Applied Acoustics 74 (2013) 502508

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Applied Acoustics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apacoust

Technical Note

Diagnostic method based on the analysis of the vibration and acoustic emission energy for emergency diesel generators in nuclear plants
Jorge Arroyo , Mariano Muoz, Francisco Moreno, Nuria Bernal, Carlos Monn
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Laboratory of Engines, University of Zaragoza, C/Mara de Luna s/n (edicio Betancourt), 50018 Zaragoza, Spain

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Ensuring the availability and reliability of the Emergency Diesel Generators (EDGs) in nuclear power plants is a critical aspect to guarantee the plant safe shutdown in case of an emergency scenario. An effective engine diagnosis method is essential to fulll that goal. For that purpose, this paper presents a fast and automatic engine diagnosis method based on a single parameter: the vibration/AE signals energy. The method is based on the comparison of the vibration and AE energy with reference values to determine whether the engine condition is faulty. The method was applied in a test engine, and proved to work satisfactorily. Therefore, it was used to diagnose the EDGs in a nuclear power plant, where regular rigorous inspections are effected periodically. An injector fault was detected thanks to the diagnosis method. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 26 April 2012 Received in revised form 4 September 2012 Accepted 24 September 2012 Available online 4 December 2012 Keywords: Internal combustion engine Vibration Acoustic emission Fault detection

1. Introduction The reliability of emergency diesel generators is one of the main factors affecting the risk of core damage from a station blackout event [1]. In case of an emergency scenario, the primary objective is the safe plant shutdown, which requires substantial electric energy supply to run the plant components and the instrumentation and control systems needed to shut the plant down safely. If the power grid cannot supply the electricity required in this situation, the emergency diesel generators come into play [2]. Thus, both attaining and maintaining the high reliability of emergency diesel generators at nuclear power plants contribute greatly to reducing the probability of station blackout, and hence, the probability of core damage. In this context the periodic diesel engines diagnosis ensures the availability of the EDG, and also guarantees a high degree of reliability. Engine diagnosis was traditionally based on the correct measurement and interpretation of the in-cylinder pressure evolution throughout the thermodynamic cycle [35]. However, direct measurement of the in-cylinder pressure entails important drawbacks, such as the important engine modications required for the sensor mounting. Therefore, non-intrusive tools, such as vibrations and acoustic emissions analysis, are preferred, especially in industrial scales. Vibration analysis is based on the inherent vibration forces induced in the engine due to the reciprocating and rotating
Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 876555082.
E-mail address: jarroyo@unizar.es (J. Arroyo). 0003-682X/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apacoust.2012.09.010

motions, mechanical impacts and high velocity gas ows. Hence, the vibration pattern of the engine can provide a variety of information on many components. Changes in the excitation forces or in the engine components state will affect the vibration patterns. Therefore, using signal processing techniques to analyze these patterns it is possible to determine a faulty engine condition [6]. Many authors have focused their investigations in a combination of the time and frequency domain to identify the typical engine problems [711]. Nevertheless, many of the most common engine problems can be detected by using time domain analysis alone [12]. This simplied and low-cost analysis is desirable in industrial applications. Acoustic methods are also among the most useful techniques for monitoring and diagnosing the condition of engines. Combined with vibration measurements, they offer a great potential over all the non-intrusive diagnosis techniques [13]. A variety of acoustic emission analysis is reported in the literature as a useful tool for engine monitoring [1315]. Acoustic emission in this work refers to relatively high frequency vibration energy that is present in operating machinery, i.e. ultrasounds. AE analysis is a reliable method to identify valve and ring leakage (blow-by), injection failure, timing problem, or any event which causes a high frequency vibration (above 1520 kHz). In traditional engine monitoring, the analysis techniques used to interpret AE signals are the same as those of vibration analysis [12,16]. EDGs diagnosis requires a fast, simple and objective diagnosis tool. If the engine diagnosis can be carried out automatically, the burden on the operators and the risk of human error will be reduced [17]. For that purpose, this paper presents a diagnosis meth-

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Nomenclature AE ATDC BTDC DAQ E EDG ICE i j Acoustic Emission After Top Dead Centre Before Top Dead Centre Data Acquisition energy Emergency Diesel Generator Internal Combustion Engine cycle collected index sample index in a single cycle k m n RMS t ~ yi t ~ yRMS t h interval index total number of cycles collected total number of samples in one cycle Root Mean Square time ith cycle collected root mean squared cycle crankshaft angle

od based on a single parameter: the vibration/AE signals energy. The method is based on the comparison of the vibration and AE energy with reference values to discriminate between regular and faulty engine running conditions. The energy is obtained by taking the integral of the RMS signal in the time (or crankshaft angle) domain. Engine monitoring through the signals energy analysis has been reported in the literature, to analyze the piston ring/cylinder liner lubrication [18] or determine the injectors condition [19]. This methodology has been specically designed to be a reliable, accurate and low-cost tool. It has been used for both engine test bench research activities and easy fault detection in industrial engines in a reasonable time. This diagnosis tool was successfully used to detect a fault in a diesel generator in a nuclear power plant. The diagnosis process followed is also presented in this paper.

2. Experimental system Before the application of the diagnosis method to the EDG, several tests have been carried out on a test bench in order to detect variations in the vibration and AE energy when different working parameters are modied. Fig. 1 shows the experimental system used for carrying out the tests. The engine was coupled to a dynamometer which allows maintaining a constant speed and load during the tests. An electric motor was also coupled to the dynamometer in order to turn the engine in the motoring tests. Data acquisition has been achieved with a Keithley KUSB-3116 card. Pressure was acquired using a Kistler 6061B sensor. A PCB 352A60 sensor with a frequency range of 5 Hz50 kHz was used to measure vibrations and a Physical Acoustics R3a AE sensor with an operating frequency range between 25 and 70 kHz to acquire AE. Each sensor has its own signal amplier and conditioner, which transform low level signal in analog standard signals (10 V range). An angular encoder was also required in order to synchronize the signals with the crankshaft position. The three sensors and the encoder are sampled at 125.000 samples per second each one. According to Nyquist Theorem, this sampling speed allows a max-

imum bandwidth of 62.5 kHz. Data acquisition was controlled by LabVIEW programming language software developed specically for this application. Some locations were proved in some preliminary tests to obtain the best location for the vibration and AE sensor. The optimal location was chosen for vibrations and AE so that maximum amplitudes were observed. Although the pressure signal is not necessary for this method, it has been used as additional support for the diagnosis. An optical encoder was synchronized with the crankshaft. All signals have been conditioned and they have been sampled simultaneously with a data acquisition system controlled by custom developed software. Different digital lters have been proved to nd the most interesting range of frequencies for each sensor. For vibrations, the frequency of interest is between 5 Hz and 30 kHz and for AE between 25 kHz and 62.5 kHz. The frequencies have been chosen according to the operating range of the sensors and the data acquisition specications. Table 1 shows the specications of the engine on which the tests have been conducted. The use of a single cylinder engine avoids the cross-talk between the signals of different cylinders, ensuring the signal analyzed corresponds with the event chosen. 3. Data processing Once raw vibration and AE signals are acquired in the time domain, a digital lter is applied with the purpose of eliminate the uninteresting frequencies for the analysis. To remove the cycle to cycle variation of the different events of the engine, multiple cycles are acquired. The number of cycles depends on the type of the engine and its working conditions [20]. Due to the symmetrical features of the vibrations and AE signals, a loss of information is produced when averaging the signals for the total number of cycles acquired. To avoid this disadvantage, the RMS is applied. RMS is calculated as follows:

~ yRMS t

1 m

n q Xm 2 j y j i ; j i 1

j 1

Fig. 1. Experimental system.

504 Table 1 Specications of the test engine. Manufacturer & model Description Nominal power Bore Stroke Compression ratio

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Bernard Moteurs W.110 BIS Four-stroke, 240 cm3, single-cylinder 3.68 kW at 2500 rpm 69 mm 64 mm 6.24:1

RMS includes the absolute values of the positive and negative components of the signals, so both contribute to maintain all the information of the raw signal. The nal processing step consists in applying the integral to the signal over the time range (or crankshaft rotation range) when the event of interest occurs. The integral provide the energy of the phenomena:

ERMS

t2

~ yRMS t dt
t1

h2

~ yRMS h dh
h1

Major deviations in the energy value while an event of the engine is taking place can denote an abnormal working state of the engine caused by a possible fault. 4. Test procedure In order to analyze the efciency of the diagnosis method based on the vibrations and AE energy analysis, several cases have been studied in test bench. They consist in reproducing typical ICE faults:  Engine motored: The main objective of motoring the test engine is to identify the engine vibrational an acoustical behavior without combustion. It allows differentiating the energy associated to combustion events from the energy generated by the mechanical events. Besides, motoring the engine permits to simulate the situation in a multiple cylinder engine when one cylinder is faulty and it is motored by the rest of the cylinders.  Ignition timing: The modication of the ignition angle implies alteration in the combustion process. The analysis of the vibrations and AE variations in the combustion zone determine the functionality of the method to detect inadequate ignition angles.  Close/open valve timing: The right intake and exhaust valve timing is important to ensure the right operation of the ICE. The variation of the clearances between the cam and the valve tappet modify the opening and closing times. Therefore, the study of the energy in these zones is signicant to prove the inuence of this parameter.  Piston ring fault: Piston rings alterations involve an increment in the blow-by and failure in the piston guidance. These faults will be detected if the energy method is sensible to these alterations. Next sections explain in detail each case described, in which the test engine has been forced to work under different conditions with the aim of comparing the energy of some events with the energy calculated when the engine is working right. The energy has been studied just in the areas where a change is expected. 4.1. Engine motored Fig. 2 shows the differences in the vibration and acoustic energy in the combustion zone when the engine is motored compared to the engine in normal working conditions. Two speeds have been
Fig. 2. Comparison of vibration (a) and AE (b) energy in the combustion process with the engine motored.

compared: 1500 rpm and 2000 rpm. The energy has been calculated in the combustion zone for all cases. Results show a decrease in the vibration energy of a 58.8% at 1500 rpm and a 79.8% at 2000 rpm when the engine is motored compared to the engine in normal working conditions. The AE energy decreased a 65.7% and 60.1% respectively.

4.2. Ignition angle variations Combustion energy has been calculated in the combustion zone applying different ignition angles and compared to the energy obtained with the design ignition angle, which is 20 BTDC. As it can be seen in Fig. 3, when the ignition angle is retarded, tests have shown a decrease in the vibration energy which ranges between 37% and 46%, with a maximum ignition angle of 10 ATDC. AE energy has shown a similar behavior, decreasing a 45.6% when the ignition is timed to 10 ATDC. The cases in which the ignition angle has been advanced have shown an increment of the vibration amplitude of a 20% (ignition 30 BTDC) and a 44.6% (ignition 40 BTDC). AE presents an increment of the 42.3% when the ignition is 30 BTDC, and a 53.2%, advancing the ignition angle to 40 BTDC.

4.3. Intake valve clearances Fig. 4 shows the vibration and AE energy calculated in the zone where the intake valve closes when different valve clearances are applied. The angular range has been selected so that the advance and delay in the closing process produced by the clearances do not interfere in the energy calculation. The design clearance between the cam and the valve tappet in the test engine is 0.15 mm.

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Fig. 3. Comparison of vibration (a) and AE (b) energy in the combustion process with different ignition angles (20 BTDC: design ignition angle).

Fig. 4. Comparison of vibration (a) and AE (b) energy in the intake valve closing zone (0.15 mm: design clearance).

As it can be observed, the vibration and AE energy decrease a 35.8% and a 26.7% respectively when the clearance is 0 mm, while the energy increases a 96.7% in vibration and a 43.6% in AE when the clearance is extended up 0.5 mm. Due to the energy is produced by an impact event, more clearances imply more energy of the impact. Because the impacts are collected with the vibrations sensor better than the AE sensor, the variation is higher in the case of vibrations. 4.4. Exhaust valve clearances Clearances have also been modied in the exhaust valve compared to the design value of 0.15 mm. In this case, it has been studied the exhaust ow gas event. The results of these tests are resumed in Fig. 5. In this case, the clearance has been reduced up to 0.025 mm (tread valve). Vibrations energy decreases a 29% and a 40.3% with 0 mm and 0.025 mm of clearance, respectively. Vibrations energy increases a 52.8% with 0.5 mm of clearance. In these tests, vibrations have behaved different than AE. AE energy increases in both cases: higher and lower clearances. When the clearance is reduced to 0 mm and to 0.025 mm, the valve opens before and the exhaust gas ow leave the cylinder suddenly. Because the gases ow is a high frequency event, it is captured by the AE sensor. When the clearance is 0.5 mm, AE includes the energy of the ow gases and also the energy of the valve tappet impact which is increased due to the bigger clearance. This is the reason of the increment in the AE energy. 4.5. Piston ring fault Last experimental tests include the removal of the second compression ring of the piston and the study of the energy in the comFig. 5. Comparison of vibration (a) and AE (b) energy when the exhaust valve opens (0.15 mm: design clearance).

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J. Arroyo et al. / Applied Acoustics 74 (2013) 502508 Table 2 EDG engine characteristics. Manufacturer & model Description Nominal power Bore Stroke Compression ratio General Motors EMD 645 Two-stroke diesel. Turbocharged. V 20 cylinders 2000 kW 230.2 mm 254 mm 14.5

point less with the cylinder. When the piston reaches the TDC, the perpendicular impact against the wall is more intense which implies more energy. In all cases tested, changes in the test engine normal working conditions have originated deviations in the vibration and AE energy. Deviations have not disappeared until the fault has been corrected. The calculation of the energy using the RMS of an elevate number of cycles eliminates the energy components associated to cyclic variability, so the energy calculated corresponds to events which repeat in all cycles. Thus, it can be concluded that engine faults which cause energy alterations can be detected analyzing the vibration and AE energy. 5. Emergency diesel generator diagnosis The cases studied in the test engine reveal that the calculation of the vibration and AE energy in specic areas of the cycle of the engine proved to be a reliable tool to detect important faults in the test bench engine. Therefore, the method was used in the periodic diagnosis of the EDGs in the Nuclear Power Plant of Garoa (Spain). The engine characteristics are listed in Table 2. In this case, the sensors used were the same as for the test bench engine and the signal processing was similar. Several preliminary location tests were also performed in order to nd the optimal location for sensors. This location was chosen so that signals had good amplitude and a reduced cross-talk between the different cylinder signals. As a rst step in the diagnosis process, vibrations and AE data were acquired in all the engine cylinders. Then, the RMS values were obtained for each cylinder and the signal energy was calculated for

Fig. 6. Comparison of vibration (a) and AE (b) energy in the combustion zone with piston ring fault.

bustion zone. Results are found in Fig. 6. Vibration energy increases a 30.7% at 60% of load and a 22.1% at full load. AE shows an increment of the 47.5% and 44.5% respectively. The raise of the energy in the combustion zone is produced by the piston slap and blow-by phenomena. Removing the ring makes the piston have a contact

Fig. 7. Comparison of the vibration and AE energy for the EDG engine in the combustion area.

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Fig. 8. Comparison of the vibration and AE energy for the EDG engine in the injection area.

different engine events and compared with previous inspections where the engine was found to work under normal conditions. The analysis showed a deviation in the energy of the combustion-related events in cylinder 7. As it can be seen in Fig. 7, the vibration and AE combustion energy levels in this cylinder fell under the normal working condition values, which means that no combustion was occurring in that cylinder. In this gure, the normal combustion condition state is represented in the 4060% area of the diagram. Any deviation from this area, especially in the 0 20% and the 80100% entails a faulty engine condition. Since no combustion was occurring in cylinder 7, related events such as the injection and exhaust events, also showed deviations in the energy levels (see Figs. 8 and 9). The low injection energy in cylinder 7 indicates that there was an injection fault, which ex-

plains the lack of combustion, and hence, the lack of ow exhaust gases events. The RMS energy calculation allowed the fast and automatic detection of the fault and prevented the engine was working defectively. A later in situ analysis veried a mechanical problem in the engine injection system that prevented injection, and hence, combustion in the cylinder: the control rack of the governor was not acting on the injection plunger in cylinder 7. This problem would have been quite difcult and time-consuming to locate by other means. After the reparation, the vibration and AE energy was calculated again for combustion, injection and exhaust valve opening events, and compared with the normal working conditions case. The low differences between the vibration and AE energy after the reparation ensured the removal of the fault.

Fig. 9. Comparison of the vibration and AE energy for the EDG engine in the exhaust valve opening area.

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J. Arroyo et al. / Applied Acoustics 74 (2013) 502508 [6] Peng Z, Kessissoglou N. An integrated approach to fault diagnosis of machinery using wear debris and vibration analysis. Wear 2003;255:122132. [7] Shiyuan L, Fengshou G, Ball A. Detection of engine valve faults by vibration signals measured on the cylinder head. Proc I MECH E Part D J Automob Eng 2006;220:37986. [8] Geng ZM, Gu F, Ball A. Investigation into vibration from piston slap for engine condition monitoring. In: Maintenance and reliability conference (MARCON 2000) Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; 2000. p. 40.01.08. [9] Gu F, Ball AD. Vibration based fault diagnosis in diesel fuel injection system. In: IMechE seminar on diesel fuel injection systems, London; 1995. p 8997. [10] Ben-Ari J, DeBotton G, Itzhaki R, Sher E. Fault detection in internal combustion engines by the vibrations analysis method. SAE technical paper 1999-01-1223; 1999. [11] Ohta K, Irie Y, Fukuzawa Y, Shimokouchi H. Analysis of main bearing impact induced by crankshaft vibration. Proc INTER NOISE 1993;93:18858. [12] Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Diesel engine analysis guide. TR107135 nal report. NMAC; 1997. [13] [13] Jiang J, Gu F, Gennish R, Moore DJ, Harris G, Ball AD. Monitoring of diesel engine combustions based on the acoustic source characterization of the exhaust system. Mech Syst Signal Process 2008;22:146580. [14] Albarbar A, Gu F, Ball AD. Diesel engine fuel injection monitoring using acoustic measurements and independent component analysis. Measurement 2010;43:137686. [15] Li W, Parkin RM, Coy J, Gu F. Acoustic based condition monitoring of a diesel engine using self-organising map networks. Appl Acoust 2002;63:699711. [16] Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). Predictive maintenance primer. Revision to NP-7205. NMAC; 2003. [17] Luo GY, Osypiw D, Irle M. Real-time condition monitoring by signicant and natural frequencies analysis of vibration signal with wavelet lter and autocorrelation enhancement. J Sound Vib 2000;236:41330. [18] Douglas RM, Steel JA, Reuben RL. A study of the tribological behavior of the piston ring/cylinder liner interaction in diesel engines using acoustic emission. Tribol Int 2006;39:163442. [19] Albarbar A, Gu F, Bal AD. Diesel engine fuel injection monitoring using acoustic measurements and independent component analysis. Measurement 2010;43:137686. [20] Heywood JB. Internal combustion engine fundamentals. New York: McGrawHill; 1989.

6. Conclusions Aiming to ensure the availability and reliability of the EDGs in a nuclear power plant, this paper presents a fast and automatic engine EDG diagnosis method. The method is based on the analysis of the vibration and AE signals energy in the time domain. The energy was obtained by taking the integral of the RMS signal for the different events of the engine cycle and compared with reference values. The measurement and signal processing system was experimentally optimized in test bench. The method was experimentally validated and it was concluded that the analysis of the signal energy was an effective and automatic indicator of different problems that may occur in engines. The method was applied in periodic diagnosis activities of the EDGs in the nuclear power plant of Garoa (Spain) and an injector fault was detected. The engine was quickly repaired and after the reparation, the same diagnosis process was repeated, ensuring the right working conditions of the engine.

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