Worksheet Shows Power Plants The Impact Of Performing Collector Ring and Commutator Maintenance Without The Need To Shutdown

Cohasset, MN (PRWEB) May 25, 2008 -- Cutsforth Products announces the availability of their Power Plant Off-Line Worksheet. Once completed the worksheet allows power plants to calculate the costs of taking a plant off-line to perform collector ring maintenance.

VALUABLE TOOL THAT IS SIMPLE TO USE

Once completed, the worksheet will prove to be of value to top management, engineering, design, systems planning and other professionals involved in the plant maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) at power plants of all types.

Extremely user friendly and highly interactive, the end user merely plugs in their respective numbers to calculate the savings realized by performing collector ring maintenance while on-line, without the need to shut down.

COLLECTOR RINGS, COMMUTATORS, BRUSHES, HOLDERS, AND SPRINGS

Before providing detail on Cutsforth products and services and their on-line truing, a basic overview of how they work is in order.

The Collector (or slip) Ring is the moving part of the brush to ring connection. This connection is used to transfer power from the brushes through one ring into the fields of the rotor, to create the spinning magnet, and returns back out to the other ring to complete the circuit. Collector Rings make use of spiral grooves to help balance the current between the brushes and help prevent overheating. The brush holder is a metal box that contains the brush while a spring system uses force to push the brush against the collector ring surface.

A commutator is made of a series of many copper bars insulated from each other. It is an electrical switching device that provides the electrical connection between the brushes that carry the DC power in and out of the rotating armature winding. This completes the circuit to the Main field rings of an AC power generator. Similarly to the collector ring application, brush holders are used to contain the appropriate brush as the spring tension holds the brush in place against the commutator surface.

WEAR AND TEAR

As the machine rotates, friction between the carbon brushes and the collector rings cause them to wear. Because the brushes are made of a softer material than the rings they wear out faster and are therefore designed to be replaced. The collector rings themselves do require maintenance that is done periodically to delay the need of replacement. Maintenance of collector rings and commutators includes resurfacing, which can be done on or off-line.

THAT WAS THEN

In the past, plants would have to shutdown to perform maintenance procedures on their collector rings and brush holders, a process that could require costly downtime. Worse, if a ring or brush holder failed, so could the generator. The end result would be an expensive, unplanned outage.

THIS IS NOW

In 1990, based on certain patents, procedures and processes he invented for use in the power industry, David Cutsforth founded Cutsforth Products. Cutsforth holds patents on some eight products with four patents pending.

The first patent, initiated by Dave Cutsforth was a tool used to grind commutators on large motors and coined the phrase "on-line truing" in the process. He expanded "on-line truing" to include a method that worked on collector rings as well. Today the Cutsforth "truing process" is used in power plants nationwide, including coal, nuclear and most recently wind. His next patent was a process that regrooves the spiral grooves on turbine generator rings. As with truing, this process, though performed off-line, was developed to greatly reduce the amount of time required to complete the work.

While truing collector rings, Dave noted that the number one cause of brush and ring failure lay with the brush holder. Rob Cutsforth, his son, knew that if they could develop a product to solve this problem, maintenance costs could be significantly reduced. And he did when he patented the CUTSFORTH EASYchange Brush Holder System, a removable brush holder system that provides for maintenance on turbines while on-line, totally eliminating the need for a shut down.

AVAILABLE ONLY AT CUTSFORTH,COM

According to Dave Cutsforth, founder of Cutsforth Products and a pioneer in on-line truing, "The brush holder is the root cause of most collector ring failures. As a machine rotates, poor contact between carbon brushes and the ring surface causes electrical wear. Poor holder design, foreign materials, and improper maintenance are all contributors to this problem. Brushes are designed to be replaced. The ring, with proper maintenance, should last for years."

Cutsforth continued, "With our on-line truing process this procedure can be accomplished while the plant is still operating, eliminating downtime and reducing maintenance costs. Our process virtually eliminates the need for a related shutdown. Plus, because the actual repair is done at operating speeds, it has proven to be more accurate and longer lasting than performing a similar process off-line. Our worksheet, available only at - www.cutsforth.com - shows how efficient, cost effective and accurate our on-line truing can be.

ABOUT CUTSFORTH

Cutsforth concluded, "Our products and services are a result of ongoing efforts to help power plants reduce off-line time for generator collector ring and brush holder maintenance. Power plant operators have much to gain by working closely with us - a single source supplier that offers the latest in brush and ring technology and services. In fact, to better serve our customers, we recently organized ourselves into two divisions - field services and products. The end result is reduced operating and maintenance costs with ROI bottom line results. Once completed, the worksheet clearly shows the Cutsforth advantage."

SIGNOFF

For addition information on Cutsforth Products, on-line truing or field services, contact:

Cutsforth Products Inc., 37837 Rock Haven Road, Cohasset, MN 55721.

Phone: (800) 290-6458, Fax: (800) 398-6530, Email: sales(at)cutsforth.com

Visit: www.cutsforth.com

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