Three Gorges Power Station launches its first intelligent monitoring system for turbine shaft sealing. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
What if a hydropower turbine could get a real-time ECG?
Recently, the first intelligent monitoring system for turbine shaft sealing at the Three Gorges Power Station officially went into operation. Acting as the turbine's "heart valve", the main shaft seal helps prevent water from rising along the rotating shaft and entering the generator, making it essential to the safe and stable operation of the unit.
From traditional manual monitoring to data-driven maintenance, the new system uses high-precision pressure, displacement and temperature sensors to collect key data in real time. Based on these live data, the system can build a 3D model of the main shaft seal, enabling real-time sensing, dynamic early warning and health assessment.
Baihetan Hydropower Station welcomes quantum “gecko”. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
A "gecko" with a "quantum eye" has just joined Baihetan Hydropower Station.
This quantum non-destructive testing robot is a new "workmate" in digital innovation along the world's largest clean energy corridor. It can cling tightly to the curved runner blades of million-kilowatt hydropower units and move steadily across them like a gecko, giving key equipment a deep "check-up".
Powered by solid-state quantum precision measurement technology, the robot can detect tiny defects as small as 10 micrometers wide and 50 micrometers deep, with both detection accuracy and defect detection rate reaching 99%. It not only reduces safety risks for workers, but also shortens inspection time, making the process three times more efficient than traditional methods.
So far, this new "colleague" has completed non-destructive testing for three million-kilowatt units at Baihetan Hydropower Station, and is about to take its next "business trip" to Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station for a new round of equipment maintenance.
An intelligent ‘spider’ starts working at Xiluodu. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
This is an intelligent "spider" that can climb vertical pipelines, inspect transmission lines and send data back in real time.
Deep inside the underground powerhouse of Xiluodu Hydropower Station, a GIL (gas-insulated metal-enclosed transmission line) climbing robot has officially been put into service. It can move steadily along nearly 20-meter-high vertical GIL transmission lines, carrying out real-time inspections.
With automatic climbing, 360-degree full-coverage inspection, electromagnetic ultrasonic testing and real-time data transmission, the robot can improve operational efficiency by three times and reduce wall-thickness measurement error to 0.01 millimeters. It not only frees workers from high-risk and high-intensity environments, but also makes inspections more precise, efficient and safe.
Tiangong 007 is the high-tech “repairer” along world's largest clean energy corridor.[Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Meet Tiangong 007: The high-tech "repairer" along the world's largest clean energy corridor!
At Three Gorges Power Station, Tiangong 007 is helping repair cracks in turbine runner blades — work that technicians once had to carry out manually in cramped spaces.
The robot first uses non-destructive testing to identify cracks, then uses 3D scanning to create a digital model of the blade. Intelligent software plans the repair path, while the robot switches between milling, welding and grinding tools to repair cracks across complex curved surfaces.
With Tiangong 007, the repair cycle for a typical crack has been reduced from three days to two, overall efficiency has improved by more than 30 percent, and grinding accuracy is maintained within 0.1 millimeters.
(Executive editor: Zuo Shihan)
