Automating engineering intelligence using pattern recognition tools

摘要

With the onset of deregulation and competition in electric utility generation, new pressures are competing for the attention of the generating station staff. Focus is shifting from making electric energy on demand (capacity factor focus) to making energy at an acceptable monetary gain (business profit focus); however few if any of the existing production constraints on generating stations have been removed. Environmental and regulatory requirements, contractual obligations and more still exist. Due to business-related pressures station staffs are being reduced both by forced reductions in personnel and retirements. Departing with these people is their system engineering expertise and the ability to understand critical station systems. These critical systems if impaired could severely derate a unit's generating capacity or force a unit outage. Rather than focusing on minor variations in system performance parameters, station staff is occupied by daily operations. This leaves minimal time for diagnostics, monitoring, and predictive maintenance. To combat the above, generating companies are turning to advanced information technologies to gain a competitive advantage. In the situation described, products that enable Advanced Pattern Recognition (APR) are being applied to assist station staff primarily in a maintenance capacity. These tools when properly trained and implemented, are capable of periodically and automatically sampling data from station systems, comparing these data against expert engineering knowledge of system operation, and highlighting anomalous readings. Presented correctly this information assists station staff in sensor maintenance, system operation, and early recognition of abnormal equipment, system or control behavior. Future application of APR coupled to an expert system tool is expected to be a considerable aid in system troubleshooting and diagnostics. Even 'real-time' costing of generation output can be enhanced by the APR System.