CCUG

Riken Keiki Co’s OHC-800 (photo), a relatively new type of calorimeter, uses optical and sonic sensors to provide real-time monitoring with high accuracy. The instrument’s use in optimizing turbine and boiler air/fuel ratios make it of interest to O&M personnel at gas-turbine-based simple- and combined-cycle plants. Recall that competitor gas chromatographs provide highly accurate analyses […]

An owner/operator presenting on aqueous-ammonia (NH3) storage tank inspections at the CCUG2020 Week Four session said that according to the governing standard, API510, a “fitness for service” assessment should be conducted every 10 years (or half the remaining life calculated during the last inspection) for pressure tanks. The method results in a calculated remaining life,

EPRI Technical Executive Sam Korellis opened the CCUG2020 Week Four agenda with a review of EPRI’s cooling-tower (CT) fan-motor-drive and gearbox field evaluation program and its implications for CTs serving more than 800 units at about 300 powerplants. Many CTs are equipped with multiple fans which start and stop depending on load and ambient temperature.

The main messages from the presentation on fire suppression systems during Week Four of the CCUG2020 meeting, by ORR Protection’s Chuck Hatfield, are that NFPA Code requirements include the life (human) safety and reliability of suppression equipment, whether low- or high-pressure type; and that the industry is “moving away from CO2-based suppression to water-mist systems.” One

Steve Shulder, EPRI’s subject matter expert on water and steam chemistry addressed chemistry-related damage from flexible operations during Week Four of the CCUG2020 program. Thorough to a fault, most of Shulder’s slides are laden with bullet points, likely summarizing chapters of EPRI reports on the subject. It’s almost impossible to condense the 45-slide deck into

Hydro Solutions’ first presenter during Week Four at CCUG2020, Ares Panagoulias (“Innovations in vertical-pump vibration monitoring”), reviewed a relatively new, but proven, capability to monitor vibration of submerged vertical pumps using a single-axis piezoelectric accelerometer directly wired to a wireless transmitter with its own power source (Fig 1). Data go to a “cloud-based” app. Included

The “Diaphragm Dishing Issues” presentation by Steampath Engineer Jeff Newton in MD&A’s Spring 2021 Webinar Series (February 18) addressed permanent axial distortion of steam-turbine diaphragms, commonly known as dishing. The effect is usually caused by deficiencies in main weld depths, weld materials, welding processes and/or steampath design with the maximum movement at the horizontal joint

Co-Chairs Barry Dooley of Structural Integrity and Bob Anderson of Competitive Power Resources hosted 90 participants from 17 countries at EHF2021, a virtual event conducted May 18 and 20. More than 60% of the attendees were from 15 generating companies. The 18 presentations made during the meeting covered new information and technology related to HRSGs, plus

The gas turbine world had to wait until June 22 of the Western Turbine Users Inc’s (WTUI) 2021 virtual conference for the session billed by the independent organization of gas-turbine owner/operators as “Axford & Friends.” But the wait was well worth it. Houston-based Turbine Consultant Mark Axford is a crowd favorite at this meeting, having

It’s not often you get something for nothing, or in this case almost nothing. Pay for an expert review by a couple of top global gas-turbine consultants with man-decades of experience, have them tweak your controls, and you likely can squeeze out a few megawatts and/or efficiency gains from an older gas turbine. No capital