Refurbishment of old butterfly valves in the Weisweiler power plant

The Weisweiler power plant located in Rhineland’s lignite coal field near the city of Eschweiler can lock back at a long history. 

The wear of the materials associated with such a long time of operation also affected some of the valves that had been supplied by VAG’s former Bopp & Reuther factory in Mannheim, for example two VAG AKL Butterfly Valves DN 2000 installed in Unit H and delivered in 1971. The time available for the refurbishment of both butterfly valves commissioned by RWE AG in April 2018 was just four weeks. This was a particular challenge for VAG’s Service Center in Mannheim which the team took up and completed the project by working in shifts. 

The customer dismantled both VAG AKL Butterfly Valves DN 2000 and the brake-and-lift units from the pipeline. All parts including the hydraulic brake-and-lift units were completely refurbished in VAG’s Service Center in a very short time. The refurbishment included disassembly, sand blasting, the replacement of all bearing bushes and seals as well as painting. After the function check and leak-tightness test, the valves were ready for their second round of service. 

When the customer had installed the refurbished butterfly valves in the power plant, VAG put the valves into service, first in dry condition including the adjustment of the closing time on the hydraulic brake-and-lift units and later on in wet condition. The acceptance inspection confirmed the trouble-free function of the valves refurbished within the four-week period scheduled and meanwhile the valves are in reliable service again.

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