METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF A POWER PLANT MACHINE

• US 20090043539A1
• Filed: 08/08/2007
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Electric Company
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Stone, Kevin, Marriner, Brian, Frank, Adam, Schmitt, Thomas P.
• Application Number:
  US11/835,504
• Publication Number:
  US 20090043539A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/183
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0221 Preprocessing measurements, e.g. data collection rate adjustment; Standardization of measurements; Time series or signal analysis, e.g. frequency analysis or wavelets; Trustworthiness of measurements; Indexes therefor; Measurements using easily measured parameters to estimate parameters difficult to measure; Virtual sensor creation; De-noising; Sensor fusion; Unconventional preprocessing inherently present in specific fault detection methods like PCA-based methods

Abstract

A method and system for automatically evaluating the performance of a power plant machine is provided. The method and system may include receiving a plurality of operating data from the at least one power plant machine. The method and system may also store the plurality of operating data in at least one data storage device. The method and system may also determine whether at least one performance indicator is within a range; and if the at least one performance indicator is outside of the range, then automatically notify a support network.

Claims

1. A method of automatically evaluating the performance of at least one power plant machine, the method comprising:

providing an automatic performance evaluating system, wherein the automatic performance evaluating system is located approximately on-site where the at least one power plant machine is operated;

receiving a plurality of operating data from the at least one power plant machine;

storing the plurality of operating data in at least one data storage device;

determining whether at least one performance indicator is within a range; and

if the at least one performance indicator is outside of the range, then automatically notifying at least one support network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

providing at least one rule for determining the status of the at least one performance indicator; and

determining whether the at least one rule is met.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

selecting at least one rule to determine a notification; and

providing the notification after the selected at least one rule is met.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining whether at least one performance indicator is within a range further comprises utilizing an analysis engine, wherein the analysis engine comprises:

organizing the plurality of operating data;

determining whether the plurality of operating data is approximately at a steady state;

generating a plurality of pseudo indicators;

applying at least one filtering engine;

applying at least one normalization engine; and

applying at least one rule, wherein the rule determines the status of the at least one performance indicator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one power plant machine comprises:

a turbomachine, a heat recovery steam generator, a boiler, a condenser, a transformer, a feedwater heater, a boiler feed pump, and combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one performance indicator comprises:

power input, power output, fuel flow, airflow, fluid flow, energy balance, and combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of applying at least one filtering engine comprises:

creating a rolling average of the operating data; and

selecting a portion of the rolling average.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of applying at least one normalization engine comprises normalizing the operating data to a performance baseline.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the performance baseline comprises a turbomachine baseline, a combined cycle baseline, a combined cycle machine baseline, and combinations thereof.

10. A method of automatically evaluating the performance of at least one power plant machine, the method comprising:

providing an automatic performance evaluating system, wherein the automatic performance evaluating system is located approximately on-site where the at least one power plant machine is operated;

receiving a plurality of operating data from the at least one power plant machine;

storing the plurality of operating data in at least one data storage device;

determining whether at least one performance indicator is within a range;

if the at least one performance indicator is outside of the range, then automatically notifying at least one support network;

providing at least one rule for determining the status of the at least one performance indicator;

determining whether the at least one rule is met;

selecting at least one rule to determine a notification; and

providing the notification after the selected at least one rule is met.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of determining whether at least one performance indicator is within a range further comprises utilizing an analysis engine, wherein the analysis engine comprises:

organizing the plurality of operating data;

determining whether the plurality of operating data is approximately at a steady state;

generating a plurality of pseudo indicators;

applying at least one filtering engine;

applying at least one normalization engine; and

applying at least one rule, wherein the rule determines the status of the at least one performance indicator.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one power plant machine comprises:

a turbomachine, a heat recovery steam generator, a boiler, a condenser, a transformer, a feedwater heater, a boiler feed pump, and combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one performance indicator comprises:

power input, power output, fuel flow, airflow, fluid flow, energy balance, and combinations thereof.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the performance baseline comprises a turbomachine baseline, a combined cycle baseline, a combined cycle machine baseline, and combinations thereof.

15. A system for automatically evaluating the performance of at least one power plant machine, the system comprising:

an automatic performance evaluating system, wherein the automatic performance evaluating system is located approximately on-site where the at least one power plant machine is operated;

means for receiving a plurality of operating data from the at least one power plant machine;

means for storing the plurality of operating data in at least one data storage device;

means for determining whether at least one performance indicator is within a range;

means for automatically notifying at least one support network if the at least one performance indicator is outside of the range;

means for providing at least one rule for determining the status of the at least one performance indicator;

means for determining whether the at least one rule is met;

means for selecting at least one rule to determine a notification; and

means for providing the notification after the selected at least one rule is met.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the step of determining whether at least one performance indicator is within a range further comprises means for utilizing an analysis engine, wherein the analysis engine comprises:

means for organizing the plurality of operating data;

means for determining whether the plurality of operating data is approximately at a steady state;

means for generating a plurality of pseudo indicators;

means for applying at least one filtering engine;

means for applying at least one normalization engine; and

means for applying at least one rule, wherein the rule determines the status of the at least one performance indicator.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one power plant machine comprises:

a turbomachine, a heat recovery steam generator, a boiler, a condenser, a transformer, a feedwater heater, a boiler feed pump, and combinations thereof.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one performance indicator comprises:

power input, power output, fuel flow, airflow, fluid flow, energy balance, and combinations thereof.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the performance baseline comprises a turbomachine baseline, a combined cycle baseline, a combined cycle machine baseline, and combinations thereof.