POWER February 2014 - 21

must also be visible and accessible. " The
new consoles meet the operators' needs, "
said Baisch. " They solved the neck strain
issues and improved the visibility of the
top monitors. "
Additional console features included
metal base cabinets and Corian work surfaces
to reduce combustibles in the control
room for safety and insurance reasons. Winsted
also incorporated some slat wall panels
that allowed file management systems
for paperwork, books, and a phone tray to
be kept off the work surface. The new console
also maintained the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements, allowing
enough space for a wheelchair or other
assistive device to roll through.
In addition to ergonomic and ADA considerations,
it was important that the new
consoles be scalable to allow for future
upgrades to the control room. The track
mounting system supports a wide variety
of monitor arrays. This will allow GRE to
eventually replace the existing 20-inch
monitors (4:3 aspect ratio) with today's
more common 22-inch model (16:9 aspect
ratio) without having to make any alterations
to the console.
From design to installation, the console
upgrade in the control room at Coal
Creek Station was a success. Winsted
worked closely with GRE to complete the
installations during plant outages, so
disruption to plant operations was never
a concern. Most importantly, the consoles
provided vastly improved ergonomics for
control room operators, enabling them to
do their jobs more comfortably and with
greater efficiency.
-Rusty Hellen, senior designer for Winsted
Custom Division (info@winsted.com).
Reliable Fire Protection for
Turbine Rooms
Fire protection for power plant turbine
rooms has typically been a game of
tradeoffs. Enclosure integrity issues in
older facilities can render CO2
and halon
systems ineffective. In new and old facilities
alike, CO2
systems are a considerable
safety hazard. However, a new system
available from Victaulic may help protect
plants without compromising. The following
case study explains the benefits
achieved by one plant that switched from
a halon system.
Upgrading a Fire Suppression
System
The Putnam Power Plant is located in East
Palatka, Fla., about 60 miles south of
Jacksonville. The plant is owned by Florida
Power & Light (FP&L) and was built in the
1950s. Putnam was converted to a gas/oil
combined cycle plant in the 1970s, and
its two 550-MW units have three turbines
each: two combustion and one steam.
When officials at the plant decided to
replace their halon system with a Victaulic
Vortex Fire Suppression System, it resolved
some issues associated with traditional
turbine fire protection systems and offered
an array of additional benefits.
Putnam was originally outfitted with a
halon fire suppression system. For halon
to effectively suppress a fire, room integrity
is required. Given the age of the building,
this was a significant challenge.
Suchat Sonchaiwanich, principal engineer
for FP&L technical services department
explains, " Every time there is a major
outage, we have to take the roof off and
haul the turbine out. When complete, we
put the roof back. Each time we do this, we
have to perform an enclosure integrity test.
circle 10 on reader service card
February 2014 | POWER
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POWER February 2014

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