In its largest contract to date in terms of the number of compressors supplied and serviced, and the years under service, Ingersoll Rand is playing a pivotal role in ensuring that Eskom’s Majuba plant in Mpumalanga has sufficient compressed air to ensure continuous operation. Majuba is the power utility’s second largest plant with an installed capacity of 4,110 megawatts, which has 21 Ingersoll Rand Centac® centrifugal compressors installed onsite.

These compressors, which vary from 16 m³/minute capacity to 125 m³/minute capacity, are used to service Majuba’s compressed air requirements, primarily process air and dust conveying air. To ensure optimum running of the centrifugal compressors, Ingersoll Rand employed a dedicated Eskom Service Sales Engineer (SSE). Now a dedicated team of six – the senior technician who also performs the role of onsite supervisor, an instrumentation technician and dryer technician, along with an assistant each, are seconded to the utility’s site in a full time capacity. The team is responsible for all maintenance, service and repairs, and performs all operations pertaining thereto.

In addition to the Ingersoll Rand Centac® compressors, the company inherited an additional 84 non-Ingersoll Rand products onsite, including 63 dryers, and are also responsible to ensure continuous optimum running of these products.

To facilitate smooth running of the service agreement, the contractual obligations are split into two measurable service agreements – a maintenance contract and a spare parts contract, which run in conjunction with one another for five years. The current service agreement is the second-term five year contract, and currently in its second year.

The original product commissioning took place as far back as September 1995, while the two service agreements came into place only seven years ago when Eskom realised the need for dedicated onsite professionals to ensure uptime continuity. “Although the average compressor lifetime is approximately five years,” says Neo Kuhn, Service Sales Engineer, Key Accounts Manager, Ingersoll Rand, “with correct upkeep and proper service intervals, it is possible to increase compressor longevity.”

Ingersoll Rand removes and overhauls each compressor every three years for smaller compressors and every five years for the larger. “Although,” Neo points out, “due to the way we maintain our compressors we have a number of smaller units that achieve five years or more before an overhaul, and larger units that have reached a seven-year milestone.”

Brett and Neo, point out that these particular Centac® compressors provide Eskom with several advantages that others don’t, such as the ability to provide a constant flow, as well as providing quick demand compression, and the efficiency provided regarding the required volumes of compressed air produced.

 Ingersoll Rand South Africa is certainly putting its money where its mouth is and living up to one of the statements made by its American parent company: We stand behind our air compressors and beside our customers during planning, installation and maintenance.