WANDFLUH Energy

...designed to ensure corrosion protection and low leakage

Redundancy and switching safety combined with a long service life are the main characteristics of components used in the energy sector. The hydraulic

switching circuits at the heart of these installations often are a part of the system-relevant and sometimes safety-critical control elements in power plants.

Focus

In energy plants, extremely high forces are bundled and controlled. Since the advent of hydropower, and hydraulic control systems have been used for this. They regulate water supply, for example, and control the angles of turbine blades. In the wind energy sector, the rotor blades settin angle can be adjusted hydraulically in a similar way as with water turbines. In addition, hydraulic brake systems are used in wind power plants to decelerate the turbines in case of heavy winds to prevent any damage to the installations. In thermal power plants, a typical application is controlling butterfly valves, which reduce the steam pressure quickly and in a controlled way in the event of an emergency. In all of these applications, safety is the top priority. Frequently redundant systems with switching position monitoring are used here which can be precisely adapted to the relevant system together with the customer.

Applications
  • Steam flap controllers
  • Adjustment of the rotor blades of wind generators
  • Control of disc brakes
  • Turbine controllers
  • Process control
  • Butterfly valve control
  • Continuous positioning of solar panels
Control

On major projects, a complete control system is often available to control the hydraulics. This controls the individual valves via a bus system and retrieves their sensor data for evaluation. In the case of turbine regulators, however, proportional valves are used that are controlled by the control system by amplifier electronics. These digital amplifiers are either industrial amplifiers that are generally installed centrally in a control cabinet, or valves with integrated electronics are used. These receive the analogue or digital commands from the control system and convert them into a PWM solenoid current signal directly onsite. The amplifiers connected inbetween eventually enable precise coordination between the hydraulics and the mechanical system, guaranteeing smooth operations.

Characteristics
  • Corrosion protection valves, from Zi/Ni through to stainless steel
  • Redundant systems
  • Valve technology with switching position monitoring
  • Precise adaptation to a hydraulics system by means of electronics and intelligent software developed in-house
  • Parameterisable controller electronics with bus connection (HART, Profibus, etc.)
  • Sensitive control characteristics
  • Precise proportional valves
  • Reduced electrical power
  • Ease of maintenance
  • Blue Competence products
  • Individual customer-specific adaptations
  • Worldwide customer service