Measuring Kirchentellinsfurt – penstock + turbines
Kirchentellinsfurt is located on the Neckar in the district of Tübingen. The hydropower set of Fair Energy consists of a low head run-of-river power plant combined with an integrated pump storage power plant. Built in the 1920s, the owners have assigned a condition assessment after nearly 100 years of operation.
In addition to two twin Francis turbines for the run-of-river power plant on the lower basin there is a pump-storage hydropower plant that uses the gradient of 130 meters between the upper and lower basins.
Upper basin and power house are connected by a 1028m long penstock which consists of three different diameters (D1 = 1000mm, D2 = 900mm, D3 = 800mm). Due to the nature of the terrain in which the penstock is embedded underfloor several shafts and measuring devices had been installed.
Dr. Hutarew & Partner was commissioned in 2017 with the condition and remaining life assessment of the plant. The goal was to evaluate the penstock and the turbines. Special measuring equipment was used for non-destructive determination of wall thicknesses, layer thicknesses and material quality. Using laser scanning, the pipe interior was recorded precisely and in detail, analyzed digitally and documented. This quality of data collection is important when maintenance work or construction measures have to take action.
