Recertification of cranes at power station

Konecranes has been chosen by Yallourn Power Station in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley for crane reliability surveys on cranes due for their recertifications.

“Although we have a crane contractor on site, it’s a WorkCover requirement that we use an independent third party for our crane surveys, rectification work and recertifications,” said Adrian Zwagerman, Field Supervisor Maintenance Support, Energy Australia, Yallourn Power Station.

“Konecranes has certainly lived up to our expectations, doing a terrific job in identifying safety and reliability issues and preparing us a report that recommends rectification work.”

The Konecranes Crane Reliability Survey (CRS) is an exhaustive analysis and report that’s available for all makes and models of overhead lifting equipment. It’s designed to give companies the information they need to be firmly in control of their cranes.

It uses advanced diagnostic tools to probe into the equipment and uncover problems that are undetectable by standard equipment inspections. A detailed assessment of the condition of the crane’s key components includes analysis of the electrical components, motor, rope, gears and hooks.

The crane’s steel structure and geometry are also analysed. Metallurgical tests are performed in situ, using diagnostic tools such as eddy current testing, involving electromagnetic induction.

“The main difficulty faced by Konecranes technicians carrying out the surveys was getting access to the cranes,” Zwagerman said. “For example, in the fuel distribution area the only way to do the metallurgic tests on some of the cranes was to erect scaffolding. In other areas we used 125-foot boom lifts to reach the heights. We and Konecranes worked out these solutions together.

“There was also a lot of cleaning required before the reliability surveys could be performed. The nature of the industry is that there’s a lot of coal dust around, with the cranes working under harsh conditions. Although we gave the cranes an initial blowdown ourselves, Konecranes still had to do further cleaning on them. They’ve performed well and I would certainly recommend their survey services to other companies.”

Ivan Stancik, Business Development Officer for Konecranes, said his organisation placed great value on customer feedback about service work and about crane survey work, in which three stages were involved.

The first was the engineers’ reports, covering the categories of safety, compliance and reliability. The second stage was rectification works, while the final stage was crane recertification after the safety and compliance work had been carried out.

The CRS is an engineering assessment designed to provide dependable information about the current condition, the continued safe use, the DWP (design work period) and the future maintenance and modernisation needs of cranes, in compliance with Australian Standards.

Results are presented in a comprehensive report that outlines the condition of each crane and its current operating capacity. The report contains recommendations for the future actions needed to maximise the equipment’s use by enhancing safety, improving performance, increasing reliability and extending the life of the equipment. Crane managers are able to make informed decisions on a maintenance schedule to increase their crane use and enhance materials handling productivity.