Nation’s Largest Public Power Provider Enhances Analysis

For more than seven decades, the Tennessee Valley Authority has improved the quality of life in the Tennessee Valley. As a federal corporation and the nation’s largest public power provider, the TVA touches millions of lives. It generates more electricity than any other public utility in the nation and serves about 8.8 million people.

The TVA’s power system is one of the most reliable and efficient in the nation. It has maintained 99.999 percent transmission reliability. Achieving such remarkable consistency requires precise measurement and maintenance of hydro stations and their hydroelectric turbines and generators.

Over time, the concrete used to build dams and other structures shifts, expands, and contracts. This can cause an entire dam to shift. Main rotational bearing surfaces can become deformed due to these pressures, sometimes to the point of becoming elliptical and potentially seizing up.

These important maintenance measurements were previously done with piano wire, optics, and micrometers. These tools lacked the 3D capabilities needed to properly analyze the distortions of embedded components.

Right from the start, the TVA established a unique problem-solving approach to fulfilling its mission-integrated resource management. As Pulitzer Prize winning author James Agee wrote in 1933, “TVA has put a bold foot through a beehive of problems both practical and ethical.” Each issue faced by the TVA is studied in its broadest context and weighed in relation to the others. The TVA has held fast to this strategy of integrated solutions, even as the issues changed over the years.

The FARO Laser Tracker provided such a solution for the TVA. The Tracker allows them to correct deficiencies that were previously unknown. They use the Tracker to measure component deformation and to determine where and what place machining is needed.

Being able to measure in actual 3D and then display results that are easily referenced to integral level was an important feature for the TVA. The 3D capability greatly enhances the analysis of distortions of embedded components. This allows for a more accurate assessment of actual equipment conditions and helps return that equipment to better condition.

With improved information, they are able to make better decisions on what repairs are needed. The improved maintenance helps reduce costly outages, to both the TVA and to its millions of customers.