Laser robots saving millions for the power industry

摘要

The Swinburne team, led by Professor Milan Brandt from the university's Industrial Research Institute (IRIS), has played a leading role in developing the technology, which uses laser robots to carry out on-site repairs of power station turbine blades. Professor Brandt is considered one of Australia's leading researchers in the field. The development is the result of a collaborative effort between research teams from CSIRO and Swinburne, through the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Welded Structures. Professor Brandt said the blades of steam turbines in coal-fired power stations suffer erosion from the impact of water droplets in the steam, and need to be repaired every seven or eight years to maintain efficiency. While laser surfacing technology has been available for some time, the blades could only be repaired off-site, meaning they have to be removed and later re-fitted, resulting in downtime costs of up to 250,000 dollars per day.