Hydro Sensors

When you need to know what’s going on with your hydroelectric generator – especially while it’s in operation – Bently Nevada† has you covered with our family of proven Hydro Sensors.

We at Bently Nevada pioneered this space over 50 years ago with the launch of our eddy current proximity transducers to which have been added dynamic pressure, generator air gap, and stator end winding vibrations.

Our 4000 series capacitive generator air gap sensor sets the standard for real-time air gap measurement between your generator’s rotor and stator – vital if you want to understand your unit’s behavior under load. Air gap dimensions along with rotor and stator shape cannot be effectively measured with the generator out of service because of the combined effects of centrifugal, thermal, and magnetic forces. In short: you need real time monitoring to get real, usable data.

Our Hydro Sensors record multiple variables – not just one – so that you can obtain a more accurate understanding of your machinery’s vibration issues. And with increased data and understanding comes the ability to more accurately diagnose a problem, and react accordingly avoiding costly downtime, misdiagnoses, and in some cases avoiding costly tear-down inspections that weren’t needed.

Hydro Sensors Product Overview

Product Features

Provides Dynamic Measurements – Our Dynamic Pressure Sensor makes static and dynamic measurements for hydroelectric turbine or pumps monitoring applications. Dynamic pressure measurements can help you detect and understand hydraulic pulsations and instabilities associated with inefficient or damaging operating modes.

Our 4000 Series Air Gap Sensor System provides monitoring and diagnostic capability for all new and existing hydro generators and motor/generators and fully integrates with the 3500/46M Hydro Monitor and System 1† software.

Bently Nevada’s industry-proven and reliable 3300XL Proximity Probes and a full range of accelerometers and velocity transducers round out a complete solution for your hydroelectric generator protection and monitoring needs.

Product Family

The 4000 Series Air Gap Sensor System provides monitoring and diagnostic capability for all new and existing hydro generators and motor/generators, and fully integrates with the 3500/46M Hydro Monitor and System 1 software. Air gap is a measure of the distance between the rotor and stator in a hydro generator. Monitoring the air gap is critically important because both the stator and the rotor on hydro machines can be flexible and their shape and location are affected by operating centrifugal, thermal and magnetic forces. Air gap measurement is critical because the flexible stator assembly can become non-concentric or out-of-round. The monitor continuously measures average air gap, and minimum and maximum air gaps with their corresponding pole numbers. The software trends and displays these values, along with additional values related to the stator, circularities, and center offsets. The air gap monitoring system provides operations and maintenance personnel with early warning of impending problems with shape and concentricity of the generator rotor and stator. The 4000 Series capacitive sensor is available in two range options. The 20 mm system has a linear range of 18.3 mm, and is appropriate for use on small to medium generators. The 50 mm system has a 45.7 mm linear range, and is suitable for large generators.

Our unique 350300 Hydro-Dynamic Pressure Sensor directly connects to the 3500/46M monitor to provide static and dynamic pressures from the same monitor channel and can be displayed in time and frequency domain formats in the System 1 software.

Compatible Services

Unlock the full potential of our Hydro Sensor vibration sensor. When you pair Bently Nevada’s world-class hardware with any of our industry-leading complementary services, you know you’ll be getting the best holistic solution for your plant’s condition monitoring program. Some of our complementary services include:

• Hosted Solutions
• System Maintenance & Availability
• Machinery Diagnostic Services
• Machinery Health Audits
• Remote Monitoring & Diagnostics
• Site Project Management
• Design, Installation & Commissioning

Compatible Hardware

3500 – Our full-featured and versatile rack-based system with the largest usage across all assets and industries gives you the highest level of reliable protection through a proven track record of quality, and compliance with relevant industry standards and regulations.

3701/46 – Part of our ADAPT† family of distributed monitoring systems with a smaller form factor for mounting at the machine, this system provides machine protection via highly configurable vibration and position measurements while transmitting the values via Modbus/TCP over ethernet for trending in SCADA, PLC’s, control systems and historians.

1900/65A – Our 8 channel General Purpose Equipment Monitor can take your Hydro Sensor data and communicate those findings via Modbus RTU over the serial port and Modbus/TCP over Ethernet connections while providing flexible alarm programming, configuration, and signal processing typically associated with larger, costlier systems.