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January 23, 2013

Our brand new, Kiser turbine arrived yesterday.

Here, the guys have uncovered the gatecase and runner. They have inserted a 30 ton strap through the blades in preparation for the excavator to unload it.

Here, the new runner is hanging by a single large shackle from the excavator.

We are transporting the new gate case to the lockup at the transformer yard.

A birds eye view of the discharge end of the new runner.

Both pieces ($450,000) are tucked safely away behind the fence.

Here is a photo of our new Kiser stainless steel gate case. Note that both the outer stay vanes and the wicket gates have been fitted to the crown cover and stay ring.

Here is a photo of our new Kiser stainless steel runner. They have just turned the outside circumference of the crown of the runner and the outside circumference of the skirt ring.

We are preparing to fly the Number One Generator over to the Number Three generator pedestal. We are getting ready for when the penstock will be done at the end of January. The new, Kiser, runner and gate case, delivery got delayed to mid November, then to mid December and now it is supposed to be delivered in early January. We need to have at least two units operational so we are marrying the good generator to the good turbine. When the Kiser turbine comes we will install it in the turbine pit. Then, when the rebuilt Westinghouse generator comes back from Maine, we will install the rebuilt by Stoltz Electric generator to the new Kiser turbine. This is a view of the lower guide bearing with the lubricating gear pump installed and half the crankcase installed.

We are flying the newly assembled rotor to its new location.

The rotor is almost down!

The last adjustments are being made.

The contractors, North East Infrastructure of Hudson, MA. are making progress on the penstock. The river has come up and they still need to pour the last two penstock footings. They have made a circular coffer dam in the river bed and have been continuously pumping it out while they build the final set of forms.

Look at these heroic guys working in the middle of a river, with 700 square miles of drainage area, during flood stage and its 18 degrees Fahrenheit!!! The foreman and driving force on the project is Brad Baker. He is an ex US Marine Sergeant who learned how to command men. He is easy going and very polite but when he wants something done his crew does not hesitate. He and his crew are tough as nails. That is him manning the pumps. Previous to this I watched him walk across the five foot deep water, in full waders and climb over the wall of the coffer dam like it was a walk across the parking lot on a sunny day!!

Another view of the coffer dam.

This poor welder is doing all of the welding on these 45 long joints inside and outside.

Here, Mike Desrouche and John Remington are crouching beneath the No. Three rotor. They have bolted the two halves of the lower guide vane together in preparation of raising it into place with threaded rod.

Here they have raised the bearing into place on four threaded rods high enough so that John Remington can install the ring of 0ne inch bolts

Here are four newly minted Lignum Vitae quarter blocks. They Lignum Vitae arrives in the shop as a log. Warren cuts them into end grain blocks. He machines the blocks and cuts tongue and grooves into the sides of the blocks with the big Cincinnati milling machine. He spreads glues on the tongue and groove sides and compresses them in the 150 ton hydraulic press. After they dry, he line bores them with the Lucas horizontal boring machine and installs the threaded rod tie bolts. Finally, he mills off the corners. If you do not mill the corners off, the longitudinal corner of the wood wedges itself into the edge of the cast iron quarter block assembly and tears the cast iron asunder.

Two giant excavators moving a piece of new penstock.

The penstock is slowly moving along in spite of high water. Note the pipe is supported by ring stiffeners mounted on concrete footings.

The excavator is bringing a bucket of concrete up the river to a penstock footing form.

Poor picture of a pour. The guys are vibrating the concrete into the form as the excavator drops the concrete out of the bucket.

October 29th, 2012

Pepperell Penstock Replacement:

Here is our grody old wooden penstock. It is 500 feet long and 13 feet in diameter. It has concrete cradles every six feet to support the weight of the water. It is 70 years old and causes us to lose sleep at night. We are spending $ 5,000,000 to replace it in steel and make other improvements.

Here the wooden penstock is gone. The Jersey barrier coffer dam keeps most of the water out of the work area.

Here this enormous excavator is attempting to install the steel adapter piece into the forebay wall.