Fluxo's service team, in partnership with Comgás, carried out the first preventive maintenance on four actuators installed at Comgás. The actuators are of the Shafer gas-hydraulic type, Rotary Vane 11x10 model, and have been installed for 12 years in full operation, without any type of maintenance of the components, having only been carried out operational tests. The actuators are mounted on 14” 600# valves, arranged at four points along the Cubatão–São Paulo gas supply system, part of the RMSP – Cubatão distribution system.
“The actuators were in excellent condition internally, despite being severely corroded externally, due to the high aggressiveness of the atmosphere”, says Tiago Assis, Fluxo's Services Engineer. The arrangement of the actuators gives them the ability to block the line at four points in the duct, in the event of unexpected variations in the pressure of the supplied gas, or to reverse the flow, according to consumption demand.
The service was carried out with the pipeline in operation, and for this, Comgás acquired a new actuator, which worked as an extra, so that the units could be replaced while they were undergoing maintenance. In this way, maintenance was performed on one actuator at a time, and the gas flow flowed normally. The service was successfully completed in December 2006, with one of the repaired units remaining in Comgás' stock as a spare.
The engineer responsible for the maintenance of the Comgás system Silvio R. Del Boni congratulated the entire Fluxo team and declared himself very satisfied with the result of the work: “It was a perfect partnership between the two companies. The system where the actuators are installed runs along the entire stretch of Serra do Mar with aerial piping, therefore, the reliability of the operation, and perfect maintenance, were fundamental. The operations followed the strictest safety controls, essential for Comgás and Fluxo”.