Project Overview
A major combined cycle power generating station in Ontario, Canada, with a nameplate capacity exceeding 500 MW, required an upgrade to its auxiliary cooling water intake system. The facility sources cooling water from a nearby river, operating at a flow rate of approximately 17,000 gallons per minute (GPM).
The existing configuration utilized duplex manual basket strainers—one unit online and one on standby. These strainers required manual cleaning as often as once per week, depending on river conditions. Routine cleaning demanded significant labor effort, and the original carbon steel housings exhibited advanced corrosion after years of service.
Project Requirements
Following a site visit and discussions with the customer's operations and engineering teams, several key objectives were identified:
- Improved Filtration Performance: The plant wanted to reduce the screen size to capture finer debris and enhance protection of downstream heat exchangers.
- Automation: Eliminate manual cleaning and associated downtime.
- Corrosion Resistance: Provide a long-term solution resistant to the river water environment.
- High Reliability and Redundancy: Ensure uninterrupted operation with built-in redundancy for maintenance flexibility.
Fil-Trek Solution
The selected design utilized one of Fil-Trek's largest 98 Series Automatic Self-Cleaning Strainers to date. Rather than employing a single large housing, the system was engineered using multiple smaller strainers configured in a parallel N+1 redundant arrangement.
N+1 Redundancy Architecture
This design philosophy provides one additional housing beyond the required flow capacity. If any housing is taken offline for service, the remaining units can still maintain full system flow. This approach offers several advantages over traditional single-unit systems:
- Simplified Maintenance: Smaller housings are lightweight and can be fully serviced by one person without cranes or specialized tools.
- Lower Capital Cost: Avoids the need for a complete second 24" unit and its associated large-diameter isolation valves.
- Operational Continuity: The system maintains flow even during maintenance or cleaning cycles.
Materials and Construction
The system was fabricated with 304 stainless steel housings and 316 stainless steel internal components to ensure long-term resistance to corrosion in river water service. All instrumentation and control hardware were specified for IP68 or NEMA 4 environmental protection, allowing reliable operation in outdoor and washdown conditions.
Fil-Trek's vertically integrated manufacturing capability enabled the complete assembly—structural frame, piping, valving, and control system—to be built, assembled, and factory-tested in-house prior to shipment.
Turnkey System Design
The final product was delivered as a self-contained, turnkey skid package. The customer's installation scope was limited to inlet and outlet piping connections, with all redundancy and control logic integrated within the Fil-Trek assembly.
Commissioning and Results
Fil-Trek provided on-site commissioning assistance and system verification. The new automated strainers now operate continuously with no operator intervention, providing finer debris control and improved heat exchanger protection, while eliminating routine manual cleaning and associated safety risks.
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Technical Specifications
- flow rate
- 17,000 GPM
- filtration rating
- 1000 µm