February 19, 2025
Welcome to our Website.
If you don’t know us, LCC has been designing and installing steam turbine control system upgrades since 1977 when Feed Pump Turbine control systems were made for Ottertail Power Big Stone Station and Commonwealth Edison Zion Nuclear Station.
In the years since LCC has retrofit the US Navy Nimitz-Class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier fleet, and hundreds of power and process turbines using the best modern components.
If you have been troubled by the poor reliability of your EHC Skid components, E/H Converters, actuators, and high maintenance for all, recent LCC developments of special controls hardware may be of interest...
After seven years of research LCC developed the “Oil-less” Upgrades for synthetic high pressure EHC and bearing oil operated hydraulics which removes all hydraulics from both the speed/load control valves and the trip/stop valves. Removing dependence on the hydraulics and hardening trip systems with direct electromagnetic trips has completed LCC’s full system solution. As in previous control upgrades LCC fills the “missing links” with high reliability designs to complete a full system modernization.
These upgrades are briefly listed in the following. Please contact us for more information.
Kim A. Lovejoy, President
Lovejoy Controls Corporation
EHC Skid Reservoir Pumps, Filters, Accumulators, Coolers, Piping, PCVs
All hydraulic valve actuators, E/H Converters, Modulating and Trip
Existing Turbine Trip Logic System
Redundant Electric Actuators with LinkX Adaptation on Modulating Valves
Redundant Electromagnetic Trip on Trip Valves
2oo3 Trip Manager with Condition Monitoring
2oo3 Trip Sensor Upgrades
Electric Actuator Reset Controllers for Stop/Trip Valves
High Pressure Oil Skid AC Pumps and PCVs
All hydraulic valve actuators, E/H Converters, Governor and Stop Valves
Existing MFPT Trip Logic System
Bearing Oil Pressure Replacement AC Pumps and PCVs
Redundant Electromagnetic Trip on Stop Valves
2oo3 Trip Manager with Condition Monitoring
2oo3 Trip Sensor Upgrades
Electric Actuator Reset Controllers for Stop/Trip Valves
Why is an EHC Delivery System needed to position steam turbine valves?
It’s NOT NEEDED! Contact LCC!
Turbine Rotor Deflection Monitor System
Product & Services Summary
Eccentricity Monitoring
DIGITAL GOVERNORS, ELECTRIC ACTUATOR CONTROL VALVE UPGRADES, SELF-CONTAINED STOP VALVE HYDRAULICS, OVERSPEED TRIP MONITORS
DIGITAL NETWORKED VIBRATION MONITORING, ROTOR DEFLECTION MONITORING, ECCENTRICITY, THRUST
MID to LARGE MAST DEFLECTION MOTION ANALYZERS, CUMULATIVE MAST STRESS MONITORS
ROTOR BOW WARNINGS, MULTIPLANE DYNAMIC BALANCING
FEASIBILITY OF MODERNIZATIONS, OBSOLETE COMPONENT REPLACEMENTS, CONTROL RISK ANALYSIS
Technological improvements in steam turbine control have vastly improved over the past several decades. It is now straightforward to upgrade older steam turbines with modern state-of-the-art control and instrument systems which eliminate use of turbine lubricating oil for speed control and provide far superior reliability and reduced maintenance.
With the experience of hundreds of turbines upgraded, LCC has developed fully engineered Upgrade Packages for steam turbines ranging in size from small single-wheel API 611 general purpose to multi-valve mechanical and generation drive units. The advantages of bringing in LCC for improving your turbine controls are:
We design the entire mechanical and electrical retrofit using the best available commercial components combined with LCC’s proven line of governors, controllers, and instruments and we will even use competitor’s hardware in cases where it is a better fit .
We assemble entire systems in our test shop and operate them in simulated running environments with load and speed test feedbacks simulated to application conditions. This provides a one-on-one FAT (Factory Acceptance Test) validation which sorts out any component integration issues at our facility, not your plant during start up!
We provide instruction manuals covering all package components and training instructions for operation and maintenance which include system drawings, renewal parts lists, and PM procedures.
Our customer list includes the US Navy, ten nuclear power plants, twelve fossil power plants, ARAMCO, and sixteen process plants.
For the API-611 General Purpose steam turbines the overwhelming weak links have been the mechanical Overspeed Trip Systems and the Throttle/Governor Control Systems. The substandard function of either system will eventually result in damage to the turbine blades, the simultaneous failure of both systems immediately results in disaster.
The logical solutions to these liabilities is to correct both the speed control and the OST systems to much more reliable and repeatable designs which include zero turbine stress functional proving tests. This is the benefit of the proposed LCC controls upgrade packages.
Mechanical overspeed trip upgrades to fully electronic or electronic/pneumatic 1oo2 SIL precision systems with no use of mechanical trip bolts, latch linkages, nor turbine lubricating oil.
Roller screw electric actuator upgrades replacing mechanical/hydraulic or pneumatic control valve positioning which eliminates the use of turbine lubricating oil and greatly improves speed control.
Mechanical/Hydraulic speed governor upgrades to fully electronic simplex digital governors.
Email LCC at info@lovejoycontrols.com with your plant name, location, turbine type, manufacturer, inlet steam pressure and Trip Throttle Valve (TTV) or Stop Valve details for an UPGRADE TECHNICAL PAPER outlining EMA (Electro-Magnetic Actuator) control which eliminates mechanical trip linkages and all turbine oil feed hydraulics for the turbine trip system
Continuing use of turbine lubricating oil for hydraulic valve positioning predictably results in forced outages due to turbine shutdown from contamination and malfunction events of control and stop valve positioning servomotors and cylinders.
For reliable, safe turbine operation with greatly improved control precision, LCC offers four upgrade packages custom engineered and proven by decades of successful operation.
Mechanical overspeed trip upgrades to fully electronic or electronic/pneumatic overspeed trip 2oo3 SIL precision systems with signal injection and diagnostic monitoring.
Roller screw electric actuator upgrades replacing hydraulic servomotor control valve positioning which eliminates the use of turbine lubricating oil.
Mechanical/Hydraulic speed governor upgrades to fully electronic 2oo3 digital governors designed for electric actuator compatibility.
Email LCC at info@lovejoycontrols.com with your plant name, location, turbine type, manufacturer, inlet steam pressure and Trip Throttle Valve (TTV) or Stop Valve details for an UPGRADE TECHNICAL PAPER outlining EMA (Electro-Magnetic Actuator) control which eliminates mechanical trip linkages and all turbine oil feed hydraulics for the turbine trip system
Original MFPT control systems (General Electric, Westinghouse, DeLaval, Worthington from 1970's) depended upon turbine oil hydraulics for the speed control and emergency trip systems. These systems suffer a very poor reliability record from component contamination and internal mechanical seizing, often initiating immediate load reductions or plant trips upon failures.
Why the seizing and fouling? The oil utilized is higher pressurized bearing lubrication oil which has a tendency to be contaminated with water, pipe corrosion and pedestal flange sealant all downstream of filters. Also the oil tends to foam easily introducing air bubble voids to hydraulic components which in time promotes corrosion and seizing.
Another liability was introduced by the universal oil suppliers’ changeover from special-run non-detergent turbine (“Non-Pareil”) to automotive style detergent multi-viscosity oil in about 2012. This appeared to be a good idea until the detergent oil began cleaning the piping and passages of pipe contamination which are then transported to hydraulic orifices, relays, and pilot valves for detrimental result
Replacement MFPT control systems circa 1980 to present at some plants utilizing high pressure EHC dedicated synthetic fluid delivery skids and hydraulic operating cylinders have not been a solution. High system maintenance of EHC Converters (No. 1 steam turbine reliability problem per EPRI) and filtration issues have introduced equally poor performance concerns. The lack of full 2-of-3 control and on-line maintenance replacements further lowers reliability.
What’s needed, and available from LCC, is a 2020's upgrade solution which totally abandons any oil use (or pneumatic use) from the speed and trip control of the turbines and brings the control logic and diagnostic features into the 21st Century.
Email LCC at info@lovejoycontrols.com with your plant name, location, turbine type, manufacturer, inlet steam pressure and Stop Valve details for an UPGRADE TECHNICAL PAPER outlining EMA (Electro-Magnetic Actuator) control which eliminates mechanical trip linkages and all turbine oil feed hydraulics for the turbine trip system
The Fossil Plant boiler feedwater pump and forced draft fan turbines are often passed over for upgrades with the main turbine-generator sets receiving most improvement attention. Continued for years, this results in serious reliability problems and control liabilities.
A rapid restoration to modern, reliable control is available through the LCC Upgrade Packages which bring the OE 1950's technology controls to 2021 standards of excellence.
Mechanical overspeed trip upgrades to fully electronic or electronic/pneumatic overspeed trip 2oo3 SIL precision systems with signal injection and diagnostic monitoring.
Roller screw electric actuator upgrades replacing hydraulic servomotor control valve positioning which eliminates the use of turbine lubricating oil.
Mechanical/Hydraulic speed governor upgrades to fully electronic 2oo3 digital governors designed for electric actuator compatibility.
Email LCC at info@lovejoycontrols.com with your plant name, location, turbine type, manufacturer, inlet steam pressure and Stop Valve details for an UPGRADE TECHNICAL PAPER outlining EMA (Electro-Magnetic Actuator) control which eliminates mechanical trip linkages and all turbine oil feed hydraulics for the turbine trip system
The reliability problems of the small marine turbines have followed those of their land based cousins. Modern retrofits can eliminate chronic equipment problems while improving control precision and reducing routine maintenance.
LCC’s experience in retrofitting the US Navy Nimitz-Class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier fleet is available on a commercial application for merchant ship applications and on a military application pending US DOD approvals.
Contact LCC for naval application discussions.
The post-Fukushima mitigation FLEX Plan addressing reactor loss of coolant presented by the NEI and accepted by the NRC calls for the ready standby of land and helicopter transported diesel-driven pumps using pond water to mitigate power loss to standby emergency feed pump turbines such as PWR AFW, and BWR RICSI, LPSI, and HPSI. While the FLEX Plan meets statutory requirements it does not address the inherent lack of reliability of the turbine controls and power dependency which remain a severe safety liability.
Essentially the same turbine hardware and related reliability problems of the nuclear plants have been proactively addressed by the gas/oil/process plant for the equivalent API-611 General Purpose turbines which have established a solid justification for upgrades. Depending on the specific nuclear application, controls upgrades may include:
Contact LCC for specifics of upgrades for nuclear emergency feed pump drive turbines.
The first new technology in turbine vibration monitoring since 1965!
Now 100% digital, networked on a single cable, with accuracy enabling rotor deflection measurements with unparallel precision.
The LCC Turbine Ultrasonic Monitoring Systems abandon the need for miles of analog cable installation, marshaling cabinets, and racks upon racks of soon obsolete filtering and conversion electronics.
Available for turbines, from small up to the largest tandem compound units.
Utilizing Flexible Rotor Analysis, the new ultrasonic probe/analyzer pods detect displacement, phase, and harmonics without shaft interference from dents and nicks and without analog cable run EMI interference resulting in a great monitoring improvement.
Instead of this ...
Large unforseen wind generator mast stresses have posed a vexing, dangerous, and equipment damaging threat. Conventional analog chip accelerometer based inclination sensors hold neither the precision nor the bandwidth useable for stress monitoring. This void is now filled with the LCC Model 130 Wind Generator Masthead Deflection and Stress Monitor. The 100% digital Model 130 produces a data set of parallel quality to the best of meteorological instruments, but determining equivalent properties of mast deflection. The data set output updates the five data sets in the following chart on a ten second interval via WIFI or hard-wired serial link:
The data sets provide a continuous cumulative deflection history which when combined with the mast design stiffness provides a strain log. Units evidencing gust excursions of high magnitudes or at resonant frequencies may be targeted with damping modifications while those that do not experience such transients are not in such need.
The 100% digital application of LCC’s ultrasonic displacement probes eliminates any EMI/RFI disturbance of data, and the frictionless target damping technique employed critically damps the target motion. Two 90̊ x/y probes each have analyzer pods determining immediate deflections corrected for temperature and humidity. A vector pod combines data for a vector position and determination of Peak Deflection, Peak Deviation, and 512-bin FFTs in both primary and side wind directions over 0 to 10.0 Hz. frequencies.
Contact LCC for purchase or rental arrangements.
Following a major overhaul of a compound turbine-generator set which includes repairs and/or modifications to rotors, the probability for the need of rotor balancing is high. While the OEM balancing facilities now offer full speed approximate* rotor balancing this comes at a very high cost and additional lost generation due to multi-day even weeks extensions of the outage. An alternative is available from LCC Service which utilizes the ultrasonic displacement system probes and analyzers in a portable rotor deflection monitoring kit which quickly sets up and is removable under turbine operation.
Contact LCC for a quotation and information bulletin.
* High speed machine balancing of rotors is approximate in that the balance corrections are performed without equivalent blade group deflections from the steam load which significantly affect rotor deflection caused vibration. For this reason trim balancing in-situ is often needed.
LCC can evaluate your existing steam turbine controls and instrument systems and provide an Evaluation Report with recommended areas of improvement. This service addresses some simple solutions to routine problems often associated with previous upgrade projects with minimal cost impact. A typical listing of fault issues includes:
Contact LCC for turbine evaluations as a first step towards solving turbine problems.
LCC was founded in 1978, began by ex-OEM turbine engineers. LCC has been producing turbine governor controls and turbine instrumentation for the power and process industry since conception:
Since 2015 LCC has developed a new generation of high accuracy and 100% digital Ultrasonic Displacement Probe as a basis for the first turbine Rotor Deflection Monitoring and wind generator Masthead Deflection Monitoring Systems.
Located in southeastern Wisconsin, LCC serves customers worldwide.
LCC is located in our new headquarters with modernized facilities at N30W22377 Green Road, Suite E, Waukesha Wisconsin 53186.
Lovejoy Controls Corporation
N30W22377 Green Rd. Suite E
Waukesha, WI 53186
Phone: 001-262-542-9061
Advanced Control Company
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Dammam
King Abdulaziz Road
For inquiries
info@advancedgulf.com
+966505664492
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