www.superbolt.com The ultimate solution for bolted joints
The Nord-Lock Group has been manufacturing safe and secure
bolting solutions since 1982. With the acquisition of Superbolt, Inc. in 2011, our products secure the toughest applications in the world.
Hydro power bolting applications can be especially On the following pages you will see example after example challenging. You need a bolting solution that can be installed of bolting problems solved with Superbolt tensioners from and removed safely and quickly. One that will keep your the Nord-Lock Group. In addition to Superbolt products, bolted joints tight through demanding operations and we offer wedge-locking solutions, expansion bolts, studs, improve your bottom line. That’s exactly what Superbolt and more. We look forward to working with you on your tensioners have been doing for over 30 years. ciritcal bolting applications. An old problem: Bolts larger than 1” in diameter cannot be effectively torqued to capacity with hand tools. To achieve high Torque vs. Preload Comparison Chart preload levels, some form of high energy equipment Thread Diameter 2” 3” 6” is required. Slugging wrenches and crane wrenches Equivalent Hex Nut Torque 5,160 lb•ft 18,925 lb•ft 106,868 lb•ft are dangerous and thermal tightening can be time Preload (lbs) 175,200 lbs 428,400 lbs 1,209,600 lbs consuming. Hydraulic wrenching can be expensive, time Superbolt Jackbolt Torque 57 lb•ft 114 lb•ft 189 lb•ft consuming, inaccurate and it often leads to thread galling problems. Hydraulic tensioning also shares some of these problems and adds problems with field retrofit. How They Work: The simple solution: The hardened washer is installed Superbolt Tensioners are designed as direct replacements ® first to protect the joint surface. for standard bolting. They can be threaded onto a new or The Superbolt tensioner is spun on existing bolt, stud, threaded rod or shaft. With Superbolt hand tight, for positioning. Easy turn Tensioners, bolting is fast, safe, easy and accurate - only hand tools are required! jackbolts “push” the nut body up, tightening the existing bolt or stud in Superbolt vs. Hydraulic Wrench: With a hydraulic wrench pure tension. one would need 18,925 lb•ft of torque to stress a 3” stud to 428,400 lbs using a hex nut. With a 3” MTX nut style Superbolt tensioner, only 114 lb•ft on each of the jackbolts is needed to produce the same bolt load!
3 Turbine Coupling:
Old Method: The old method of bolting was hours and standard removal required 150 to 250 man difficult, time consuming, and preload accuracy hours. The last removal required 260 man hours due was questionable. The old method used a to breakage of tools, galling of the base metal on combination of specially fabricated components the flange, and a broken and bent hydraulic cylinder and hydraulic rams to provide the power to turn system. the large diameter nuts. Manipulation of a very heavy 50 ton ram, “dead man”, and wrench were Superbolt® Solution: (18) 6-3/16” nut style required. The “dead man” weighed about 150 tensioners, (18) 6-3/16” Flexnuts. Superbolt JL-M lbs., the wrench about 250 lbs. Three workers (moly) lubricant was utilized to keep jackbolt torque were required for the procedure. Potential for to a low 156 ft-lbs. Installation was completed in back strain injuries, pinch point injuries, and about 2-1/2 hours (about 8 man-hours) utilizing 1/2” dropping of heavy components. Blocks were air impacts and hand torque wrenches. Bolt stretch welded to the lower nuts to keep them from was confirmed with a dial indicator. Jackbolt heads turning. Installation required 150 to 200 man were drilled for safety wire for additional precaution.
Kaplan Shaft Assembly:
Armored nut style Superbolts used on a Kaplan turbine to secure the shaft assembly.
Assembly of Kaplan Shaft. Superbolt armored tensioners successfully installed.
Couplings - Expansion Bolts: Application: Superbolt Expansion Bolts are ideally suited for shaft couplings, as seen here on this Francis type pump/generator shaft coupling at a pumped-storage facility.
Coupling Bolts Overview:
Couplings often require interference fit bolting elements for proper torque transfer. This makes manufacturing of the flange bores and mating bolts very expensive. For proper functioning of these bolts, high demands are posed upon tolerances and Generator to pump shaft coupling. surface finishes. The coupling flanges often require further mechanical adjustments during assembly. Moreover, installation and removal of the bolts requires large expensive tooling and is a tedious, unsafe, and time consuming process. It is quite common for the bolts to be stuck during removal causing unplanned and unwanted man hours to remove and replace them. Also, it is quite common that the flange holes end up being damaged in this process requiring further rework prior to accepting new bolts. Simple tightening with hand tools. The Solution: Superbolt Expansion Bolts replace close fitted or interference fit bolts. The innovative product design utilizes patented mult-jackbolt technology, along with a tapered stud and split sleeve, to eliminate the common bolting problems experienced with other bolting methods. As for the customer in this example, the bolting of the coupling was installed in several hours with simple hand tools. The customer was extremely pleased and even reported the Superbolt Expansion Bolt assembly. unit had “less vibrations” in operation as compared to previous operations with the conventional bolting hardware. Please see the cut-away view for further details on how the Expansion Bolts work.
Expansion bolts can be used for many
other applications than shown here.
5 Kaplan Turbine - Operating Rod Piston and Crosshead Nuts:
(left) 11-1/2” tensioners on top
location. Operating rod used to secure the servo piston.
Kaplan turbines are often used at low head
water sources with varying rates of flow. Optimum turbine efficiency is maintained by adjustment of the propeller type blades. A large servo piston attached to an operating rod is hydraulically activated to cause the rod to translate. On the other end of the rod, there are a series of linkages affixed to a crosshead, which converts the translation action into rotary motion of the blades. Typically large nuts with enormous tightening requirements are used to secure both the piston and the crosshead assembly to the rod.
Large blades shown on this propellor turbine shaft.
In this example, 11-1/2” and 13-1/2” Superbolt tensioners rated for 2.2 million lb preload were utilized these two applications. Achieving this preload with any other method is unlikely. With conventional torquing, 380,000 lb•ft and 450,000 lb•ft, respectively, would be required. The Superbolt tensioners easily achieved these levels with only hand torque wrenches and air driven impacts. These tensioners were supplied through the turbine OEM and are utilized by several other major OEMs for upgrades and repairs. 13-1/2” tensioner on bottom location of operating rod used to secure the crosshead and actuating linkages. Kaplan Blade Bolts:
Initial tightening done with standard 1/2” impact wrench. Final calibration with hand torque wrench. A representative of this company discovered Superbolt at a trade show just prior to the unit outage. Solution: (30) M60 bolt style Superbolt tensioners, The individual was very enthusiastic, two o-rings per bolt to provide a seal between oil stating: “We have been struggling lubrication and water flow through the turbine. with this problem for years! I can’t Extensometers were used for the first few bolts believe how simple the answer is!” He installed. The check confirmed .015” stretch achieved immediately consulted with engineering at 85 lb•ft jackbolt torque. Installation required about and purchasing to apply Superbolt 35 minutes per blade (6 minutes per bolt). tensioners to his unit. The bolt style tensioners were designed by Superbolt within two days of the initial inquiry from the trade show and the product was shipped within a week.
Old Method: Heating Rods with
extensometer check. Installation: 5-8 hours per blade due to time required M60 bolt style tensioner. Two o-rings (white arrows) were used to seal for heating & cooling of bolts, then internal oil from water flow. extensometer check. Removal required up to a full shift per blade.
7 Francis Turbine-Wheel To Shaft: (left) 1600 MW (4 x 400 MW) pumped storage plant. 5 1/2” diameter studs.
(below) 30 MW unit with 3 1/4”
diameter studs.
Problem: Bolting of the turbine wheel to the
drive shaft often requires overhead tightening. This often involves manipulation of a heavy Solution: Overhead work is simplified with the low hydraulic wrench in a confined area. Typical of torque requirement of Superbolt tensioners. Torques large diameter fasteners, galling and seizure are usually below 150 lb•ft. The tensioners are made can occur. from stainless steel to resist corrosion. Galling and seizure is eliminated.
Another Francis Turbine-Wheel to Shaft application example.
Ball Valve:
“ The time savings over the previous hydraulic method was “ 2-3 days...
Superbolt Tensioners have been used on ball
valves for many years, however most times the tensioners have been installed all at once during a reinstallation. One major utility approached Superbolt with a very inventive game plan to reduce the maintenance time for an upcoming outage.
Part of the planned spring outage by the utility
was to pull a ball valve off-line to do some turbine work, with minimal down time. The customer’s game plan was to have the standard nuts of the ball valve, which require hydraulic tensioners to install and remove, replaced with Superbolt tensioners prior to the outage. To accomplish this, the customer purchased (145) 4-1/2” – 8 tpi tensioners approximately 3 months ahead of the scheduled outage and installed them in their spare time over a several month period (2-3 per day) until both sides of the valve were fully outfitted.
During the spring outage 4 workers (2 per side of
the valve) removed all the 4-1/2” tensioners in 2-1/2 Also contributing to the time savings was the hours! The estimated time savings over the previous fact that the tensioners were not only accurate, hydraulic method was 2-3 days. Similar time savings but repeatable in providing consistent load from was also accomplished on reassembly of the valve. stud to stud. Initially, the tension on the studs was monitored with extensometers. After seeing Since this is a pumped storage facility, the plant sells repeatable results with the first few tensioners power at the peak times of the day to supplement installed, the remaining studs did not require any its other steam power plants. Therefore it’s essential further monitoring, unlike the hydraulic method. for the facility to minimize any down time and using Superbolt tensioners helped accomplish this. Bolt Stress: 55,000 PSI The estimated savings by reducing down time was Preload: 813,000 LB significant. Jackbolt Torque: 190 lb•ft
9 Pelton Turbine Coupling Bolts:
Pelton Turbine Wheel-to-hub bolting:
Kaplan Turbine Bearing Housing:
Problem: The main guide bearing on this small Kaplan turbine loosened while in service causing vibration and bearing failure. Since there is little room to work, a large torque wrench can not be used to tighten to the 417 lb•ft torque requirement.
Solution: (8) bolt style Superbolt tensioners
were utilized. The final jackbolt torque to achieve a preload of 48,600 lbs was 27 lb•ft. Small 3/8” drive torque wrenches eliminate workspace concerns. Total time for the Superbolt tensioner being tightened with a hand held torque wrench. installation was about an hour. 1200 MW Hydro Plant Nozzles on Pelton Turbines
Small head of Superbolt allowed engineers to cut costs Unit shown under construction. (3) 400MW Pelton units, (5) Nozzles/turbine. by minimizing bolt circle diameter.
This was a very large job for a new to open and close for maintenance. (420) 77mm and (330) construction project contracted 64mm stainless bolt style Superbolts were used for both the with a major turbine OEM. The hydro test and the installation of the nozzles. plant has (3) 400MW Pelton turbines utilizing 6,200 ft. of By incorporating Superbolt tensioners in the original design, head from the Valais mountains engineers were able to cut costs with a tight bolt circle and in Switzerland. A high operating compact injector design. Installation and removal was fast pressure of 207 bar (3,000 psi) and and easy. a flow rate of 75 m3/s (2650 ft3/s) put great demands on injector Required Torque: Superbolt Jackbolt Torque: design. SB-M64-6 x 285/w (Special) 192 lb•ft 236,050 lbs Equivalent Hex Torque: 8,760 ft•lbs The stainless steel injectors had to be designed as small as possible to SB-M72-6 x 320/w (Special) 199 lb•ft minimize cost and had to be easy 305,740 lbs Equivalent Hex Torque:12,760 ft•lbs
Plate installed for hydro tests. Impacts used to speed up installation.
11 When safety really matters
Joining parts together is one of the most critical steps when The engineers behind “Performance Services” add value
English • Printed in the U.S.A. • 01-2014
delivering a product or system. The Nord-Lock Group is focused throughout a project and ensure that your bolting application on solving the toughest bolting challenges. We offer a unique pays back multiple times. We can also assist you in the design combination of bolting expertise and a wide product range, phase with joint simulation and testing. Additionally, we help including wedge-locking technology and Superbolt tensioners – you ensure successful operations over time with our onsite all designed and developed in-house. support and remote product training.
Nord-Lock holds decades of documented success in every major Our mission is to safeguard human lives and customer industry, including oil and gas, energy, transportation and mining. investments by securing the world’s most demanding Our Production System includes rigorous internal testing and applications. The Nord-Lock Group looks forward to being your full traceability, and our products hold several certificates from partner in bolting solutions. independent institutes including AbP, ABS, DIBt, DNV and TÜV.
Authorized distributor: owned by Nord-Lock International AB or its affiliates. All other logos, trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks used herein are the property of Nord-Lock International AB and its affiliates or licensors. All rights reserved.
Nord-Lock, Inc. / Superbolt, Inc.
1000 Gregg St. Carnegie, PA 15106 Tel: 1-877-799-1097 1-412-279-1149 Fax:1-412-279-1185 Email: bolting@nord-lock.com www.nord-lock.com
