Babbitt Wipe caused by dovetail grooves

Dovetail grooves were once a common design feature of Babbitt bearings. The grooves were a mechanical featured that help bond the Babbitt to the bearing backing. With the development of better bounding techniques, dovetail grooves became not only unnecessary, but a detriment to performance and reliability.

This topic has been covered by TRI many time. We made a video in 2016 explaining the problem.

Bearing Dovetail Grooves | Dr. Mel’s Technical Notes (wordpress.com)

Today we received a bearing with dovetail grooves. The photos perfectly highlight the issue explained in the video.

Size 212 Fluid Drive

TRI has just finished a fluid drive refurbishment. Two size 212 Fluid Drives originally built by American Standard were disassembled, cleaned and inspected. Some of the original parts were repaired and some where replaced.

REFURBISHED SIZE 212 FLUID DRIVE : MAY 2020

Announcement

I will be attending the EPRI Summer 2019 Steam Turbine Generator Workshop in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The workshop Aug 19th through the 23rd. I will be manning a vendor booth on the 19th and 20th. If you plan on attending, stop by for a chat.

Hydrogen Cooled Generator Upgrades

The first hydrogen cooled generator was put into service by GE in 1937. Many of the design features of those early generators still persist today. TRI Transmission and Bearing Corp. has successfully implemented many upgrades to these old generators.

I was invited to present the benefits of generator upgrades at the most recent EPRI User’s Group meeting in Baltimore. The video here discusses the key points of that presentation.

more information at www.turboresearch.com

Rotating Element Inspection

The rotating element of a Size 270 Dual Circuit Fluid Drive has been inspected, balanced and reassembled.

Technical Note: July 2018

Are you getting 100,000 between overhauls?

Dr. Mel has released a Tech Note concerning fluid drives. TRI offers upgrades that can improve the fluid drive reliability. read more…

 

Thrust Bearing Spring Bed

Each spring and cap are machined to precise tolerances in order to achieve a consistent reaction force across the thrust bearing surface.

Flush Cock Valves

A video explaining the advantage of flush cock valves manufactured by TRI Transmission and Bearing Corp. has been published to YouTube.

Installing the Rotating Element

A short animated GIF showing the rotating element of the Size 250 dual circuit fluid drive being installed in the TRI Transmission and Bearing Corp. shop

Technical Note By Dr. Mel, May 2017

Dr. Mel has released a new Tech Note, “Improved Competiveness for Conventional Coal and Gas Fired Power Plants”. This new tech note explores the opportunities to extend the life of traditional power plants. Read more…