ThyssenKrupp Subsidiary Produces Turbine and Generator Shafts for CCGT Power Plant in Belgium

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Italian steel forgings manufacturer Societa delle Fucine SpA (Terni, Italy) recently produced turbine and generator shafts for a 422-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant being developed in Tessenderlo, Belgium, by Siemens Energy (Erlangen, Germany), a part of Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany). Construction is scheduled to start this year, and the power facility is set to come online by 2011. Societa delle Fucine is the Italian subsidiary of special steels manufacturer ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni SpA (Terni, Italy), which is a part of ThyssenKrupp AG (ETR:TKA) (Duesseldorf, Germany).

The shafts for the power plant were made in a single piece through the open-die forging process, which involves the workpiece being forged between two flat dies under enormous pressure, causing the metal to flow at the sides. The workpiece, typically a steel ingot weighing more than 200 tons, is first heated to 1,200 degree Celsius (2,192 degree Fahrenheit). The red-hot piece is then placed between two dies, one of which is fixed to a ram and the other is attached to a press bed or a hammer anvil. A giant manipulator, which functions as a pair of tongs controlled through a computer interface, is used to position the workpiece below the hydraulic press with a precision in the range of millimeters. The manipulator has a capacity of 250 tons.

About 12,600 tons of press force is applied on the workpiece at a descent rate of 50 millimeters per second. This is achieved with the use of four hydraulic pumps, which consume about 6 MW of power to drive 4,500 liters per minute of water through the press cylinders under a pressure of 510 bar. This process causes the conversion of the red-hot ingots into large-sized forgings. As the workpiece cools during the forging process, it is heated in the forging furnace to the desired temperature, and the forging process is repeated.

Societa delle Fucine also used the open-die forging process on a 500-ton ingot, the largest in Europe. The ingot was produced at ThyssenKrupp's melt shop in Terni over 15 hours and subsequently forged by Societa delle Fucine. The finished product, about 230 tons, will be delivered to a rolling mill in Russia.

More than half of the firm's core business lies in the manufacture of low-pressure shafts and generators for the energy sector. It also produces shafts of up to 20 meters in length for rolling mills, and customized forged containers for the nuclear power and petrochemical sectors.

In order to meet the requirements of high strength, exceptional quality, and varied dimensions of forgings in the power sector, ThyssenKrupp Acciai Speciali Terni is implementing various measures to strengthen its forging business. The firm installed a vacuum oxygen decarburization unit in the melt shop in Terni to facilitate the production of high-strength steel grades. The 12,600-ton forging press used by the firm in open-die forging operations is the largest in Europe. Over 90% of the 250-ton giant manipulator was built in-house, which enabled the firm to save on procurement costs and lead-time of equipment supplies and will also spare the firm from additional costs on maintenance and repair.

ThyssenKrupp is making investments in Societa delle Fucine to facilitate faster forging with reduced energy and manpower requirements, increase process efficiency, and shift the product portfolio towards higher-quality products and units of larger weights up to 250 tons, equivalent to ingot weight of 500 tons. The products would primarily cater to the requirements of the energy sector.

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