Rope and Sling continues testing and inspection at King’s Lynn Power Station

Rope and Sling Specialists (RSS) has completed the latest in a series of testing and inspection assignments at King’s Lynn Power Station, as investment into the 370-megawatt facility in Norfolk, UK continues.

Rope and Sling Specialists (RSS) has completed the latest in a series of testing and inspection assignments at King’s Lynn Power Station, as investment into the 370-megawatt facility in Norfolk, UK continues.

The lifting and rigging equipment company, which has been a frequent visitor to the site near the North Sea coast this year, has completed proof load testing of a lifting beam and inspection of a 2.5t capacity Hadef chain hoist installed on a 52m-long runway. The equipment is located 25m up an air-cooled condenser (ACC) building.

RSS accepted the scope of work from Poland-based MKL Bau to complete the testing and inspection procedures upon completion of installation by another company. The necessary tasks were executed by Gary Coleman, site engineer; and Mick Gill, senior testing engineer, both based at RSS’s Rotherham depot to the northwest of the power plant.

Coleman explained that the beam and hoist are used for removing motors for service and repair. The hoist can trolley to the outside of the approx. 30m-high building, lower to ground level, and complete the process in reverse. RSS is familiar with the lifting equipment typically installed in ACC buildings—and has learnt from experience.

Coleman said: “We used the steel structure either side of the walkway to pull against using chain slings, as an alternative to using live weights, to carry out a deflection test. This method saves a substantial amount of money in transportation and time using such weights. This is a practice we devised on a previous job at an ACC in Harrogate [Yorkshire, UK].”

The RSS pair employed a manual chain block and an electric chain hoist (the latter was supplied by the power station) to achieve deflection with a load and hoist weight. A load cell was also utilised to measure a safe working load (SWL) of 2.5t and 3.125 proof load. At ground level, meanwhile, a telehandler was employed to carry out a deflection test of a cantilevered beam, again to save the costs associated with the use of live weights.

RSS carried out aforementioned assignments for the same customer in May this year; it also completed onsite testing of a temporary lifting beam to facilitate assembly of ACC ducting two months later. The requirement for specialist lifting and rigging services has been a constant during a long-term investment programme into new flexible power plants across the country.

Coleman concluded: “The King’s Lynn Power Station is another example of a high profile site committing to exemplary best practices related to lifting and rigging gear, where only experts in the field should be sought for any matters involving installation, periodic inspection, testing, maintenance, and other related activities.”