Utilize equipment condition monitoring to improve the management level of power units

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Sudden shutdowns in chemical production cause companies to suffer economic losses of several million, or even tens of millions, per day, while also imposing significant environmental pressures on them. A stable and long operation cycle in chemical production is key to achieving good production efficiency and reducing production costs. Turbine compressors are usually standalone units, and any sudden shutdown of such a unit will inevitably lead to the shutdown of the entire production system ； The longer it takes to identify the cause of a shutdown, the greater the losses incurred by the company. Reducing the frequency of shutdowns caused by sudden failures in compressor units and shortening the duration of such shutdowns places higher demands on the professional skills of production managers and equipment supervisors. The role of equipment condition monitoring and the problems it can help us solve: 1. The use of an equipment condition monitoring system in power generation units is a sign of an improved technical level of those units’ equipment. Unit management has evolved from effective traditional management methods toward information-based and big data-driven approaches, in order to meet the needs of stable, long-term operation of large-scale production facilities as well as intelligent manufacturing. 2. Remote online monitoring: It alerts to minor changes (5um) in the unit’s operating conditions on a regular basis (rather than issuing high or extremely high alarms as shown by the DCS), analyzes these changes, identifies their causes, and examines the trends involved, thereby enabling the avoidance or reduction of sudden shutdowns during unit operation. Condition monitoring cannot cover everything; it is unable to prevent all sudden shutdowns. 3. A common problem that occurs during the operation of the unit is that it stops working properly after being shut down normally; the cause of the problem is unclear, and it’s difficult to determine what to do next, which is a very troubling situation for users. If the plant utilizes equipment condition monitoring, it can help users identify the causes quickly (related to instruments, operations, or machinery), reducing the time spent on troubleshooting and unnecessary maintenance efforts, thus enabling production to resume as soon as possible. For users, time is equivalent to profit. 4. After a major overhaul of the unit, it was found during testing that the vibration level was much higher than before the overhaul. In particular, it is common to encounter cases where the turbine experiences excessive vibration after the overhaul and thus cannot operate. Ask the maintenance staff: It was installed as required, but they can’t explain the reason or the scope. If the unit is equipped with a equipment condition monitoring system, the problems mentioned above become relatively simple. 5. During unit operation, instrument failures and malfunctions occur frequently; by using equipment condition monitoring, it is possible to quickly identify or distinguish false signals, overreports, and interlock shutdowns caused by common instrument failure reasons. Due to the high level of specialization involved with instruments, it is difficult for other personnel to get involved. When an instrument malfunctions, those who specialize in instruments are the only ones who can understand what’s going on; others can only speculate but cannot provide a clear explanation. If the unit stops operating due to an issue with the instruments, and if the instrument technicians are unable to determine that it is indeed an instrument-related problem and insist that there is nothing wrong with the instruments, it inevitably leads to suspicions that there might be a problem with the mechanical components. As a result, inspections of the mechanical parts are carried out, which increases the time required for inspections. This also leads to unnecessary maintenance costs and losses in production time.