Clarke Energy Invests in Live Technical Training Engine

Clarke Energy has installed a training gas engine at our Knowsley headquarters, enabling it to be used for INNIO Jenbacher accredited technical training supporting both our customers, staff and apprenticeships scheme. The unit deployed is a Jenbacher J320 which was overhauled and installed by our apprentices.

Background

Clarke Energy offers a number of comprehensive technical training programmes for both internal staff and customers, designed for beginners and experienced service technicians alike. The Training Department had previously relied on our offline simulator and taking trainees to visit operational engines offsite.

An idea was conceived to make an investment into the training facility by purchasing and converting a Jenbacher J320 landfill gas engine and installing it at our very own Knowsley headquarters.

Solution

The refurbishment process was started in September 2018, when the engine spent three weeks in our Overhaul and Repair Centre. Clarke Energy’s Technical Training Team enlisted the support of our field service apprentices, who are at different stages of their 4-year programme. They were all involved at some point during the rebuild process, this allowed us to give valuable, supervised Jenbacher engine overhaul experience to aide in their personal development. As part of the refurbishment process, we decided to further invest by modernising the engine technology. With the support of our Commissioning Team the engine control system was upgraded to the latest Diane XT4 system. This upgrade allows us to convert older engine models that are no longer supported to give them the latest control panel and programmable logic controller (PLC).

The container to house the engine and exhaust system were fully refurbished. The engine was converted from being fuelled by landfill gas to liquified petroleum gas (LPG), this meant a new design for the gas supply was needed. The fuel gas supply consists of sixteen, 47kg propane bottles. The engine was successfully commissioned by the Clarke Energy Commissioning Team with assistance of our special gas expert who oversaw the conversion of landfill gas fuel operation to that of LPG.

 

Results

The improved onsite facility enables more time to be spent on training using our own engine for fault finding, creating running conditions and simulating scenarios. A number of courses both internal and for customers can now be conducted at Clarke Energy. Internally; Field Technician Basic (FTB), Field Technician Advanced (FTA), low voltage competency, apprentice training and tiering training can all be completed by our staff, alongside Basic Operator Training (OPT) and Technical Jenbacher Electrical (TJE) training courses for customers.

The training engine has now been tested and running successfully for over 8 weeks and is proving to be a great asset for the Training Department and company as a whole.

Craig Escott, Clarke Energy Service Director commented

“This training engine refurbishment project has been a joy to watch and has already delivered a great deal of value to the Clarke Energy Service Team, from the apprentice field service engineers who stripped/rebuilt the engine down to the last bolt, to experienced field service engineers who have already benefited from applying newly taught classroom technical skills on a running engine with the latest Jenbacher control systems. Having this engine on our premises allows engineers to test new skills under expert supervision in the real world without fear of customer engine downtime”.

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