Safe and efficient transportation…
Transporting an Large power transformer (LPT) can be quite challenging. LPTs large dimensions and heavy weight pose unique requirements to ensure safe and efficient transportation.
Current road, rail, and port conditions are such that transportation is taking more time and becoming more expensive.
Although rail transport is most common, LPTs cannot be transferred over normal rail cars, because they cannot be rolled down a hill or bumped into other rail cars, which can damage the power transformer. This is because the heaviest load a railroad normally carries is about 100 tons, or 200,000 lb, whereas an LPT can weight two to three times that.
A specialized railroad freight car known as the Schnabel railcar is used to transport extremely heavy loads and to accommodate height via railways (see Figure below). However, there are a limited number of Schnabel cars available worldwide, with only about 30 of them in North America.
Access to railroad is also becoming an issue in certain areas due to the closure, damage, or removal of rail lines.
When an LPT is transported on the road, it requires obtaining special permits and routes from the department of transportation of each state on the route of the LPT being transported. According to an industry source, obtaining these special permits can require an inspection of various infrastructure (e.g., bridges), which can add delay.
Picture on top depicts LPTs being transported via road and Schnabel car. The transport modular shown is 70 feet long with 12 axles and 192 wheels, and occupies two lanes of traffic. The Schnabel car shown in Figure above has 20 axles.
Logistics and transportation accounted for approximately three to 20 percent of the total cost of an LPT for both domestic and international producers.
A remarkable journey – Transportation of the world’s largest HVDC transformers
SHELL Power Transformer 675 MVA 352/22 kV by SCHNABEL Transportation
References:
- Large Power Transformers and the U.S. Electric Grid – The U.S. Department of Energy
- Railcar rental program for power transformer relocation – ABB
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Edvard Csanyi
Hi, I'm an electrical engineer, programmer and founder of EEP - Electrical Engineering Portal. I worked twelve years at Schneider Electric in the position of technical support for low- and medium-voltage projects and the design of busbar trunking systems.I'm highly specialized in the design of LV/MV switchgear and low-voltage, high-power busbar trunking (<6300A) in substations, commercial buildings and industry facilities. I'm also a professional in AutoCAD programming.
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Dear sir/madame
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Best Regards
Martina Willman
Tel: +46 (0)36 512 25
Dear Friends
We have to transport 57 tons weight of an electric transformer from a bridge over a small river which is about 125~150 meter wide in a hilly area. The bridge already built on the river cannot take load of more than 15 tons.
Please guide me how to transport it. We have 2×57 tons and 4×37 tons, total 6 transformers for transportation from this bridge.
Wit kind regards.
Shaukat A. Tabani
INTERWORLD
Karachi, Pakistan
[email protected]
[email protected]
Skype : gensetco
Here in Brazil, many times we rent schnabel car for shppiment or to transport LMPT transformers to factory for repair. We don’t have a big wide railroad like north of america or Europe. So the transport of transforme we have to get a special licenses and spend monetária a lot for this operation. Due to this the factory repair considering long distances can’t be sĂł profteble.