas turbine manufacturer and for this reason a second machine is due to be installed later this year in Jupiter, USA at PSM, an Alstom Group Company.
The Wheelabrator shot peening machine includes eight Numerically Controlled Satellite turntables mounted on a revolving arm allowing components to be loaded outside the blast chamber. The table accepts components up to 260mm diameter, 800mm height and 20kg unit weight giving Alstom Dubai the capacity to efficiently process a huge range of blade and turbine apparatus.
The four axis robot fitted on the roof of the machine allows accurate moving and positioning of the blast nozzle with a horizontal stroke of 1000mm, a vertical stroke of 1000mm, and a rotating wrist equipped at its base with a tilting axis of +/- 180°.
The large blast chamber is fitted with a wide door making access and programming for the customer easy. The compact design of the machinery with a pitless pneumatical recovery and ATEX compliant dust collector also minimises lay-out requirements, while a shot recycling system includes dedicated devices to calibrate the size or shape of steel shot in accordance with SAE and AMS standards. Other classification systems for glass beads, ceramic beads, aluminium oxide or a mix of media are available. The high precision G7 peening generator ensures an accurate peening process with dedicated air pressure and shot flow closed loop regulation.
Various machine upgrade options are also available to Alstom Dubai through Wheelabrator’s Equipment Modernisation Programme:
- A second generator for increasing the production rate
- A special spindle system (BR 1-10) for high precision processing of small holes and slots
- Recovery and classification for two or three medias including glass bead/steel shot or ceramic bead/steel shot mix
- CF 36 automatic shot flow calibration unit
- Masking and almen fixtures
Alstom will also benefit from Wheelabrator Group’s Supervision Software. This includes maintenance assistance with real time flow-charts, equipment and process control procedures, the storage or transfer of part programmes with graphic identification facilities and dynamic recording and storage of quality reports for each part processed.
Upon completion of the project, Alstom Project leader, Mr Schlatter and Head of Purchasing, Mr Stumpf said: “We thank the Wheelabrator Group team for engineering, building and training Alstom engineers on such an advanced peening system. This new equipment will help increase Alstom Dubai’s production capability and final product quality while serving our ever-increasing Gas Turbine customer base in the Middle East region and around the world.”
Wheelabrator equipment is supported by an extensive after-market service through Wheelabrator Plus, the support and supply division of Wheelabrator Group. The team of dedicated professionals working in all continents, provides customers with a high quality after-care and maintenance service. This service includes regular site visits, repair work, machine performance checks, machine refurbishment and relocation, service contracts, system maintenance and machine software updates, quick supply of original parts and parallel parts, abrasive media and consumables and extensive training programmes.