During a recent borescope inspection we found an IGV that snapped from its root on one end and yet somehow was not ingested into the machine. The IGV in question is located at the 6 o'clock position (the worst...) and we are now faced with replacing the vane. All possible causes aside does anyone have any experience with vane replacement? I've spoken to several expert and it seems like most feel the vane can be removed through the air inlet of machine with minor disassembly while some others claims the compressor casing etc need to come off and even a possible compressor rotor removal. It seems like a lot of work to replace one $1,500 vane so I'm hoping someone on here can confirm or deny that the vane can be removed without a major tear down. We do plan on replacing all 64 vanes and the rebuilding the IGV ring with new gears, bushings etc etc. Any help would be appreciated.

 

There are some (as in a limited number) very bright people who could probably remove the blade without removing the upper half of the compressor casing. But, you would do well to check the references of anyone claiming to be able to do this, or you might be replacing all of the blades/bushings before you anticipated having to do so. Along with all the lost generation and extra cost associated with a failed attempt.

The price of the part has nothing to do with the cost involved with replacing it. It's not common to have to replace a single blade.

You should consider yourself extremely lucky that the broken blade was not ingested, and estimate the costs which would have been associated with recovering from such a catastrophic event. If you're counting beans, this should be included in the tally.

 

http://www.pondlucier.com/Company/Specialties/specialties_1.htm
This company changed our igv with rotor in place.

 

> http://www.pondlucier.com/Company/Specialties/specialties_1.htm
> This company changed our igv with rotor in place.

Thanks for the comments we do consider ourselves extremely lucky. Pond and Lucier are on site and have removed the broken vane which after investigation appears to have been broken for some time (miracle). Upon further review it appears that the inboard bushing had bound up on the top IGV button which caused the vane to break away from the button. GE is checking now but was unsure if they have ever recorded a failure like this one. We are rebuilding the entire IGV ring top and bottom since I suspect we will not be as lucky next time.

 

Thanks very much for the feedback!

 

Tell Dave and Charlie HI from the Northeast Combustion Turbines. As CSA pointed out, only a select few are capable of this type of work and these gentlemen are the select few.