PRINCIPLES IN PLANT MANAGEMENT: LESSONS LEARNED THROUGH COAL PULVERIZER ANALYSIS - ST. CLAIR POWER PLANT - DETROIT EDISON

摘要

In recent years, St. Clair Power Plant had been experiencing an unacceptably high rate of shaft failures on their EL-70 pulverizers. A comprehensive root cause problem analysis identified the failure mechanism to be high cycle bending fatigue in a fretting corrosion environment due to the interplay of three major factors:(1) Utilization of defective replacement parts(2) Failure to maintain proper internal clearances and component alignment during pulverizer overhauls(3) Inadequate potential problem analysis and training when pulverizer modifications were made.Conclusions drawn were that:(1) Buying on price alone, without adequate parts specification and quality assurance, was no bargain.(2) Failure to perform quality work during pulverizer overhauls ultimately resulted in poor reliability, lost generation and costly re-work.(3) When modifying equipment, effective potential problem analysis was not performed. As a result the operators did not receive training in necessary preventive and/or contingency actions. This, in turn, led to pulverizer failures which otherwise should have been avoided.