Strategic issues for life extension of boiler feed pump drives at coal fired power stations

M.Ing.South Africa is presently experiencing a power shortage problem. This has led to numerous investigations into generating needed capacity and finding ways of saving power where possible, in order to sustain an acceptable extra capacity of at least ten percent. This dissertation investigates the possibility of saving power consumed by the electrical boiler feed pumps through engineering management strategies. The technical system drive unit is considered as a case study and consists of the following electrical and mechanical components: • Boiler feed pump. • Boiler feed pump transformer. • Variable speed drive. The methods identified to improve the Variable Speed Drive (VSD) system reliability and obtain total efficiency are: • Technical evaluation of the system. • Engineering management tools including reliability and availability. • A strategic focus on reliability improvement. Technical evaluation of the system includes evaluating the condition of the existing system and possibly replacing it with the latest technology should the system prove inefficient. Engineering management tools such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) ensure that the plant is in a high state of readiness at all times. Strategic management issues in the broader context that influence reliability and availability management have been identified to improve productivity contributing to total organizational overall efficiency. One of the main research conclusions of the dissertation is that not only inherent reliability of a technical system is important but also the achievable reliability in the broader strategic organizational context. The research strategy was exploratory and included an integrated case study on electrical boiler feed pump drives