Hydro Gearbox Repair, Turbine Auxiliary Gears and Power Plant Reducer Rebuild
Much of the hydro fleet in North America and Europe was commissioned in the 1940s and 50s and is now going through life-extension refurbishment. The civil works and the machines stay; the drive components have to be made again.
Power generation drives we work on
Refurbishment programmes are planned years ahead, which suits how we work. The components are rarely available and almost never catalogue items.
- Turbine governor and speed-increaser gearing
- Wicket gate and guide vane operating gear
- Intake gate, stoplog and penstock valve drives
- Trash rake and screen cleaner gearboxes
- Travelling and gantry crane hoist and travel drives
- Generator auxiliary and barring gear drives
- Cooling water pump drives and right-angle gearboxes
- Coal and biomass handling conveyor reducers
- Ash handling and dust collection drives
- Feedwater and condensate pump shafts
Refurbishment gearing
Replacement gears and shafts for life-extension programmes, manufactured to the existing geometry so the original housings and civil works are untouched.
Gate and valve drives
Operating gear, worm sets and shafts for intake gates, wicket gates and penstock valves, including hand-operated legacy mechanisms.
Reducer rebuild
Strip, inspect, report and rebuild for balance-of-plant drives: handling, cooling, ash and screening.
What refurbishment programmes need
On plant this age the drawings are often incomplete and the suppliers are long gone.
| What fails | What we supply |
|---|---|
| Worn wicket gate operating gear | Replacement gearing and shafts to the measured geometry |
| Governor drive gearbox with no parts | Internals reverse engineered from the removed components |
| Intake gate drive worm set wiped | Matched worm and wheel manufactured as a pair |
| Trash rake gearbox beyond repair limits | Rebuild with new gearing, journals restored |
| Crane hoist gearing cracked | New gear set to the existing centres |
| Pump shaft journals worn | Shaft machined complete to the original fits |
Working from no drawings
Most of the drive components we are asked for are no longer manufactured, and the original drawings are long gone. We reverse engineer from the worn part itself: the component is measured, the tooth geometry and fits are established, material is confirmed, and a replacement is cut to suit the existing housing, shafts and bearings so nothing else in the assembly has to change.
Where a gear has failed because of a design limitation rather than wear, we will say so and propose the change rather than reproduce the fault.
Quality and documentation
Euro Gear operates an ISO 9001:2015 certified quality management system. EN 10204 3.1 material certification is available on request, with mill traceability. Components bound for the United Kingdom or European Union ship as partly completed machinery with a Declaration of Incorporation.
Lead times
We are built around planned work: shutdowns, turnarounds and scheduled overhauls booked in advance, where the component has to be right and on site for a known date. Tell us the outage date and we will tell you honestly whether we can meet it. We do not offer field service or emergency breakdown attendance.
Common questions
- Our station was commissioned in the 1950s and we have partial drawings. Is that a problem?
- No. Incomplete drawings are the normal starting point for this work. We establish the geometry from the components and the assembly.
- Can you supply to a multi-year refurbishment schedule?
- Yes, and planned programmes are what we are built around. Long lead times booked in advance suit us better than emergency work.
- Do you manufacture turbine runners?
- No. We make gearing, shafts and drive components, not hydraulic turbine runners.
- Do you work with the main electromechanical contractor or directly with the station?
- Either. On large refurbishments we are often a sub-tier supplier to the main contractor.
- What certification do you hold?
- ISO 9001:2015. EN 10204 3.1 material certification is available on request.
Send us the part
A photograph of the nameplate and the worn component is usually enough for us to tell you whether we can help. Drawings are welcome but not required.