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Heavy Lifting Using Hydraulic Jacks Installing a Boiler Drum Written by: johnzactruba Edited by: Lamar Stonecypher

her Updated Apr 4, 2010 Boiler drum is one of the heaviest part of a boiler in a pow er plant. Installation of the boiler drum by hydraulic jacks is explained in thi s article. Boiler Drum. The most critical part of the boiler in a thermal power plant, Boiler drum funct ions mainly as the feeding point for the water and separating point between wate r and steam. In a typical 600 MW thermal power plant, the drum weighs around 300 Tons. The dr um itself is a cylindrical vessel of diameter 1.8 meters,12 meters long, 125 mm thick with dished ends and is made of carbon or alloy steel. The important point for installation apart from the weight is its location. It i s located at a height of around 85 meters, high up in the boiler and hung from t he top of the boiler structure. Installation. Drum lifting is a milestone in boiler erection that signals the completion of th e boiler structure installation. For the installation of this heavy part following issues require special conside ration. Installation of a heavy weight at a high position requires special attention to saf ety in all aspects of the operation. The boiler structure is already in place to support the weight which means there is restricted access for using heavy cranes near to the lifting point. Interference with the structures already in position, require that during part of t he lifting the drum is in an inclined position. Drum lifting was in the earlier days done using winches and pulley blocks. As th e unit sizes and drum weights increased, drum lifting using jacks became the pre ferred method. Magnetic Lifters www.pmlindia.com 100kg to 3 tons lifting capacity designed for safety, light weight B.Tech Mechanical Engg. www.Lpu.in/Lovely_Professional_Univ Top 20 Engg College With Exposure Of Live Projects in Industry. Apply hydraulic winch bonnyhydraulic.com Provide China high quality, low cos t hydraulic winche s in world! Ads by Google Strand Jack. Using Strand Jacks has become the convenient method of lifting a boiler drum all over the world. Multiple strands in two or more strand jacks slowly but surely lifts the drum to its position. This is a simple method to lift the heavy weight . Except for the preparation phase, only one or two operators are required for lif ting the drum. Multiple strand jacks offer redundancy, reliability and safety. U sing Strand Jacks is easier to install than a winch system and less costly than using a very heavy crane. The Strand Jack is located on temporary beams on top of the boiler structure abo ve the final position of the drum. Two or four jacks are used based on the lifti ng arrangement. Lateral movements of the jacks are possible by mounting them on roller skids. This is necessary to maintain verticality and to avoid interferenc e with the supporting structure. Strands The jacks itself uses multiple strands, 10 to 14 depending on the load and jack

capacity. The lower ends of the strands connect to blocks that fix one end of th e strands. The other end of the strands is free and moves through the jack. The blocks connect to the lifting lugs of the drum by links or grommets. The strands are made of high strength special steels. Lifting The lifting operation takes around 8 to 12 hours. The drum lifts off directly fr om the transportation vehicle. Lifting the drum at an incline is necessary to av oid interference with the supporting structures.The multiple jacks can operate i n synchronization or separately. This allows for safe lifting evn if the drum is at an incline. Once it reaches the final position the permanent supports are in stalled. The attached figures show the steps in a typical boiler drum installation. The multiple strands and the positive locking method of the jacks give redundanc y, reliability and safety for the entire operation. Images Next Article -------------------------------------------------------------------------------20400253 Comments|Flag

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