POST

Indianapolis Field Service went on site to look at a gearbox problem toward the end of last year. What we found was not one, but two cooling towers had experienced failures of the old gearboxes at the center of the cooling towers. Cranes were brought in for the material handling and the cooling tower drive train was all removed and taken to the shop for repair. When at the Indianapolis Repair Facility, the age and condition of the gearboxes added together to make repairs impractical if not impossible. A replacement drive (the drive train replaced was the drive shaft, couplings gearbox, fan and fan hub) train was found and bought. The replacement gearbox was a lot smaller than the original, so a new structure had to be made to support and mount the gearbox on, while raising it to a level close to the centerline height of the motor. The original motors were reconditioned, to be reinstalled. Again, cranes were brought in, parts preassembled as much as possible, and everything was set on top of the cooling towers. Oil levels sight glasses had to be fabricated and piped in to allow for oil level checks outside of the towers. The motors were connected and coupled, direction of rotation verified, the motors aligned to the gearboxes, and then the fiberglass walls that surround the fans had to be reinstalled. The last step in the process to install is to adjust the pitch of the blades to the get the motors to their full load ratings, so the fan are moving the maximum amount of air, thus cooling the water better. This customer is well known for being extremely safety conscious, so a lot had to be done to mitigate the risks of working at height, with the cranes, and the fall potential within the tower itself.
I may make some mistakes here in trying to identify some of the people involved, but Randy Isley is the salesman that got all of this started, Larry Burton was deeply involved in the sourcing the new drive train. Heidi Randell was involved from Horner Fan and Fabrication. Billy Burge and Mike Butler at 1521, and Kelly Russell from the safety aspect. The guys that made all of the on site activity happen and to have done it safely, were Bill Carhuff as the lead guy on both the removal and installation, Mike O’Conner, Charles Sifers, and Don Pence. Thank you to all that made this project safe, profitable and possible. It is another example of how collectively, Horner provides one phone help for industrial needs.