Proceedings of The 14th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics- (WMSC12010) Information System for the Performance Assessment of Cooling Equipment in Power Plants

摘要

In this paper, the main features, design, software architecture, and utilization of an offline performance assessment program for power plant cooling systems are illustrated. The program allows to calculate quickly and accurately the equipment performance indicators and diagnose the causes of inefficiencies presented in cooling tower, condenser, and cooling pumps. The program also presents to the users alternatives to solve the detected problems and to improve the system performance. The algorithms for calculating the key performance indicators are based on the documented standard methodology of the Heat Exchange Institute, Cooling Technology Institute, and the America Society of Mechanical Engineers. The assessment of the cooling system is carried out through the comparison between the current indicators and the expected ones, while the diagnosis is made by means of an expert system that uses the methodology of case-based reasoning.