CAPABLADE
Turbo-machinery turnkey solution for combined blade tip clearance and vibration measurements
- combined blade tip clearance & timing supervision
- blade tip-timing analysis
- real time monitoring
- compatible with harsh environments
Main features
CAPABLADE is a unique turnkey solution for combined BTC (Blade Tip Clearance) and BTT (Blade Tip Timing) measurement and monitoring. This solution is used my major turbo-machinery makers for aero-engine ground testing, gas turbine validation test rigs, turbochargers static and dynamic test stands, gas turbine health monitoring and aero-engines flying test beds:
CAPABLADE Fusion embeds, in a 19″ rack, signal conditioning modules, acquisition and processing server and local storage of the measurement data.
- CAPABALE BHM is a derived version dedicated to health monitoring. It provides real-time measurement during operation and allows optimisation and predictive maintenance of the system.
Key benefits
- 2-in-1 measurement: CAPABLADE is the only solution that combines BTC and BTT measurements in 1 unique system. It allows customer to save cost for test bench and make use of unique monitoring features.
- High temperature sensors up to 1300°C without cooling, are specifically designed and qualified for turbine harsh environment applications.
- Harsh environment compatibility: capacitive sensors offer the best solution for stable operations in harsh environments.
- Powerful and unique software features: In addition to a full set of real-time monitoring and analysis functions, CAPABLADE can measure and monitor shaft center line thanks to combined BTC and BTT measurements.
- Prevention of blade failures caused by clearance or vibration issues: Turbine blade tip rubbing (in running condition or prior to a warm restart), cracks and high cycle fatigue (HCT) assessment, FODs and DODs detection, LP compressor fouling evolution monitoring and stall detection.
- Part-load or Flex-Op performance optimisation by fine active clearance control: This allows increased efficiency and power output, reduction of consumption and CO2 emissions.
- Extended benefits of Health Monitoring: Early warnings of potential blading issues, prevention of costly breakdowns, downtime reduction, predictive maintenance & outage optimisation, components lifetime extension assessment, reduction of Life Cycle Costs (LCC), improved utilisation & operability.
CAPABLADE Fusion rack:
- 19″ rack acquisition server
- Capacity of up to 12 conditioning modules
- Ethernet connectivity with distant server
MC925 capacitive conditioners:
- Low noise level
- Large compensation bandwidth of the line (up to 30m) and temperature (up to 1,400°C)
- Compatible with triaxial and coaxial sensors
- 2 operation modes: “calibration” and “measurement”
Measurement sensors can be either customized or selected within a range of standard low temperature, high temperature and axial sensors, according to the application. Please contact us to specify your need so we can confirm the suitable sensor models.
- Real time measurements: high performance clearance and time-of-arrival measurements, monitoring of clearance variation under thermal and centrifugal effects, shaft orbiting tracking and relative casing deformations detections, alarms and automatic data logging triggering under predetermined conditions
- Post-processing: synchronous resonance analysis (frequency, amplitude, damping, mistuning), asynchronous vibrations characterisation, data display and file export
CAPABLADE is based on capacitive sensor technology and curve-fitting feature that allows very accurate distance and time measurement of the blade tip. This combined feature is made possible thanks to the MC925 capacitive conditioner that uses unique digital compensation technology to offset the effects of the line (up to 30m long) and the sensor (up to 1400°C) and to achieve a very low noise level.
Baseline:
- CAPABLADE racks (12 channels per rack)
- a set of MC925 modules for sensor conditioning (1 per sensor)
- software licence for BTC and/or BTT measurements
- a set of measurement sensors dedicated to the different stages of the turbo-machinery
Options:
- Automated calibration bench: this provides sensor calibration using target blade samples. It includes a software that outputs calibration parameters and certificate report, export of calibration parameters to the CAPABLADE software
- On-site support & service: On-site support with field engineers qualified to industrial safety regulations can be proposed for training & commissioning, test campaign support, short period rental, data analysis …
- Maintenance and upgrades: Yearly maintenance contract packages can be proposed.