Maintenance Techniques For Turbomachinery

Abstract

Manufacture and maintenance of turbomachinery are completely different. The first involves shaping and assembling of various parts to required tolerances while the second involves restoration of these tolerances through a series of intelligent compromises. This is the crux of maintenance techniques-keeping the compromises intelligent. The process industry has pushed for "bigger and better" turbomachinery until operational problems have become .tremendous. We are literally "snowed under" by these problems. The failure to provide adequate feedback of relevant operational troubles into the design phase is the greatest problem facing the turbomachinery industry today. This lack of communication results in much turbomachinery designed with too little regard for the operating and maintenance complexity created. Many of our maintenance techniques are, in a word, inadequate to cope with the troubles we encounter. The mechanics in our various installations are not, in general, technically competent enough on the complexities of our equipment to adequately maintain it under unit operational pressures. The growth of contract maintenance firms has not been sufficient to fill this void. The ability of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to provide technical service has also frequently been inadequate. Hopefully, this symposium may light a candle in this darkness. Perhaps some of the procedures used at Amoco to combine the best of our capabilities, those of the OEM, and those of specialty service organizations to meet our problem will be of interest to others facing similar situations.