SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETECTING COMBUSTION HARDWARE DAMAGE

• US 20130173181A1
• Filed: 01/03/2012
• Published: 07/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GE Infrastructure Technology, LLC (General Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: General Electric Company
• Inventors: Iasillo, Robert Joseph, Shaikh, Tauseef Ahmed, Jain, Praveen Babulal, PG, KrishnaKumar, Radhakrishnan, Ajith Kizhuthrukovil, Soudary, Mallareddy
• Granted Patent: US 8,990,026 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/34
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 5/00 Systems for controlling combustion regulating fuel supply F23N1/00, regulating air supply or draught F23N3/00
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 5/16 using noise-sensitive detectors
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 5/242 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 5/0033 by determining damage, crack or wear
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2291/2693 Rotor or turbine parts
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/046 using the echo of particles imparting on a surface; using acoustic emission of particles investigating concentration of particle suspensions G01N15/06; devices for measuring flow of solids in suspension G01F1/74
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/14 using acoustic emission techniques echo of particles G01N29/046; measuring mechanical vibrations or acoustic waves in solids in general G01H1/00

Abstract

A power generation plant including a plurality of combustor cans, one or more sensors configured to measure acoustic vibrations from the plurality of combustor cans, and a controller that includes a processor. The processor is programmed to identify a dominant tone of the measured acoustic vibrations, the dominant tone being a frequency where a highest amount of energy lies, determine, for each of the plurality of combustor cans, a frequency of the dominant tone at predefined time intervals, and determine a degradation status of at least one of the plurality of combustor cans based on the frequency of the dominant tone at each of the predefine time intervals for the at least one of the plurality of combustor cans.

Claims

1. A power generation plant comprising:

a plurality of combustor cans;

one or more sensors configured to measure acoustic vibrations from the plurality of combustor cans; and

a controller comprising a processor, the processor programmed to;

identify a dominant tone of the measured acoustic vibrations, the dominant tone being a frequency where a highest amount of energy lies;

determine, for each of the plurality of combustor cans, a frequency of the dominant tone at predefined time intervals; and

determine a degradation status of at least one of the plurality of combustor cans based on the frequency of the dominant tone at each of the predefine time intervals for the at least one of the plurality of combustor cans.

2. A power generation plant in accordance with claim 1, wherein acoustic vibration data comprises combustion dynamics amplitude data.

3. A power generation plant in accordance with claim 2, wherein the processor is further programmed to perform a fast Fourier transform on the combustion dynamics amplitude data associated with each of the plurality of combustor cans to determine frequency data for each of the plurality of combustor cans.

4. A power generation plant in accordance with claim 3, wherein determining a degradation status of at least one of the plurality of combustor cans based on the frequency of the dominant tone at each of the predefine time intervals for the at least one of the plurality of combustor cans comprises;

defining a frequency range based on the dominant tone;

separating the defined frequency range into a plurality of sub frequency ranges;

determining a dominant sub frequency range, the dominant sub frequency range being a sub frequency range of the plurality of sub frequency ranges the dominant tone has fallen within a greatest number of times over all of the plurality of cans during the predefined period of time;

determining which of the plurality of cans the dominant tone has fallen within a sub frequency range other than the dominant sub frequency range a greatest number of times over the predefined period of time; and

identifying, as having combustor hardware damage, the combustor can of the plurality of combustor cans the dominant tone has fallen within a sub frequency range other than the dominant sub frequency range a greatest number of times over the predefined period of time.

5. A power generation plant in accordance with claim 4, wherein determining a dominant sub frequency range comprises:

determining, at each of the predefined time intervals, which of the plurality of sub frequency ranges the dominant tone falls within for each of the plurality of combustor cans;

calculating a number of times the dominant tone has fallen within each of the plurality of sub frequency ranges over a predefined period of time for each of the plurality of combustor cans; and

calculating, for each of the plurality of combustor cans, which of the plurality of sub frequency ranges the dominant tone has fallen within the greatest number of times over the predefined period of time.

6. A power generation plant in accordance with claim 4, wherein determining a degradation status of at least one of the plurality of combustor cans based on the frequency of the dominant tone at each of the predefine time intervals for the at least one of the plurality of combustor cans further comprises sending a signal indicative of combustor hardware damage for the identified combustor can.

7. A power generation plant in accordance with claim 4, wherein the combustor hardware damage is a crack enabling an increase in air flow leaning out a fuel to air ratio.

8. A power generation plant in accordance with claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to determine whether the gas turbine is running at a steady state;

and

if the gas turbine is running at a steady state, the processor is configured to receive the measured acoustic vibration data corresponding to each of the plurality of combustor cans.

9. A method for monitoring gas turbine combustor hardware, the method comprising:

obtaining acoustic vibration data corresponding to each of a plurality of combustor cans;

identifying a dominant tone of acoustic vibrations from the plurality of combustor cans, the dominant tone being a frequency where a highest amount of energy lies;

determining, for each of the plurality of combustor cans, a frequency of a dominant tone at predefined time intervals; and

determining a degradation status of at least one of the plurality of combustor cans based on the frequency of the dominant tone at each of the predefine time intervals for the at least one of the plurality of combustor cans.

10. A method in accordance with claim 9, wherein acoustic vibration data comprises combustion dynamics amplitude data.

11. A method in accordance with claim 10, further comprising performing a fast Fourier transform on the combustion dynamics amplitude data associated with each of the plurality of combustor cans to determine frequency data for each of the plurality of combustor cans.

12. A method in accordance with claim 11, wherein determining a degradation status of at least one of the plurality of combustor cans based on the frequency of the dominant tone at each of the predefine time intervals for the at least one of the plurality of combustor cans comprises;

defining a frequency range based on the dominant tone;

separating the defined frequency range into a plurality of sub frequency ranges;

determining a dominant sub frequency range, the dominant sub frequency range being a sub frequency range of the plurality of sub frequency ranges the dominant tone has fallen within a greatest number of times over all of the plurality of combustor cans during the predefined period of time;

determining which of the plurality of combustor cans the dominant tone has fallen within a sub frequency range other than the dominant sub frequency range a greatest number of times over the predefined period of time; and

identifying the combustor can of the plurality of cans the dominant tone has fallen within a sub frequency range other than the dominant sub frequency range a greatest number of times over the predefined period of time as having combustor hardware damage.

13. A method in accordance with claim 12, wherein determining a dominant sub frequency range comprises:

determining, at each of the predefined time intervals, which of the plurality of sub frequency ranges the dominant tone falls within for each of the plurality of combustor cans;

calculating a number of times the dominant tone has fallen within each of the plurality of sub frequency ranges over a predefined period of time for each of the plurality of combustor cans; and

calculating, for each of the plurality of combustor cans, which of the plurality of sub frequency ranges the dominant tone has fallen within the greatest number of times over the predefined period of time.

14. A method in accordance with claim 12, wherein determining a degradation status of at least one of the plurality of combustor cans based on the frequency of the dominant tone at each of the predefine time intervals for the at least one of the plurality of combustor cans further comprises sending a signal indicative of combustor hardware damage for the identified combustor can.

15. A method in accordance with claim 12, wherein the combustor hardware damage is a crack enabling an increase in air flow leaning out a fuel to air ratio.

16. A method in accordance with claim 9, further comprising determining whether the gas turbine is running at a steady state;

and

if the gas turbine is running at a steady state, accessing the acoustic vibration data corresponding to each of the plurality of combustor cans.

17. A system for monitoring gas turbine combustor hardware, the system comprising:

a combustor comprising a plurality of combustor cans;

one or more sensors configured to measure combustion dynamics amplitude data from acoustic vibrations corresponding to each of the plurality of combustor cans; and

a controller comprising a processor, the processor programmed to;

determine frequency data from the measured combustion dynamics amplitude data;

identify a dominant tone based on the determined frequency data, the dominant tone being a frequency where a highest amount of energy lies;

determine, for each of the plurality of combustor cans, a frequency of the dominant tone at predefined time intervals; and

determine a degradation status of at least one of the plurality of combustor cans based on the frequency of the dominant tone at each of the predefine time intervals for the at least one of the plurality of combustor cans.

18. A system in accordance with claim 17, wherein determining a degradation status of at least one of the plurality of combustor cans based on the frequency of the dominant tone at each of the predefine time intervals for the at least one of the plurality of combustor cans comprises;

defining a frequency range based on the dominant tone;

separating the defined frequency range into a plurality of sub frequency ranges;

determining a dominant sub frequency range, the dominant sub frequency range being a sub frequency range of the plurality of sub frequency ranges the dominant tone has fallen within a greatest number of times over all of the plurality of cans during the predefined period of time;

determining which of the plurality of combustor cans the dominant tone has fallen within a sub frequency range other than the dominant sub frequency range a greatest number of times over the predefined period of time; and

identifying the combustor can of the plurality of combustor cans the dominant tone has fallen within a sub frequency range other than the dominant tone range a greatest number of times over the predefined period of time as having combustor hardware damage.

19. A system in accordance with claim 18, wherein determining a dominant sub frequency range comprises:

determining, at each of the predefined time intervals, which of the plurality of sub frequency ranges the dominant tone falls within for each of the plurality of combustor cans;

calculating a number of times the dominant tone has fallen within each of the plurality of sub frequency ranges over a predefined period of time for each of the plurality of combustor cans; and

calculating, for each of the plurality of combustor cans, which of the plurality of sub frequency ranges the dominant tone has fallen within the greatest number of times over the predefined period of time.

20. A system in accordance with claim 18, further comprising an alarm configured to activate in response to a signal received from the processor, the signal indicative of combustor hardware damage for the identified combustor can.