25 year old load cells for ship lift system replaced

Newport News shipyard in Virginia, USA, have just ordered 3 new 800 tonne compressive load cells to replace some existing Strainstall load cells that have been in service for over 25 years.  They will be used on their floating dry dock, a type of pontoon for dry docking ships with a 'U' shaped cross-section and floodable buoyancy chambers.  When valves are opened the chambers fill with water submersing the dry dock and allowing a ship to be moved into position inside.  When the water is pumped out of the chambers, the dry dock rises and the deck is cleared of water.  The ship is then transferred to land, enabling work to proceed on its hull.

The manoeuvring of the ship can cause large stresses on the hull, so the load cells are used to measure the loads it is being subjected to, in order to prevent any damage occurring.

Strainstall Operations assist in nuclear power station safety project

In October 2007 British Energy discovered a corroded steel pre-stressing wire in a concrete boiler closure unit of one of two reactors at its Harlepool power station, which supplies up to 1.5 million homes with electricity.  The safety of the power station depends on these wires maintaining load, so both reactors at the site, as well as the similarly designed Heysham-1 power station in Lancashire, were taken off generation as a 'safety first' decision for investigation.

An extremely large programme of work was initiated by British Energy to survey all pods and assess the integrity of the wire bundle, and devise remedial engineering solutions endorsed by the Nuclear installations inspectorate.  Strainstall Operations have assisted in various aspects of the work, which during 2008 has had a sales value of around £1,250,000.

For AMEC Nuclear they have carried out a feasibility study to determine the in-situ stress remaining in the top surface of the concrete plug, while for Atkins Nuclear and British Energy, Strainstall carried out design and feasbility work on the meaurement of load in bands which are intended to surround the wires and to be tensioned so that if wires fail the pre-stress will be maintained.

As part of another contract for Doosan Babcock they undertook the installation of strain gauges on the bands.  There are 9 bands per boiler and 32 boilers at the two sites, making 288 bands overall.  Each band had 4 strain gauges fitted, so in total 1,152 were installed (rising to 1800 including trial and spare sections).  Strainstall Operations carried out the work at Doosan Babcock's factory near Glasgow, with a team of 6 staff working 7 days a week from June to October.

Strainstall UK supply load cells for Thunder Horse project

Strainstall UK have recently received an order from Intrepid Global Inc for 24 compressive load cells for a chain stopper application.  These 300 tonne load cells were required following an inspection and report on 2 non-Strainstall load cells, which were found to be faulty.  Strainstall were able to pinpoint the reason why they had failed, and as a result received an order to replace the majority of the load cells they were using.

The chain stoppers are for Thunder Horse, the world's largest floating platform, which has been designed to process 250,000 barrels of oil and 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.  Located 150 miles southeast of New Orleans, it is the biggest producer in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Thunder Horse field is one of the most technologically complex, in part because of the challenging deepwater environment.  This means that the anchoring system is particularly crucial, so each chain stopper has been fitted with a load cell to enable real-time measurement of chain load in the mooring lines.  This will ensure that the tension in the chains remains within allowable limits, and remedial action taken if they become either too slack or too strained.

Strainstall Norway complete installation of PLC system on offshore crane

Strainstall Norway have successfully completed the installation of a safety system on a crane on the Ocean Vanguard oil rig in Norway, which is owned by Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc.  The system enables them to comply with new Norwegian safety legislation, which covers both new and existing cranes.

The system provides the operator with critical information including the load on the hook, the maximum load allowed and the percentage of the safe working load.  It also shows relevant environmental factors that could affect the lift, such as wind speed and wave height. 

The new legislation has significantly expanded the crane monitoring and control market, which is obviously good news for Strainstall Norway, who are actively exploiting the new opportunities.  Having already experienced a large increase in the number of enquiries for the system, this could prove to be a very significant and highly profitable market for them.

Strainstall Norway win large strain ring order

Strainstall Norway have recently supplied 34 strain rings to TotalFinaElf for use in an anchor mooring system on an FPSO.  These strain rings have been specially developed by Strainstall for underwater use and can be easily fitted by divers, although for this particular application they will be situated above the water line, but subject to very wet conditions.

The FPSO has 16 mooring lines, each of which is fitted with a chain stopper.  These units will have 2 strain rings installed, one on each side of the base plate, so that the strain in the chain stopper can be measured and the mooring lines kept within safe limits.

Gareth Jones takes over as Managing Director of the Strainstall Group

In October, as part of the continuing process of succession planning, Gareth Jones took over the position of Strainstall Group Managing Director.

Chris Caws continues in his role of Group Chairman, as well as retaining existing executive responsibilities at Prolec.  With this lessening workload he will be reducing the number of hours he spends at the office, which will enable him to enjoy his well deserved semi-retirement.