Preventing Power Generation Vibration Issues
Product Announcement from Prosig USA, Inc.
Without the health information that Prosig's PROTOR system can provide on equipment such as turbines, pumps and associated equipment, faults can go unnoticed. Failures lead to unscheduled outages and the consequent loss of revenues. Being able to detect and monitor faults allows for better planning of maintenance schedules.
If impending faults go unnoticed they can easily develop into a condition that results in failures and damage to much more than the original failed part. Accurate health information is vital to maximising revenues. The ability to monitor a known condition and repair it during normal downtime is just as important as detecting unexpected conditions.
A vibration problem arose at an Open Cycle Gas Turbine. Following an outage on the four gas turbines and two SSS clutches, the machine returned to service with unacceptable vibration levels on some generation runs resulting in a significant loss of commercial operation.
The OCGT consists of two sets of two Rolls Royce 'Avon MK 1533' gas generators (A & B side) with each side feeding into its associated Power Turbine. The Power Turbines are connected via a clutch arrangement to the exciter on the 'B' side and to the Generator on the 'A' side.
The unit can be operated in 'Generation Mode' where either 'A' and/or 'B' sides are utilised to generate and export MW's (full load ~ 55MW). Because of the station's remote location it is often requested to run in 'Synchronous Compensation Mode' where the unit is run to speed by either of the gas generator sets to rated speed and synchronised. The gas generator set is then shutdown in order to perform MVAR compensation for the transmission grid...