Efficiency-Focused Maintenance Model to Recover the Performance of a Gas Turbine with Inlet Air Cooling and Affected by Fouling

Abstract

Efficiency-Centered Maintenance (ECM) models are vital in the industry since they increase the overall efficiency of the system and the availability of assets, considerably reducing polluting emissions and operating costs. Because of this, it has been tried to quantify the potential of ECM models in improving power generation systems. This paper presents an ECM model to recover the performance of a gas turbine that has suffered performance degradation due to exposure to fouling and variations in the compressor inlet air temperature. A strategy has been designed and implemented in order to define and schedule activities that, economically and energetically justified, have restored the performance of a simple Brayton cycle power generation facility. The net power output and the Heat Rate have been the performance indicators selected for monitoring the energetic condition of the gas turbine. Similarly, the availability and the mean time between interventions have been maintenance indicators. The results indicate that net power and availability have increased by 5%, the Heat Rate has decreased by 2%, and the mean time between interventions has increased by 5.7 times. The power degradation rate has been reduced from 9% to 1%, ending with an annual degradation of 7.4%. With the results obtained, it has been confirmed that the ECM applied to power cycles increases the system's operational efficiency, reducing costs and polluting emissions.