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Plant Performance Management
Operating power plants at maximum efficiency is a high priority for any generation utility. Different factors such as load conditions, equipment degradation, ambient conditions, and operator oversight may cause the generation unit to operate under less than optimal conditions. Kalkitech’s ELTRIX Plant Performance Management (PPM) module enables operator to constantly ensure optimal operation of generating unit. The PPM module is closely integrated with generation unit control system (DCS) and acts as an extension to the DCS. It provides advisory inputs to the operator in real time regarding key parameters such as boiler efficiency, turbine heat rate, cycle efficiency, auxiliary equipments performance, etc. The PPM module is capable of providing these advisory inputs directly through its user interface or through the operator interface of DCS. It is adaptable to coal fired, gas fired, oil fired, hydro run, CCGP and Waste heat recovery type of power plants. PPM is a proven solution,implemented in more than 30 locations for major generation companies.
Support Documents
PPM is an advanced online monitoring system which tracks critical plant performance parameters. It assists Utilities, IPPs, and CPPs in improving their overall plant efficiency and helps plant operator to do generation optimization by continuously updating heat loss status and degradation of auxiliary equipments.
Efficiency calculations in PPM are done using standard mathematical models of ASME PTC. It does efficiency calculations for all types of power plant boilers like fluidized bed consumption boiler, wall fired boiler and tangentially fired boiler. The table below represents some of the ASME PTC being employed in performance calculations:
|
ASME Code |
Particulars |
|
PTC 4.4 |
HRSG ASME |
|
PTC 12.2 |
Condenser ASME |
|
PTC 6.1 |
Steam Turbine ASME |
|
PTC 22 |
Gas Turbine ASME |
|
PTC 12.1 |
Closed feed water heaters ASME |
|
PTC 4.1 |
Steam Generator ASME |
|
PTC 4.3 |
Air Heater ASME |
|
PTC 46 |
Overall plant performance ASME |
|
PTC 12.3 |
De-aerator ASME |
PTC 18 |
Hydraulic Turbine & Pump ASME |
Boiler efficiency is the critical parameter which has direct impact on efficiency of the power plant. Through ELTRIX PPM, a generation power plant can improve 1-2% of boiler efficiency. The table below explains about the monetary benefits of using PPM.
|
Type |
Station Capacity (MW) |
Minimum Annual savings (Million USD) |
|
|
1% boiler efficiency improvement |
2% boiler efficiency improvement |
||
|
Thermal |
50 |
1.5 |
3 |
|
100 |
2.4 |
4.8 |
|
|
250 |
7.5 |
15 |
|
|
500 |
12.4 |
24.8 |
|
|
660 |
16.3 |
32.6 |
|
Following are the major components of Eltrix Plant Performance Monitoring offering
Eltrix Engineering Editor is the client interface which allows user to configure plant data, build equipment and its connectivity models. Engineering editor also generates measurement & history databases, input plant design values & correlation curves. It configures OPC UA/ OPC DA interface of real-time and history data.
Runtime server is the component which performs the real time data update, object oriented storage & retrieval of data, performance/ efficiency computations and does the analysis functions. It has an OPC UA/ DA communication driver which writes back the output to external system over TCP/ IP or Web Service transportation layer.
Decision Portal is the HMI with plant mimic, charts & reports for plant operators/ managers to visualize & analyze the plant performance data. Users can create information dashboards to monitor key performance indicators. The support of Web 2.0 technology in the component helps to deliver time critical information over a standard web client.
Class I calculations are equipment protection calculations for detecting and alarming malfunction. PPM does the following calculations under Class I:
- Cold reheat steam approach to saturation temperature
- Super heater spray outlet approach to saturation temperature
- Turbine steam metal temperature differences
- Turbine metal temperature rates of change
- Excess air deviation from standard
- Feed water heater temperature deviation from standard
- Drum water saturation temperature rate of change
Class II calculations are performance calculations for equipments along with heat rate deviations. Some of the key performance calculations performed in PPM are:
- Boiler efficiency
- Turbine heat rate and deviation
- Gross unit heat rate and deviation
- HP, IP turbine enthalpy drop
- LP turbine enthalpy drop
- Feed water heater performance
- Condenser performance
- Air heater performance
- Economizer performance
- De-aerator performance
- Feed pump, CEP performance
- ID, FD fan performance
Other calculations
In addition to Class I and Class II calculations, PPM module carries out calculations related to analog points such as sum/ difference, average/ maximum/ minimum integration, selection of one analog point out of two, status of digital point, duration for which an analog point is above or below the threshold, digital point running average, time projection and rate of change of calculations. Other important calculations in PPM are:
- Running hour computation of different rotating machineries
- Cumulative time the TG runs below or above alarm level of steam temperature
- SH/ RH tube creep life calculation (Boiler stress monitoring)
- Cumulative time for any bearing running above alarm level of vibration
- Number of start and stop of various devices
- Number of hot, warm and cold start of turbine
- Plant life calculations
Data validation and estimation component
It enables automatic substitution of bad quality data using appropriate correction curve and neural network model. In case, if suitable substitution equation is not available or the substitution process point is of bad quality, then the process point is substituted with the last known good quality value. Quality and substituted information is propagated through out the calculation. Operator has the facility to overwrite.
What-if component
It enables off-line simulation. Off-line simulation helps the operator to view the effect on output by changing the input parameters
The key features are:
- Standard templates based on ASME-PTC are available in the module. Also, customized calculation templates can be created with an option to define calculation intervals. User can retrieve the standard templates even after modification.
- PPM carries out the online heat rate calculations and heat balance analysis.
- Quick generation of performance calculations by applying standard templates on Plant equipments & connectivity models.
- Validation of process data and accounting of instrumentation errors- the application evaluates the raw input data for quality. Before processing the data stored in historian for analysis the application uses validation & reconciliation techniques for quality & consistency of measurements.
- Eltrix model builder in PPM is used to build plant equipments and connectivity models by simple drag-drop operations. Model builder is a graphical user interface tool for designing thermodynamic model of the plant. After designing, it generates the standard CIM model. In addition, PPM has an option to import the model from external system like DCS over an OPC-UA interface.
- Performance calculations are generally done in steady state. Power plant parameters being dynamic in nature, module computes on a moving window to ensure the accurate values.
- Provision to exchange calculation outputs with external systems like ERP, Asset Management or Plant MIS.
- Capability to configure and handle multiple generating units & fleet of power plants.
- Eltrix Web Portal provides web based interface to visualize Plant Performance data on real time. Standard sets of reports, dashboards, and display screens are provided. User can create customized reports & dashboards
- What-if analysis: This feature evaluates the impact of different operational settings on turbine heat rate, boiler efficiency and auxiliary components. Application takes sample inputs from a pre-configured standard calculation sheet. The sample calculation results are displayed along with actual performance calculation results. Comparing these values, the operator can gauge the impact of varying one or more process parameters.
- Thermal Audit: Online thermal audit is done by analyzing the energy balance of the entire plant cycle. Calculations used for thermal audit is incorporated in Class I and Class II calculations with the facility to generate reports of the calculations in thermal audit. Other reports generated are boiler loss report, heat rate deviation report, etc.
- Controllable losses report - This report comprises of controllable parameters of a generation plant. It gives a direct guidance to the operator to improve heat rate. Comparison of heat rate under different settings of controllable parameters and real time heat rate are listed in the report.
- Option of role based access to different functionalities for plant operators and management.
- High availability of application using redundant servers and SAN.
The key benefits are:
- Real time feedback to operator on boiler efficiency, turbine heat rate, cycle efficiency, equipment performance. This enables operator to take corrective action continuously and improve efficiency.
- PPM follows open communication standards and easily integrates with DCS of different vendors.
- Data can be exchanged with DCS in different modes like OPC DA, OPC UA interface, Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), Modbus and other open protocols.
- It can easily scale from unit level to plant level to enterprise level application. It has the capability to employ PPM module at different levels without requiring add-ons.
- IEC 61970 CIM XML based data modeling and data exchange. Generation Dynamics package in CIM is used as foundation and the existing set of classes are further extended to capture the additional information needed.
- User configurable calculations ensure flexible and adaptable solution. In-built calculation builder feature enables flexibility to view, edit and customize performance calculations.
- Extensive reporting features ensure that different users with different roles can view data from their perspectives
