Page 97 - Impiantistica Italiana 5/2016
P. 97
Speciale “Manutenzione industriale”
VOITH
Variable speed drive undergoes an overhaul
after 47 years of service
Images taken on site, before the overhaul Whether as a drive for pumps and ginally scheduled as four to five weeks intervention,
During the reassembly compressors in upstream, midstre- the work was completed with a down time of just
Overhauled unit am or downstream applications two weeks, getting the coupling back into service
in the oil&gas industry or as boiler weeks ahead of schedule.
feed pump drive for power plants, During the assignment the unit was completely
the geared variable-speed cou- dismantled and deeply cleaned. Dimensional and
plings from Voith have become in- non-destructive tests were carried out to evaluate
dispensable when it comes to ma- the condition of the power transmitting parts; all
ximum reliability. the main bearings, the working oil, lube oil and au-
Combining a hydrodynamic va- xiliary lube oil pump bearings and all the wear parts
riable-speed coupling and a gear were replaced. The filter was updated with a more
unit in a joint housing, the special recent cartridge system and also safety items such
feature of geared variable speed as lifting lugs were replaced with new ones.
couplings from Voith is that they The refurbishment of the damaged output shaft re-
provide three functions in one ma- quired balancing of the output runner, which was
chine: Speed control, speed incre- performed in the dedicated production facility lo-
ase (gearbox), and an integrated oil cated in Crailsheim (Germany). The machine was
supply that delivers oil to the entire recommissioned in the completely overhauled train
drive train. with a Voith field service engineer supervising the
The variable-speed coupling on-site activities.
adapts the speed of the driven Now the geared variable speed coupling is rea-
machine to the process needs. dy to continue performing its job for many years,
Customers can save a considera- transmitting power wear free and controlling the
ble amount of energy compared to boiler feed pump speed very precisely, while al-
other control technologies such as lowing the operator to achieve a reduction in po-
a throttle control. With recommen- wer consumption.
ded overhaul intervals of eight years Voith currently overhauls another unit for the same
and a working life exceeding thirty customer to be put into service in near future in
years the servicing is also kept at another power plant.
minimum. Unplanned downtimes Voith Turbo, a Group Division of Voith GmbH, is a
are also prevented thanks to a re- specialist for intelligent drive solutions. Customers
liability of 99.97%. from highly diverse industries such as oil and gas,
Recently, a geared variable speed energy, mining and mechanical engineering, ship
coupling type R16K was overhau- technology, rail and commercial vehicles rely on
led at Voith workshop facilities in advanced technologies from Voith Turbo.
Reggio Emilia (Italy). The R16K was Voith sets standards in the markets for energy,
built and commissioned in 1969 for oil&gas, paper, raw materials, transport & automo-
speed control of a boiler feed pump tive. Founded in 1867, employs more than 20,000
in a power plant in the south of Italy. people, generates 4.3 billion euros in sales, ope-
Although the R16K coupling was rates in over 60 countries around the world and
still performing well, the company is one of the largest family owned companies in
operating the power plant had de- Europe.
cided to completely overhaul one of
the two parallel running trains. Ori- www.voith.com
Impiantistica Italiana - Settembre-Ottobre 2016 93
