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February 8, 2005 | 'Turbine expert' Charlie Perkins retires from AECI
Contact : Nancy Southworth Few people know the workings of a power plant turbine from the inside out like Charlie Perkins, who watched construction of the first unit at the New Madrid Power Plant in 1972 and construction of the second in 1977. "I'd go up there and watch them install it, inspect it and take it apart, and so on," said Perkins, who recently retired from Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. after 32 years at the power plant. Perkins' years of experience in mechanical maintenance helped him solve part of the puzzle last year on the Unit 1 bearing, which was vibrating and overheating. Perkins was the one who thought to check the turbine shaft clearances, finding a misalignment. "When we opened the bearing up, you could see higher temperature marks on certain parts of the bearing, which indicated it was tilted and not exactly level with the shaft," he said. "Charlie has a lot of experience with the turbine," said Plant Manager Dave Evans. He found it was out of alignment in a dimension that is set during the initial commissioning of the unit and does not need to be adjusted for the life of the unit, he said. "For it to be found out of line is extremely odd." Perkins' knowledge will be missed at the power plant, Evans said. "We have several experienced people like Charlie who are getting to the point of a well-earned retirement, and we'll need people to follow in behind them," he said. "In the early days, Charlie got to learn the unit inside and out because it was always apart," he said. Today, the units run years before a major turbine outage. Starting at the plant as a temporary guard in February 1972, Perkins took the job of mechanic helper in May 1972 with AECI. He progressed to mechanic in 1973 and went on to become a journeyman mechanic and then a machinist/mechanic in 1975; leadman-maintenance in 1977; and maintenance foreman in 1978. In 1980, he became a mechanical maintenance supervisor, his position at retirement. "There have been a lot of changes," he said. "It's been an experience, it sure has. I've enjoyed it, and it was interesting. I learned something new every day." Perkins said he mostly will miss the "good bunch of people" at the plant, but he will keep in touch, especially after he finishes his current project: construction of a 30-by-56 foot shop with a kitchen and enough room for family reunions, fish fries and barbecues. Charlie said he may travel to see family, but he mainly planned to stay home in Portageville, enjoy retirement with his wife, Joyce, and spend time with his two grandchildren. Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. is owned by and provides wholesale power to six regional and 51 local electric cooperative systems in Missouri, northeast Oklahoma and southeast Iowa that serve more than 800,000 customers. AECI's mission is to provide an economical and reliable power supply and support services to its members with the vision of being the nation's lowest-cost wholesale power supplier. AECI is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative. Released: 8 February 2005
Electronic copies of article and photographs available. |
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