Thermal predictive
maintenance at a
coal plant
Testing
Functions
Case
Study
Measuring tools: Fluke Ti30
Thermal Imager
Operator: Coal plant/
power generation
Tests conducted: Power distribution,
switchyard, motors, boilers, pipes,
traps and valves
As monopolies, electric utilities
are charged with providing the
highest quality product to the
public at the lowest possible
cost. Simultaneously, as publiclyowned companies, they also
need to generate a return on
investment for their shareholders. They have a fiduciary
responsibility to operate efficiently, and predictive maintenance is an essential component
in fulfilling this responsibility.
While many people in the
power generation industry are
familiar with annual infrared
thermography surveys as part of
PdM, the coal plant in this case
study uses a thermal imager
year round. There are two
differences in their approach.
1. They use a mid-range
thermal imager with enough
pixel count, accuracy, and
temperature range for their
applications.
2. They use it to troubleshoot
problems, track critical
equipment more closely, and
follow up repairs after the
annual survey.
Power distribution
Delivering consistent, reliable
electricity is a power generators highest priority. For this
reason, the primary use of
infrared thermography at this
plant is regular monitoring of
power distribution equipment.
For example, 2300 V and
4160 V breakers and transformers should be inspected
with a thermal imager to identify problems prior to scheduled
maintenance outages.
Application Note
Switchyard
Switchyard inspections are
normally performed during the
pre-dawn hours in order to
avoid solar reflections and
effects from wind. During predawn, the load is lighter but
the air is usually calm, so any
problems that are observed are
certain to be significant, as they
will be much hotter during the
period of peak load. Traditionally, these inspections would be
performed during periods of
maximum load, however local
conditions at that time of day
can mask serious problems.
Boilers, pipes, traps and
valves
While delivery of electricity is
essential, efficient production is
equally important. At this coal
plant, for example, steam is
produced from coal fired boilers
and electricity is produced from
steam driven turbines. When
steam valves leak or fail, high
energy content steam or water
blows through to the
condenser. This represents
significant money down the
drain. The thermal imager
allows maintenance staff to
regularly scan the pipes, valves,
and traps, identifying these
problems early on and controlling the operational cost of
electricity production.
Energy losses are not limited
to the steam lines. Infrared
thermography is used to inspect
the boilers to identify areas of
insulation breakdown. Hot
areas on the boiler walls indicate areas of worn insulation
and significant energy losses.
Infrared thermography helps
identify these areas so they can
be repaired during the next
maintenance outage.
Motors
At most plants with in-house
imagers, nearly all of the
infrared analysis is qualitative
and comparativeexamining
similar pieces of equipment
under similar load. A primary
example is the inspection of
pulverizer motors. The steam
boilers are hungry for coal.
Twenty-seven 400 to 500
horsepower motors drive the
pulverizers which feed the
boilers.
2 Fluke Corporation
Thermal predictive maintenance at a coal plant
In advanced PdM systems,
each aspect of the system may
have its own monitoring
program. For example, this coal
plant should have a motor
casing monitoring program,
where the case temperature for
each motor is regularly examined. Motors all have NEMA
temperature ratings on their
nameplates, providing the usual
operating temperatures as a
baseline. The normal apparent
temperature is approximately
120 - 140 F, depending on
ambient conditions. As the
temperature rise approaches 40
degrees, it usually indicates the
need to clean the filters. When
the temperature rise exceeds 40
degrees, it indicates that the
motor needs to be scheduled for
cleaning and reconditioning.
Since the motors are all about
the same size and operating
under similar loads, its a fairly
simple matter to identify hot
motors comparatively and take
corrective actions.
Prioritizing problems
Infrared thermography helps
identify maintenance needs but
prioritizing the problems
requires thoughtful evaluation
of many factors. The most
significant problem is not
necessarily the one with the
hottest apparent temperature.
Other factors include criticality
of the equipment, total repair/
replacement cost, safety concerns, and lost production costs.
Basic vs. advanced
thermography
Much of the equipment in coalfired power generating stations
can be efficiently inspected
using comparative infrared
analysis. In this case, the plant
continued to hire out the
annual survey, so that it had
professional thermal images of
all critical equipment to
compare their own images to
during the year.
For example, most of the
metal surfaces in a coal-fired
plant are heavily oxidized and
coated with fly ash. This means
that most of the surfaces of
interest generally have an
emissivity of about 0.95. Since
thats the default emissivity
setting on most thermal
imagers, those surfaces yield
accurate thermal images year
round.
This thermal imgae shows hot secondary connections on the transformer.
However, if the metal surface
of a motor casing is shiny, it
looks like a mirror in the
infrared region. Instead of
seeing the temperature of the
motor, the infrared camera
sees a combination of some of
the heat of the motor and some
of the heat of objects around
the motor. To compensate, thermographers paint a black spot
on the surface or use a contact
temperature probe to allow
them to adjust the emissivity
until the infrared reading
matches the contact probe.
While issues like emissivity
are minimized by dirty metal
surfaces, other issues like
reflections, convective losses
due to wind, and other conditions can lead to erroneous
conclusions.
More advanced infrared thermography involves learning the
principles of heat transfer,
reflectance (mirrors), emittance
(walls) and transmission
(windows). Special settings for
each piece of equipment can
also be obtained from the annual
consulting thermographers.
Examine transformers, comparing similar connections under similar loads.
Predictive maintenance basics
Predictive maintenance is especially
important to power-generation facilities because so many are running past
their original design lives. Preventing
unplanned downtime while operating
aging equipment on a fixed budget
doesnt leave too many options.
Predictive maintenance (PdM)
involves monitoring equipment over
time for conditions that indicate
impending failure, determining
whether corrective action is required,
and, if necessary, taking that action
before the equipment fails. The goal is
to avoid unplanned downtime and
schedule repairs.
PdM technicians identify critical
production assets, determine how
often they need to be monitored, set
up an inspection route and schedule,
and regularly measure key indicators.
Then, they compare those measurements over time, looking for changes
in operating conditions that indicate
potential breakdowns. Available monitoring and measuring methods include
infrared (IR) temperature measurement, vibration analysis, oil analysis,
ultrasonic testing, electrical measurement, power quality, insulation resistance, and thermal imaging.
The benefits include significantly
reduced downtime, maximized uptime,
stocking an optimum number of spare
parts, and lower labor costs for maintenance. Overall, PdM programs
increase capacity or productivity using
existing equipment. Some power
generation facilities find that the data
collected for predictive maintenance is
also useful for meeting environmental
documentation requirements.
Fluke. Keeping your world
up and running.
Fluke Corporation
PO Box 9090, Everett, WA USA 98206
Fluke Europe B.V.
PO Box 1186, 5602 BD
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
For more information call:
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2005 Fluke Corporation. All rights reserved.
Printed in U.S.A. 8/2005 2519659 Pub-ID: 10989-eng
3 Fluke Corporation
Thermal predictive maintenance at a coal plant
