ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Simulators for Improved Power Plant Operation and Maintenance

Updated on June 2, 2013
Simulator
Simulator | Source

iiSE Simulator - Thermoelectric Power Plant

Dynamic Simulator

As the electrical demand fluctuates, emissions regulations becomes stringent and the pressure to reduce generating costs resulting from deregulation and highly competitive environment increases, power industry is facing greater challenge on maintaining unit performance, achieving operations flexibility and availability, while facing the threat of restructuring and downsizing. Hence, the emerging technology of dynamic simulation is an opportunity for the power providers to improve profitability through competent operation and maintenance.


Advantages of Using Simulator for Operation and Maintenance

As plant unit transitions from base load to cycle operation, dynamic simulator can be used to familiarize operators with automated startup applications to ensure consistent startups, minimizing wear and tear on major equipment, and reducing start-up time. It can also be used to evaluate process operations, such as optimize the highly interactive multivariable nature of combined cycle operations, and provide indexed set-points for unit coordination. Advance algorithms and control strategies can be pre-tested in simulator before it is introduced in the distributed control system. This will improve plant performance, reduced transient operation of highly maneuverable units and improved unit availability. Improper handling of machines that could introduce defect can also be avoided through training and retraining on the simulator.



Improved Maintenance

The simulator tool has led to several conceptual shifts in the way companies viewed maintenance. Without simulator, the maintenance strategy adopted was mainly inefficient reactive maintenance, defect correction or breakdown equipment repair in a trial and error approach, a technique which is counterproductive for long-term performance of the plant. Further deterioration or defect creation will be accumulated due to improper handling of the machines, apart from inefficient human resources and time consumption. With the simulator, the first conceptual shift was to change the focus of trial and error approach to a confident and efficient one, where defect prevention and defect elimination is possible and high probability to fix the problem at the first attempt with optimum results is achievable. The simulator is also diverting the attention of management to focus on the physics of breakdowns rather than the cost minimization mentality that prevailed throughout the organization. Any planned and reactive maintenance can be carried out using a pre-designed simulator with the dynamic complexity of a real equipment to foresee any possible defects that can be introduced to it. Proper and thorough procedure can be formulated out to avoid improper steps being taken while bringing the equipment down, hence reducing the collateral damages arising from performing maintenance activities.


Cost Saving

Power plant requires long-term asset management strategy due to its long operative life to find the right balance between costs, condition and reliability. Hence, maintenance and business objectives are closely related. Maintenance in practice should be linking engineering and management as the two key aspects in its business process. Cost minimization approach can be achieved through improvement in productivity generated by the adoption of improved maintenance techniques to increase generated productivity. When resources for planned maintenance are constrained, simulator enables the evaluation of various schemes for plant maintenance aimed at reducing maintenance costs and increasing plant performance. With the simulator, the organization may continue with “fire-fighting” and focus on reactive maintenance but does so more effectively and efficiently. With the intensified global competition and increasing complexity and cost of the plant equipment, the use of a dynamic simulator should be considered as a wise maintenance strategy that aims to contribute to long-term competitiveness of the company.

Power Plant Modeling and Simulation

Copyright

The text and all images on this page, unless otherwise indicated, are owned by Ingenira who hereby asserts her copyright on the material. Permission must be granted by the author in writing prior to copy or republish this article in print or online. However, please feel free to copy the first paragraph with a link back to this page. Thank you.

© Ingenira

Share this page - did you know you can share this page by clicking on the "Share it" button below? This will enable you to -

Email it to friends, Link to this page, Tweet this, Blog this or, send this to your Facebook, Myspace, Digg, StumbleUpon or Reddit!

If you like what you have read, please "Vote up" by clicking the green button below. Thank you.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)