GPS-BASED TIME SYNCHRONIZATION IMPROVES PLANT RELIABILITY

摘要

In the power generation industry, accurate time-keeping by supervisory control systems is of utmost importance. Operational failures can propagate rapidly across plant systems and trigger a chain reaction of equipment alarms and shutdowns. Personnel rely on trip logs and alarm print-outs to troubleshoot problems. Events are recorded for a period of time before and after a trip. Alarms are also time-stamped to indicate when equipment failed. This article describes how Great River Energy achieved accurate time-keeping by plant control systems at its Coal Creek generating station. The Elk River, Minnesota, utility minimized operational failures and improved reliability by implementing an innovative Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)-based time synchronization solution at the facility.