SUVA is the largest accident insurance company in Switzerland.
In collaboration with employers, planners and trade unions, SUVA has launched “SUVA – Sicherheits-Charta”.

It is an alliance for more work safety at dangerous workplaces. The principle that the signatories of the Charta want to enforce at workplaces together is:

STOP in the event of danger / eliminate the danger / continue working

AST Turbo has also signed the SUVA – Sicherheits-Charta, reaffirming our intention to adhere to safety rules within our area of responsibility. This is another clear sign of occupational safety and health protection in our company.

AST Turbo was invited to contribute an article in the Hydrocarbon Engineering Magazine. Read here how Hans Buob discusses three integral areas of critical rotating equipment installation. Earlier articles can be found in our download area.

We are pleased to announce that we have achieved the ISO 9001:2015 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certification.

The certification process was successfully completed end of January and was highly praised by the auditor.

We wish all our customers, business partners and friends a healthy and prosperous 2018!

We are happy to announce that Mr. Luder Zegarra has assumed the role of Operations Manager within our company. Luder has joined AST Turbo as Service Engineer many years ago. During this time he demonstrated his capability on various projects on the technical, organizational and customer relations level. His new role includes project planning and pricing, assignment planning, job briefing and de-briefing. Mrs. Sina Harder will support him on all administrational aspects in the position of Operations Assistant.

We are sure the appointment of Mr. Zegarra as Operations Manager will be of great benefit to our customers.

To be closer to our customers and to improve our customer aligned services in Japan we are partnering with a local representation. UT Trade and AST Turbo jointly executed projects successfully in the petrochemical world. We are pleased to announce that UT Trade Corporation is supporting AST Turbo in the Japanese market. We trust this partnership further improves our service offering to local customers.

AST Turbo is proud to announce the new representations for Saudi Arabia.

A’Amal Group is an Arabic economic & business group founded by people with extensive oil and gas experience. The headquarters are located in the thriving Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, the global hub of oil production, refining and export. A’Amal and AST Turbo both share the ‘customer value’ approach. Together we will be able to provide superior, customer aligned services. The mutual benefits from this combination will be tangible and measureable.

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

>read more ...

>close