A walk through the MECH LIFE..!!

Walk through it and you will know what ecstasy is..!! I understood only then the beauty of what was taught in A-605 @ BITS, Goa. I have been allotted Tata Projects Limited an Engineering, Procurement and Construction Company, Hyderabad, which mainly handles the erection projects for POWER GENERATION. As part of my project work there, I happened to visit one of their construction sites @ Bhusawal in Maharashtra. It is a very hot area with temperatures around 45-47 degrees. Unlike Hyderabad, one can steel feel hot wind on the face at 8 P.M. Mainly rocky area with less vegetation, suitable for a power project. We (I and another co-student) were sent there to work on a quality improvement project. We were provided accommodation at a hotel which has very less items on its menu. Ultimately, we got bored of repeating the menu at the end of the stay. The lunch at site reminded me of the food back at BPGC, though the vegetable salad at the site was much better than the one at mess. We used to be out at 9 A.M. and back at 8 P.M. For the first three days we were given A/C room for all the brainstorming sessions and to draw the cause and effect diagrams and most importantly to fight the heat. Due to the staff meetings, we were away from the A/C room and had to experience the afternoon heat @ Bhusawal. Though there were desert coolers all over the office, there was this touch of humidity in the air bringing a sensation of itching.

That was the last but one day stay of ours at the site. We asked our project co-ordinator if we could see the site. He agreed to it and introduced us to the safety officer. We were taken to the stores where we were provided helmet and shoes to walk through safely. We got into a car and drove into the construction area which was about ½ km from the site office. We got down the car and looked up to the site area. The first smell of dust and of the iron felt like living. It was the construction of 2 X 500 MW BOP (Balance of Plant). To the left of us was Unit-1 which was almost done and to the right was Unit-2 which is far behind Unit-1’s completion. We introduced ourselves to a couple of site engineers and they explained to us the rest of the plant structure. I was completely excited by the very sight of the giant structures and was patiently waiting for our safety officer to take us upstairs, which he kept avoiding at the slightest reduction of day light (the time was 7 :30 P.M. you can still read a newspaper). The site engineers showed us the area for turbine placement, the condenser placement. We managed a look at the boiler drum which it seems weighed 240 tonnes and then the other pipes out of and into the boiler drum (unaware of the technicalities). Now was the time to go upstairs. Our officer finally managed to ask “oopar jayenge?” I said “haan sir, chalenge” with a wide beam on my face. We climbed 6 stair cases and reached the arena of turbine and condenser. The turbine was yet to arrive and the workers were working on one half of the condenser and the other half was put aside and was open. It was a semicircular cross section with a dividing plate in the center; that was the visible other half of the condenser. Occasional fear while walking through the building is quite obvious while the rest of the time, you are carried off by the feel of it. Walking back, we spoke of the economic perspective of the project which was worth 2000 crores. On the way back to the site office, we were shown ESP, chimney (275m high), DM plant, ring beam (civil) of the cooling water tower, stack of cooling water pipes and the like. Well, I was on cloud nine to watch an open structure of that kind.

The rule says “if you really want to do it, you will surely find a way.” I call it a life time wish to watch an operational plant under maintenance and to learn everything about a power plant. Only that I am waiting for a chance and I am not making it happen. But, I revisited the course Power Plant Engineering once again with the help of my partner who explained me the entire process of power generation and I shall be grateful to him for making me relive the PPE days of Babu Sir. :P .ALL THE BEST..!!