Project Specs:
Location: Altamira, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Application: FRP Maintenance Platform Inside Cooling Tower
Products: Corvex® Molded Grating, Dynaform® ISOFR Structural Shapes, and Corgrate® Handrail System
Overview
The project took place at one of Tamaulipas’ largest thermoelectric plants. This facility is part of a group of plants that provide more than 55% of the entire state’s electricity — making it one of the most important thermoelectric plants in the country.
Problem
The maintenance staff was using a plank as a walkway to access and repair the cooling tower fans. The customer wanted to increase the safety of their employees, and they started to look for solutions to replace this plank. The limited amount of space inside the cooling tower narrowed the list of suitable solutions. Because the cooling towers have water in them, the customer wanted to reduce future replacement needs caused by corrosion.
Solution
After visiting the facility, the Fibergrate territory manager suggested a fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) maintenance platform as the entranceway to this cooling tower. The platform used Fibergrate molded grating with Corvex resin system, Dynaform ISOFR structural shapes, and a Corgrate handrail system. Thanks to the corrosion resistant properties of Fibergrate FRP products, there will not be a need for sandblasting, scraping, or painting in the future, saving the customer thousands of dollars on maintenance. For this project, the workers were able to pick up and carry the material with their own hands. No heavy equipment or machinery was required which was convenient due to the limited amount of space and placement of the application. Additionally, the molded grating used for this platform provides superior, slip resistant footing in wet environments, immediately increasing the safety of the maintenance staff.
The customer was so pleased with the outcome of this project and the tailor-made customer experience provided by the Fibergrate team that they are already considering installing FRP maintenance platforms on all of the cooling towers in the plant.
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