Transformer transport and switchgear hauling

Transformers are the long pole in a data center build

Lead times for large transformers in the United States have stretched to years, and a unit that finally ships has a crane, a crew and an energization date waiting for it. Nobody wants it sitting at a port or a factory because the trucking was arranged late. We treat a transformer move as a scheduled event: the permit application goes in as soon as the shipping dimensions are confirmed, the route is surveyed on paper for low bridges, tight turns and weight restricted structures, and the delivery is matched to the day the crane is on site.

The units on a data center campus range from pad mount transformers of a few thousand pounds, which ride on a standard flatbed, to medium voltage power transformers that weigh 50,000 pounds or more with their radiators and conservator and are both over width and over height on a lowboy. Switchgear ships as lineups of several sections, each a tall steel cabinet, usually on a step deck or a flatbed under a tarp.

Matching the trailer to the unit

A pad mount transformer up to about eight and a half feet in height and under the legal axle weights rides on a standard flatbed, skidded and chained at its lifting points. Taller units and most switchgear lineups go on a step deck, which gives about ten feet of height before the load is over height. Large power transformers go on an RGN, a removable gooseneck lowboy with a deck close to the ground, and the heaviest need a multi axle lowboy to spread the weight within each state's per axle limits.

Securement matters more on a transformer than on almost any other load, because the unit is heavy, has a high center of gravity and must not be shocked. Chains go to the designated lifting and tie down points, never around radiators or bushings. Units that ship with an impact recorder are checked at pickup and delivery, and the readings go on the paperwork.

Permits, escorts and routes in the West

A unit beyond eight and a half feet wide or taller than about fourteen feet on the trailer needs an oversize permit from every state it crosses, and above certain widths each state requires one or two pilot cars. Over weight units need a permit that names the axle spacing and the route, and some bridges on that route may be off limits. California adds travel time restrictions in the Los Angeles basin and on busy freeways, which pushes a wide load into the night or the early morning, and the Arizona and Nevada permit offices each have their own rules for the desert interstates.

We arrange all of this through the carrier for each state the load crosses, and we build the permit lead time into the quote rather than discovering it after the unit is ready. The common trips are Interstate 10 to the Phoenix area, Interstate 15 to Las Vegas and the Wasatch Front, Interstate 5 to the Bay Area, Sacramento and Portland, and Interstate 80 to Reno. Details are on the oversize permits and escorts page.

Switchgear, breakers and bus duct

Switchgear lineups arrive as several sections that are bolted together on the pad, each tall, heavy at the base and sensitive to water. They ship upright, usually on a step deck under a tarp or in a Conestoga trailer whose sliding tarp system keeps the sections dry without a loose tarp rubbing on the cabinets. Breakers and relays often ship separately, crated, and can go in a van. Bus duct is long and light, and ships on a flatbed with the sections cradled and strapped.

For a substation delivery we usually run the pieces as a group so the lineup arrives together and the crew can set it in one day.

What we need to quote

• The manufacturer's shipping drawing: length, width, height, weight and the lifting and tie down points
• Whether the unit ships with radiators, conservator and bushings installed or separately
• Pickup: factory, port transload or yard, with its crane or forklift and its hours
• Delivery: the pad location, the crane arrangements, the site gate and its turning room
• The energization date or the day the crane is booked, so the delivery lands on it