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Replacement Refrigeration Plant for The Brazilian Navy

DESCRIPTION

Multi-room refrigeration plant for the Brazilian Navy

Lightfoot successfully bid for the contract to design and build a multi-room refrigeration plant for the Brazilian Navy flag ship aircraft carrier SAO PAOLO. This was to replace the existing R22 plant and the vessel is based in Brazil so required overseas project management and collaboration.

PROBLEM

The challenge was to deliver a replacement plant overseas, whilst meeting all the technical and logistics issues. Lightfoot were required to provide project management with detailed and rigid lines of communication between Lightfoot, Brazilian High Commission in London and the technical team based in Brazil.

Additionally, the plant would need to be installed low down in the ship so required a modular design that enabled the plant to be broken down into manageable ‘chunks’. This would facilitate the plant being manoeuvred down to the refrigeration plant room via existing doors, hatches and passageways. Lightfoot were advised that because of the extended period of refit the plant would need to be stored for a period of up to 5 years before installation.

SOLUTION

Lightfoot arranged for an engineer to carry out a full survey of the existing installation and develop an interface plan for the new equipment with existing systems (water, air and electrical) and the new seating arrangement required. The plant was designed and manufactured at Lightfoot and fully tested against multiple dummy loads.


The regular and detailed communication with Brazil (and the use of our agent in Brazil) and their representatives in London ensured the customer had a clear understanding of progress and conflicts were resolved quickly.
The pant utilised a Semi-hermetic screw compressor and provided 25% – 100% capacity control and an HMI Touch screen for control, data trending and retrieval.

Production of technical support documentation was peer-reviewed in Brazil with a Lightfoot engineer present to ensure all points were covered in detail and clarified on both sides. Lightfoot utilised an innovative wrapping company that provided a hurricane-proof wrap with emitter pads inside that provided a coating on all exposed metal services that prevented any rust from forming for 5 years.

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