Hiweld™ Optimized Fabrication of Pelton Turbine Runners: Va Tech Hydro

VA TECH HYDRO
HIWELD™
Optimized Fabrication of Pelton Turbine Runners
www.vatech-hydro.com 1
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HIWELD™ – Optimized Fabrication of
Pelton Turbine Runners
A project team formed by engineers and forged stainless steel CrNi 13.4 block. The choice of
technicians coming from various competence the bucket separation planes allows to fabricate a
fields from HYDRO VEVEY SA and narrow disk.
VOEST-ALPINE MCE has developed a new It indeed ensures that high stress areas remain inside
process to manufacture Pelton runners. the disk, therefore taking profit of the higher
mechanical properties (ultimate tensile strength) of
The rigorous studies performed to validate forged steel.
each stage of the fabrication have led to an
operational technique, whose benefits will The central pieces of the buckets are casted in
convince the power plant owners. CrNi 13.4 steel with an overthickness. Those pieces
are welded on the bucket roots following a sequence
Pelton runners are traditionally casted in one piece, to correct continuously the distortion.
more often with stainless steel G-X5 CrNi 13.4.
This process leads to long delivery times, especially We take profit of the good lateral access to mill the
due to the mould preparation and runner finishing inner profile of the bucket before welding the lateral
tasks. parts of buckets.
It is also known that the risk of hidden residual

defects in the casted material, also in high stressed
areas of the runner, cannot be totally eliminated.
In order to assure a perfect control of the severe
quality criteria imposed for Pelton turbine runners,
the method is characterized by an appropriate choice
of materials and processes.
An optimized process
Following economical and technical studies of many

solutions, the idea of separating the runner into
a central disk containing the bucket roots and
bucket pieces fixed
by welding, was
retained as The lateral pieces are also casted in CrNi 13.4 steel
reaching very with a small overthickness and milled to the final
good objectives of profile before being fixed on the runner.
delivery time
reduction, quality Even if it is also possible to manufacture the bucket
increase and costs pieces in forged steel, the casting of such small
mastery. The and simple pieces is easy to perform by a great
central disk is number of foundries with a quality higher than for a
machined into a full casted runner.
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The runner is submitted to a post-weld heat separated in accordance with our studies and the
treatment. All the welding areas are runner was rebuilt choosing for this test the most
controlled by non-destructive surface and difficult case of the last bucket to weld.
volumic testing methods before and after
the heat treatment. After the final machining
of coupling and cut outs, only a final
polishing is necessary.
Demonstrated Quality
Mastering the welding process is a key

point of the technique. A welding test using
an old runner has been performed in order
to check the accessibility for welding and
non-destructive controls, and also to define
the best suited welding sequence
minimizing the distortions. Buckets were
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Beside those tests, in accordance with the areas. The exact location of the bucket separation
current European standards in use for this kind of planes is defined through a Finite Element Method
operating mode, the welding procedure was (FEM) calculation of the stresses, completed in all the
qualified with a test piece having a similar geometry bucket volume. The welding is placed out of the high
to this of a bucket. By those tests, a welding stress areas.
sequence was defined, allowing to reduce the
distortion to the minimum. 100 % of the welding
volume is controllable and controlled by ultrasonic Benefits for the power plant
method. owners
With this Pelton runner fabrication process,

mechanical properties of material are increased
in all the runner areas: in the disk and bucket roots
through the forged steel, in the middle and
lateral parts through high quality of casting or
through forged steel pieces, in the welding areas
through an adapted qualified procedure reaching
higher mechanical properties than integral cast
steel, and through a 100 % controllable welding
volume.
Very demanding quality criteria have been defined

for the welding procedure, the testing methods
and the acceptability of welding and constitutive
parts of runner, all this in collaboration with the TVFA
(Technische Versuchs- und Forschungsanstalt,
Technical University of Vienna, Austria), a
neutral institute accredited and renowned in the
material and construction domains.
The bucket profile, completely milled on a
CNC machine, guarantees the exact hydraulic
shape and therefore the high level of runner
performances.
Manufacture time is reduced by 30 % in comparison

with integral casted runners.
The results of non-destructive and destructive Apart from the material supply, all the fabrication
controls performed from this qualification test have (milling, machining, welding, grinding and testing) is
demonstrated that the welding rocedure developed performed in our own workshop, under our own
for this application reached atisfactorily the very responsibility, leading to a perfect mastery of quality
demanding quality criteria imposed for the welding and delivery time.
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Outlook
The process allows to meet quickly the

clients demand, while assuring an optimal
quality through very demanding criteria.
Presented lately on the market, the method
has immediately won a very promising
success as 15 prototype runners are already
ordered from our clients.
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VA TECH HYDRO worldwide
Set ups in Austria, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Italy, Malaysia,
Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Sweden, Switzerland, South-Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates,
United Kingdom, USA, Venezuela and Vietnam
VA TECH HYDRO
e-mail: [email protected]
Penzinger Strasse 76 Lunzerstrasse 78 Obernauerstrasse 4

A-1141 Vienna, Austria A- 4031 Linz, Austria CH-6010 Kriens
e 21.88.30 ZD-00
Phone (+43/1) 89 100-2659 Phone (+43/732) 6987-3451 Phone (+41) 41 329 51 11

Fax (+43/1) 89 46 370 Fax (+43/732) 6980-2554 Fax (+41) 41 329 51 52
www.vatech-hydro.com
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VA TECH HYDRO

It is also known that the risk of hidden residual

Following economical and technical studies of many

Mastering the welding process is a key

With this Pelton runner fabrication process,

Very demanding quality criteria have been defined

Manufacture time is reduced by 30 % in comparison

The process allows to meet quickly the

Penzinger Strasse 76 Lunzerstrasse 78 Obernauerstrasse 4

Phone (+43/1) 89 100-2659 Phone (+43/732) 6987-3451 Phone (+41) 41 329 51 11

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