Voith BHS turbo gear units: Engineered in Sonthofen, manufactured in Crailsheim.
Reliability and efficiency are the key characteristics of the turbo gear units that are very important for customers of Voith Turbo Industry from all over the world. Voith BHS turbo gear units combine both these properties to a large degree, and have proven effective on the market for more than ninety years, often in demanding, decades-long, continuous operation. In Sonthofen, the more than 170-strong team at the Competence Center Turbo Gear Units continues to perfect this technology with functions like engineering, calculation, product management and service. The main manufacturing site with its unique test center is the Voith plant in Crailsheim. Taken together, these two know-how clusters underscore Voith’s strong commitment to turbo gear units.
Worldwide success story: Machines that run and run
It’s easy to claim that something is reliable, but it takes a lot of hard work to prove it: Countless Voith BHS turbo gear units have been functioning perfectly for 70 years and longer. Around 7,000 of the more than 20,000 units produced are still in operation. Voith Turbo Industry has all the original documentation and can therefore offer customized service packages.
Wide range of applications: Examples of application areas for Voith BHS turbo gear units
Power plants:
transmission of high power between turbines and generators.
Oil and gas industry:
in pump stations for transport through kilometers of pipeline.
Hydrogen industry:
high-speed versions to compress the lightweight energy source H2 for transport or storage.
Carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS):
for the capture, utilization and storage of CO2.
Superlative durability and maximum efficiency thanks to outstanding expertise
Whether they are used in power generation, conveying, transport, or the processing or production of energy sources, as a component in industrial drive trains, turbo gear units make a significant contribution to the functioning of the global economy. “In the industries in which our customers operate, one thing matters above all: maximum reliability – at speeds of up to 100,000 rpm and outputs of up to 170 MW. For us as a manufacturer, this means one thing: Our products have to come as close to perfection as possible. In view of the production losses and/or downtime costs for customers in the event of a defect of up to several million euros a day, this is a top priority for Voith Turbo Industry. To achieve this, our technical departments and shop floor workers in particular pull out all the stops, day after day,” says Dietmar Blumrich, Marketing Manager at Voith Turbo Industry Service. “In this context, our solutions benefit from the fact that they can draw on Voith Turbo’s decades of engineering expertise in turbo gear units. Some of these gear units have been in operation for more than 60 years,” explains Felix Jahnke, Vice President Product Management Turbo Gears. “A customer survey of more than 330 turbo gear units showed that the mean time between failures (MTBF) of our gear units is more than 100 years.”
However, for more and more operators, the question of equipment efficiency is coming to the forefront. Turbo gear units are designed to transfer power from the drive unit to the driven machine in a way that avoids loss of energy and consequently, money. In this context, Voith BHS turbo gear units offer impressive innovations – especially in conjunction with gearing and bearings, which are responsible for most of the losses in a turbo gear unit. “Depending on type, our gear units achieve efficiencies of up to 99.4%. Given the often decades-long operation of the equipment in combination with high outputs, this can amount to over a million euros over the lifetime of the turbo gear unit at a power loss saving of 0.1%,” says Felix Jahnke.
- Efficiency of up to 99.4%
- Speeds of up to 60,000 rpm
- Power transmission of up to 85 MW
- Efficiency of up to 98.5%
- Speeds of up to 70,000 rpm
- Power transmission of up to 82 MW
- Efficiency of up to 99.4%
- Speeds of up to 80,000 rpm
- Power transmission of up to 45 MW
- Efficiency of up to 98%
- Speeds of up to 100,000 rpm
- Power transmission of up to 170 MW
- Breakaway torque of up to 130,000 Nm
- Speeds of up to 600 rpm
- Motor output of up to 200 kW
- Torque of up to 1,500,000 Nm
- Speeds of up to 80,000 rpm
- Power transmission of up to 150 MW
- Fast deliverability of original spare parts, even after decades
- Extensive head office and local pool of service technicians with years of experience
- Worldwide network of service hubs with workshops
- Fast, expert assistance from Technical Support
- Use of cutting-edge communication channels and analysis tools
- Retrofit experts for the modernization and upgrading of turbo gear units and drive trains
Sonthofen Competence Center: Concentrated expertise for optimized gear unit solutions
In the last few years, Voith Turbo Industry has established its Sonthofen site as a competence center for turbo gear units. The 170-strong workforce, including 120 engineers, technical experts and gear system specialists, is available to support customers with their extensive expertise.
The various teams have comprehensive knowledge of the diverse turbo gear units for speed requirements of up to 100,000 rpm or power transmission of up to 170 MW – and can implement customer and order requirements with pinpoint accuracy. The gear units are designed in line with the state-of-the-art based on the latest calculation methods and software, in some cases using add-ons developed in-house.
Specifically, the center’s engineering expertise covers the following components and disciplines:
Competence Center Turbo Gear Units Sonthofen: Concentrated expertise and numerous benefits
Never let a customer down: Spirit of partnership thrives in worldwide service network
The Competence Center Turbo Gear Units in Sonthofen is also the headquarters of the company’s worldwide service activities. It is home to 60 employees in various departments who are part of the service team. They include eleven service technicians and 17 colleagues in the gear unit workshop at the Voith plant in Crailsheim. In keeping with the motto “Never let a customer down”, turbo gear units from all manufacturers can be serviced.
As well as maintenance and repairs, the service also offers extensive upgrades to in some cases decades-old turbo gear units. Led by four highly qualified experts, several teams implement around 100 retrofit projects a year. They are supported by a separate department that deals only with service engineering, i.e., the professional technical execution of repairs. Within the scope of the service orders, an integration of upgrades to improve output and efficiency generally helps to adapt existing solutions to new and more stringent requirements.
Voith Turbo’s turbo gear unit service in figures:
Fast delivery and implementation of spare parts
From the customer’s perspective, what matters particularly in the service business is the ability to promptly deliver spare parts. Fourteen experts from the team in Sonthofen process more than 1,100 orders a year, put together technical documentation, and take care of the implementation of the components. The latest remote technologies are used for the diagnosis of operating data, which also allows for a fast response time. On average, the customer has an offer after 5.5 days.
Voith plant in Crailsheim: Manufacturing, assembly and testing facilities of the highest standard
In the last three years, Voith Turbo Industry has invested heavily in the infrastructure for the manufacturing, assembly and testing of turbo gear units as it continues to strengthen this location. A gear torsion test bench for an output of up to 90 MW and a test bench for the bearings used have recently gone into operation. This investment underscores the importance of this product category within the Voith Group – and represents a clear commitment to the continuing shared future with its more than 2,000 turbo gear customers.
Benchmark for power-dense gear units: The largest power distribution gear unit from Voith Turbo to date before delivery to the test rig in Crailsheim: type MWG 125 offers 60 MW power range and an efficiency of 98.74%. The speed of rotation is up to 178 m/s, that is more than 640 km/h.
Manufacturing to the highest standard
Gear units meeting the most stringent requirements in respect of reliability and efficiency at high speeds and torques necessitate a high-precision production facility and extensive know-how. Gearing is ground to an accuracy of 1/1,000 mm according to calculation specifications. To this end, the Voith Turbo Industry machinery pool in Crailsheim is both extensive and modern. The vertical integration is high, but the core area of expertise is in gearing and bearings. Innovative testing and measuring machinery and methods are also used to ensure the high quality of the application. Around 30 workers assemble the Voith BHS turbo gear units in two different areas, one for the large units and another for the small units. The team is highly qualified, with an average 14 years of experience, and undergoes regular professional development and certifications.
Uncompromising quality and intensive testing
To ensure the utmost reliability of the units, a thorough quality management system is indispensable. This task is handled by a specially trained team certified to carry out magnetic particle, dye penetration, ultrasonic, visual and x-ray testing in accordance with DIN EN ISO 8712. It is supported by modern measuring technology including an API laser tracker with an accuracy of +/-10 µm.
Naturally, the Crailsheim team thoroughly tests every unit on the test benches. This is the responsibility of ten skilled workers and engineers. They measure all important parameters like speed, torque, power, temperature, pressure, flow rate, vibrations, noise emissions, oil cleanliness and many more. The data are then analyzed by a software program developed in-house. The team is only satisfied when all data is in the “green” range, after which the turbo gear unit can be delivered to the customer.
Testing highlight: 63 MW torsion test bench for testing under rated speed and load – the most powerful such test bench worldwide.
Voith plant in Crailsheim: Alongside production and assembly, what is probably the largest and most modern production facility for turbo gear units in the world also offers 14 test benches for torques of up to 600,000 Nm and a service workshop that carries out 120 to 150 general overhauls and retrofit projects a year.
The Voith Turbo Crailsheim center for manufacturing, assembly and testing in figures:
