My trip through the power plant

[Inspector507]

A very good friend of mine works in a Midwestern power plant. Probably not a good idea to mention where this is, I took a camera in there /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Probably not a smart thing on my part due to security concerns.
Anyway, we went to visit them last month. He works in the coal yard at the plant and I wanted to see the equipment he runs daily. He regularly runs two different models of Cat D9's, a D10, three different Cat scrapers. I got more pictures of the plant than I did of the Cat's because it got dark on us. One of the things I did not photograph was the dumping operation. Darn it /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif that was neat.

He also gets to run the train anywhere from 6-15 miles, depending on where they dropped the coal cars. Here is the engine. Fully computerized, carrying 5000 gals of diesel in the tanks.

 

[Inspector507]

Once the train gets back to the yard, the engine is pulled into the dumping building, it is then disconnected, leaving cars that are full and stretch a mile or so outside. The first car is lined up by the engine at the indexer. The indexer has 2 arms that come down between 2 cars and then it pulls them into the dumper. The dumper has 2 arms that come down on top of the car and then the whole car is turned upside down while it's still connected to the ones in front and rear. The indexer then moves the next car in to be dumped.

 

[Inspector507]

This is the coal yard. You can see the mile long train of cars. Also the equipment needed to maintain the yard in the lower left. Inside each tower of coal is 3 feeder tubes that take the coal into the plant underground via belts and augers.
You can also see the reserve pile of coal in the background. They stock some of the "crap coal" back there to mix in occasionally with the good stuff.

 

[Inspector507]

I didn't get a good shot of the equipment, but they are out in the yard waiting on the guys to get to work /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Several D9's a D10 and several Cat scrapers.

You also see the empties running down the track.

 

[Inspector507]

This is the blade on the D10.....11' high and 16' across....WOW.

I got to sit in it but didn't get to run it. Swing shift hadn't started to work in the yard yet or I may have been able to beg my way in.

 

[Inspector507]

It got dark on us but this a part of that mile long train. These have already been dumped.

 

[Inspector507]

Once th coal is fed underground into the plant, it gets sent up 16 stories to the top level. There the coal is moved by feeder belts to be dumped into the feeders, which feed the coal to any of 3 boilers.

 

[Inspector507]

The coal is dropped down into the feeders and then fed into the boilers. The pipe with the coal in it is the rusty colored one, I think.

 

[Inspector507]

The coal is injected into the boiler here. I asked how it was injected, but he didn't really know.

 

[Inspector507]

The boilers heat water to make steam which in turn runs the tubines on the generator. But first you have to get water from somewhere to accomplish that.
This a 2,000 acre man-made lake that is filled from a local river. The water used to cool the boilers and used to make the steam comes from here.