Benefits of Using OEM Components in Your Products and Services

The Challenge

IMI CCI has high pressure turbine bypass, hot re-heat turbine bypass valves along with the associated spray water valves installed at the combined cycle power plant in North America.

The customer contacted IMI CCI to resolve damage to the installed valves from the water hammering phenomenon at the plant. The water hammering caused a forced shutdown of the plant due to pipe bending, hanger breakage and other failures, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars.

The Solution

The IMI CCI team moved quickly to respond to customer’s request for help.

An IMI CCI Valve Doctor® immediately visited the site to evaluate the impact of the water hammer phenomenon on the IMI CCI valves. The plant walk down enabled the Valve Doctor® to identify multiple issues: damage to valve accessories, control logic problems in the distributed control system and valve controllability. After detailed root cause analysis, IMI CCI recommended a system solution to address the issues with controllability and control logic. The recommended solution included an upgrade from the existing standard smart positioner with volume booster and lock up valve to the high capacity IMI STI FasTrak positioner. The solution also included a change in the control logic of the interlock system in the distributed control system.

Since this was unplanned shutdown, the IMI CCI team understood the importance of delivering the solution quickly to bring the plant online as fast as possible. The team worked closely across functions to deliver, install and commission the upgrade solution in the shortest possible time.

The customer was impressed with our ability to respond fast to a site problem and be able to execute the solution in the shortest period of time.

This customer understood the benefits of partnering with the original equipment manufacturer and placed additional orders for IMI CCI to manage the installed assets at this site.