AP+M expands its product line and geographic coverage

Aviation Power & Marine Inc (AP+M) is expanding its worldwide industrial gas turbine (IGT) spare-parts and service offerings with product-line extensions into component maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), and wiring-harness manufacturing, while extending its market reach into Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

In mid-September, the company will begin integrating its IGT component MRO capabilities in Boynton Beach, Fla, AP+M’s headquarters location. Included in the initial effort are hydraulic actuators for variable bleed valves, variable stator vanes, and variable inlet guide vanes, as well as hydro-mechanical/pneumatic valves—such as bleed and check valves. The company is adding IGT cable and harness manufacturing capability to provide a cost-competitive solution to operator wiring-harness reliability issues and spare-parts provisioning.

Laura Tabone, AP+M’s VP operations, explained how the additional work will get done this way: “We enhanced our ability to meet customer expectations. . .by attracting experienced engineering and technical operations personnel to integrate and oversee the ongoing MRO and manufacturing business. The technical team has designed and manufactured numerous types of cables and harnesses for customers—including major IGT engine operators and MRO facilities—in addition to military and aerospace engine applications.”

The company’s worldwide sales and support team has been beefed-up to meet customer expectations. For example, personnel have been added to the UK team, responsible for supporting IGT operators in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. The business development and customer support team in California also has been strengthened. AP+M’s Asia Pacific operation was expanded in 2014.

Greg Young, AP+M’s president, said, “These MRO and manufacturing product-line expansions were driven by customer preference for a single-source IGT service provider who can provide timely spare-parts and repair services at competitive prices.” The company, established in 1993, is one of the largest independent stocking distributors and MRO service providers for IGTs. It has more than 10,000 part numbers in stock for GE aeros and frames alone.

SPS partners with OSIsoft, MapEx to collect, analyze plant operating data

Strategic Power Systems Inc (SPS), OSIsoft, and MapEx Performance Monitoring are partnering to deliver data-driven solutions to the energy market. Control technology and data management systems have improved the speed and accessibility to process quality data. Solutions available through the partnership capitalize on automated data capture and transformation, advanced analytics, reliability/availability/maintainability (RAM) benchmarking, and thermal performance monitoring.

“This partnership will allow each customer to receive a real, measurable return through reduced manual effort, improved data accuracy and fidelity, and access to timely and current RAM and thermal-performance metrics essential for driving down O&M costs while ensuring the reliable performance of the powerplant,” SPS CEO Salvatore A DellaVilla Jr said.

Powerplant owners and operators now can to use OSIsoft’s Connected Services secure technical and commercial framework to transfer their operating information into SPS’s Operational Reliability Analysis Program (ORAP) system, which already contains 20 years of RAM data. The benefit to users, explains OSIsoft Senior VP Martin Otterson, is the ability to make data-driven decisions using real-time, historical and benchmarked data, and to leverage the insights of experts.

Dr Rodney R Gay, CEO of MapEx, added the following to the discussion: “The marriage of MapEx thermal performance monitoring with ORAP reliability benchmarking will, for the first time, create a complete and consistent set of information that will allow plant operators to understand and quantify the tradeoffs necessary to optimize operational strategies.”

Emerson’s Ovation™ helps SCE manage Catalina Island’s microgrid

Catalina Island, located 22 miles off the coast of Southern California and isolated electrically from the mainland, relies on an independent microgrid  to provide electrical service to about 4000 residents and a hundred times that many tourists annually. Automation technologies from Emerson Process Management Power & Water Solutions help Southern California Edison (SCE) efficiently manage the island’s electric generation and distribution infrastructure.

1. Microturbines supplied by Capstone Turbine Corp provide the flexible generating capability required on Catalina Island

2. SCADA technology provided by Emerson Process Management helps maintain a stable grid voltage. Photo is of Catalina’s 12-kV switchyard

Catalina’s Pebbly Beach Generating Station, equipped with six diesel/generators and 23 microturbines (Fig 1), also serves as a liquefied petroleum gas distribution facility. Emerson’s Ovation™ control system provides SCE operators a concise view of all generating assets to meet electrical demand while reducing environmental impact. Plus, it helps SCE manage a battery storage system as well as the island’s LPG plant and water treatment and desalination facilities.

Finally, Emerson’s SCADA technology helps maintain a stable grid voltage on Catalina while enabling rapid response to change in demand caused by fluctuations during the tourist season (Fig 2).