Monitor's Research & Development
Monitor has a long history of development of new coating systems and industrial applications. Not content with servicing purely traditional thermal spray markets, Monitor is always pursuing new applications where extreme environments affect the working life of components. In pursuit of these developments, Monitor continues to commit resources to research and development programmes, which include formal externally financed projects, collaborations and agreements as well as invaluable links with universities, academic institutions and centres of excellence in the chosen field.
- R&D expenditure was equivalent to around 8.9% of turnover in 2007 compared to 6.1% in 2006.
- R&D is conducted in-house and through consortium partnerships.
- R&D is conducted by in-house personnel and is also carried out in association with universities and research institutes.
- Our focus is on applied research and is industrial application based.
Project: Q3060B
Sealing and Surface Engineering Technologies for USC Steam Turbine Plant (700-760C)
SURF 700
Increasing steam temperatures beyond currently accepted limits to 700-760°C (ultra super critical temperatures) provide efficiency benefits over both standard and super critical plants. Major projects such as AD700 have been undertaken to develop the technology for major components such as boiler components, turbine rotors and casings and this technology is now being demonstrated in an operating power station in Germany. However, this increase in temperature also has significant impact on the long-term performance of other downsteam components, including rings and brush seals and on the performance of hard-facings and protective coatings.
Project: J3019E
Development of Flow Simulation and Process Control Tools for Thermal Spray Coating
FLOSS
As a cost-effective method to produce wear resistant, high temperature corrosion coating products, thermal spraying offers greater thickness capability, no part size restrictions with minimal noxious waste. However, complex multiphase flow generated in thermal spraying makes process control very difficult. Supported by a consortium including coating equipment manufacturers, service providers, end users and research providers, this project has proposed innovative methods to significantly reduce current costs of established high quality coating. Closely aligned with the competition theme, the main objectives of this project are: to simulate the multiphase flow; to develop flow function models integrated with CAE design and simulation tools; to develop a process control database to mininize the operation complexity and improve the quality of coating products.
Project: TP/4/MHP/6/I/22066
High Corrosion Resistant Coatings for Biomass Plant
HiCoat
The project will develop and demonstrate low cost coating technology to increase component reliability, extend plant life and increase operating performance of biomass-fuelled power units. It will address a major technical challenge of improving the high temperature corrosion and erosion resistance of components exposed to biomass combustion environments, without significantly increasing overall fabrication costs. A move to cheaper fuels based on organic waste, chicken litter, and straw based fibres, creates an extremely hostile high temperature environment containing relatively high levels of chloride and sulphur compounds, together with the occurrence of ash-based erosion. The project consortium represents a supply chain with complementary expertise to develop and exploit the new coating technology. It includes 4 SMEs, 2 large companies and 1 RTO and 1 consultancy, and covers both small and large-scale biomass power generation.
Project: NNE5-2001-00459
Coatings for Supercritical Steam Cycles
SUPERCOAT
The future power generation steam turbines are being designed to have higher efficiencies and to meet the stringent environmental regulations, ensuring plant reliability, availability and maintainability without compromising cost. Higher efficiencies can be achieved by increased temperatures. Therefore, the operating temperature is expected to rise from 550ºC to 650ºC and from the materials perspective two approaches are being followed in order to achieve this goal: 1) the development of new materials with both optimum mechanical properties and oxidation resistance at higher temperatures and 2) for the first time in Europe, the use of oxidation-resistant coatings, which can be applied onto high-strength steels. The work described in the following is aimed at the second approach.
Project: 508320
Development of Simple and Reliable on-line Monitoring Equipment for Thermal Spraying Control
DESIRE
Conventional optical pyrometry methods do not always yield a satisfactory result in case of temperature monitoring in complicated industrial processes such as thermal spray. For example, measuring the temperature of heated particles in thermal plasma spraying jets requires recognizing of a measured object by solving a mathematical problem. These algorithms should provide good robustness to ensure real time temperature monitoring. The project describes system and method for temperature diagnostic utilizing mathematical and physical models together with a “black box” device for monitoring certain parameters real-time in thermal spray.