Final check

Today the first row of blades of the compressor of the gasturbine was checked.
A specialized company does that every 3 months.
They search for cracks and other things that might effect the working state of the gasturbine.
So the shaftline is stopped for half an hour.
After that we have to put in on turning gear again otherwise the steamturbine which is on the same shaft might get jammed due to unequal temperatures. The downward side cooles down faster than the upper side.
That's why we have to cool down the steamturbine (on turning gear) with a certain gradient until it has reached a temperature of appr. 280 deg C (536F).
At that value it is allowed to stop the shaft for max. 1/2 hour.

I'm standing in one of the two inletducts of the gasturbine.
When the unit is on the grid a thunderstorm of air is rushing through this duct.
Just before the inletplenum of the gasturbine is a gauze wall with a gauze door that has the purpose of a coarse filter.

At the time the picture was taken all the work was finished and we have to check te airinlet according to a protocol until we are certain that nothing has been left behind.
So we have to climb up past the blue vanes in the space before the inlet guide vanes (see this picture and watch the arrow) and check for parst that have been forgotten.
Years ago a technician has left behind a bolt and when the airflow through the turbine went up it was sucked in and the gasturbine crashed completely.....
So this is an important check.
After that we close the hatch.
Now we are making preparations to start all the systems and prepare for start-up.

Here in LARGE....