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An air and refrigeration machine oil console fire
Author(s) -
Singh P. P.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
process safety progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.378
H-Index - 40
eISSN - 1547-5913
pISSN - 1066-8527
DOI - 10.1002/prs.680190204
Subject(s) - refrigeration , piping , gas compressor , engineering , ignition system , header , shut down , petroleum engineering , environmental science , mechanical engineering , waste management , forensic engineering , nuclear engineering , computer science , computer network , aerospace engineering
An incident due to the ignition of a fire at the top of an oil console of air and refrigeration compressors caused the shut down of an ammonia plant for five days. The cause: failure of refrigeration compressor seals resulted in the lowering of the oil level in the console. This caused cavitation in the oil pump suction resulting in high vibration in the pump discharge piping which led to the snapping of a 3/4'' diameter interconnection line weld joint. Oil splashing from the snapped joint to the nearby steam header with improper insulation caused a serious fire above the oil console.