Slide Gate Mechanical Breakdown History 2006

From PTAGISWiki

Contents 1 Lower Granite Slide Gate Mechanical Breakdowns 2006 1.1 07/10/2006 13:02 Troy 1.2 05/31/2006 11:48 Troy 1.3 05/30/2006 18:14 Troy 1.4 05/18/2006 15:09 Troy 1.5 05/09/2006 13:34 Alan 1.6 05/03/2006 14:08 Alan 1.7 04/20/2006 15:31 Alan 2 Little Goose Slide Gate Mechanical Breakdowns 2006 2.1 06/03/2006 13:32 Darren 2.2 06/01/2006 12:33 Alan 2.3 05/17/2006 10:51 Alan 2.4 05/17/2006 10:18 Darren 2.5 05/17/2006 08:53 Darren 2.6 05/13/2006 10:25 Alan 2.7 05/10/2006 14:21 Troy 2.8 05/08/2006 13:42 Scott 2.9 05/08/2006 07:19 Scott 2.10 05/01/2006 16:24 Alan 2.11 04/05/2006 13:13 Darren 3 Lower Monumental Slide Gate Mechanical Breakdowns 2006 3.1 06/27/2006 15:37 scott 3.2 05/31/2006 14:37 troy 3.3 05/19/2006 16:19 Troy 3.4 05/12/2006 13:25 Alan 3.5 05/12/2006 07:56 Alan 3.6 05/03/2006 14:23 Troy 3.7 05/01/2006 16:28 Troy 3.8 04/27/2006 16:11 Troy 3.9 04/26/2006 13:26 Darren 3.10 04/25/2006 14:31 Darren 3.11 04/24/2006 10:00 Darren

Lower Granite Slide Gate Mechanical Breakdowns 2006

07/10/2006 13:02 Troy

A site GMC was performed (07/10/06). All transceivers were checked for tune and adjustments made where needed. B Gate was found to be stuck closed. Site maintenance personnel loosened the mounting bolts and moved the cylinder away from the housing.

05/31/2006 11:48 Troy

At site to trouble shoot B gate. Found that the cylinder was binding the gate. Yesterday it was thought that the cylinder was bad. After loosening the mounting bolts and re-aligning the gate it appears that the cylinder is ok. Lowered the air pressure and re-timed the gate.

05/30/2006 18:14 Troy

Kent Blevins called to report that B gate had stopped working. I got back with Kent and it was determined that they definitely do not have a spare cylinder. PSMFC will be on site tomorrow to try and resolve the problem possibly by changing out solenoids although all indications points towards a bad cylinder.

05/18/2006 15:09 Troy

At the site to investigate why the diversion efficiencies were down on A gate. It was found that A gate was only opening 2 to three inches. I took the 2 way solenoid apart and noticed allot of oil build up on one end. I put in the plug and pilot air and still could not get the gate to open with out greatly increasing the travel open time. Another inspection of the inside of the solenoid resulting in the finding of a O-Ring that was periodically lodging in one of the ports and blocking the internal piston from shifting. I removed the broken O-ring and tried the gate again. I suspected the O- ring came from the cylinder so I replaced the gate cylinder and all systems are a go.

05/09/2006 13:34 Alan

The A Separator gate was slamming on the open cycle. The snubbers were adjusted on the single solenoid as well as the snubber and regulator on the dual solenoid.

05/03/2006 14:08 Alan

The B Separator gate and Sample gate were observed operating properly. The A Separator gate was staying open about 12" during the close cycle due to a build up of moisture in the air lines. The moisture was removed.

04/20/2006 15:31 Alan

The A separator gate was intermittently sticking open and slamming shut at the end of the timeout interval. The cause was found to be that the air cylinder had shifted in it's mount. With the help of site personnel it was adjusted, re-timed and now in good working order.

Little Goose Slide Gate Mechanical Breakdowns 2006

06/03/2006 13:32 Darren

Site personnel called me this morning and asked if I could come out to investigate the "A" separator gate because it had started banging closed about 04:00 and there was no COE mechanic on site. The concern was that the gate would break. Upon my arrival I found that the gate was opening but then slamming shut. I found that needle valve in the front part of the RAM had fallen out. I was able to use a needle valve from a different RAM. The valve was replaced and the gate was adjusted. Sticks were passed through the "A" monitor to check timing. No problems were found.

06/01/2006 12:33 Alan

While on-site to remedy low B Separator Gate efficiencies, it was found that the "Time Open" parameter was inexplicably set to "0". This was set back to "85". "Travel Open" was set to "45" to optimize gate operation. The gate apparently failed between 14:00 and 15:00 PST 5/31/2006. The flume was de-watered at ~07:00 PST 6/1/2006 for the gate failure and USACE maintenance. Both the flume and the gate were put back into service at ~12:00 6/1/2006.

05/17/2006 10:51 Alan

A GMC was performed 5/17/2006. All transceivers were checked and tuned as necessary. The A-Separator Gate repair is underway. The B-Separator Gate is working well with an air pressure of 80psi. The SbyC gate was found in good working order with an air pressure of 85psi.

05/17/2006 10:18 Darren

Site personnel informed PSMFC of the time frame for repair on the "A" separator gate that was found to be intermittent this morning. The air supply to the gate was turned "off" at 06:30pst and the flume will be dewatered from 09:00 thru 13:00pst for gate removal, repair and re-installation. If the flume is de-watered for any extended time after 13:00pst site personnel will inform the PSMFC Kennewick office of the time.

05/17/2006 08:53 Darren

PSMFC was alerted to a potential problem by the DGE gate efficiency report this morning. A call was made to the facility and the assistant site bio verified that the gate was not functioning properly. Further checks revealed that the yolk pin mounting hole on the gate had broken. Site maintenance has placed a trouble ticket and is working on getting the gate repaired the gate could be out of operation for most of today. PSMFC personnel will be on site today during this operation.

05/13/2006 10:25 Alan

The A Separator Gate is and has been out of service since yesterday. Site personnel were alerted by phone and found that the threading between the air cylinder and the yoke has stripped. The gate will remain closed until repairs can be made. Repairs are scheduled to begin at approximately 15:00 PDT today. More information will be provided when available.

05/10/2006 14:21 Troy

At the site to check out the diversion gates. As I was fine tuning B gate it stopped working properly in that it would slam open and slam closed. Adjustments to time, air pressure or back pressure to the squealer had no affect. I checked the porting of B gate and compared it to that of A gate. The porting was identical.(A gate was working well) The porting of A and B gate was.

Port Open/Plugged
L Open
M Plugged
N Open
Q Open
R Plugged

I tried several different porting configurations until I came up with one that worked which is identical to the porting configurations at LMJ.

Port Open/Plugged
L Open
M Plugged
N Plugged
Q Open
R Plugged

Once I got B side working with the above porting I tried it on A gate (to standardize) and A gate works well with that porting. We will get to the bottom of this porting issue. Currently both gates are working well.

05/08/2006 13:42 Scott

Traveled to the site in response to the failing B-Side slide gate. Found the gate stuck in the closed position. Problem was remedied by grinding down the leading edge of the flume section where the gate and flume join preventing the gate from binding up. In the process of troubleshooting, removed air cylinder and yoke pin, found the cotter key for the clevis pin was nearly broken and one of the rear shock absorbers loose. Replace cotter key and tighten shock , removed rubber grommet that the cylinder slides through to avoid further problems. This grommet has been a cause of inconsistent gate behavior in the past and serves no real purpose. Gate activity returned to normal at ~ 10:35 pst. Stick test was not performed due to the extreme amount of fish in the system.

05/08/2006 07:19 Scott

DGE report indicates the B-Side slide gate starting to fail in the closed position. Called site biologist and left message to check status of gate. Will follow up.

05/01/2006 16:24 Alan

Site personnel alerted PTAGIS Field Operations to a failure of the A Separator gate. It was out of service from ~13:00 to ~14:00 as the four screws that hold the air cylinder had fallen out. Upon arrival I found that site personnel had repaired and adjusted the gates to proper performance. 10 sticks were thrown on each side to validate timing. Many PIT Tagged fish were observed being diverted properly. No other problems found.

04/05/2006 13:13 Darren

Greg Moody unformed PSMFC today (4-5-06) that the "A" separator gate when firing was not shutting and the more it fired the shorter it would close before timing out and banging shut. I arrived and checked the gate for operation and found that within 3 or 4 cycles of the gate it did not shut and timed out. After some discussion with Troy Humphrey the solenoid was checked for a plug on the "B" side of the solenoid, the solenoid was replaced and the gate was then tested. The gate was cycled by the test button for 100 cycles and then 54 sticks were passed through the monitor and over the gate. The gate worked without any timing out and banging shut. PSMFC will be addressing the plug issue when the factory plugs are received.

Lower Monumental Slide Gate Mechanical Breakdowns 2006

06/27/2006 15:37 scott

Adjusted the B-slide gate soft close relief valve to avoid slamming on the close cycle.

05/31/2006 14:37 troy

B gate is still leaking air past the front o-ring of the cylinder. Last time the gates were checked the oil was increased in an attempt to get the o-ring to seal again. I informed the SMP operator and site biologist that the air leak was still there and that the cylinder should be replaced at the earliest convenience. The gate is 'soft closing' but not as well as it should, the air needed to provide resistance on the close is escaping out the front of the cylinder.

05/19/2006 16:19 Troy

At the site to do R&D on Slide Gate sensors and discovered A gate operating poorly. The majority of the air was leaking out the front of the cylinder most likely due to a worn o-ring. The oilers had been turned down earlier this year which may have caused the o-ring to fail. While the cylinder was being replaced it was discovered that the gate had cracked welds so the gate was replaced as well. All seems to be working now.

05/12/2006 13:25 Alan

At ~11:45 PST the repaired B Separator Gate was put back into service. The A and B separator gates were stick tested with 20 sticks each.

05/12/2006 07:56 Alan

At ~21:45 last night, site bio Ken Fone left a phone message stating that the B Separator Gate had gone out of service (broken air cylinder). They aren't able to shut down the B side because the larger fish will be stuck in the separator, so the gate was disabled. Maintenance personnel will be on site at ~11:00 today to work on the problem. More information is forthcoming as it becomes available.

05/03/2006 14:23 Troy

A joint site visit was made today between PSMFC, NMFs and COE personnel to discuss the recent failures of gates at this site. Jim Simonson of NMF inspected the failed or broken gates and notice that the mounting hole for the gate was either elongated or completely ripped out which is most likely due to what is referred to as a double slam. A double slam is where a pit tag comes through while the gate is traveling closed which throws the timing off and cause the gate to slam open.

The stiffness of the bumpers were increase and the alignment of the gates were checked. The gates were in proper working order upon arrival and were working well.

It has been proposed that a limit switch be mounted on the cylinder to work in conjunction with the gate times. Limit switches alone have been tried in the past but when they would fail the gate would be out of commission. With timing in conjunction with the limit switch the worst case scenario would be the limit switch failing which would leave the facility operating the way it currently is.

05/01/2006 16:28 Troy

On site to recommission A Gate. It was out of service from approximately 2:30 pm to 4:10 PDST due to the piston mount's welds being cracked.

04/27/2006 16:11 Troy

On site to address two issues. Re-commissioning the B-Gate after a repair and trying to submit files from PC1.

04/26/2006 13:26 Darren

PSMFC was informed this morning that at 2345 on 4-25-06 there was a similar problem with the "B" separator gates as the previous day. COE mechanics worked on the gate to get the problem solved. When I arrived the gate was already repaired. I passed 50 sticks through the monitor and observed the gate activity. the gate was functioning properly with no indications of drag or skew. The COE personnel explained that a bracket that holds the air piston in place had broke and allowed the piston to become misaligned and thus causing the gate to stick in the open position. The air was removed at 23:45 and the gate was shut.

04/25/2006 14:31 Darren

Message from Ken Fone: We shut the air off to PIT gate “B” at approximately 2330 last night, due to excessive banging of the gate on closure. We did not want to damage the gate. Upon inspection this morning, Jon found that the gate was getting partially stuck at the end of the open part of the cycle due to misalignment of the air piston with the gate, which was caused by broken welds that positioned the piston. Jon is currently fixing it and should get it back in service this morning.

Ken

This message was sent after I had already left the office headed for both GOJ and LMJ. When I arrived Ken Fone informed me that the gate was currently being replaced. After checking all the transceivers for tuning and noise I spoke with the COE mechanic and the gate was just being finished. It appears that the gate had become misaligned and was not opening all the way and then it was banging shut. The gate was replaced and then it was tested first by using the test button several times and then by passing 20 diversion stick through the monitor.

04/24/2006 10:00 Darren

This message was sent by Ken Fone site Bio:

We closed the exit hatch of the "B" side of the separator, so there was no water running down the flume, from about 0810 to 0930 this morning. This was done so we could replace the PIT gate, which was showing signs of wear on the yoke where the ram attaches.

Ken