Transformer changeouts

18 September 2018 by Sotiris Kanaris

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Edwards Moving & Rigging is using a variety of equipment, including a 150USt capacity low profile hydraulic skidding system from Hydra-Slide, to remove small transformers and replace them with new units over a two-year period at a high security power plant in the south east of the US.

Edwards will complete changeouts, taking three to four days a time, approximately every eight weeks. Each existing transformer weighs around 10,000lb and measures 5.5ft long, 8.4ft wide, and 6.5ft high. The replacement units are a similar size and weight.

Over the course of the project, the company will employ rollers, hydraulic jacks, aluminum cribbing, a modular tower, and Hydra-Slide XLP150 skidding system. The XLP150 has a 1.25in profile and is being used with 20ft of track and powered by a Hydra-Pac synchronous 10,000-psi hydraulic power unit.

Other than the building’s overhead crane, all equipment required for the changeouts is sourced from Edwards’ stock. This equipment is disassembled and stored onsite and reassembled each time the plant schedules a changeout.

Bill Watts, vice president of operations at Edwards, explained that the main challenges are presented by low headroom, a confined workspace, and no access for forklift trucks, in addition to the fact that the site does not allow gasoline motors or any flammable materials, such as wood. The only viable alternative to the Hydra-Slide system would have been to employ overhead trolleys to move the loads across the length of a beam, but the XLP150 presented a myriad of safety and productivity advantages, he added.

Another focal point of the project is the 27ft-tall modular tower, which provides access to the four floors where work is taking place. The overhead crane lifts the transformers onto the modular tower—also erected using the crane—to the plant floor elevation where the changeouts take place. At the top of the tower, aluminum cribbing and steel shims are used for blocking and leveling a secure base for the XLP150 skidding system.