Heavy and manufacturing industries require regularly-timed shutdowns for the preventive maintenance of their facilities’ equipment.
In the middle of April 2022, one of our clients' plants in the cement industry had to undergo regular shutdown and preventive maintenance. During maintenance, they found that one of their 115kV SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) Circuit Breakers, which protects the plant's 25MVA transformers, suffered from low gas pressure.
An SF6 circuit breaker utilizes Sulfur Hexafluoride under pressure to extinguish the arc. This gas has excellent dielectric, arc quenching, chemical and other physical properties, which have proved its superiority over other arc quenching mediums such as oil or air.
The low gas pressure had already triggered its protection functions and prevented further operation of the unit. At the time, our clients decided to ask for support services from the NGCP to restore the gas pressure of their breaker, instead of immediately replacing the unit. However, leading up to the energization of the repaired unit, they still found the unit to be losing gas pressure. With this, our client decided to replace the unit.
ROI of Spares
Fortunately, in late 2021, our client decided to order a spare unit and Optimum Electrokonsult was able to deliver the unit early January 2022 (3 months earlier than its expected delivery date).
This item is an equivalent replacement of the existing circuit breaker, replacing a unit that had operated for over 20 years. Thankfully, one of our partners, Siemens Energy, still had an equivalent breaker that fit the need and dimensions of the previous breaker.
Because of this disruption, the plant was unable to operate at full capacity, and they were potentially losing millions of pesos per day. And because the Circuit Breaker operated at a very high voltage and involved a very potent greenhouse gas, this operation demanded a highly technical and critical service response.
Implications of this operation:
There are only a few specialized teams capable of doing the actual assembly, testing, and energization of the equipment.
Mismanaging this operation can lead to damage to the equipment to the point of no use.
Needing a new replacement unit will cause months of further delay and loss in production, given the current landscape in global logistics.
When we received the call from our client, we instantly reached out and coordinated the soonest schedule for action with Siemens Energy. Despite being engaged in activities in a petrochemical refinery plant, our colleagues from Siemens Energy accommodated our requests given the gravity of the situation.
Because of their support, we were able to attend to the assembly, testing, and energization of the breaker. And thanks to the expertise and collaboration among our client, Optimum Electrokonsult, and Siemens Energy, we were able to accomplish this within 24 hours upon arrival.
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