Kraftwerk Union Aktiengesellschaft

Helmut Hofmann

Dietrich Lambrecht

Kurt Fork

Hermann Waldmann

Device for monitoring the service life of the shaft of a turbine-generator set includes an analog computer circuit having a pair of inputs and an output, means for feeding to the inputs of the analog computer circuit electrical quantities proportional to the voltage and the current of the generator, the analog computer circuit having means for converting the electrical quantities that are proportional to the generator voltage and current to an electrical quantity proportional to the electrical torque in the air gap of the generator, a simulation circuit having an input connected to the output of the analog computer circuit for receiving therefrom the electrical quantity proportional to the electrical torque in the air gap of the generator, the simulation circuit comprising means for determining the torques in individual sections of the shaft of the turbine-generator set and having a multiplicity of outputs corresponding to the number of individual sections of the shaft, an analog-to-digital converter having an output and having inputs connected to the outputs of the simulation circuit for receiving therefrom analog data corresponding to the torques in individual sections of the shaft and converting them to corresponding digital data, a digital computer having an input connected to the output of the analog-to-digital converter and connected therethrough to the simulation circuit, a trouble-monitoring device connected parallel to the analog-to-digital converter, and having means for restricting the analog-to-digital converter to feed the digital data through the output thereof to the input of the digital computer only if a torque of extreme value is present in a section of the shaft, the digital computer having means for converting the digital data into signals proportional to the service life of the shaft.

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Erlangen, Germany

Helmut Hofmann