Testing and quality

anches serve niche markets and, therefore,
specialize in the needs of particular
industries as well as serving local customers.
Others serve only their local
customer base.
Several branches work globally to
provide services for their customers. The
Birmingham branch, in particular, will
rewind machines of any size anywhere
in the world where it is safe to operate.
It repairs motors and generators up to
and including 16500V, 400MW (generally,
air cooled), from two-pole turbine to
multi-pole hydro generators with stator
core lengths up to 7 m, and rotor diameters
up to 16m. When the equipment
is too large to transport back to UK it
is rewound in situ, which includes on
board vessels while they are in service.
How do you make sure you know the
needs of your customers?
Our primary method of understanding
the needs of our customers is through
our 80 strong sales team and our branch
managers, who maintain regular personal
contact with their key account customers.
This is supported by contact between
project manager and technical liaison
with the customers.
We also review our customer needs
during contract review, and customer
feedback is recorded though our QA
system. In our quest to better understand
our customers’ needs, we have periodically
conducted customer satisfaction
surveys.
Can you give us a recent example?
One UK customer in 2010 had a premature
failure of a 12MW gas compressor
motor. This disruption created a significant
risk that that customer would not
be able to meet contracted delivery
requirements. A prolonged outage was
not tolerable from an operational point
of view.
The failure necessitated a complete
stator rewind. However, a temporary
repair that involved cutting out the
failed coils as well as some good coils
to balance the winding, performing a
splice repair to one coil, and repairing
core damage, allowed the machine to be
put back into service at a reduced output
of 75% load (9 MW).
During the repair, engineers noted
that the rotor also needed rewinding. As
a result, when the stator was rewound
some months later (when the risks to
the customer were lower), a spare rotor
was refurbished and fitted, which permitted
rewinding of the original rotor.
Unfortunately, the spare rotor limited
output to 70%.
When the rewound rotor is completed,
it will be fitted into the rewound stator
taking the capability back up to 12 MW.
This machine will continue in service
until a replacement machine is procured
and installed in 2012—after which, it
will be maintained as an essential spare.
A final question: Are there technological
developments (e.g., renewable
energy) to which you are paying
increased attention?
Wind power generation is an area where
we have become more active. This is a
challenging area, since these machines
operate in a relatively hostile environment
and are engineered to keep the
mass of the equipment as low as
possible.
As the number of wind generators
increases in the UK, we see this as an
area of potential growth. With this in
mind, we are currently developing a
dedicated facility in order to control
technical issues.
As other renewable energy sources are
developed, we will have to ensure that
we will be able to meet the needs of
those industries.
Interview: Gabriel Barroso
John Allen
John Allen is a chartered electrical engineer. He started
with 15 years in design of DC and AC rotating
machines with a UK manufacturer, the last 7 years
of which, he held the position of Chief Designer. As
next a step, he moved to a diesel genset manufacturer
(F G Wilson), where he spent 3 years in technical sales,
this was followed by 6 years managing repair shops,
and the last 16 years providing technical support to
repair companies. For the last 12 years, he has been
redesigning hydro generators to improve per formance.
He has represented the UK at various IEC technical
committees and at IECEx with particular expertise in
the repair of hazardous-area equipment and competency
of personnel repairing Ex equipment.
The Sulzer Technical Review (STR) is a
customer magazine produced by the
Sulzer Corporation. It is published
periodically in English and German
and annually in Chinese. The articles
are also available at: www.sulzer.com/str
1/2011
93rd year of the STR
ISSN 1660-9042
Publisher
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P. O. Box
8401 Winterthur, Switzerland
Editor-in-Chief
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Thomas Gerlach
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Hans-Walter Schläpfer
Heinz Schmid
Shaun West
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© March 2011
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