2 Bucket Cranes for Green Coke Handling

The project of engineering, manufacturing, electrical pre-assembly, factory testing, and subsequent commissioning on site of 2 semi-portal grab cranes for the handling of coke for the expansion of the Kuwait refinery of KNPC’s Al Ahmadi Mine included in the Clean Fuels Project. This is one of the most complete projects in the field of cranes carried out by Iturcemi, both for the volume and the complexity and demands of our client TAIMWESER and the requirements and requests made by the end customer SK Engineering.

Iturcemi as a partner company of Siemens in DRIVES & MOTION CONTROL CRANES and FACTORY AUTOMATION develops the engineering of these two cranes using advanced electrical design software such as Eplan P8 Electric and ETAP for the realization of drawings and electrical calculations. Our scope also includes the development of the PLC Siemens programming of the crane and its interface with the SIMOTION and SIMOCRANE systems including the safety systems of the machine and the CESAR anti-sway system. These cranes have a semi-automatic operation mode programmed by us.

One of the keys of the project is the existing synergy between engineering and workshop that allows our designs to come out with a high level of verification. Likewise, our customer sent us the E-Room of the cranes to perform the integration and tests in our workshop, which reduces the testing times in the factory tests in TAIMWESER and allows more focused tests in the electrical and control system, in this case we have the presence of both our customer and the final customer SK Engineering.

In our customer’s factory, the electrical assembly of the cranes is carried out for the commissioning and complete verification of the cranes, allowing us to send a 100% tested product. In this case and due to customer requirements, the control system required us to perform several FAT tests in the different locations required, sending technicians to Singapore, Korea and finally to Kuwait for these tests.

The last stage of this project was the commissioning of the cranes which started in 2020 with the equipment fully assembled in the refinery. The commissioning process was interrupted by the global pandemic which required us to find ways to continue to service our customer during the confinement time. During this period and until we were able to travel to Kuwait again, a remote service was provided by 2 specialists in Motion control and Factory automation to attend the incidents that arose and guarantee the operability of the equipment, during this period more than 600 hours were provided, being able to solve problems of great complexity in reduced times and ensuring the operation of the equipment. During this period, we were also required to provide a 1 week remote training course for maintenance and production personnel focusing on the following areas: Motion Control, PLC and crane operation.

Finally, in 2021 the commissioning of both cranes was completed with the local presence of the technicians and the successful remote support system was maintained for a period of time upon the return of the technicians in order to attend our customer during the delivery process of the cranes.