arrow_back_ios

Main Menu

See All Acoustic End-of-Line Test Systems See All Systems & Data Acquisition See All Electroacoustic application See All Software See All Sensors See All Vibration Testing Equipment See All Academy See All Resource Center See All Applications See All Industries See All Insights See All Services See All Support See All Sustainability See All Our Business See All Our History See All Global Presence
arrow_back_ios

Main Menu

See All Actuators See All Combustion Engines See All Durability See All eDrive See All Transmission Gearboxes See All Turbo Charger See All Mechanical & structural DAQ systems See All Sound & Vibration DAQ systems See All Industrial electronics See All Electric power analyzers See All S&V Handheld devices See All Wireless DAQ Systems See All Pinnae See All Accessories for electroacoustic application See All DAQ See All Drivers API See All nCode - Durability and Fatigue Analysis See All ReliaSoft - Reliability Analysis and Management See All Test Data Management See All Utility See All Vibration Control See All Inertial Sensor Software See All Acoustic See All Current / voltage See All Displacement See All Exciters See All Force See All Inertial Sensors See All Load cells See All Pressure See All Smart Sensors with IO-Link interface See All Strain See All Torque See All Vibration See All LDS Shaker Systems See All Power Amplifiers See All Vibration Controllers See All Training Courses See All Whitepapers See All Acoustics See All Custom Sensors See All Data Acquisition & Analysis See All Durability & Fatigue See All Electric Power Testing See All Industrial Process Automation See All Machine automation control and navigation See All NVH See All Reliability See All Smart Sensors See All Structural Health Monitoring See All Vibration See All Weighing See All Aerospace & Defence See All Automotive & Ground Transportation See All Robotics See All Calibration See All Installation, Maintenance & Repair See All Support Brüel & Kjær See All Release Notes See All Our People See All Compliance
arrow_back_ios

Main Menu

See All QuantumX See All SomatXR See All MGCplus See All Optical Interrogators See All CANHEAD See All LAN-XI See All Fusion-LN See All Accessories for industrial electronics See All GenHS See All Accessories for power analyzer and GenHS See All Handheld Software See All Accessories for S&V handheld devices See All Wireless Gateways See All Wireless Nodes See All BK Connect / PULSE See All API See All Microphone sets See All Cartridges See All Special microphones See All Acoustic calibrators See All Microphone Pre-amplifiers See All Sound Sources See All Accessories for acoustic transducers See All Accessories See All Power amplifier See All Accessories for exciters See All Accessories See All Accessories for load cells See All Strain gauges for experimental testing See All Strain gauges for transducer manufacturing (OEM) See All Accessories for strain gauges See All Non-rotating (calibration) See All Rotating See All CCLD (IEPE) accelerometer See All Charge accelerometer See All Impulse hammers / impedance heads See All Tachometer probes See All Cables See All Accessories See All Electroacoustics See All Noise Source Identification See All Handheld S&V measurements See All Sound Power and Sound Pressure See All Noise Certification See All Electrical Devices Testing See All Electrical Systems Testing See All Grid Testing See All High-Voltage Testing See All Infrastructures Monitoring See All Rail Monitoring See All Vibration Testing with Electrodynamic Shakers See All Structural Dynamics See All Machine Analysis and Diagnostics See All Process Weighing See All Calibration Services for Transducers See All Calibration Services for Handheld Instruments See All Calibration Services for Instruments & DAQ See All On-Site Calibration See All Resources See All Software License Management

The Endesa Project: Optical Measurements at Adduction Pipeline

Endesa Hydroelectric Plant, Spain

Introduction

HBK FiberSensing was contracted to provide and install a fiber Bragg grating (FBG) monitoring system to measure thermally compensated strain on the surface of a steel adduction pipeline under operation, in Pampaneira, Spain (Endesa Hydroelectric Plant).

chevron_left
chevron_right

The main challenge presented was to meet the tight time frame of the project. The initial plan was for the installation to be performed within five days

Monitoring solution based on the optical FBG technology

By using fiber Bragg grating (FBG) technology, the company was able to deliver a competitive solution when compared to the alternative proposals based on conventional technologies.

Monitoring solutions based on the optical FBG technology have proven to be cost effective when applied to large scale structures (tunnels, bridges, dams, pipelines, etc.) where sensors are deployed over more than ten km and connected by few fibers to a central interrogator for structural health monitoring.

This large project involved HBK technical team from Spain, as well as HBK FiberSensing-HBK business subsidiary in Portugal- technicians to work together in the installation and commissioning of an FBG based measurement system in an extreme environment.

The objective: Continuous monitoring of the strain

The objective was to continuously monitor the strain on specific points of the external contour of the adduction pipeline, within the scope of monitoring the structure’s behaviour.

The testing of a structure can detect behavior anomalies in advance, enabling the implementation of corrective actions and minimizing downtimes.

The pipeline was instrumented in three different sections spread far apart. The installation included the following items:

  • Custom FBG Measurement System - BraggMETER based, with contact relays module for alarming and a dedicated GUI interface.
  • Three arrays of four strain sensors OPTIMET-PKF-OTC-1 type, evenly spaced, and one temperature sensor for thermal compensation.

The strain and temperature sensors were delivered in an array configuration to the construction site and installed on the outer surface of the steel pipeline.

The sensors and the long lead in/out cables were then spliced in situ and connected to one FS22 Industrial BraggMETER interrogator placed in a control room hundreds of meters away from the pipeline.  

The sensors and cables were waterproofed and protected with X120 glue and waterproof tapes. The system was designed for 24/7 operation with configured triggered alarms and the measurements are still being recorded.

Most efficient solution under challenging conditions

In the end, the installation took HBK technicians only three days of effective work, reaching the time frame and meeting the customer’s expectations.

The results show that the installed sensors are successfully withstanding the hazardous conditions, under which they were installed and have been running, behaving as predicted. HBK and HBK FiberSensing are confident that such system will match similar applications at other customers where measurements in such environments and structures are required.

Company

Nothing looks out of place at the hydroelectric power plant in Camarasa. This is evident when you enter the control room and look at the panel that was originally used, as if the staff needed to leave proof that precision engineering, passion for a job well done and order have been passed down over the generations for over one hundred years. First under Riegos y Fuerza del Ebro S.A., the company that created the Barcelona Traction Light & Power Company to electrify the industrial belt of Catalonia's capital city; later within Fecsa's assets; and, since the late nineties, as part of Endesa.

Technology Used

Related Case Studies