Made in Chattanooga: Alstom

Описание: With 4 hydro-electric dams, one fossil fuel plant, and 2 nuclear plants in the NewsChannel 9 viewing area, there is one company in Chattanooga, capable of supplying the turbines those plants need to make electricity.300 people work for the Alstom plant downtown.  The steel turbines they make, are sent to power plants all over the world.  It's an engineering process that's unique only to Alstom for turbines, that are MADE IN CHATTANOOGA..The Alstom management is glad to be in Chattanooga.  "It's a American company, full of Americans, the supply chain is from America.. everything is made in America," says Lawrence Quinn, president of Alston Chattanooga LLC.  "That's the clear vision that we had and that's the vision that we've actually materialized today."Just like the wind drives windmills to generate power, water, steam, gas or atoms turn the turbines made by Alstom to make electricity.  Alstom came to town in the footprints of one of Chattanooga's most prolific industries.  "Combustion Engineering," says Quinn, "a lot of the nuclear came out of this very facility.. we did not arrive in 2008, we just expanded in 2008."Steam turns one particular Alstom rotor, just like a windmill.  "It's 160 tons of such high tolerance," he says, "that this is run at full speed without any vibration that's noticeable."The process to make a rotor begins with welding.. Steel parts are brought to one area of the plant.  "They are stacked, they are welded," Quinn says, "then they go to a stress relief heat treatment to make sure all of the stresses are taken out of the core of welded steel."The blading process attaches steel blades also made here.Sometimes, there is a sag in the middle of the welded steel that occurs naturally.  Turning the rotor continuously eliminates the sag, then it's checked in the overspeed pit, which simulates a power plant.  That 's done at speeds up to 36-hundred R-P-M.  "We do this so there is no risk of any failure of a blade at the power plant site," Quinn says.  "It's a catastrophe if there is a blade failure."The rotor then comes back for a second stress check.  "Now, we have to make sure that these fine tolerances that we've set during assembly are still exactly the same as designed."A dedicated legion of Alstom workers, trained both here and overseas complete all the work.  "Once we've trained the people," says Quinn, "we can then set them loose, machining multi-million dollar pieces of equipment which have long lead times ready to go to the power plant site, and a site erection that is scheduled several years in advance."Mr. Quinn looks forward to growing the plant, as demand increases for more energy sources.  "It will have new generations of Alstom personnel, where their fathers have worked before them, where their fathers' fathers have worked before them," says Quinn."And I'll still be here looking young as ever, right?" he added with a smile.A major milestone for Alstom was met back in May.. the first shipment of a G-T-24 gas turbine made at the plant was hauled to the loading dock on the Tennessee River, bound for New Orleans.  It's final destination is a power plant in Mexico.Most of the Alstom turbines will be transported by boat, although some of the smaller ones can be delivered by rail and by truck..