CASE STUDY: PX Limited Fellside Combined Heat & Power Plant

Panton McLeod were employed to carry out a Robotic Clean at Fellside Combined Heat and Power Plant, maintained and operated by PX Group Limited.  PX Group is a fully integrated infrastructure solutions business with 25 years’ experience providing solutions for customers.

PX Group is always looking for innovative solutions and decided to explore the possibility of using live robotic cleaning for the removal of sediment build up from their cooling tower sumps; a job which had traditionally been completed manually during an asset shut down.

The company asked cleaning and inspection experts, Panton McLeod, to carry out the robotic clean due to the reputation of the company across the drinking water sector. Panton McLeod carried out an initial survey of the site using a live ROV inspection.  This then informed the project planning along with risk assessments and method statements which resulted in the successful completion of the project within the agreed timescale.

PX Group saw several advantages of using a robotic clean from Panton McLeod including the fact that it could be carried out without shutting down the business-critical asset, draining the tower and removing the need for personnel accessing a confined space.

These cleans are carried out on a regular basis as part of a scheduled programme for legionella control. The company value their health and safety record and have achieved a five-year period without a lost time accident on site. A, live, robotic clean has helped to preserve this outstanding record.

Andrew Dixon, PX Group said “The team from Panton McLeod were very experienced and knowledgeable and they kept us fully informed of progress throughout this challenging clean. We were able to achieve our programme of cleaning with no interruption to steam production or the supply of cooling water. We would use them again in the future for any robotic cleaning or inspections.”

Panton McLeod have been using robotics in the cleaning of assets for many years and pioneered the use of ROV inspections in the water industry. This year the company have launched a confined space drone offering which will complement the existing range of services.