The fall months typically bring cooler weather and a busy schedule for the A-Line team. This year proved to be no different with the crews knocking out some large transformers, during short outage windows.
October has been a busy month so far with lots of small projects as well as conquering these three large transformer removal projects showcased in this blog.
We traveled to remove this 670,000 lb. beast after a failure occurred in the transformer’s tap changer. The team put together a plan to carefully navigate this decommissioning in place, due to the overhead and surrounding structures, including operational units.
Once on site, the crew got to work prepping to open this shell type transformer and tap changer compartment for examination by our customer’s engineering team. The conservator tank, bushings and other components were removed and the transformer tank lid was cut and then lifted removed by the crane.
Once the tap changer was open it was inspected. The failure, shown below, was due to arcing from a bad tap changer contact.
People often ask how A-Line completes jobs safely, efficiently and mostly how things stay so clean. SPOILER ALERT!! We’re going to share our secret in this next photo…
You got it! We have tiny little crew members running around-working around the clock. All are up to date on their safety and environmental training!
Well, that might be fake news but the truth is, A-Line crews have lots of training and our specialized equipment helps to keep things safe, clean and quick.
After removing the transformer’s top tank section we swifty removed well over a hundred ton of core steel from this transformer core.
The transformer core steel was then shipped for recycling, as were these massive windings.
Once the transformer windings were removed and shipped out the crew downsized the steel tank bottom for shipment and recycling.
The transformer was removed from the pad in 5 days in preparation for further construction and installation of the replacement transformer.
Another A-Line crew spent a week of October removing this 780,000 lb. shell type transformer in anticipation of a replacement unit. A-Line drained, transported and recycled the mineral oil from this transformer and then the crew started in on the dismantling.
Again the transformer was stripped of its auxiliary components and prepped for tank removal.
The core steel was harvested from this unit in quick fashion, followed with removal and transportation of the transformer windings for further processing and recycling.
Once the windings were removed the tank bottom was pieced out and shipped off. Clearing this transformer from the pad took 5 days.
Both of these transformer dismantling projects allowed our customers to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in relocation expense and weeks of time. This maximized the efficiency of the replacement project and minimized risk by eliminating the need for a large move and additional contractors on site.
A-Line hasn’t spent all fall removing transformers for outages. A-Line tackled this 875,000 lb. core style transformer this month as well.
The radiators were removed in preparation for opening of the tank to expose the core for dismantling.
The crew removed the lead structure, top transformer yoke and then pulled the windings.
We then made quick work of the core steel removal and shipment. All remaining tank pieces and components were shipped from the site for recycling and the laydown area was cleared.
Another 5 days in the books for the A-Line team.
Whether it is a time sensitive outage, forensic transformer investigation or just a standard transformer retirement project A-Line will always work to provide the safest, cleanest, most efficient service to our customers.
If we can’t do it, it can’t be done.
