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American Electric Power's Coal Pile Management Program

Swadhin K. Chakraborti, USA
Following the reduction of coal inventories, we are aiming for 55 days average storage for the System or approximately 7 M t on a daily basis. Of course, there are light and heavy inventory plants, and the selection is based on the following criteria:
G

1. Introduction
The American Electric Power (AEP) System, founded in 1906, is one of the nation's largest electric utility systems which provides electric energy to seven million people in seven east-central states (Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan). Today, it is one of only two investor-owned utilities in the United States that generate more than 100 billion (100 x 109) kWh of electricity in a calendar year. The AEP System has a generating capacity of 24,084,000 kW, divided among 123 generating units in 39 power plants. The System's 20 coal fired generating plants account for approximately 88% of its capacity and burn approximately 45 million t of coal annually. In order to meet this huge quantity of coal burn, each plant used to keep a large amount of coal inventory (up to 100-120 days storage) as an insurance for long term interruption of coal supply due to miners' strike, high river and other weather related conditions. This means that the coal storage inventory used to be around 12 to 15 M t on every single day. Since, fuel cost is the single biggest cost to the System, too much money was lying on the ground without any return. In this age of highly competitive market, we cannot afford to do this anymore.

A) Fixed Stackout Conveyor with Stand Pipe/Telescopic Chute (Conical Pile) and Gravity Reclaim

Number of transportation modes (rail, barge, truck, and run-of-mine conveyor) Number of sources of supply

Example: Big Sandy, Clifty Creek, Clinch River, Conesville, Kammer, Kanawha River, Kyger Creek, Muskingum River, Sporn, and Tanners Creek Plants
Fig. 1 shows the most common layout in the AEP system. After the coal is delivered either by barge, rail, truck, or mine conveyor, it is unloaded and then moved by conveyors and subsequently stored in the coal yard in the form of a live storage pile (conical shaped). Underground hoppers, belt feeders/ vibratory feeders and conveyors below the live conical pile feed the coal into the plant. Around 25% of the pile cannot be gravity reclaimed. Mobile equipment is required to move the coal from the inactive portions of the cone to live pile. When more coal is received than burned, the live pile grows beyond its capacity and the excess coal is moved to the dead storage pile by mobile equipment. When not enough coal is received, the live pile shrinks in size and the coal from dead storage pile is brought by mobile equipment to meet the burn rates. B) Radial Stacker (Expanded Conical Pile) and Gravity Reclaim

G G

Number of other plants from which coal can be delivered as a backup G Variability of bum rate
G Number of days needed to get coal to the plant from a supplier.

Once we establish the amount of coal to be available in our storage area for each plant, we need to plan for proper coal pile management program. It is true that the smaller capacity plants which burn less coal and have smaller size coal piles in open storage have potential to cause more weather related problems (wet/frozen coal). This program ensures that maximum use is made of our available resources to minimize the cost of coal handling as efficiently as possible without causing any interruptions to its generation due to coal shortage. As always, AEP strives to provide its customers with electric energy at the lowest possible cost. In Table 1 (overleaf) an overview of various types of coal unloading and stacking/reclaiming operations at AEP's coal fired generating plants is given.

Swadhin K. Chakraborti, Senior Engineer, Plant Operations, American Electric Power Service Corporation, 1 Riverside Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215, USA. Tel.: +1 614 223 1732; Fax: +1 614 223 1719. Details about the author on page 523. This paper was first presented at the 10th Annual Bulk Materials Handling Equipment Seminar, sponsored by McNally Wellman, in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, April 27th and 28th, 1995.

Example: Clifty Creek, Kyger Creek, and Mitchell Plants

Fig. 2 shows an alternative coal layout. The radial stacker provides an expanded conical pile (kidney shaped) which allows more coal to be stored. Also, the amount of gravity reclaim is increased due to a large number of reclaim hoppers underneath the live pile. If the radial stacker has a luffing mechanism, it can control the dumping height. 421

2. Coal Yard Layouts

The coal yard layouts of our power plants are given in order to help determine how we should better manage the coal piles at these plants.

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Table 1: Equipment for coal unloading and stacking-reclaiming operations at AEP Power Plants
Plant Arnos MW 800 800 1300 260 800 Unit 1 2 3 1 2 Unloading Operation 1 -Heyl & Patterson Continuous bucket elevator pivoted type barge unloader and 1 -Strachan & Henshaw rail car dumper 1 -Heyl & Patterson rail car dumper and 1 -truck unloader Stacking-Reclaiming Operations 1 -McDowell Wellman stak rake with 2 booms and 10-reclaim belt feeders each on east and west sides of the coal pile 1 -fixed stack-out conveyor with telescopic chute, 4-reclaim hoppers (all in one line) and 2 belt feeders (2 coal crackers above one belt feeder) underneath the surge pile 3-storage silos - 6, A & B, stacking through silo A openings, 7-vibratory feeders under silo A, 8-vibratory feeders under silo B, 4-reclaim vibratory feeders from outside silo A storage (2 on North and 2 on South side of the silo), 1 -reclaim hopper and 1 -belt feeder at Stn 6A, 1 -reclaim hopper and 1 -reclaim belt feeder for unit 3, 4-belt feeders under silo 6 with 2 coal crackers under 2 of the feeders and 1 -portable stacker at breaker house. 1-fixed stack-out conveyor with stand pipe, 4-reclaim hoppers and 4-belt feeders, 1-emergency reclaim hopper with 1-belt feeder, 1-luffing conveyor, 4-hoppers and 4-vibratory feeders, 1-emergency reclaim hopper with 1 -vibratory feeder and 1-radial stacker. 1-swing conveyor with telescopic chute, 1-fixed stack-out conveyor with stand pipe, 4-reclaim hoppers, 2-reclaim belt feeders (1 on each side located diagonally), 2-long airdox feeder breakers (1 on each side located diagonally) and 1 -emergency reclaim hopper and belt feeder 3-fixed stack-out conveyors 4-reclaim hoppers and feeders under each pile

Big Sandy

Cardinal

600 600 630

1 2 3

1 -link belt continuous bucket elevator high water type barge unloader 1 -Heyl & Patterson continuous bucket elevator pivoted type barge unloader 1 -link belt car dumper and 1 -truck unloader

Clifty Creek

225 225 225 225 225 225

1 2 3 4 5 6

2-Heyl & Patterson clam shell bucket type barge unloaders

Clinch River

235 235 235

1 2 3

1 -rail car shake-out unloader and truck unloading at the coal pile

Conesville

125 125 165 339 375 375 1300 1300

1 2 3 4 5 6 1 2

1 -belt conveyor from Conesville Prep Plant and 2-truck unloadings (one at the coal pile area)

Gavin

2-Heyl & Patterson continuous bucket elevator pivoted type barge unloaders; 1 -overland belt conveyor from mine and 1 -rail car shake-out unloader with 10 underground feeders 1 -rail car shake-out unloader 1 -McNally Wellman continuous bucket elevator pivoted type barge unloader

2-radial stackers, 1 -McDowell Wellman stak rake with 2 booms and 10-reclaim belt feeders each on North & South sides of the coal pile 1-rail car shake-out unloader at a trestle in the coal pile and reloading of rail car from the storage pile by mobile equipment 3-fixed stack-out conveyor's, 4-reclaim hoppers and 4-belt feeders under one live storage pile, 2-reclaim hoppers and 2-beft feeders from long term storage, 1-emergency reclaim hopper with 1 -belt feeder 1-fixed stack-out conveyor with stand pipe, 4-reclaim hoppers and 4-reclaim belt feeders, 1-emergency reclaim hopper and belt feeder located downstream of 4-feeders (no crushing system for reclaimed coal) 1-fixed stack-out conveyor with stand pipe, 4-reclaim hoppers and 4-reclaim belt feeders, 1-radial stacker with 2 reclaim hoppers and 2 belt feeders, 1-emergency reclaim hopper with 1-belt feeder 2-radial stackers, 16-reclaim vibratory feeders under one radial stacker and 1-reclaim belt feeder under the other radial stacker (1-coal cracker above the belt feeder) 1-radial stacker, 1-Dravo stacker-reclaimer and 10-reclaim belt feeders on south side of the coal pile Units 1-4: 1-fixed stack-out conveyor, 4-reclaim hoppers and 4-belt feeders

Glen Lyn Kammer

95 240 210 210 210

5 6 1 2 3

Kanawha River

200 200

1 2

1 -Mead Morrison/McKiernan Terry Corporationclam shell bucket type barge unloader and truck unloading at the coal pile

Kyger Creek

215 215 215 215 215 800 800

1 2 3 4 5 1 2

2-Heyl & Patterson clam shell bucket type barge unloader

Mitchell

1 -Strachan & Henshaw rail car dumper and 1 -Heyl & Patterson continuous bucket elevator pivoted type barge unloader 1 -Heyl & Patterson continuous bucket elevator pivoted type barge unloader and 1 -rail car shake-out unloader with 10 underground feeders 1 -overland belt conveyor from mine and 1 -bottom discharge rail unloader

Mountaineer

1300

Muskingum River 205 205 215 215 585

1 2 3 4 5

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Stacking-Reclaiming Operations Unit 5: 1-fixed stack-out conveyor, 4-reclaim hoppers, 4-belt feeders and 2-ooal crackers

Coal Management

Plant

Unit

Unloading Operation

Picway

100

1 -truck unloader

1-reclaim hopper with a stationary grizzly below grade, 1-reclaim belt feeder and 1-coal crusher 1-radial stacker, 2-Dravo stacker-reclaimers, 12-reclaim belt feeders on the east side of the coal pile and 5-reclaim belt feeders on west side of the coal pile 1 -fixed stack-W conveyor, 4-reclaim hoppers, 4-reclaim belt feeders, 1-emergency reclaim hopper and 1-emergency belt feeder Units 1-3 (no crushing for reclaimed coal) 1-fixed stack-out conveyor with stand pipe, 4-reclaim hoppers and 4-reclaim belt feeder Unit 4: 1-fixed stack-out conveyor with stand pipe and belt plow, 4-reclaim hoppers and 4-reclaim belt feeders

Rockport

1300 1300

1 2

2-Heyl & Patterson continuous bucket elevator pivoted type barge unloaders

Spom

150 150 150 150 450 145 145 205 500

1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4

1-Heyl & Patterson clam shell bucket type barge unloader

Tanners Creek

Units 1-3: 1-McKieman Terry clam shell bucket type barge unloader

Unit 4: 1-link belt continuous bucket elevator - high water type barge unloader

In addition to the above equipment, each plant has a complete fleet of mobile equipment for stockpiling and reclaiming operations.

Table I (cont.): Equipment for coal unloading and stacking-reclaiming operations at AEP Power Plants Fig. 1: Spom Plant coal yard layout

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C) Layout A or B with Emergency Reclaim System

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Example: Clifty Creek, Cllnch River, Kammer, Kanawha River, Kyger Creek, and Spom Plants
In addition to layout A or B, at these plants, there is an emergency reclaiming system located outside the parameter of the coal pile but in close proximity to the center of mass of the storage pile (Fig. 1). This shortens haul distances of mobile equipment to move coal. The emergency system is used as an alternative reclaiming system when we encounter problems feeding coal from the live storage pile and its gravity reclaim system. D) Stak Rake/Stacker-Reclaimer and Emergency Reclaiming System (Gravity Reclaim)

The stak rake/stacker-reclaimer machine travels on a set of rails and builds a continuous live storage pile (conical or trapezoidal cross-section) on both sides of rails along the entire length of its travel. Reclaiming operation is accomplished by the flight conveyor (stak rake) or by the rotating digging wheel (stacker-reclaimer) through the live piles. In addition to this, there is an emergency reclaiming system which comprises of underground reclaim hoppers, belt feeders and reclaim conveyors located underneath the portion of the live pile on either side of the rail track. With this system, supplementary mobile equipment is used to build up dead storage piles or to replenish the live piles from the dead storage piles. E) Layouts Different from A, B, C & D

the storage pile outside the silo is done by vibratory feeders or by the rail car dumper hopper. Also, there are underground reclaim hoppers being used for reclaiming coal.

Glen Lyn: Coal to be put in storage is dumped from the rail cars (bottom dump) at a trestle (located in the coal yard) and moved to storage by mobile equipment. Coal to be reclaimed is reloaded onto rail cars by mobile equipment. Picway: Coal is unloaded by trucks in an underground hopper or in the coal storage area. For reclaiming, a belt feeder in the reclaim tunnel conveys coal from the hopper to the unit via a crusher and a number of conveyor belts.

Example: Amos, Gavin, Mountaineer, and Rockport Plants

A third coal yard layout is shown in Fig. 3.

Cardinal: There are three silos in the coal yard where coal can be stored in addition to open ground storage. Stacking of coal on ground is done through silo openings and by portable stackers. Reclaiming coal from

3. Establishment and Categorization of "High and Dry" Storage Piles

Based on the above layouts, the storage piles should be established and categorized as follows:

Fig. 2: Mitchell Plant radial stacker layout

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Coal Management

A) Live Storage Pile A cone shaped surge pile as high as possible should always be maintained above the underground hoppers. The inside wall around the active cone along which the coal is fed to these hoppers due to gravity should never be exposed to cold weather and wet conditions. If the situation arises when it is not possible, at least we should try to keep coal above the hoppers to prevent coal and water from entering the tunnels. It is better to have gratings on certain underground hoppers so that no large chunks of coal or frozen coal can cause pluggage problems to the hopper. If there is frozen coal at this point, freeze conditioning agents can be evenly distributed over the coal. This, along with additional fall onto the grid, will probably break loose the frozen lumps. Bulldozers/frontend loaders are also used to break or remove the lumps. If frozen lumps are still experienced at the outlets of underground hoppers, we can break the frozen

lumps by utilizing coal crackers/ feederbreakers (located underneath the hoppers) at certain plants. If the active conical pile is reduced and there is no fresh coal delivery, the pile needs to be replenished from the compacted short-term storage pile by mobile equipment. It is not possible to maintain the same size conical shaped pile by utilizing mobile equipment only. As this pile is loose and has openings underneath it, all mobile equipment should maintain a safe distance while working around the pile. Sometimes it helps not to use the live conical pile when it cannot be replenished with comparatively good coal from the short-term storage during severe winter conditions. Then the emergency reclaim hopper is utilized for reclaiming coal from the storage pile where good coal is available. With the stacker-reclaimer design, a live storage pile along the length of its travel be maintained for using its reclaimer and this allows more time to avoid reclaiming from the reclaimer hoppers.

B) Short-Term Storage Pile This pile should be created around the live pile and within a very close proximity of it. For storing coal properly, coal should be compacted in 1 to 2 ft horizontal layers starting from the base of the coal pile to achieve coal aggregate densities around 70 ~lb/ft3. The coal pile should be raised high (instead of spreading it horizontally) and should be sloped away from the live storage pile and towards the settling pond (also called coal pile run-off pond)/drainage ditch.

C) Long-Term Storage Pile This pile should be created behind the short-term storage pile. Similar to short-term storage pile, the pile should also be compacted, be made as high as possible and sloped for proper drainage. This pile will replenish the shortterm storage pile.

Rockport Plant coal yard layout

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D) Emergency Storage Pile It will be extremely helpful if a designated portion of the storage pile (preferable location will depend upon the coal pile layout for the specific plant) is kept isolated before winter for the purpose of emergency storage. This emergency pile should be sized to provide enough coal for plant's burn for at least 10 days. Plant should consider spraying this pile with a sealer to protect it from severe weather conditions (rain and freezing temperatures). Reclaiming coal from the sealed compacted pile back to the live pile should be carried out by the mobile equipment (dozers, scrapers, etc.) in a carefully developed plan. Rockport, which burns western coal, has good experience with a sealer called SOILSEMENT (chemical name: aqueous acrylic vinyl acetate polymer emulsion), a product of Midwest Industrial Supply, Inc., of Canton, OH, USA. This product is applied to the compacted coal surface with a spray truck. The sealed coal pile at Rockport has been very effective in reducing wind blown dust and in preventing any erosion of the pile due to rain water run-off (Figs. 4 and 5). An application usually lasts for 6 to 9 months. Before the winter of 1994, Sporn has created an emergency storage pile of about 60,000 t of coal which was sealed with SOIL-SEMENT, Big Sandy is also in the process of building an emergency pile which will be sealed.

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Coal pile treated with SOIL-SEMENT

4. General Information on Storage Piles

Mobile equipment should operate only on a predetermined section of the compacted pile to minimize disturbing the rest of the compacted pile. Coal is reclaimed from top to bottom and is deposited in one foot layers in the live pile. When bucket wheel reclaimer is used, one should reclaim the pile in blocks by working short section from top to bottom. This also minimizes the incidence of frozen lumps in winter or wet coal from heavy rain or snow. After severe weather, coal is dumped over the sloping surface of the pile to fill into any voids caused by erosion. Then the surface is compacted. Grid roller does a good job in sealing the pile. For best results, coal to be stock-piled is done during dry weather conditions. One should try not to wet coal too much. To suppress dust, coal at transfer points should be treated with very small amount of

Top of coal pile treated with SOIL-SEMENT, bottom of coal pile untreated

water with wetting agent (foam system). It is true that very dry coal will not compact. Water truck is used in the coal piles for dust control. Also, this adds enough moisture to perform compaction. The size stability should be maintained. Crushing coal and dropping coal from excessive heights should be avoided. During stacking operation, size segregation should be minimized. It is probably helpful if proper size gradation is included in the coal procurement specification so that the amount of fines (16 mesh or 1.19 mm to zero size) in coal can be restricted to a certain percentage depending upon the type of coal to be procured. A good coal handling design should include a bypass screen (self-cleaning type) prior to coal crusher to minimize size degradation of undersized coal that does not require crushing. Temperature of the coal pile needs to be monitored especially for western coal which has a self-ignition

characteristic. If coal exceeds 70oC (158o F), coal needs to be removed from the pile and to be spread out in thin layers to permit cooling Compact the coal after re-piling. Exclusion of air is the best way to prevent spontaneous combustion. Segregation produced by conical pile in live storage area can produce chimney effect heating. Therefore, this type of pile needs to be moved for compaction or reclaimed as quickly as possible on a "first-in first-out" basis. It makes sense to turn over a section of the coal pile where "old" coal is stored with lot of fines and reclaim that coal during good weather conditions. Leave the "good" coal for rainy days. Also, coal can be blended to minimize the handling problem. Coal is a valuable fuel. Substantial capital is spent in its transportation and storage. We should make every effort not to waste it.

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5. Establishment of a Well-Maintained Coal Pile Drainage System

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piles (rubber tired dozers are not capable of doing this). Attaching a grid roller with a track dozer to work on the sloping surface of the pile does a good job in compacting the pile. The U-shaped dozer blade is widely used for easy loading and for load retention. With the straight blade, a great amount of the material falls off to the sides of the blade. There are several dozing techniques which can aid the production capabilities of the crawler tractor while reclaiming. According to Caterpillar Tractor Co. (CAI), if a downhill push is utilized, production will increase 3% for each 1% of favorable grade. On uphill pushes, production will decrease 2% for each 1% of adverse grade. This rule-ofthumb is good for up to 10% grades. Also, for adverse grades, it may be necessary to reduce the blade load and make more passes. A dozer pushing in a slot can further increase production. The slot, which is created by dozing repeatedly in the same tracks, consists of a wall of material on each side of the blade that prevents side spillage. As the slot gets deeper, less spillage occurs and more material can be moved per pass. According to CAT, the table below provides an estimated indication of the effect that slot dozing has on production:
Slot Condition Slot Depth lncrease in Production

Coal Management
the wheel dozer's reverse speed advantage at a travel distance of 500 ft. Therefore, for longer push (hence return), it will be more advantageous for wheel machine to operate. Another advantage of the wheel unit is that it has a higher compaction factor than track dozer (65-75 lb/ft3 for wheel dozers). The thickness of the lifts and the amount of traffic over each lift will contribute to the degree of compaction. C) Wheel Loader It has a similar speed advantage of the wheel dozer over the track-type tractor. However, it carries rather than pushes its load, enabling it to utilize its speed capability in forward as well as reverse. Loaders are equipped with buckets. When carrying load, the wheel loader produces higher compaction densities than equal sized wheel dozers or the track dozers. The wheel loader advantage, relative to the dozer, will increase with the distance traveled. This is the most versatile of the four types of mobile equipment. With quick couplers, various attachments can be mounted replacing the bucket. D) Wheel Tractor Coal Scraper The two-engine, four-wheel-drive scraper is popular where haul distances are extended at larger plants. These machines are useful for top-loading hoppers. They can unload in seconds while moving, To utilize this capability, the structure over the reclaim hopper and feeder grizzlies should have sufficient strength to permit the machine to travel over it to unload. If this is not done, a dozer is required to push the coal into the feeder. With stacker-reclaimer systems, scraper routes can usually be arranged so the use of other equipment will be less needed to push the coal to the system. When unloading a scraper, operator can accurately set the depth of coal spread while the machine may be moving at speeds up to 30 m/h. It can accomplish higher compaction Densities up to 80 lb/ft3. At some plants, there are few other kinds of mobile equipment/ attachment which are also used as follows: G Gradall Hydraulic Excavator - for cleaning ditches/ ponds G Vibratory Roller Packer - for compacting coal G Ro m e D i s k C o n n e c t e d t o t h e Hydraulically Controlled Ripper Attachment on the Back of a Tractor -for breaking lumps 427

The plant should have a well maintained drainage ditch around the perimeter of the coal pile which should be connected to settling ponds (coal pile run-off ponds). We should leave enough horizontal distance between the edge of the storage piles and the drainage ditch around the perimeter to maintain sediment area for coal fines. Sometimes, coal pile should be crowned for proper drainage. In any case, the pile should always be sloped away from the reclaiming area. Banks need to be compacted well to minimize erosion. It is a good idea to build a presetting pond ahead of a settling pond to minimize the amount of coal fines getting into the settling pond. This reduces frequent need to clean the settling ponds. The presettling pond can be kept shallow enough so that a 91 0 loader can clean it on a regular basis. A tracked backhoe and a gradall can also be used to clean fines out of the ditches and ponds. The settling ponds are usually located close to the corners of the coal pile area and further away from the stacking and reclaiming activities. The coal pile runoff drainage system is designed to collect the rainwater from the entire coal storage area on a 1-in-10 year, 24 hour rainfall event, There are vertical sump pumps at each settling pond which discharge water usually to the bottom-ash ponds. Sometimes, a polymer system is designed to feed a given polymer concentration to varying flows of the coal pile run-off water to remove suspended coal fines before discharging the treated water to the bottomash ponds.

Slight Consistent Very Consistent

2 ft 2-5 ft 5 ft <

10% 25% 30%

B) Wheel-Type Tractor This is operated and equipped very similar to the track machine. However, it has a lower coefficient of traction than the track dozer (40% vs 75% on well-compacted coal, 30% vs 60% on loose coal). This adversely affects the wheel dozer when working on adverse grades. Tracktype dozers can negotiate grades of about 60% in loose coal. Wheel dozers of similar weight and horse power are limited to about a 20% grade on compacted coal. Obviously, the wheel dozer is less stable on steep sides of the pile. The major advantage of wheel dozer is speed. It can move three times faster on the return than the track dozer. If numerous moves from one work location to another are required, the wheel dozer is a better choice. Comparable wheel and track machines will push coal at about the same speed but the track machine will push more coal per blade load due to its higher coefficient of traction. The additional blade load capacity of the track dozer will be overcome by

6. Choice of Correct Mobile Equipment for Different Layouts

The four major types of mobile equipment used in the stockpiling and reclaiming of coal are [1]: A) Track-Type Tractor B) Wheel-Type Tractor C) Wheel Loader D) Wheel Tractor Cod Scraper A) Track-Type Tractor This is the most used machine for coal handling operation, and is suitable for meeting high production requirements for shorter dozing distances. Its good traction power enables it to operate on both live and dead storage piles. The crawler tractor is ideally suited for building up coal over a reclaim hopper and is also capable of dressing and maintaining steep side slopes of the stock-

Coal Management 7. Existing Condition of Mobile Equipment

The existing condition of all mobile equipment should be reviewed. The present manpower to properly maintain all these equipment should also be looked into. It is also equally important that we provide proper facilities in the tractor sheds to perform maintenance work on all sized mobile equipment. It is a fact that coal delivery decreases as weather starts to deteriorate during winter months. We depend more and more on the storage piles and on the mobile equipment for the purpose of reclaiming coal. The availability of reliable mobile equipment is, therefore, extremely important. The problem with wet coal gets compounded due to the fact that a number of mobile equipment become unavailable due to breakdowns during this crucial time of the year. We cannot afford to do this. Caterpillar has a "Repair Before Failure" Program of mobile material handling equipment. This includes a number of videos and posters which show how to read engine's warning signs, transmission's warning signs, hydraulic system's warning signs, etc. This information is very helpful in train-

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ing both operators and maintenance crew. Also, the availability of dozers on a shortterm rental basis during extreme emergency situations needs to be explored with the local mobile equipment dealers.

8. Training Program for Mobile Equipment Operators and Supervisors

Since it requires skillful operators to work on coal piles under all kinds of weather conditions, there should be a trained, dedicated crew for this job. A proper training program for supervisors and operators should be of great help. A skilled, welltrained mobile equipment operator will be in a better position to manage the coal pile. The training program should also include visiting other plants to learn more about how others operate and tobe able to exchange ideas with them.

yard operation should be in contact with the weather bureau on a day-to-day basis to know what they can expect at least a couple of days in advance so that they can plan accordingly. Also, close contact with Fuel Supply and Transportation will provide information on coal deliveries beforehand. In general, the management of the coal piles, which is a part of coal handling operation, works best if the yard department is in complete control of feeding coal to the units.

Acknowledgement
The author wishes to acknowledge both J. Kotlan and K.L. Fijalkowski, design engineers at AEP, for providing drawings for this paper.

9. Coordination and Planning

Weather plays a vital role in the operation of stacking and reclaiming coal. The coal

Reference
[1] KELLY, MURL E.: Selecting Mobile Equipment for Different Yard Layouts; Caterpillar Tractor Co.

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