New orders for the “Nicmas” Concern are an indicator of stability and demand

Recently, the “Nicmas” Concern received an order for electric heaters for steam turbine pins. The Contracts Department of the ERC opened an order for production and transferred the documents to the Technical Department of Power Parts, which in turn processed the request and transferred the technology and material requirements for production

Oleksandr Dmitriev is a leading design engineer of the design bureau of various spare parts of the technical department. He has been working at the company for fourteen years. He graduated from the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute with a degree in mechanical engineering technology. He joined the company from the Poltava employment center and is still working in our team.

The department is engaged in technical preparation of production, and he, as a designer, processes drawings, prepares the design part of the order-specification and provides engineering support for orders in production.

What is this unique order?

Steam turbine operation requires water vapor with certain parameters, i.e. pressure (~130 atmospheres) and temperature ~550°С. A housing is designed to contain steam and prevent its leakage from the turbine. The body of the steam turbine consists of two parts – the upper and lower halves of the cylinder, which are connected to each other with the help of studs and cap nuts. Since the diameters of studs and nuts can reach 140 mm and their reliable connection requires considerable effort, the steam turbine manufacturer provided a series of specialized tools that incorporate the principle of thermal expansion of metal. To tighten the cap nuts on the studs, they are first tightened by hand, then the angle to which the nut must be tightened is calculated and the process of heating the stud is started. An electric heater is placed in the hole inside the pin and the current is turned on. Due to thermal expansion, the length of the pin increases, which allows you to tighten the nuts. After cooling, the length of the pin decreases, at the same time there are necessary forces that press the halves of the cylinder together.

The body of the steam turbine is connected by several types of pins and nuts, which have different purposes and lengths. Accordingly, each pin needs its own heater. We ordered two types of electric heaters of different lengths. Some electric heaters for pins 345-425 mm long, others 430-545 mm. 15 sets were ordered.

This order is unique because, firstly, the plant had not produced electrical devices before, secondly, materials and tools were used that were not used at the enterprise before, for example, KG wire with a section of 70mm2 or ACEID-350 plates, thirdly, the technology of copper soldering was mastered, ACEID-350 material processing technology, tests were carried out, and most of the company’s services were involved in the production and testing: specialists of the Technical Department, the Supply Department, the Turbine Spare Parts Shop, the Compressor Shop, the Department of the Main Power Plant, ASUTP.

How did we get this order and what happens next?

The customer previously bought spare parts for steam turbines manufactured by our company. Managers constantly maintain contact with the station, correspondence is conducted, an application for the supply of spare parts for the steam turbine was received. When the application reaches the contracts department, the engineers of the department start searching for the documentation, check its completeness, and if we can produce it, the contract is concluded. Depending on the destination of the spare part, an order is opened, and the technical and accompanying documentation is transferred to the technical department.

Our task is to transfer the information necessary for the manufacture of electric heaters to production: issue the need for materials – calculate how much and what material is needed for the manufacture of these spare parts, write the manufacturing technology, order specialized equipment, programs. Different materials go into production.

In our case, these are copper wires, stainless steel rolling, copper rolling, brass rolling, micro-abrasive powder, textolite, copper and silver solder, ACEID-350 plates, electrodes, flux, heat-shrinkable tubes – a lot of different nomenclature. This information is then passed on to production preparation and supply units. The processes of planning production and purchasing materials are launched. Supply department engineers purchase the necessary materials, and when the materials arrive at the warehouse, production begins to manufacture the order.

Usually, orders are implemented in 90-180 days, but there are other production times.

How many people work in the Technical Department of Power Parts and what processes are involved?

Fifteen engineers work in the department, there are two design bureaus, three technological bureaus and a hot processing technological group. The design bureaus are divided into the design bureau of the flow part and turbine blades, the design bureau of various spare parts, which are engaged in processing drawings for steam turbine parts, preparing order-specification sheets, giving conclusions on the possibility of manufacturing certain parts and assemblies.

The technological bureaus are divided into the technological bureau of material standards, the technological bureau of the flow part and various spare parts, as well as the technological bureau of turbine blades, which are engaged in the calculation of material consumption rates, develop manufacturing technologies for parts of the main and instrumental production, repair of equipment for the production of ESR, Compressor and Foundry production , issue applications for program development, equipment design (special cutting and measuring tools, devices).

The hot treatment technology group includes two high-class specialists, a leading heat treatment technologist and a chief welder (whose position is vacant), who are engaged in the development of heat treatment and welding processes for all productions of the enterprise. Many processes go through before any of the orders are put into production.

This is the structure of mutual obligations, which are very closely related and cannot exist independently of each other. Thanks to the coordinated team of the “Nicmas” Concern, we have an excellent result!