• With the best inspection tools available an experienced PESS Engineer inspects the hot gas path, compressor and combustion sections of Gas Turbines. Internals of Steam Turbines and Generators.
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PESS uses state of the art equipment to inspect

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md@pessweb.com

What type of state of the art inspection tools are you employing?

We use the ultra-portable Olympus Digital IPLEX MX, that allow us to perform agile inspections covering the entire turbine and get inside tight places.

Additionally PESS has a boresonic (patented) tool to perform ultrasonic inspections inside the rotor bore with normal, angular and superficial ultrasonic beam, and obtain images up to 100mm from the bore surface and along the full rotor lenght, assessing the actual condition and integrity of the rotor.

Regards,

Abel Salazar
http://www.pessweb.com

What is the cost/benefit of the state of the art tool compared to conventional one?

Well,

A typical borescope inspection for a 7EA Gas Turbine takes 10 to 12 hours to complete. Using the MX time is reduced to 8-10 hours. Because of agility provided by the portability and integration of the unit

Just as an example.

Pls explain how do achieve the time reduction? What do you mean by agility & integration?

The MX unit from Olympus is the newest videoscope however the IPLEX is the most advanced "state of the art" videoscope on the market today when making industrial inspections... Anyone useing a modern videoscope should be able to complete a MS7001EA inspection within one day! Only those employing outdated fiberscope technology need more than 12 hours to make this inspection, unless the operator knows nothing about remote inspections. The time frame for inspection also relys heavily on the necessary inspection scope. A thorough inspection of the compressor, combustion and turbine section components requires 8-10 hours of inspection with videoscope equipment. The mechanical access in and out requires aditional time.
Enjoy....

We looked at the Olympus equipment but eventually went with the Everest XLPRO to inspect our GTs.

The Olympus kit has the display in a fixed position with the remote control for the tip in a separate unit, whereas the Everest unit has the display and remote control in a single (slightly heavier unit). The advantage of this arrangement in the Everest is that you can feed/guide the flexi into the engine with one hand whilst using the other hand to view/move the tip. With the Olympus, you have to make sure that the remote display is always within your line of sight (lots of back and forth to adjust).

There's probably not a lot in it, but we felt (since justified) that the Everest is better suited to single user operation and gives a slightly faster inspection time.

Having said all that, the greatst time requirement is for the engine to cool down to allow access

I also agree with you buzz. the everest probe is much easier use and is much more user friendly. BEsides it being a single operator piece of equipment it can be mounted into a back pack and used with a battery pack for about 1 to 2 hours continuosly. the images y ou recieve from everests probes are surely second to none. Also everest has come out with a new probe called the pro plus, it features a usb port for laptop integration, remote operation and the use of a compact flash card instead of a floppy disk. excellent piece of equipment.

Hi Guys...
I agree the Everest/GE probe has its monitor integrated into the controller however the iPLEX monitor is not fixed. It can be easily detached from the CPU and brought with the remote anywhere you please. As for the USB & Flash, the iPLEX has them both including a laptop electro-motor controller and network support. The MX is not much of a GT inspection scope. The LED is not bright enough for LARGE frame turbines. The MX is more suitable for aero units and auxillary equipment. I've worked with all the Everest & Olympus probes, the iPLEX is in a league of its own.
As for cool down time; do not I repeat DO NOT insert any fiber delivered light into a macnhine that is +100 F. The heat degrades the light-fiber and causes an amber/orange light hue. Oh yeah, the super-micro ccd chip will short out.
This is a great thread so lets keep it going... How about some condition assessment of rotating and stationary components...