Originally built as a baseload power station, Cartagena’s operating equipment is not designed for high cycling. DEKOMTE proposed a bolted collar fabric expansion joint solution, that integrates to the HRSG cold casing and maintains a high cyclic capability, gas sealing penetration seal.

The original design consisted of three independent penetration seals within close proximity to each other, whereas the new design focuses on the insulation integrity in the casing and around each nozzle in a staggered penetration seal design.

The Springerville ash hopper dipper trough was upgraded with a DEKOMTE dry seal expansion joint retrofit, incorporating a new drip shield, flow plate, fabric joint, backing bars and inlet & outlet frames.

The replacement and upgrade of the existing metallic expansion joint with another metal expansion joint would have required a full NDT, splicing in new section of bellow and extremely delicate welding. Alternatively, a fabric expansion joint retrofit boasted multiple advantages…

Whilst regular insulation repairs and maintenance can be intrusive, laborious and time-consuming, pumpable insulation lowers cost and shortens downtime.

The complex frame geometry at the heart of the solution gives low fatigue stress from the thermal transients caused during cycling.