Condition Based Maintenance Program for Combined Cycle Power Plant

Abstract

Combined cycle power plant plays an important role to generate electricity in an efficient way. The greater efficiency achievement is due to the reason that the exhaust heat energy from the gas turbine units is being utilized to produce steam for the steam turbine units. It is also true that the entire mechanical system becomes more complex than that of a single gas turbine or steam turbine plant. Therefore, it necessitates taking care of this complex system properly so that availability of the plant can be achieved to a great extent. This availability is closely related to the maintenance activity of the plant. Since preventive maintenance policy incurred significant involvement of cost, it justifies going for condition-based maintenance (CBM). Prognostic and diagnostic are the main two aspects of CBM. Prognostic is more important than diagnostic as prognostic can show the trend of abnormality inside the equipment of the plant. However, diagnostic is also important if abnormality has already been achieved. Based on this requirement, the present work has been chosen where condition monitoring has been performed for a combined cycle power plant. Used lubricating oils have been collected from the different units of the plant at a regular interval for three years and the collected samples have been experimented to investigate of wear rate of the equipment. Ferrographic technique has been applied to examine wear situation. Results indicate that it is required to implement CBM policy for the plant.