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Foster-Miller performs minimally invasive inspections of oil-filled power transformers with custom-engineered equipment of our own design. Utilities can use this service to diagnose incipient and actual faults in their transformers without undertaking the costly process of draining tens of thousands of gallons of oil and exposing the transformer’s interior to damaging air and moisture. Although there are many noninvasive methods for testing transformers, a visual inspection offers the most reliable, and often the only, way to evaluate the severity of problems that could result in costly equipment failure. Our transformer inspection system uses proprietary minimally invasive technology to deliver a broadcast quality video camera and a powerful lighting system to any area inside a suspect transformer. Conventional video inspection systems do not have the lighting necessary to see through service-aged transformer oil, nor are they maneuverable enough to carry themselves over large, unsupported gaps or through difficult, serpentine paths. We offer the in-oil inspections primarily as a service in the US and Canada. We also sell inspection systems to foreign clients for whom the service model is not economically viable. Inaddition, we also sell a “dry” inspection system designed for substation inspection. 
Gas Turbine Combustion Inspection Tooling Through work with EPRI and various utilities, Foster-Miller has designed a specialty minimally invasive system for performing difficult visual inspections in gas turbines. Most gas turbine operators have used borescopes or videoscopes to inspect their equipment and are well aware of their limitations. Borescopes are too stiff to do a variety of inspection tasks, and videoscopes are too flimsy to be pushed very far into combustion cans or up rows of blading. Our custom-engineered tool overcomes these difficulties to provide access to the entire turbine from a few easily accessed ports, resulting in cost savings and reduced downtimes. To perform a complete combustion system inspection, for example, conventional systems require a great deal of combustor disassembly, making them impractical. Our inspection system can be maneuvered throughout the entire combustion system through the easily accessed flame detector and spark plug ports. From these access points, the tool can then be maneuvered up and down each combustion can from the fuel nozzles at one end to the first stage nozzles at the other end. The tool can go from can to can by using the cross-fire tubes connecting them. No other tool has the combination of stiffness and flexibility required. 
Steam Turbine Steam Path Inspections Through work with EPRI, the US Navy, and various utilities, Foster-Miller has engineered another set of unique tools that enable us to gain unprecedented access to the critical steam path of steam turbines with minimal disassembly for the purpose of visual inspection. The disassembling of a steam turbine to perform an inspection is an expensive, time-consuming, and risky process. Conventional inspection tools cannot deliver visual inspection capability to all the areas of the steam turbine necessary to fully evaluate the condition of the steam path. Our tools can. We offer steam turbine inspection services to clients in the US Navy, commercial power generation industry, and the petrochemical industry. Each client has unique machines with unique inspection challenges. We use a variety of tools and custom-engineered solutions to provide early detection of incipient problems and analysis of existing issues. When combined with state-of-the-art electronic data management and distribution, these new techniques allow real-time assessment of equipment by original equipment manufacturers or cognizant Navy personnel during inspections. The benefits of the technology are significant: - Systems and equipment are not removed for long durations for disassembly, increasing readiness time.
- The risk of collateral damage normally associated with disassembly is significantly reduced or eliminated.
- Findings are analyzed by equipment experts for determination of equipment readiness for unrestricted operations, eliminating “guesswork.”
- Labor-intensive disassembly of components and systems is significantly reduced, thereby reducing costs.
Tracking and trending of significant finds is readily accomplished. For further information about this service, contact Curt Brockelman at +1.781-684-4416 or cbrockelman@foster-miller.com.
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