The use of seawater as cooling water for the condenser creates a risk that marine organisms, etc., could adhere to the insides of the tubes and cause a reduction in cooling performance, or that corrosion could cause holes in the tubes and leaks of seawater. In order to prevent such problems before they can occur, the tubes are cleaned and checked in periodic inspections carried out about once every 2 years.The Chugoku Electric Power Co., Inc., in collaboration with Hitachi Zosen Corporation, has developed a robot that performs automated cleaning and inspection of condenser tubes.We estimate that when this robot is put into use at all our thermal power stations, it will bring savings in manpower amounting to an operation cost reduction of 50 or more.
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