NO N RO TA TI NG EL EC TR IC AL EQ UI PM EN T US 2 46 m ill io n EXPERT COMMENTARY KEEPING TURBINES SAFE Steam turbine losses and what you can do to mitigate even prevent potential turbine loss events During the period between 1989 and 2008 FM Global clients experi enced 17 steam turbine losses due to overspeed These incidents alone resulted in nearly US 60 million in property damage and business inter ruption expenses Speed control is vital to ensuring proper and reliable steam turbine operation An overspeed occurs when the rotation rate exceeds a safe value determined by the manufacturer and the consequences can be serious In the period cited 38 percent of the incidents involved mechanical drive units with a total repair replace cost of more than US 22 5 million Incidents occurred across a broad cross section of in dustries including utilities basic metals pulp and paper and chemical Overspeed events are not the only concern According to Lee Kenny assistant vice president senior engineering technical specialist FM Global problems can arise due to maintenance failures In an envi ronment where everyone is trying to minimize costs maintenance often gets short shrift says Kenny Therefore he says you need to be sure you are maintaining turbines properly and conducting certain actions at the proper time Because maintenance is expensive and doesn t provide instant payback it can be difficult to rationalize the value of the expense in the short term Ultimately though a lack of maintenance is directly cor related with increased spending in the long term in terms of equipment problems and failure By focusing on a machine s availability says Ken ny you can make a more immediate argument for proper maintenance Whether it is a steam turbine or some kind of industrial machine if it fails you are out of production he says Another practice that can help guarantee turbine reliability is to institute a program of regular testing Organizations should ensure that if there is a problem they can get back into operation quickly and that includes knowing where to get replacement components as well as personnel with special skills on short notice he says It is also important to ensure employees are trained and prepared to deal with the specific challenges of turbine operations Employees he says need to operate equipment within appropriate levels and should something go wrong be at the ready to take action To ensure you are doing all you can to prevent turbine losses ask yourself the following questions Do I have trained people available to deal with all the specific challenges of turbine operations Do they know how to operate equipment within appropriate limits If they see things going wrong will they flag maintenance and take action We have seen too many instances where a loss was the direct re sult of someone doing something incorrectly perhaps turning the wrong valve at the wrong time Kenny adds TU RB IN ES EQUIPMENT HAZARD LOSSES By type and total loss Year 2010 through 2014 US 1 08 bi lli on GE NE RA TO RS US 3 03 m ill io n TR AN SF OR M ER S US 2 61 m ill io n CH EM IC AL V ES SE LS PR OC ES S EQ UI PM EN T US 2 32 m ill io n PU LP A ND PA PE R PR OC ES SI NG US 1 31 m ill io n ISSUE 2 2015 REASON 13

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