"We ought always to deal justly, not only with those who are just to us, but likewise to those who endeavor to injure us; and this, for fear lest by rendering them evil for evil, we should fall into the same vice." - Hierocles
The 2024 steam turbine major and generator rewind outage is coming to a close. This has been - far and away - the worst and most difficult outage I've ever experienced. The generator rotor did not leave on time, and repair of that item on the other side of the country was the basis for the length of the outage.
It left our site three days late, because the carrier arrived with a defective trailer and worn tires - so a new carrier had to be located and travel to our site. Then there were "labor issues" at the electrical shop where the rebuild took place that caused additional delays. GE never made clear to us what the issues were, but that added more time to the rewind.
In any event, the generator rotor arrived, and has been installed. We await GE to finish the work and sign off the equipment clearances so that we can start up, perform balancing, and be done with this. The 8 week long outage has now gone 10 weeks, and I'm sick of my life revolving around work.
Speaking of being sick, I mentioned that I "probably" had Covid-19. It took three tests, but yes I had Covid. It pancaked five of us at the same time at work. I've still got a deep cough due to walking pneumonia - probably an opportunistic infection by some other bacteria. I'll get to a clinic in a few days and see about getting some antibiotics for it - maybe a Z-pack.
A few more pictures of the outage follow.
Loading the IP/LP steam turbine rotor to adjust clearances.
Steam turbine rotor turning at 5 RPM on the balancing stand. Note the oil dripping from the bearing saddle.
Below: The gear and belt arrangement for turning the rotor on the stand for balancing.
Below: Top down view of the balancing stand and the rotor.
Below: New set of blades, aka "buckets", prior to shroud installation and machining.
Below: New shrouds installed
Just have to get through this week and hopefully we will be back to routine.
No comments:
Post a Comment