Premkumar Chinnaraj - Wood
Coke drums are a key equipment item on the Delayed Coking Unit and require continuous attention and analysis throughout the equipment lifecycle to help maximize drum life. Wood’s extensive analysis has proven that a joint team effort by our Reliability, Process and Operations team can effectively optimize the thermal gradients in the coke drums during operation, thereby improving the mechanical reliability and fatigue life of the drum. Regular monitoring and inspection can help with early detection of cracks that can be repaired during maintenance while avoiding unplanned shutdowns. In this presentation, we will review the life cycle steps and highlight a case study where optimization of thermal gradient optimization was performed to help improve drum reliability and reduce fatigue on the drums.
Premkumar Chinnaraj has been a Mechanical Technology Specialist at Wood since 2013 with 7+ years of experience in Delayed Coking Technology. As part of the Wood’s Technology and Products Group, Premkumar provides technical support to coking units worldwide and has been involved in many Delayed Coker Projects including revamps, feasibility studies, basic engineering, front end engineering design (FEED) and detail engineering. Additionally, Premkumar has wide experience in Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and performed studies for fatigue resistant design of Coke drums, recommendations to skirt crack repairs, skirt modification studies, pipe stress and vibrational analysis. Premkumar received a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Anna University in India, followed by a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Florida.