New maintenance tool for Hoover and Grand Coulee upgrades

摘要

An upgrade project at the Hoover dam in the USA has recently made use of a new tool, developed in the USA, which is designed to solve a number of maintenance problems. It could be particularly useful in the upgrading of other ageing large hydropower plants, including improving turbine efficiency. The tool, a BB6000 boring machine from Climax Portable Machine Tools, Inc. of the USA, is a small travelling head portable boring bar with a boring diameter range of 152.4 to 914.4 mm. The tool's hydraulic rotational drive unit provides a high power-to-weight ratio of nearly 179.7 kg-m of torque, with a minimum 5 hp hydraulic power unit. The bearing cartridge can be mounted directly on the work piece when space is tight, an advantage for workers at Hoover dam, which at 224.3 m is one of the highest dams in North America.