Payback time
For its turbine-generator at Cane Island Power Park, KUA selected a 12-inch, 2,400-gallon/minute Tekleen filter with a 500-micron screen. The utility bought the filter in 2005 and installed it during the plant's scheduled 2006 spring maintenance outage. It took a welder about four days to remove the old filter, install the new one, and connect its I/O lines to the plant instrumentation system.
Over the past 18 months, the new filter has performed exactly as expected. Because its 500-micron screen catches more, and smaller, particulates than the 1,000-micron filter it replaced, KUA no longer needs to shut down the plant's cooling system quarterly to clean heat exchangers. And since the Tekleen filter is self-cleaning, an operator doesn't have to waste several hours per shift attending to it.
“The self-cleaning filter is saving us a lot of man-hours and has eliminated some serious health concerns for our employees,” Butters said. “It easily paid for itself in just six months.”
—Contributed by Automatic Filters Inc.
PLANT SAFETY
Hang up those cables and hoses
During power plant overhauls, those myriad "temporary" cables and hoses snaking everywhere don't just make it harder to complete the project on time and under budget. They also represent a potential hazard to personnel and sensitive equipment like workstations. A Dutch firm, Westmark BV (www.cablesafe.com), has developed an inexpensive hook (Figure 6) that gets cables and hoses off the ground, eliminating them as possible causes of damage to gear or injuries to workers.
6. Mine or yours? To make it clear which contractors own which Cablesafe hooks, they can be ordered in different colors or even engraved with a name. Courtesy: Westmark BV
Cablesafe hooks earned their stripes at Dutch offshore oil and gas rigs and petrochemical plants by improving safety on decks, stairs, and scaffolding. Now, during a "turnaround" or shutdown of most plants owned by giants in both industries, contractors must use the hooks to suspend all their utility cables. Studies indicate that more than 20% of the accidents on overhaul projects are falls by workers who tripped on an electrical or welding cable or a fire or air hose.
These simple, S-shaped hooks are made of very strong, nonconductive, and inflammable reinforced polyester. They can be used again and again. During emergency situations, Cablesafe hooks help keep escape routes free of obstacles that can endanger the lives of plant personnel and firefighters.
Because the hooks are nonconductive, they eliminate the risk of inadvertently "frying" equipment or electrocuting workers. Based on experience, their use also reduces the number of temporary cables and hoses needed on a project and increases the longevity of those used by minimizing damage to them by sharp edges (Figure 7).
7. Safety first. Cablesafe hooks come in three sizes, and each clearly states its maximum load. At each end of the hook, there's a hole large enough to accommodate a cable tie-wrap. Courtesy: Westmark BV
Westmark's latest development is a fluorescent Cablesafe hook that glows in the dark. During the many power outages typical of overhaul projects, these hooks can serve as orientation points for personnel and help them escape safely from a potentially hazardous situation.
—Contributed by Westmark BV, represented in the U.S. by Intrepid Industries (www.intrepidindustries.com).
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