Ingenuity Magazine Summer 2021

interviews, even hiring a third-party project manager to help vet prospects, to identify a firm that could provide a viable design. Ultimately, Pond was selected as the consultant. Pond’s prior knowledge of the fuel farm from our 2017 comprehensive assessment enabled planning to begin immediately upon notice to proceed. Based on this familiarity, the team realized capitalizing on several aspects of the existing equipment would be most effective. There were two utility transformers, each one large enough to serve the entire facility. There were also ten fuel pumps for redundancy, where only five at most were needed to meet demand. This allowed for a phased approach to the project construction to ensure that fuel was always available. The key to this strategy was to build and energize new power distribution and control systems without affecting the existing systems. This meant that new equipment had to be installed in different locations from the existing. Simply removing and replacing equipment would not have been effective because it would require taking one of the systems offline. With new locations, the new and existing systems were up and running concurrently for a period of time. Power Solution To tackle the power element, Pond designed a stand-alone “E-house” to contain the new power equipment. Everything was built in a shop and the completed assembly was delivered to the site and lifted into place by crane. This approach helped compress the schedule by allowing the contractor to work on other parts of the project while the E-house was in fabrication. When the existing power distribution was removed, it also freed up valuable space within the operations building allowing for future expansion of staff facilities. As an aside, shop fabrication has high quality assurance and certified testing assures the product is in good working order when i t arrives on site. This approach saves time on the job site and el iminates potential errors and subsequent t roub l eshoot i ng. The alternative piecemeal field assembly has high potential for gross errors. A high level of redundancy was engineered into the power scheme because of the critical nature of the operation. The switchgear can switch between the two utility transformers and the four engine generators with automatic switching to perform in the case that utility power was unavailable. Controls The new controls are housed in a cabinet located in the operations building. The new cabinet occupies about a fourth of the floor space as that of the old cabinet. Controls consist of a programmable logic controller (PLC). This is an industrial hardened computer that is programmed to generate desired output actions based on input conditions. An industry standard, PLC’s provide flexibility and simplicity for complex operations and are scalable for future expansion. WiringWithout Disrupting Operations To round out the system, new wiring was installed to connect the power and controls to the equipment in the field. This included everything from large fuel pumps down to the control and position status of valves and fuel tank levels. All total, there is roughly 40 miles of wire installed, all of which is run in cable tray. Cable tray is located above ground where it is accessible and expandable. Once the new equipment was online and new field wiring installed, the pumps and field devices were disconnected from the old systems and reconnected to the new a few items at a time. This method maintained enough critical equipment so that fueling operations were never interrupted. Success Under Budget Despite pandemic-related project delays and unforeseen challenges, the project was completed under budget and in time for the summer travel season. This success was a result of the collective ski l l and teamwork of al l involved s t a k e h o l d e r s . E v e n w i t h w e l l - d e f i n e d phas i ng , the unexpected obstacles throughout the project challenged the team to be resourceful and resilient. The seamless navigation of these challenges demonstrated the team’s agility, adaptability, and dedication to smart problem-solving and delivery excellence. Bill Carpenter, PE Technical Design Director " With the power and control equipment vital to airport operations, how could all of this be replaced without interruption to fueling operations?" Pond Ingenuity | Summer 2021 7