"The data are in. 4 thrust pads are under excessive stress. We need to lower the pivot screws." said a maintenance technician from CYPC calmly, keeping his eyes fixed on the real-time load deviation graph on the screen at the annual maintenance and overhaul site of the Three Gorges HPP. Nearby, the thrust bearing rested quietly in the unit pit, awaiting its routine inspection.

 The thrust bearing consists of assembled components including a thrust head, a mirror plate, and thrust pads. It serves as the load-bearing framework that supports the entire rotating parts of the hydro-generating unit. Each thrust pad must bear an even load. Uneven load distribution can cause localized overheating and wear, potentially leading to an unplanned unit shutdown.

In the past, conducting such an inspection on a thrust bearing was no easy task. 

"Numerous load measurement data will be generated during maintenance & overhaul. In the past, we had to repeatedly plug and unplug connectors, record data by hand while collecting them, and then input them into a computer for calculation. The process was cumbersome, and the data lacked stability" recalled GONG Haipeng, Deputy Director of the Mechanical Maintenance Department at the CYPC Overhaul and Maintenance Factory. Traditional diagnostic methods were time-consuming. Moreover, load adjustments relied purely on experience and intuition. Technicians had the feel for it, but it was hard to put into words.

 Now, things have changed. A smart device known as the "wireless monitoring system for thrust bearing load measurement", independently developed by the CYPC Overhaul and Maintenance Factory, has been quietly deployed, transforming this routine inspection.

 High-precision displacement sensors are installed on the pivot screws of each thrust pad. Much like attaching electrodes during an ECG, these sensors capture every subtle change in load in real time. Meanwhile, low-power wireless transmission technology eliminates the constraints of cables, instantly collecting hundreds of data points and transmitting them to the backend. A palm-sized wireless acquisition terminal acts as the "brain" of the monitoring system, quickly identifying and processing the data for visual display.

 The first set of complete load data appears on the screen, no longer as a tedious accumulation of numbers, but as a color-coded load graph in red and green. Which pad bears excessive load and which bears too little is clear at a glance.

The experience-based techniques that previously relied on the feel and judgment of veteran technicians can now be transformed into standardized data for analysis, comparison, and traceability. This represents not merely a leap in maintenance efficiency, but a vivid footnote to the hydropower maintenance industry's transition from being experience-driven to data-driven.