Advanced Calibration Monitor Legacy
Constellation Energy completes installation of ACM
Constellation Energy has completed the installation of ACM, the Advanced Calibration Monitor, on a coal fired generating unit at the company's Brandon Shores Generating Station, Unit 2 located in Baltimore, Maryland. Performance Consulting Services, Inc. (PCS) was contracted to implement the Advanced Calibration Monitoring System (ACM) for data validation and calibration monitoring. The data validation project is part of a larger combustion optimization project, with Pegasus Technologies as the prime contractor. In addition to validating the data used by the Pegasus neural network for optimization, Brandon Shores anticipates receiving additional value from the ACM installation from reduction of periodic calibrations, saving time for the instrument maintenance staff.
Constellation has also purchased ACM for use at their Crane Generating Station.
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ACM Installed at Dairyland Power Cooperative's JPM Station
Dairyland Power Cooperative has completed the installation of ACM, the Advanced Calibration Monitor, on a single coal fired generating unit at the company's J.P. Madgett station, located near Alma, Wisconsin. The real time ACM system was installed in conjunction with Scientech's PMAX performance monitoring system to validate the data used for performance monitoring calculations. Dairyland staff recognized that invalid data was the cause of most errors with their performance calculations, and recognized that ACM was the solution to the problem. An additional benefit of the Dairyland ACM installation is the reduction of periodic calibrations, saving time for the instrument maintenance staff.
Dairyland has also purchased ACM for use at its Genoa Station.
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Advanced Calibration Monitor Reduces O&M Costs
The Advanced Calibration Monitor (ACM) is a computerized data validation and calibration monitoring system that provides unique opportunities for reducing operation and maintenance costs in fossil power plants. What is the value of calibration monitoring using ACM? A recent cost analysis was performed on a single 450 Mw coal-fired unit. The analysis examined the cost impact resulting from historical inaccuracies in just three critical instruments -- throttle pressure, throttle temperature, and hot reheat temperature. From the errors in these measurements alone, the additional annual cost of fuel and replacement power was more than $900,000!
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ACM Installed at Allegheny Energy Harrison Power Station
Through a cooperative effort between Allegheny Energy, EPRI CAC and Performance Consulting Services, PCS's premiere data validation software, the Advanced Calibration Monitor, has been installed on Harrison Power Station Unit 2. PCS staff worked closely with Allegheny staff to develop accurate ACM models of Harrison 2, in addition to developing a new interface between ACM and OSI's PI plant process historian.
The real time ACM system, which operates on a Windows NT 4.0 platform, communicates with a DEC Alpha-based PI system to retrieve plant process data and return ACM validated results. The validated data can then be used by the plant's performance monitoring calculations, or any other systems interfaced to the PI system.
Final installation of the ACM system was completed in September, 1999.
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ACM Reduces the Need for Time-Based Calibrations
ACM can help to reduce costs by streamlining general calibration procedures. Many utilities perform instrument calibrations on a scheduled or planned maintenance basis with little regard for which instruments actually need calibration. The result is that some instruments are calibrated unnecessarily and others are not checked often enough. With ACM, as instruments begin to drift they will be accurately flagged, and they can immediately be schedule for calibration. Those instrument that are not flagged can be left unchanged. Utilities estimate that as many as 1500 man-hours are expended on instrument calibrations during annual outages. If ACM can reduced this by a conservative 25%, an additional 375 man-hours would be available for more productive tasks, such as controls tuning and optimization.
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ACM Installed at Union Fenosa's Meirama Generating Station
Through a cooperative effort between Union Fenosa Ingenieria, Black & Veatch (B&V), EPRI CAC and Performance Consulting Services, PCS's premiere data validation software, the Advanced Calibration Monitor (ACM), has been installed at Meirama Generating Station . PCS staff worked closely with UF staff to develop accurate ACM models of Meirama, in addition to developing a new interface between ACM and the On-Line Performance Monitoring Workstation (OPMW), developed by B&V in cooperation with EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute). In addition to the new interface, PCS is also providing documentation and on-line help in Spanish.
The real time ACM system, which operates on a Windows NT 4.0 platform, operates in conjunction with the Excel-based OPMW system to analyze plant process data and return ACM validated results. OPMW will monitor the performance of four major coal-fired generating stations to help identify areas of plant efficiency losses. The validated data can then be used by the plant's performance monitoring calculations to provide high-quality indications of plant performance indices.
Final installation of the ACM system was completed in June, 2000.
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For More Information About ACM...
To see how ACM can reduce O&M costs and improve information quality in YOUR facilities, e-mail Performance Consulting Services.
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