A power plant was experiencing a feed water flow problem. The issue was on a line
with static pressure exceeding 1000 psi which fed water to one of their steam generators.
The plant’s engineers suspected that it may be an issue with a filter, a flow nozzle,
or even with the line itself, but couldn’t know for certain until they could isolate and capture one of the transient events. Logging differential pressure—so that they could
record readings on both sides of the suspected problem areas—would be the best way
to troubleshoot the issue. But that method was initially dismissed by the team, as the
cost for a unit to measure differential pressure under so much static pressure would be
very expensive.
The Right Equipment for the Job
Crystal Engineering had the solution. Equipped with two pressure modules rated in
excess of the static pressure, an
nVision reference recorder could provide the plant’s
engineers an accurate differential measurement. The
nVision would capture the native
difference between two modules of the same range (in this case 3000 psi) and apply that difference to each measurement. This would give them a differential pressure measurement
up to an accuracy of ±1.4 inH2O; even with the high static pressure present in
their system. And, as the nVision would record and time stamp the data, the engineering
team would have the ability to carefully analyze the differential measurements and
compare them to the Plant Operations’ control system data. This in turn
would provide them the opportunity to note transients that may have
the potential to affect the differential pressure in a specific area of the
feed water system. With enough data points, events that repeatedly
caused issues could be isolated
until the problem was
identified and corrected.
Positive Results
The team was able to
identify the issue using
the data provided by the
nVision reference
recorder. The problem was identified
in a timely fashion and at minimal cost, as
they were able to address the specific system
problem and bring the generator back
online quickly. The plant engineers were very
happy with nVision and its contribution to the
process. They also noted its versatility: with a
number of modules of different pressure ratings
on hand, the nVision reference recorder was able
to address a variety of the team’s other needs.
Click here for a
pdf copy of the case story.