Turbo Compressor Escher Wyss/Brown Boveri 90-4A EK Inspection and Major Repair

Compressor technology is something we master at Energetic. One of our customers approached us to perform an inspection on a compressor. This old compressor had suffered a lot of damage over the past few years and had undergone multiple repairs and a major overhaul 3 years ago.

After opening the compressor, we quickly saw a lot of damage inside the compressor. The stuffing box NDE had rubbed against the rotor sleeves, causing the steel to melt and get stuck in the stuffing box holes. The stuffing box DE was damaged too due to contact with the stuffing box sleeves on the rotor.

Figure 1: Stuffing box NDE melted on the rotor

The rotor was sent to our workshop in Stekene (BE) for further inspection. After dismounting of the stuffing boxes, damages were found on the stuffing box sleeves. Burned surfaces could also be seen on some parts of the rotor indicating signs of overheating.

Figure 2: Stuffing box DE sleeves damaged
Figure 3: Overheated rotor shaft

The labyrinth seals on the impeller wheels and those mounted in the compressor casing were damaged, one labyrinth seals was stuck on the impeller wheel.

Figure 4: labyrinth seals stuck on impeller wheel
Figure 5: Damaged labyrinth seal strips

Figure 6: Damaged impeller labyrinths stage 1 inlet

The impellers of stages 2 & 3 were deformed.

Figure 7: Impeller stage 3 damaged

The thrust disc active side ran against the axial bearing pads. Both were heavily damaged. The oil seals had made contact with the rotor too, damaging the seals.

Figure 8: Trust ring active side damaged
Figure 9: axial bearing damaged
Figure 10: Oil seal damaged

With our in depth knowledge of this compressor, we dismounted the diaphragms from the inner casings of the compressor and machined away all rusted surfaces in the casing. The split line of the casing was repaired and the diaphragms were adapted accordingly.

Figure 11: Inner casing and split line compressor rusted.

Figure 12: split line casing repair
Figure 13: Casing machining

Via reverse engineering we manufactured new parts for this compressor, like the stuffing boxes DE and NDE, stuffing box sleeves, new thrust disc and impeller labyrinth seals. The axial bearing pads and oil seals were also renewed.

Figure 14: New stuffing boxes DE and NDE
Figure 15: New impeller labyrinth seals

Figure 16: Oil labyrinth seal replaced

Figure 17: New stuffing box sleeves DE and NDE

Figure 18: New axial bearing

Figure 19: Assembly of compressor rotor

The compressor is up and running today thanks to our swift intervention.

Energetic machinery is your thrusted partner for service and inspection on the Escher Wyss turbo compressor and on a variety of other compressors. Due to our in depth knowledge of this technology and our mastery of reverse engineering we are able to provide high quality replacement parts to our customers, at affordable prices and in a short time frame.

 *Energetic nv has no agreements or any relationship with the original equipment manufacturer