Beat the Heat!

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In our industry, working outdoors in all sorts of weather is part of the job.  Because you can’t stop working when it gets hot, it’s important to know how to protect yourself from heat and what to do if someone on your crew gets overheated.

There are two main kinds of heat illness – heat stroke and heat exhaustion.  Because they require different treatments learn to tell the difference between the two.

A victim of heat stroke has flushed, dry skin; a rapid heartbeat; loud, rapid breathing; and a high body temperature – 105F or more.  The victim may complain of dizziness and headache or may suffer from confusion, convulsions, delirium, or unconsciousness.  This is a medical emergency calling for quick action.  While one person calls for emergency services, others should get the victim cooled off.  Place the victim in a tub of cool water or use a hose or wet cloths to bring the temperature down.  Massage the victims hands and feet toward the heart to stimulate circulation of the cooler blood of the limbs.  Dry the victim off when the temperature returns to normal.  Repeat the cooling process if the body temperature rises again.

A victim of heat exhaustion looks very different from a heat stroke victim.  This person sweats profusely and has pale, clammy skin.  Body temperature is normal.  The victim may feel giddy and nervous, or may vomit or faint.  First aid for heat exhaustion is to get the victim to lie in a cool place and sip cool water.  Loosen the victim’s clothes and call a doctor.  A victim who is unconscious or vomiting will need to be taken to a hospital to be treated intravenously.

Heat exhaustion sometimes includes heat cramps.  This is caused by a lack of salt.  You can relieve the cramps by massaging the cramped muscles or pressing firmly on them with your hands.  If the victim has no other medical condition, you can give half a teaspoon of salt dissolved in 8 ounces of cool water or fruit juice.

Heat-related illness is no fun.  And it’s usually preventable.  Here’s what to do to keep healthy in hot weather:

If you’re not used to working in heat, start out slowly.  Drink plenty of water – at least eight ounces (one glass) every 20 – 30 minutes while on the job.  Drink a nutrient replenishing sports drink with electrolytes.  Avoid alcohol and carbonated drinks, which can cause dehydration and cramps.  Cut heavy, high-fat foods out of your diet and get plenty of rest.  Pay attention to warning signs – if you don’t feel good take a break.

One more thing – pay attention to each other!  You may notice a coworker with flushed skin and rapid breathing before he or she does.  And if he or she must go to the hospital, guess who gets to do his work?

Remember: Hazard Awareness + Hazard Mitigation + Focus = Zero Injuries

Chemical and Petrochemical Customers

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Power Services Group (PSG) is a preferred turbine services provider to the chemical and petrochemical industry.  Our Project Team structure – consisting of Technical Field Advisors, Foreman, Project Coordinators, and Turbine Mechanics – keeps the team members working together as regularly as possible.  The familiarity of our safety and quality processes and procedures by all members of our project team make PSG an ideal supplier for turbine maintenance projects at any chemical facility.  We specialize in the type and size range of most gas and steam turbines found within these facilities, and know what it takes to get the job done on-schedule and on-budget, all while following strict safety guidelines throughout the project.  If you have any upcoming turbine maintenance needs during your next turnaround please contact us today to learn more about how we can be of service to you.

Turnkey Turbine Outages

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With over 34 years of experience performing turbine generator maintenance and repair services, PSG knows what customers expect when it comes to managing an outage.

Above and Beyond

A PSG inspection is more than open, clean and close.  Our quote includes all of the work implicit to your Statement of Work to achieve a comprehensive inspection – minimizing Change Order surprises.  We examine every relevant aspect of the power train.  We perform meaningful measurements of components and clearances and record multiple measurements at each location.  Recording this extra data allows us to better identify potential problems and enables us to establish trends across successive inspections.

We have the right resources and the right people to provide professional and total turnkey outage service. That is, PSG will procure and manage all resources needed to complete your outage, and you can rest assured that our outage scope will be taken care of professionally and efficiently.

When you choose PSG for your turbine generator services, we immediately begin strategizing for your outage with our experienced project teams, our project-specific planning, our learned and tested processes, our customized tooling, and our attitude of safety and customer service.

  • Planning: PSG can help you plan for your next outage through the development of the workscope, parts requirements, tool inventory and recommendations, and bid documents.
  • Communication: We understand how important communication is and tend to over-communicate through daily status reports and daily project meetings.
  • Quality: PSG is so confident in our quality that we can offer a one year warranty of our work, including our PSG contracted suppliers.  This means that if you suspect a deficiency in our work on your outage, we will immediately come out to investigate.  If we find that the problem is our responsibility, we will immediately mobilize all resources necessary to correct the problem, at no cost to you.

If we find damage or deviation to specification, we perform a full assessment to diagnose the root causes behind the symptom and recommend actions to prevent its return.  These recommendations may include operational or maintenance changes.  The goal of our comprehensive measurements and proactive approach to repairs is the elimination of future forced outages.

Trust PSG and our experience in serving any of your power generation needs. Contact us today for more information.

Westinghouse 251B Gas Turbine Inspection

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We were recently contracted to perform a modified Combustion Inspection on a Westinghouse 251B Gas Turbine by a customer in the United States.  Below is a summary of the activities we completed during this inspection.  All activities were completed with an attention to safety, and our quality processes, to ensure a successful outage completion.

Upon arrival for setup of tools the unit was shut down and locked out to perform the inspection. The necessary roof sections were removed for crane access to disassemble the components. All combustion parts were removed and replaced with new/refurbished during the inspection – pilot nozzles, support housings, baskets and transition pieces.

During this outage, the upper half compressor case was removed for the inspection of the R1 – R7 in the compressor section.

During this inspection, due to the condition of the compressor it was decided to remove two bottom R-1 vanes (#21 & #22) for a visual inspection and then reinstall.

The inlet access door was removed for inspection of the inlet scroll and the Inlet Guide Vanes. The Inlet Guide Vane angles were checked and verified. The row #1 compressor blade tip clearances were also checked. The Inlet Guide Vanes were greased after inspection. The inlet was cleaned and visually inspected by the plant personnel and our Technical Field Advisor prior to closing.

The exhaust was opened, and the bullet cone inspection cover was removed for inspection of the exhaust bearing pedestal. The exhaust struts were inspected, and cracks were repaired as needed by the site welding contractor.

The end result was another successful turbine inspection – zero safety incidents, quality work, and an on-time and on-budget outage completion.

Gas Nitriding of Turbine Components

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One of the durability enhancements we offer for turbine components is gas nitriding.  Gas nitriding is a surface hardening process, where nitrogen is added to the surface of steel parts using dissociated ammonia as the source. Gas nitriding develops a very hard case in a component at relatively low temperature, without the need for quenching. As a result, a very high strength product with extremely good wear resistance can be produced, with little or no dimensional change. For valve components, these material enhancements translate into increased durability and service life and ultimately, reduced maintenance cost.

Gas nitriding can be a time consuming process, which is why we have the equipment in-house to ensure you receive the quickest turnaround times possible during your turbine outage.  If you want to learn more about this and other durability improvements we offer please visit our part manufacturing web page HERE.

 

On-Site Turbine Repair Services

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If it is beneficial to you to have turbine component repairs performed on-site, we offer our portable equipment to be ready when components are removed from the turbine.  Contact us today to reserve our portable repair equipment to be on-site for your next turbine outage.

Wind Turbine Machining

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We recently completed another uptower wind turbine shaft machining project.  Our equipment and personnel will travel to wherever the problem may be.  For the wind industry, it happens to be 200+ feet above the ground, but we’re happy to do this on your turbine deck or any other area in the plant as well.  Please give us a call if you have any emergent shaft machining needs, we’ll respond quickly and get your equipment back up and running.  For more information on our wind turbine specialty machining services please CLICK HERE.

 

Before

 

After

3D Component Scanning

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It’s that time of year again!  When turbines are running throughout the summer season it’s a good time to scan any common parts that you may need to order again in the future.  With our portable metrology-grade 3D scanning equipment, we are able to scan components within extreme accuracy.  You can ship your components to our shop, or we can bring the experienced technicians and scanning equipment to your facility and analyze the components right there at your site.  If you have any component engineering needs please give us a call.  We’d love the opportunity to help in any way we can.   CLICK HERE for our phone and email contact information.

Frame 5 Major Inspection

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We were contracted to perform a Major Inspection on a Frame 5 Combustion Turbine for an Independent Power Producer in the Northern U.S.  Upon arrival the unit was shut down and locked out to prepare for the upcoming inspection. The necessary roof sections and inlets were removed for crane access to remove components. All combustion hardware was removed during the inspection – liners, cross fire tubes, and transition pieces.

During disassembly there was a great deal of broken bolting experienced on this unit, mainly due to the fact it is an outdoor unit that has not been disassembled in many years. These broken bolts were removed by a local vendor as well as the repair of the threaded holes. The combustion hardware was not in great condition, with cracked liners and high wear on the fuel nozzles.  The crossfire tubes were severely worn. Exhaust cooling air piping was also found to be severally corroded.  The inlet access door was removed for inspection of the inlet and the IGV’s. The IGV angles and clearances were checked and verified.  The row #1 compressor blade tip clearances were also checked. The IGV’s were cleaned for inspection.  After the inspection the IGV’s with excessive clearance had the bushings replaced. The inlet was cleaned and visually inspected by our Technical Field Advisor and plant personnel prior to closing. The main oil pump was disassembled and inspected; bearings were scored so they were replaced with new ones from the customer. The spline shaft had moderate wear on the gear teeth, and was replaced as well.

The 9th stage hook fit was cracked and corroded which necessitated the removal of the aft compressor case. This section of the compressor case was removed and sent to a repair shop. Upon return to the site the aft compressor case was reinstalled with all bolting torqued to support the lower half.

All refurbished and new hardware from the customer’s inventory was checked, with serial numbers recorded and marked for location.

During the inspection all the upper half cases were removed as well as the upper half nozzles – 1st and 2nd.  The upper half bearings were disassembled, and the rotor was removed. The number 2 bearing was found to be severally worn and out of tolerance. This allowed the rotor to drop and rub components in the lower half of the turbine section. All of the used lower half parts were removed and new or refurbished parts were installed. The rotor was cleaned, refurbished stage 1 buckets were installed, and the journals were lapped, then installed with refurbished bearings. The customer supplied new or refurbished stage 1 and 2 nozzles which were installed during the outage. All of the upper half cases were installed; all bolts were torqued per specification.

 

After completion of the unit the LOTO was released and the customer prepared for the test run. We were released from site after the unit was at 5MW’s and had excellent bearing vibrations.

Another great project by our Operations team, and another satisfied customer!

Collector Ring Re-grooving

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We were recently hired to machine and re-groove a set of collector rings on a 7FH2 Generator.  This is a common service we perform during outage seasons when turbine generator outages are taking place and customers inspect the current condition of their collector rings and check groove depth.  When it is noted that the collector rings need machining and/or re-grooving we are contacted to bring in specialty equipment and experienced personnel to perform these repairs on-site.  The collector ring grooves and surfaces are machined, bringing the component back to within acceptable specifications.  If you are ever in need of collector ring machining and/or re-grooving please give us a call.  We’ll tool up and mobilize immediately and ensure we provide you with a safe, quality, efficient performance.  For more information regarding our generator collector ring repairs, see our line card HERE.

As Found

 

Re-grooved

 

After Machining