Pics of the engines I work on and with...

[sandt38 448]

Also, do the compressors actually compress them into a liquid for transport? I assume that is the case as it appears to be a liquid line on the outlet. But then i was thinking, in order to compress NG the pressures may be so high that to return it to a gas might be so cold as to freeze whatever orifice might be used to depressurize it.

[altoncustomtech 773]

Love the simplicity. The external valve train is interesting. I assume it requires quite a bit of maintainance?

Love the turbo. Recon it would fit on my GN?

Actually we do quite a bit of small routine maintenance, otherwise as long as things are going smooth they don't require a ton of maintenance to keep runnning. Adjustments to the lifters and "balancing" the power cylinders are done on a weekly basis. Otherwise we just keep em cleaned up and running smooth.

LOL @ the turbo on the GN!! I said the EXACT same thing about my Jimmy on a blazer forum!!! LOL....

After saying that I looked at the valve train a bit closer. Are those individual oilers on each unit? I was thinking of the fulcrum and contact points needing a lot of lubrication, but then i noticed what looked like oilers on it.

Nope, no oilers, we grease all those points every other day roughly. There is a oiling system that oils points in the upper power cylinder walls, the pressure packing in the compressor cylinders and the compressor cylinders themselves, but when it comes to the fuel valves we have to grease them ourselves. These engines were built and installed in 1959, back then there was nothing automatic on them at all, lol.

[altoncustomtech 773]

Also, do the compressors actually compress them into a liquid for transport? I assume that is the case as it appears to be a liquid line on the outlet. But then i was thinking, in order to compress NG the pressures may be so high that to return it to a gas might be so cold as to freeze whatever orifice might be used to depressurize it.

Oh, no. We don't compress the gas like that, our pipeline is all standard Natural Gas in gaseous form. The maximum amount of compression differential these can handle is ~300psi. In other words if you have 600psi of suction pressure, the maximum discharge could only be around 900psi.... any more than that and they'll tell you all about the load they're under and how they can't handle it.... LNG is usually several thousand pounds if I'm not mistaken.

[sandt38 448]

Also, do the compressors actually compress them into a liquid for transport? I assume that is the case as it appears to be a liquid line on the outlet. But then i was thinking, in order to compress NG the pressures may be so high that to return it to a gas might be so cold as to freeze whatever orifice might be used to depressurize it.

Oh, no. We don't compress the gas like that, our pipeline is all standard Natural Gas in gaseous form. The maximum amount of compression differential these can handle is ~300psi. In other words if you have 600psi of suction pressure, the maximum discharge could only be around 900psi.... any more than that and they'll tell you all about the load they're under and how they can't handle it.... LNG is usually several thousand pounds if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, I thought the pressures were tremendous, but I wasn't sure.

[altoncustomtech 773]

I've got some more pictures taken of some of the engines we have on our pipeline. These are at a different location than the one I work at and while three of them are smaller in horsepower, two of them are much, much larger in size and power. All five engines there are turbo charged, 2-cycle, natural gas burning units.

The first three pictures here of of some of the three 2,200Hp V12's they have at that location.

This one is a 3,700Hp V12 unit and very very large in size. So large in fact that it barely sees any run time due to the sheer amount of gas it can flow.

This shot is of the turbo charger and intercoolers on the unit. To give you an idea of how large it really is, in the pictures above of the turbocharger we changed out on our engine, they're actually almost the same physical size. It's hard to see the bigger parts of the turbo or really get a sense of it's size way up there but it's true.

This one is the largest in physical size, but is only rated at 3,400Hp and is a V8. The compressor cylinder piston's on this unit are 18" in diameter. Much different than the others which are 12" and 10" respectively.

Now for the money shots, so to speak. The third 2,200Hp unit was undergoing some compressor work when I was taking the pictures, so I was able to get some nice shots of the compressor cylinders, pistons & rods, valves, etc. and some of the inside of the engine showing the crank shaft and connecting rods for both the power cylinders and the compressor cylinders.

Here's an overview type shot of the compressor cylinders, valves, pistons and rods out of the unit.

Here's another shot of the compressor cylinder and the compressor valves.

Here's a shot of the compressor pistons and rods. The rods pass through the back of the cylinder and thread into what's called a crosshead, which is in the next photo. The connecting rod off the crank moves the crosshead like a piston in an engine and allows the compressor rod to then be stroked straight forward and back.

Here's the crosshead. Yes, it's a huge chunk of steel. The pin that connects the con-rod to the crosshead is 4" in diameter and is held in place by that big square plate you see in the center. You can see the hole on the front of the crosshead where the compressor piston rod threads in.

And finally, here's a few shots of the inside of the crankcase on that engine. You can see the size of the con-rods, crank and visualize the size of the crank pins. Everything about these kinds of industrial engines are big, heavy and meant to last. You have to remember that all five of these engines, like the three at my location, were built and put into service in 1959.

There ya go guys, hope you enjoyed that little tour.

[Sencheezy 689]

Man that looks crazy!!

[cobra93 47]

I'm a boilermaker in ohio. We mostly do work for powerhouses and refineries.

Those are some impressive engine/compressors you have going on there.

It's good to see some manual labor for a change.

The world needs grunts, even if I'm one of them.

 

I should mention I'm a shop rat, not a field guy.

I've done field work and have been unimpressed with the dumb leading the dumb in my area.

It's a wonder anything works in the world.

 

Nice pics, keep them coming.

[garychurch84 127]

I only read the first page!Would love to have job doing something like that.awesome!

[///M5 2,833]

Awesome.

[SpeakerBoy 64]

Whoa

[altoncustomtech 773]

Whoa

 

Yeah...

 

 

lol

[Lee Carter 150]

Man!  you could eat of those things.  Gotta love some slow speeds.  Our Cooper at my last platform ran at a whopping 250-275 rpm....but she would just chug right along.  Looked pretty much the same, just not nearly so clean/pretty.  The salty offshore environment is rough on the surfaces.

 

Wish I had some pics to share.

[altoncustomtech 773]

Got more pictures for you all.

 

 

These pictures here are of an old Allison Turbine engine and compressor at one of the other locations.  The engine is rated for 4,000HP and it just does have an automatic control system on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pictures are some rarely seen.  Just earlier this week we had a unit at another location have a major failure on a connecting rod on one of the power cylinders.  It's a 2,000HP rated Ingersoll KVT engine, V-12, turbocharged and I believe I have some pictures earlier in the thread of the same engine with all the compressor pistons, valves, rods, etc. removed and a shot or two in the crank case.  The following pictures are only the first I've gotten of what happens in one of these when a rod lets go.  There's been MAJOR damage done to the frame (block) but I've yet to receive those pictures.  Suffice to say it's a major problem but they can stitch it all back together and getting running!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pmureika 31]

Got more pictures for you all.

 

 

These pictures here are of an old Allison Turbine engine and compressor at one of the other locations.  The engine is rated for 4,000HP and it just does have an automatic control system on it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pictures are some rarely seen.  Just earlier this week we had a unit at another location have a major failure on a connecting rod on one of the power cylinders.  It's a 2,000HP rated Ingersoll KVT engine, V-12, turbocharged and I believe I have some pictures earlier in the thread of the same engine with all the compressor pistons, valves, rods, etc. removed and a shot or two in the crank case.  The following pictures are only the first I've gotten of what happens in one of these when a rod lets go.  There's been MAJOR damage done to the frame (block) but I've yet to receive those pictures.  Suffice to say it's a major problem but they can stitch it all back together and getting running!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What are they powering?

[altoncustomtech 773]

They're integral natural gas compressors.  The engine has compressor cylinders that are mounted to the engine block and the connecting rods for the compressors share journals on the crankshaft with the power cylinders.

[pmureika 31]

They're integral natural gas compressors.  The engine has compressor cylinders that are mounted to the engine block and the connecting rods for the compressors share journals on the crankshaft with the power cylinders.

So they are pumping natural gas thru pipe lines?

[altoncustomtech 773]

Yes sir, that is correct.  Or, at least, the broken one was, lol.

[j-roadtatts 1,129]

Now that's a lot of torque!!!! I can see where you got your eye for the industrial look you incorporate into your audio builds. As we are all pic whore's, thanks for the pics.

[altoncustomtech 773]

Now that's a lot of torque!!!! I can see where you got your eye for the industrial look you incorporate into your audio builds. As we are all pic whore's, thanks for the pics.

 

 

Damn straight it is, lol.  

 

You're probably right on the Industrial look, it's all around me everyday.

 

You're all welcome for the pics.  It's always neat to see new things and stuff like this most people don't even know exists.

[Tirefryr 1,742]

Are you guys hiring?  I would KILL to work on that equipment!

[altoncustomtech 773]

As a matter of fact they'll be needing to replace people at multiple locations coming up this and the next few years.  We've got lots of guys that have been here over 30 years that will be retiring soon.

[altoncustomtech 773]

WooHoo, more pics!!

 

We found a broken head stud on on of our engines yesterday so we took that unit down and got prepared to pull the head off to get to the broken stud and work on getting the broken part of the stud out.  We were fortunate enough that it wasn't as bad an ordeal to get it out as they can be and have been in the past.  Usually we have to drill a hole out in the center and stick big heavy duty easy outs in and try to get them out.  This time we got lucky enough to use an air chisel to drive it out.  Then of all things to happen one of the guys found another one broke on another unit and using the same principal to remove this one we were able to get that one out and changed without having to shut the unit down.  

 

Anyway, here's some pics of the engine throughout this process.  These are pics of the engines at the location I work at everyday.  They are Turbo charged, eight cylinder, two cycle industrial recip engines rated at 2,700HP.  

 

 

 

 

Here's a picture of the piston crown in the liner with the head off the cylinder.

 

 

 

 

 

It's hard to make out but this is a shot of the broken piece of the stud getting spun out by the air chisel.

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the broken piece of the stud from out of the block.  That's a 1-3/4" stud and we torque those heads down to 900 ft.lbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's some down cylinder shots I took while we were inspecting the liner to make sure it was in good shape.  These engines have a 17" cylinder bore and 19" of stroke.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's some shots from the bottom end through the inspection door at the crank and connecting rod.  Also a couple of the bottom of the piston.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the tool we use to torque the heads called a RAD Tool.  This tool runs on air alone and has a maximum torque of 2500ft.lbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I didn't get to work on the Olds today but I was able to snap a few pictures of the engines for you guys to look at!  Hope you liked them.

[nem 2,019]

Looks like fun work Alton and that looks like a torque multiplier, we use them on our big tractor lugs.

[Impious 1,476]

These engines have a 17" cylinder bore and 19" of stroke.

That's make for one sweet subwoofer

[altoncustomtech 773]

Looks like fun work Alton and that looks like a torque multiplier, we use them on our big tractor lugs.

 

When I first started here all they had was a torque multiplier.  Down right dangerous tool too.  The RAD tool is like a Hydro-Torque only it runs on just air and not air over hydraulic power.

 

 

 

These engines have a 17" cylinder bore and 19" of stroke.

 

That's make for one sweet subwoofer

 

 

I can't imagine what a sub with 19" of stroke could possibly do, but it would be wild to see none the less!