Power station gets new gear units on the quiet

New Flender FZG gear units from Siemens Industry are proving their worth at E.ON UK's Connah's Quay combined cycle gas turbine power station on Deeside.

Originally 40 gear units, all Flender FZGs (size B2SV10), were fitted in 1994 for the cooling tower fan units at the power station.

The power station is adjacent to a residential area, so noise levels have to be minimised, and the original fans featured noise-attenuating baffles.

However, these made them inaccessible for maintenance - at 9.2m across and weighing 2.5t, each fan would take 4-6 weeks to dismantle if a gearbox needed maintenance. A decision was therefore taken to install quieter fans and gearboxes, allowing removal of the baffles to increase airflow and improve accessibility The improved specification units supplied from the Siemens factory in Penig, Germany, were specially enhanced to reduce noise, and are significantly quieter than the original units supplied in 1994. The 20 new units were also fitted with 132kW inverters, and new, quieter fans were fitted to the cooling towers.