Overview
The repair helped the operator side-step more than a year of lost production time—and significant associated revenue—as well as a multi-million dollar investment had a full unit replacement been necessary.
The challenge
When it comes to steam turbine operation in industrial facilities, nothing poses more risk of unplanned, extended outage time than rotor-related issues. Operators at a sawmill facility in the western U.S. found themselves faced with such a situation when damage to their turbine’s rotor forced its entire production offline. As a producer of nearly half a billion board-feet of stud lumber each year, it was paramount for the mill to resume operation as quickly as possible. This quandary required a creative solution to avoid the manufacturing time and cost of a full rotor replacement.
The solution
With the rotor of a steam turbine essentially acting as the unit’s backbone, repairing or replacing this equipment typically takes a considerable period of time. In this case, however, the Steam Power Services team was able to deliver a custom bolting repair by isolating the scope of work to the rotor’s shaft component. This uncommon approach was enabled through extensive engineering analysis to validate that this short-cycle solution could deliver the unit back to service with reliable and safe operation…and do so cost-effectively.
Outcomes
This service project was performed in a matter of months, and also included the replacement of three rows of steam turbine blades that had likewise suffered damage. The repair helped the operator side-step more than a year of lost production time—and significant associated revenue—as well as a multi-million dollar investment had a full unit replacement been necessary.
Stud lumber is sustainable material, and serves as the foundation of frames for numerous structure types. This critical material is the reason helping the mill—one of the largest of its kind in North America—resume operation in a matter of months was so important.
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