Optical Pyrometry System (Rotamap II)
Rotamap II System : Application and Diagnostics.
The application and use of our Rotamap II pyrometer systems has been evolving over the last ten years or so.
Initially, we manufactured our pyrometer systems for use in engine performance and development testing but in more recent years a number of other uses for our thermal mapping pyrometers have been introduced by our customers. These include :
- Gas turbine blade cooling development.
- Verification and correction of design parameters and warranties.
- In-service engine condition monitoring.
- Decisions about extending turbine blade operating life.
- Cost savings per day of unnecessary shut down time.
- Scheduling maintenance outages to ensure engine availability is maximised.
A unique capability of Rotamap II, is the ability to ‘pick’ specifically defined amounts of blade thermal mapping data from the complete data acquired during an engine test . If, for example, there is ‘un-bunt’ fuel in the engine gas stream, Rotamap II will see this as a ‘streak’ on the thermal mapping data acquired as shown opposite. The un-burnt fuel ‘pick’ can be used to establish a measure of the engine combustor efficiency.
Regular in-service inspection of engine blade conditions using Rotamap II will ensure that potential blade failures will be detected early.
The break down of blade thermal barrier coatings can be detected in the same way.
Blade cooling ‘hot spots’ due to the incorrect positioning of blade cooling holes or a blockage of one or more blade cooling holes will show up readily using Rotamap II enabling corrections to be made to cooling hole positions or hole un-blocking to be carried out at the earliest opportunity.
