Mobile Power Station for Venezuela
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IliAOUNTED on a Dyson 40-ton flat al low-bed trailer, a complete electrical sub-station built for the Shell Caribbean Petroleum Co., Ltd., has been shipped to Venezuela for use in the Shell oilfields around Lake Maracaibo, on the Bolivar coast. Costing about £17,500, the unit is the first of its kind to be built in Great Britain, and is intended to augment, or partially
replace the plant at any of the 14 substations used in the oilfields.
The electrical transmission system employed comprises some 60 miles of double-primary lines carrying current at 33 kV, three-phase, 60 cycles, with numerous branch feeders operating at 6.9 kV. The static sub-stations step down the power to this figure. Some of these are approaching their full load capacity. Thus, the new unit can not only assist the existing sub-stations, but also provide a temporary supply in undeveloped parts not yet linked with the permanent installation.
All the main items of plant, including a 4,500 kVA three-phase transformer, an auxiliary 15 kVA single-phase transformer, the 33 kV switch gear and the necessary switch control gear are fixed and cabled to the trailer. This has 20 wheels and the outfit is 38 ft. long, 10 ft. wide and 16 ft. high.
The trailer, built by R. A. Dyson and Co., Ltd., Grafton Street, Liverpool, has a fully compensated bogie with two pairs of short oscillating axles, each pair mounted on a rocking beam to provide proper load distribution when traversing uneven ground. The bogie carries eight twin 36-in. by 8-in. tyres and is braked by the Westinghouse two
line air-pressure system. The forecarriage has two-in-line oscillating axles, 14-in, by 20-in. tyres and semielliptic springs with oscillating ends.
The outfit was built by Perolle Electrical Plant Co., Ltd., Newcastle upon Tyne, and was fully tested on the road before shipment. The two transformers were built by C. A. Parsons and Co., Ltd., and the switchgear iy A. Reyrolle and Co., Ltd. Among the items of equipment carried by the trailer are a portable safety fence, earthing rods and connections and six cable drums with 6.9 kV cable with terminal clamps, as well as four portable lighting standards each with a 500-watt fitting.