In a process that began more than two years ago, new technology arrived at the National Board (NBBI) Inspection Training Center (ITC) in Columbus, Ohio, on August 24, as Miura America Co., Ltd. donated a “once-through” boiler.
“Much of the equipment in (the ITC) boiler room are decades-old designs,” NBBI Executive Director Joel Amato said. “This is a 2020 design, bringing new technology to inspectors.”
Ed Verderose, national account manager-executive customer liaison at Miura, and Amato were discussing Miura boilers during the 89th General Meeting in May 2021 at Scottsdale, Arizona, and agreed there was a need for training on the boilers.
The question was how to go about it.
Amato said inspectors wanted to know what’s “inside the Miura box.”
Verderose said he also would get calls from inspectors who would say, “I need to talk with someone about these Miura boilers. I don’t understand them.”
Following the boiler’s placement in the Inspection Training Center,
Joel Amato (center), NBBI executive director, poses with Andrew Eklind (left), marketing manager at Miura,
and Ed Verderose, national account manager-executive customer liaison at Miura.
The idea was how to help each other, and during the discussion on how best to train inspectors came the technological leap.
“Would it help if you could actually have one of these to work on?” asked Verderose, who also is a member of the NBBI Advisory Committee, representing boiler manufacturers.
Amato agreed and requested the boiler be cut away to allow for viewing, which will assist in the training.
“Miura not only provided us a boiler for our Inspector Training Center, they also delivered it to Columbus,” Amato said. Miura’s manufacturing facility is in Rockmart, Georgia.
Amato said most inspectors pull up a side panel, look inside, see that it’s insulated and leak free. But inspectors getting to study “the magic” inside the boiler makes all the difference.
“Now, we can see exactly what’s going on,” he said.
Chief inspectors will get the first look at the boiler during the Members’ Meeting, which is October 3-6 at the NBBI campus.
Verderose will give a presentation and be available during technical time to further discuss the boiler with inspectors, beginning the process of showing how this collaboration is a win-win.
“When I present, they can now physically see how the actual combustion gases flow through the boiler and how the steam is generated in the tubes,” he said. “And when I explain it to them, they can look and understand exactly what’s happening inside there. Once they get that complete understanding of what’s happening inside the boiler, they’ll have the insight to prevent any potential losses.”