Orlagh Costello - Mechanical engineering placement
Name: Orlagh Costello
Joined: 2004
University attended: University College Dublin
Degree obtained: BEng Mechanical Engineering
July to October 2004 Working Diary
Started a new placement in July - yes, I finally made it down to the BOS plant. I’m now working in the part of the works where the steel is actually made. This was a bit of a culture shock form my last placement in the environmental department, as I’m now back in a manufacturing environment, instead of a nice clean (relatively!!) office environment. I found starting in the BOS plant very exciting, the steelmaking process is quite something to see, although the plant is so big and complicated, I’m still getting lost three months after I started here!
I spent the first week being shown around the different areas within the plant - vessels and waste gas recovery, cranes, secondary steelmaking, vacuum degassing, desulphurisation, raw materials. I was also given my projects and introduced to the people I was to work with. I found the first few days fairly bewildering - as I said the BOS plant can be very confusing - but I soon enough found my feet.
I have three main projects here. The first is to develop a pump maintenance strategy for the plant. This involves going back through old records to determine any trends or patterns in previous pump failures, finding out how others organise their pump maintenance, investigate pump efficiency monitoring techniques and detailing each pump’s history. It also involves getting quotes for the cost involved in all options available.
The second and third projects are fairly similar. They both involve replacing a valve. The first is the water seal check valve in the waste gas recovery area (well there are three such valves, one per steelmaking vessel). The valves used presently are 20yrs old and have had no major maintenance since installation. They are now at the end of their life cycles, or near to it. My project was to investigate the pros and cons of refurbishing the present valve vs replacing them outright, including costings and timings. Because the valves are so large (about 4metres in diameter!) either replacing them or refurbishing them is going to be a major enterprise.
My final project involves the main vacuum valve on the vacuum degasser. The valve used at present gives several problems, including sealing and driving issues. My project is to investigate how other plants deal with the main vacuum valve, and compare how well these other systems work compared to the one used here. I then have to compare effectiveness, costs and timings of the various options open.
The three projects are very engineering based and its good to be back in an engineering environment after so long - even if I do end up getting filthy every time I put my head outside the office! I’m really enjoying the hands on experience again and I’m looking forward to the possibility of actually installing one of the valves before I leave the BOS plant.
