POWER AUTOMATION and controls

AMODIS HRSGLM
HRSG life monitoring
Hosted by ALSPA Care
Able to accurately trend
life consumption and
identify those events
that cause the most
damage to keep plant
competitive.

Boost plant availability and revenues

Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSGs) are required to endure significant cyclic
and long term high temperature operation which can, respectively, result in fatigue
and creep damage to certain components. While design features are included to
maximise the durability of components, actual plant operation can deviate from design
assumptions, which may result in higher than expected creep or fatigue damage
accumulation. As a part of the ALSPA boiler care package, the AMODIS HRSG life
monitoring system aims at providing equipment operators with a means of quantifying
the damage accumulation of various operating decisions as related to the overall life
expectancy of critical components.

CUSTOMER BENEFITS
Alstoms depth of technical
expertise and extensive OEM
knowledge represent a unique
advantage to provide the tool with
accurate life calculations

Reliability
Permit optimisation of plant
operation to minimise component
damage through knowledge of
the effect of operating practice on
damage accumulation rates

Operation optimisation
Evaluate component damage so
that the effects of, for example,
rapid startups can be quantified and used to judge against
increased revenue from rapid
response to load opportunities

Maintenance optimisation
Identify which components are
accumulating damage most rapidly to aid in setting priorities for
the inspections

FUNCTIONALITY

HRSG life monitoring system allows operators to online monitor the accumulation
of creep and fatigue damage for critical
pressure parts by analysing key temperature, pressure and steam flows from the
DCS and performing various calculations
to determine temperature profiles and
stresses within pressure parts.
The variation of stress with time is appropriately monitored by the system so
that cycles can be counted to determine
fatigue damage and time at temperature
can be used to determine creep damage.
The system provides various reports and
displays to allow operators to monitor
the current state of damage and to trend
damage accumulation over time, as well
as alerting operators to conditions that
require immediate attention to avoid

severe damage, thereby allowing an

assessment of the effect of operation on
the life consumption of key parts.
In addition, with a few strategically
placed thermocouples, the system can
also monitor:
Overspray detection for desuper-heaters
Condensate flooding for lower manifolds

These events can cause severe damage in a short period of time and are
not readily detectable via normal DCS
instrumentation. When the system is
installed, it is calibrated with acceptable
temperature differentials for the monitored components, the system then uses
appropriate cycle counting algorithms to
detect events that might cause damage
to the components.

TPW/BPROS/LBCMLM12/eng/PAC/09.12/CH/7729 ALSTOM 2012. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is indicative only. No
representation or warranty is given or should be relied on that it is complete or correct or will apply to any particular project. This will depend on the technical and
commercial circumstances. It is provided without liability and is subject to change without notice. Reproduction, use or disclosure to third parties, without express
written authority, is strictly prohibited. Alstom contributes to the protection of the environment. This leaflet is printed on environmentally-friendly paper.

POWER AUTOMATION and controls

AMODIS HRSGLM
HRSG Life Monitoring Hosted by ALSPA Care

Monitored components

The HRSG components most at risk to failure are those: Subjected to rapid temperature
changes and pressure fluctuations during startup and shutdown; subjected to
prolonged operation at high temperature and pressure; that are thick-walled and
of complex geometry. The key components are usually identified by a design life
assessment, or based on experience with similar units. Typical components meeting
these criteria are:
Component Name

Fatigue Assessment

Accredited by

Creep Assessment

HP drum

HPSH outlet manifold

HSPH outlet harp header

RHTR inlet manifold

RHTR outlet manifold

RHTR outlet harp header

In addition to the typical monitoring based on conventional DCS data, the HRSG life
monitoring system can identify significant value associated with adding thermocouples
to address severe events such as condensate flooding and desuperheater overspray.
Such events often go undetected by conventional DCS instrumentation but are
sometimes much more damaging than rapid rises in steam temperature during fast
starts. The need for such instrumentation is usually identified during design audits an
operational data reviews.

Highest accuracy

The real value of the system is its ability to accurately trend life consumption and
identify those events that cause the most damage. The actual predictions of creep and
fatigue damage are only as accurate as the calibration information provided to the
system.
The system is scalable and the absolute accuracy depends on the effort to characterise
the initial state of the HRSG. However, even with the system in its most basic form,
valuable information is provided about the relative life consumption between hot,
warm and cold start-ups.

Fleet applicability

The HRSG life monitoring system can be installed in any CCPP with HRSG.

System configuration

The system is software based and operates on a modern PC platform running MS

Windows operating system. The system can interface with most plant historians
(e.g.PI) to obtain relevant data, which is stored, processed and results viewed locally
on the PC platform.
Most of the algorithms are based on or are consistent with ASTM standards or EN
codes; thereby ensuring compliance with most prevailing codes and standards.
The system is accredited by TV Rheinland.

For more information

please contact Alstom Power.
Visit us online: www.alstom.com

TPW/BPROS/LBCMLM12/eng/PAC/09.12/CH/7729 ALSTOM 2012. All rights reserved. Information contained in this document is indicative only. No
representation or warranty is given or should be relied on that it is complete or correct or will apply to any particular project. This will depend on the technical and
commercial circumstances. It is provided without liability and is subject to change without notice. Reproduction, use or disclosure to third parties, without express
written authority, is strictly prohibited. Alstom contributes to the protection of the environment. This leaflet is printed on environmentally-friendly paper.