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07. April 2016
In the course of the general overhaul and the retrofitting of Langenprozelten Pumped Storage Station in Gemünden, Germany, Donau-Wasserkraft AG has its two generators replaced by Andritz Hydro. For this purpose, Saarschmiede supplied two huge rotor shafts.
The manufacture of the two rotor shafts by Saarschmiede started with the melting of the material. The low temperature steel with defined magnetic properties for the shafts was produced by the use of the Electro-Slag Remelting Process (ESR). The ingots produced had a weight of about 200 tons each. The entire forging process of each wave took about one week. In order to constantly keep the steel in the suitable temperature range for the hot working, the forging process steps were interrupted by several heating-up periods.
Andritz Hydro supplied one of the two machined rotor shafts, which weights around 91 tons, on March 21, 2016. For power generation, the shaft will be surrounded by four poles made of copper, with a weight of 34 tons each. Furthermore, it is the core of the soon-to-be world’s largest single-phase hydropower generator.
With this shaft as a part of the world’s largest single-phase hydropower generator Andritz Hydro strives for an entry into the Guinness World Records.