Dirk Therkorn

Analysis of Compressor On-Line Washing to Optimize Gas Turbine Power Plant Performance

Due to compressor fouling, gas turbine efficiency decreases over time, resulting in decreased power output of the plant. To counteract the effects of compressor fouling, compressor on-line and off-line washing procedures are used. The effectiveness of compressor off-line washing is enhanced if combined with the cleaning of the VIGVs and the first compressor blade row by hand. This paper presents a thorough analysis of the effects of compressor on-line washing on the gas turbine performance. The analysis is based on the measured data of six gas turbines operated at two different plants. Different washing schedules and washing fluids are analyzed and compared. Furthermore, the effects of compressor on-line washing on the load distribution within the compressor are analyzed. The performance benefit of daily compressor on-line washing compared to weekly compressor on-line washing is quantified. As expected, daily compressor on-line washing yields the lowest power degradation caused by compressor fouling. Also, the effect of washing additives is analyzed. It is shown with long term data that compressor on-line washing cleans up to the first 11 compressor stages, as can be detected well in the compressor. With a view to gas turbine performance optimization, the recommendation is to perform compressor off-line washing at regular intervals and to take advantage of occasions such as inspections, when the gas turbine is cooled down anyhow. Especially for gas turbines with a high fouling rate, a daily compressor on-line washing schedule should be considered to reduce the power loss. For gas turbines operating with high fogging, compressor on-line washing has no added benefit. To determine the optimal compressor washing schedule, compressor blade erosion also has to be considered. A reasonable balance between compressor on-line washing and off-line washing improves the gas turbine performance and optimizes the gas turbine availability.

Remote Monitoring and Diagnostic for Combined-Cycle Power Plants

Reliability and availability are both critical for competitive operation of high efficiency combined-cycle power plants in the liberalized electricity markets. Monitoring and diagnostic of operational data is successfully used to prevent unexpected plant shut downs and to schedule maintenance activities. A complete set of tools is presented, which is used to monitor combined-cycle power plant operation. The daily incoming data is analyzed with a physics-based performance model, with a neural network-based novelty detection tool and with an experience-based failure detection algorithm, which looks for fingerprints of known and possible component faults. A knowledge management system is used to support the assessment of the findings and the recommended actions are communicated to the power plant operators in the form of early warnings. The application of the different methods in parallel shall ensure that most of the emerging problems are detected before they result in damage that leads to a forced plant shut down. Most of the cases are simple measurement errors, although component deterioration and failures can also be detected. Experience with the ALSTOM early warning system for the GT24/GT26 power plants is shown to demonstrate the successful application of this approach.Copyright

Similarity Based Modeling for Turbine Exit Temperature Spread Monitoring on Gas Turbines

Failures in the gas path of a Gas Turbine will cause a deviation in the measured performance parameters. One of the most important parameters is the Turbine Exit Temperature (TET) and refers to the hot gas temperature at the exhaust of a Gas Turbine (GT). However, TET is not uniform at the turbine outlet and the temperature is therefore sometimes measured at several axial and radial positions. The TET has what can be considered a natural variation, an effect of operation in different ambient and operational conditions which influences the internal flow field. It can be informative on the health status of the GT by monitoring the TET variation during operation, as a number of failures or abnormal operation conditions will affect the TET distribution. A regular way of monitoring the TET is to use the average value from different sensor readings, or compare the highest deviating sensor to the average value of all sensors. However in order to detect anomalies as early as possible deviations from the healthy profile should be detected more finely across the section. In this paper, a data-driven similarity based algorithm called Auto Associative Kernel Regression is applied to the issue of monitoring the TET spread variation on an industrial gas turbine. A case study is supplied to show the practical usefulness of the algorithm to a field failure.Copyright

Assessment of Gas Turbine and Combined Cycle Power Plant Performance Degradation

Recoverable and non-recoverable performance degradation has a significant impact on power plant revenues. A more in depth understanding and quantification of recoverable degradation enables operators to optimize plant operation. OEM degradation curves represent usually non-recoverable degradation, but actual power output and heat rate is affected by both, recoverable and non-recoverable degradation. This paper presents an empirical method to correct longterm performance data of gas turbine and combined cycle power plants for recoverable degradation. Performance degradation can be assessed with standard plant instrumentation data, which has to be systematically stored, reduced, corrected and analyzed. Recoverable degradation includes mainly compressor and air inlet filter fouling, but also instrumentation degradation such as condensate in pressure sensing lines, condenser or bypass valve leakages. The presented correction method includes corrections of these effects for gas turbine and water steam cycle components. Applying the corrections on longterm operating data enables staff to assess the non-recoverable performance degradation any time. It can also be used to predict recovery potential of maintenance activities like compressor washings, instrumentation calibration or leakage repair. The presented correction methods are validated with long-term performance data of several power plants. It is shown that the degradation rate is site-specific and influenced by boundary conditions, which have to be considered for degradation assessments.Copyright

CCPP Operational Flexibility Extension Below 30% Load Using Reheat Burner Switch-Off Concept

Highly competitive and volatile energy markets are currently observed, as resulting from the increased use of intermittent renewable sources. Gas turbine combined cycle power plants (CCPP) owners therefore require reliable, flexible capacity with fast response time to the grid, while being compliant with environmental limitations. In response to these requirements, a new operation concept was developed to extend the operational flexibility by reducing the achievable Minimum Environmental Load (MEL), usually limited by increasing pollutant emissions.The developed concept exploits the unique feature of the GT24/26 sequential combustion architecture, where low part load operation is only limited by CO emissions produced by the reheat (SEV) burners. A significant reduction of CO below the legal limits in the Low Part Load (LPL) range is thereby achieved by individually switching the SEV burners with a new operation concept that allows to reduce load without needing to significantly reduce both local hot gas temperatures and CCPP efficiency.Comprehensive assessments of the impact on operation, emissions and lifetime were performed and accompanied by extensive testing with additional validation instrumentation. This has confirmed moderate temperature spreads in the downstream components, which is a benefit of sequential combustion technology due to the high inlet temperature into the SEV combustor. The following commercial implementation in the field has proven a reduction of MEL down to 26% plant load, corresponding to 18% gas turbine load. The extended operation range is emission compliant and provides frequency response capability at high plant efficiency. The experience accumulated over more than one year of successful commercial operation confirms the potential and reliability of the concept, which the customers are exploiting by regularly operating in the LPL range.Copyright