A major Ethylene Plant consults AST Turbo to support in stabilizing the compressor operations.

The equipment suffered from serious speed instability on propylene compressor trains causing operational headaches and production bottle necks. Repeated troubleshooting activities by different organizations were not conclusive.

AST Turbo was called to the site and focused on a 360° troubleshooting approach. This structured approach determined a clear path forward within a short time.

The rotating equipment engineer summarized the situation: «AST Turbo was of great support in developing a structured and transparent solution to our longstanding operational issues».

The structured solution identified the steam turbine admission valve servo as the key element in need of attention.

The upgrade objectives by the customer were simple:

1. Speed fluctuation less than +/- 5 rpm compared to the set-point speed
2. No leaks
3. No flexible hoses (API)

AST Turbo proposed a solution that – in medical terms – would be called «minimum invasive surgery». The concept was convincing in many ways:

• Proven components are retained
• Only problematic elements are removed and replaced by state of the art technology components

This solution supported a low system price and easy to manage implementation risks.

The design allowed a drop-in replacement retrofit.

• No welding
• No machining
• No flushing
• Minimal wiring changes

This resulted in a short and predictable shutdown window reducing the production losses to a minimum:

The upgraded servo was commissioned by AST Turbo engineers within shortest time. Continuous production resumed directly after the first start.

The rotating equipment engineer expressed his satisfaction after the successful implementation: «AST Turbo’s convincing solution was selected from four bidders. The concept outmatched the others by its simplicity and unbeatable economic aspects. AST Turbo promised a lot; they exceeded our expectations by far. The installation of the new components was simplest. The process of commissioning couldn’t have been easier. Last but not least, the speed control capability is much more accurate than what we asked for. Needless to mention that compressor operation is finally under control»

AST Turbo servo upgrade being installed

 

Speed control characteristic before and after AST Turbo servo upgrade

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We are happy to welcome Mr. Kay Solterbeck in our Team. Kay joins as us Service Engineer/Project Manager.

He brings almost 10 years of Field Service experience to AST Turbo. Before joining AST Turbo he was with Alstom in various Field Service capacities. Earlier this year Kay supported the AST Turbo crew on an outage project in Asia.

Given his background and experience he will be a strong addition to our team for installation, commissioning and maintenance projects.

We are happy to report two new additions to our Service Team:

Mr. Manuel Tribelhorn joins AST Turbo as Service Engineer/Project Manager. Before joining AST Turbo Manuel was a Service Engineer for many years at Alstom Power in Switzerland. He has executed outages on many different steam turbines and other main machine equipment of various makes and power rating. Given this specific background he will strengthen our team for the execution of installation, commissioning and maintenance projects.

Mr. Bruno Bertschinger joins AST Turbo as Service Engineer. Before joining AST Turbo Bruno gained decades of experience in the execution of major turnarounds on reciprocating compressor, centrifugal compressors and mechanical drive steam turbines of various makes. Given his background he will be a strong addition to our team.

Onboarding new engineers with tangible experience and adding more capabilities to our team is of great importance to our company. With the present additions we are just continuing our path of building a team of strong contributors to the benefit of our customers.

PT Consolidated Electric Power Asia, an independent power producer in South Sulawesi Indonesia, called AST Turbo to its Sengkang Combined Cycle Power Plant Block I to carry out a planned C-inspection on unit GT11, one of their ABB/Alstom GT8C.

The outage was jointly planned & prepared by the AST Turbo Project and the PT Consolidated Electric Power Asia Operation & Maintenance team. AST Turbo provided the Project Management and Supervision of the critical components on the gas turbine, the gearbox and generator including commissioning support.

Mr Toby S. Kusuma, Power Station Manager of PT Consolidated Electric Power Asia was delighted with AST Turbo performance and said: “This was the best C-Inspection we ever did here in Sengkang, we are very much satisfied with the performance of the AST Turbo team and the result of the outage!” Mr Abdul Mukit Sanrang, Operations Manager stated: “The right engineering decisions could be found in a fast manner and the level of information and involvement was very high. Besides the technical capabilities of the AST Turbo team we appreciated the friendliness of all team members. The open minded behaviour made the interaction with the local staff very easy on all levels!”

The outage was completed within the planned period. The commissioning phase was rather short, all systems returned to service smoothly. The Sengkang Combined Cycle Power Plant Block I GT11 was re-connected to the grid 24hrs ahead of schedule.

We wish all our customers, business partners and friends a healthy, prosperous and happy New Year!

AST Turbo is proud to announce its new local representative Eco-Solutions & Alternative Technologies (ESAT) in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi is an important market for AST Turbo.

Eco-Solutions & Alternative Technologies (ESAT) is a local trading house that has established solid business in the industry. The rotating equipment service is an ideal complement to the current offering.

Sam Blaser says: “Abu Dhabi with its vast oil industry always figured strongly on our map. Initial meetings with the local customers have demonstrated a keen interest in our capabilities exists. We are looking forward to completing registration procedures with local customers – an important step for our company. With ESAT we have the right partner to develop long term mutually beneficial business relations with the Abu Dhabi rotating equipment operators.”

The registration process with local customers is nearing completion which encourages us to start serving customers in Abu Dhabi by providing cost effective rotating equipment services solutions.

The newspapers are full of articles about companies that are slashing jobs.

AST Turbo is creating new positions and increasing its work force!

We are looking for talented and committed Service Engineers that are ready to live up to our standards.

The ideal candidate is committed to service, already has a few years of experience in the industry of heavy rotating equipment, is prepared to travel up to 220 days/year world wide and is Swiss or based in the EU!

Are you ready for AST Turbo AG? Please contact us at info@ast-turbo.com.

The AST Turbo Field Service Team successfully completed the “MHI Supervisor Training of Steam Turbine & Centrifugal Compressor” Training facilities at Hiroshima, Japan.

During the different training sessions our supervisors were familiarized with the particulars of both steam turbines and centrifugal compressors manufactured by MHI, as well as the MHI requirements and protocols to be followed during installation and maintenance activities.

The technical knowledge and practical skills of the AST Turbo service engineers were constantly evaluated during the training by the MHI instructors. At the end of the training certificates for successful completion were received.

The continuous improvement policy followed by the AST Turbo management team includes enhancing capabilities of our service team in order to provide top class services to our customers, each and every time.