Written by Drew Robb
There are thousands of Solar Taurus 60 gas turbines operating all over the world in oil and gas operations with no tolerance for downtime. Yet the fuel valves for these machines are programmed to shut down for replacement after 10 years of operation.
Replacement of the original valves usually takes a few days of shutdown time.
But, by switching over to the Continental Controls AGV50 natural gas fuel valve, replacement takes far less downtime.
“What used to take three days can now be completed in less than a day,” says Continental.
No welding involved nor any modification of the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) system required.
Further, the new AGV50 fuel valve is said to outperform the old one: better at dealing with generator transients, lowers fuel consumption.
Also reduces emissions and is half the cost of replacing the original.
“We can install the valve in a Solar Taurus 60 gas turbine in 8 hours,” says David Fisher, Continental’s President and CEO, “and 12 hours for a Taurus 60 fitted with the SoloNOx combustion system.”
The AGV50 natural gas fuel valve design is rated at 7,300 scfm (26,176 lb/hr) flow capacity and 500 psig maximum operating pressure.