Product category:
Valve positioners and actuators
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Instrumentation + Automation) | Subject: ABB actuators
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 21 April 2006
ABB actuators slash maintenance at
Longannet
ABB has supplied over GBP300k of electric actuators as part of an overhaul at the Scottish Power Longannet power station
ABB has supplied over GBP300k of electric actuators as part of an overhaul at the Scottish Power Longannet power station Located at Kincardine-on-Forth, Longannet is the second largest coal-fired power station in the UK and one of the largest in Europe
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 9 Oct 2007 at 8.00am (UK)
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It has an installed capacity of four 600 MW units and produces enough electricity at full load to meet the needs of two million people.
According to process engineer Drew Welsh, the old power station actuators were obsolete: 'We can't get spares for them and they're troublesome on a daily basis.
We just don't have the manpower to deal with the problems'.
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When it came to choosing replacements, engineers at Longannet looked to the example of their colleagues elsewhere within Scottish Power.
The Longannet sister power station, Cockenzie, was fitted with electric actuators from ABB 15 years ago.
'The ABB actuators at Cockenzie have been running trouble-free so we knew they were reliable before we bought them,' says Drew Welsh: 'Even so, we initially bought two and ran them for a couple of months before ordering the rest.
These first two have also been running trouble-free since.' Each mill at Longannet burns up to 40 tonnes per hour of pulverised coal.
Each of the four generating units is fed by coal from eight pulverising mills.
Two dampers on each mill control the airflow that both conveys the coal to the boiler and then provide combustion air.
It is critical to control the amount of air entering the boiler in any power station.
Too little air results in incomplete combustion while too much reduces the efficiency of the overall energy conversion from fuel to electricity.
ABB has now supplied 56 part-turn actuators to control the mill dampers.
This is sufficient for three of the four production units plus eight spares.
These actuators regulate the flow by turning the dampers through a range of 90degrees.
The first 16 have now been being fitted and the rest will follow during future shutdowns.
ABB has also supplied new actuators for two other applications at the site.
Some control the feeding valves, which control the flow of water to the boilers.
The others control the 'de-sup' spray, which injects water into the boiler to prevent the steam temperature rising above the 565C required by the turbines.
ABB linear actuators are being used in both these applications.
Scottish Power has now bought a total of over 70 ABB actuators for Longannet.
According to Drew Welsh, more orders will follow provided the first actuators perform as expected.
All ABB actuators offer S9 duty continuous control with a virtually wear-free operation, as well as the highest positioning accuracy and stability available, regardless of positioning time.
The continuously operating actuators feature stall-proof motors that do not require torque or position-dependent protection or increased starting current.
With a low-friction spur wheel gear and a three-phase motor, these actuators can offer maintenance free operation for long periods of time.
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