|
|
|
|
|
Mobile Circuit Breaker Shop Helps Customers Improve Maintenance Costs, Time December 2011 Also available in PDF format.
AURORA, CO - Shermco Industries (Irving, TX) is taking PEARL standards on the road with its new Mobile Breaker Shop, a 53-foot mobile trailer packed with breaker testing and reconditioning gear.
"The best thing about the Mobile Breaker Shop is the convenience, cost, and time savings that the customer enjoys by having their breakers evaluated, reconditioned, and remanufactured on site to the industry's best standards," explains Jim Miller, Manager of ESD Shop Services for Shermco and designer of the Mobile Breaker Shop. "Oftentimes maintenance planners at power utilities and other facilities have a difficult time planning scheduled downtime because they really don't know the condition of their existing equipment. They can only estimate how much reconditioning will need to be done to their existing circuit protection equipment. When we do the evaluation and repairs on site, the planner gets real-time information about the condition of their gear and can make better-informed decisions as to their equipment needs - allowing them to change plans rapidly and without impacting outage times."
Shermco's Mobile Breaker Shop includes a 5000-lb lift platform to move 480V to medium-voltage breakers into the trailer. From there, a 2000-lb ceiling-mounted crane moves the breakers through the processing area, which includes high-current test sets, spare parts racks, workbenches, part cleaners, polishers, media blasting cabinets, and a painting station. In addition to a full-service breaker shop, the mobile shop has an office, full communications capabilities, and its own generator for power, as well as a high-capacity air compressor that can handle any pneumatic requirements.
But not all of the Shop's critical components are made of metal, bricks, and mortar. According to Miller, industry standards from NETA and PEARL for both testing and reconditioning are also critical parts to the Mobile Breaker Shop's operation. "I am a firm believer that standards are a necessary component to keep an industry structured and organized," says Miller. "PEARL and NETA standards each focus on different areas and both take their lead from the OEM's original performance, specification, and maintenance documents. You have to look at each set of standards and apply them as needed to the situation, whether it's field-testing or reconditioning in the shop. In the end, the breaker has to meet or exceed the original OEM specification. Everything we do ensures that the breaker performs as well or even better as it did the day it rolled off the factory assembly line."
Shermco's Mobile Breaker Shop has been in high demand since its completion in late summer 2011. According to Miller, the breaker shop has been supporting power utility maintenance programs across the country for the past several months. "This is a very cost-effective method of repair, bringing a mobile shop to a customer site, and that doesn't take into account the need for spares or prolonged downtime that customers have to endure if they repair through conventional methods by shipping breakers to a service center."
Shermco is a proud member of PEARL, supporting the need for standardized electrical reconditioning procedures to guarantee customer safety and equipment reliability while saving the customer money on equipment, repairs, and downtime.
About Shermco:
About PEARL:
Home || About PEARL || Contact Us || Membership Information || Members || News || Safety News Newsletters || Photo Galleries || Videos || Electrical Standards || Links Members Only Intranet || Members Only Forum |
