Hydro Turbines

Hydroelectric turbine components, such as Pelton buckets, Kaplan blades, Francis runners, Turgo runners, vanes, nozzles and needles are subject to various and usually mixed wear modes of impact and turbulent erosion, cavitation and tribological corrosion. But to maintain the efficiency of the turbine as well as longer service intervals, it is essential to preserve the shape of the buckets and blades.

Improved Turbine Life for Clean Energy Production

Different factors limit the lifetime of turbine components: Impulse turbines, such as Pelton and Turgo turbines, are more subject to erosion, whereas reaction turbines such as Kaplan and Francis turbines suffer from cavitation as well. It is therefore important to design the coating solution that ensures areas subject to high wear are protected by coatings suitable for the specific wear modes.

Based on our engineers’ strong application know-how, Oerlikon Metco offers complete material, equipment and coating solutions to improve the performance of hydroelectric turbines:

Anti-cavitation and anti-erosion liquid fuel HVOF (HVOF-LF) coating solutions applied utilizing our WokaJet™ and WokaStar™ spray guns and our optimized WC-CoCr cermet materials result in dense, high cohesion strength coatings for all main types of turbine runners
High erosion-resistant coatings for impulse type runners, such as Pelton, prevent bucket wear and efficiency loss
Versatile gas-fuel HVOF (HVOF-GF) solutions, applied using our DiamondJet™ spray guns, give rise to solutions for complex geometries with good reach and high wear performance
Combustion Wire (CW) coating solutions for bearings, shafts, spears — for dimensional repair and lower friction in operation

Best Cost-performance Ratio and Longer Service Intervals

Lifecycle and service cost play an important role in hydro turbine overhauls. Oerlikon Metco’s solutions offer the best cost-performance ratio and the highest added value in the market. We optimize our material and spray parameter combinations to optimize solutions for different areas of the runners and other components, thus linking performance and service intervals.

Our extensive process, material, and application knowledge allows us to find the best solution for your needs — through standard materials and processes, unique solution development in our Coating Solution Centers, or joint R&D collaboration. We also offer pilot or production coating services through our Metco Coating Services network of coating shops.