Product category:
Asset Management and maintenance planning
News Release from: MatrikonOPC | Subject: Meridian transformers
Edited by the Processingtalk Editorial
Team on 14 December 2006
Meridian Energy plant asset management
system
Centralised monitoring and control of the Meridian Energy NZ power stations led to a need for a predictive maintenance capability to interface with the Maximo CMMS and plant historian
Meridian Energy is New Zealand's largest electricity generator, providing approximately 30 per cent of the country's total generation Meridian supplies 200,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers throughout New Zealand using only renewable resources, including the country's largest operational wind farm
This article was originally published on Processingtalk on 9 Jul 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
MatrikonOPC user group Asia-Pacific and Australia
Matrikon announces the latest MatrikonOPC User Group meeting and conference, to be held in Singapore on 29 July, followed by an optional three day hands-on training workshop
Matrikon Product Expo North - 18 June 2008
Matrikon Europe have recently announced they will be holding a series of regional product events in the UK: the first event, called 'Product Expo North' will be held in Middlesbrough on 18th June
With assets valued at over NZ$4 billion, Meridian takes asset management seriously.
As a State Owned Enterprise (SOE) effectively owned by New Zealanders, Meridian is charged with managing the business in an effective and profitable manner while preserving the capability of their assets for future generations.
To achieve this balance Meridian has a continuous improvement programme in place, using best-practice management and maintenance methodologies in combination with leading edge technology.
Further reading
Alarm management a hot topic in process industry
The recent alarm management seminar held in Aberdeen by Matrikon Europe proved to be a huge success, with papers provided by Shell and EEMUA, plus ABB and Matrikon
AES Wind Generation brings data together with OPC
Collecting data from numerous disparate wind farms into one display system for availability and performance has been made possible by use of MatrikonOPC technology
The next generation of alarm management
Matrikon announces the release of Matrikon Alarm Manager Version 4.1, its premier windows-based alarm system software application, compatible with EEMUA and ISA guidelines
Many of Meridian's assets were commissioned in the sixties and like many hydro sites of this vintage are approaching an age where they require renewal, refurbishment, or at the very least an increased amount of care in order to prevent critical generating assets being forced out of service or, in the worst-case scenario, suffering an expensive and catastrophic failure.
In addition to aging plant, Meridian also faced the worldwide phenomenon of experienced engineers and technical staff retiring, or simply choosing to move as the workforce of the new millennium became more mobile.
The difficulty with this, other than obvious recruitment issues, is the loss of the IP those leaving take with them after a lifetime in the industry.
In 2001 Meridian completed an ambitious five-year programme to upgrade plant wide monitoring and control networks and centralise control-room operations in the town of Twizel at the centre of the South Island.
The entire Meridian plant betwork is now remotely managed from a single location, a solution that partially addressed staffing and accessibility issues but raised new challenges.
A consequence of moving staff away from generation sites and into a central control room was that these experienced professionals were no longer at the power stations and were out of physical contact with the equipment in their care.
The most basic and fundamental condition monitoring system available -- that based on sight, hearing, smell and touch -- was taken out of the maintenance equation.
It was recognized that without the deep knowledge and physical presence of experienced of staff on the station, powerful diagnostic tools would have to be provided to monitor the plant condition.
Meridian had some very good systems and processes in place and a wealth of maintenance data -- Neil Gregory from the Business Support Team describes this as 'data rich, information poor'.
The flow of raw sensor and alarm data from the dispersed Meridian assets needed to be translated into clear, useful information about the plant condition and performance.
In 2001 the Meridian Generation Improvement Team led by Garth Dibley began planning a system that would provide early warning of deterioration of critical equipment, perform basic analysis to turn data into information, and provide predictive capability -- a Plant Asset Management system (PAM).
Key to the implementation of such a system was integration with the existing Meridian Computerised Maintenance Management System (Maximo) and the existing plant historian.
Meridian had invested heavily in these maintenance systems, in terms of both dollars and in the time and effort of capturing almost eight years of maintenance history.
Unless the planned system could use this data the benefits would not be realised for many years.
As Matrikon advanced control engineer Finn Peacock puts it, "when two intimately related systems such as a CMMS and a PAM system can't 'talk' to each other, then human intervention is required and this defeats the objective of having a PAM system.
A classic case of developing an IT system that actually creates more work!".
Meridian undertook an exhaustive tender process and selected Matrikon to deliver an integrated PAM solution.
The Meridian PAM is designed around a central control system that 'plugs into' modular adaptors for the systems and software it needs to integrate with.
The complete PAM system incorporates custom implementations of the proven Matrikon off-the-shelf ProcessSuite products to gather and analyse incoming data, implement the mathematical models used in the diagnostics, and provide web-based system access and visualisation.
1) ProcessGuard provides PAM's real-time alarm and event visualization and analysis, replaces multiple alarm printers, monitors operations and operator workload and provides tools for efficiently eliminating nuisance alarms.
2) ProcessMonitor, an advanced data-analysis and online industrial computing platform designed for troubleshooting difficult process problems and faults, provides an interface for implementing the mathematical models used in the diagnostics.
3) ProcessDoctor continuously monitors assets in real time, identifying and prioritizing poor performers.
4) ProcessNet provides flexible web-based access to the PAM system control centre and its dashboards.
A third-party product, the industry-leading Object Connections Common Knowledge, is deployed to provide the development environment for implementing the business logic that classifies the results for the mathematical models, providing the diagnostics.
Plant assets provide the system with their condition information, the results of many on and offline automated and semi-automated tests.
Plant data is analysed with mathematical asset models, classified and collated with business logic, and plant dashboards are updated showing condition and predicted days to failure.
In the case a non-normal condition is detected or predicted, an email is automatically sent to the right people, recommending specific action to be taken - the whole process works in concert with the existing MMS.
The PAM system was successfully commissioned in early 2006, with a dashboard and transformer model monitoring of the Meridian fleet of 34 unit transformers.
Following the success of this first-phase implementation, the plant governors and generators are set to be placed under the aegis of PAM in 2007.
Current and long-term benefit.
"To date," says Meridian engineer Mark Williams, "the biggest success that has come out of PAM is a substantially increased visibility of transformer condition.
Prior to the PAM implementation, transformer condition monitoring data relied on individuals to enter the test results into Maximo and then others to analyse that data and publicise the results in sufficient detail to flag any health issues in a timely fashion.
Any changes in staff, either in Meridian, the maintenance contractor or the laboratory providing the results, and a test result could easily be missed or analysis deferred".
Finn Peacock elaborates the difficulties with paper-based, manually collected data: "Manual tests are prone to human error, and if tests and inspections are not linked directly into the CMMS, then it is difficult to track any missed or inaccurate manual measurements.
The end result is that manually recorded results can very easily go out of date and eventually you may be relying on old data to interpret the condition of a transformer".
Now, all unit transformer CM data goes to one place - PAM - which automatically analyses the raw data and, in a short time frame, notifies appropriate people via email with the results of that analysis and any recommended remedial action attached to the email.
"It is also worth noting," says Williams, "that in developing the PAM models specialist expertise has been utilised to improve the Meridian transformer condition monitoring programme and job plans have been substantially upgraded.
The tests we carry out use international standards; in the case of transformers, IEEE standards and industry best practice".
These best-practice testing and monitoring procedures are made possible by PAM integration with the plant's existing Maximo maintenance management system and engineering knowledge of the equipment.
For Meridian, Technology and Process Strategist Neil Gregory explains the value extracted from the PAM system in the very short time it was commissioned: "We really didn't and still don't expect PAM to pick up catastrophic conditions on a daily basis, but we do expect, and get, very early warning of changes in condition which we would not get without the system.
Of course some of these changes could be significant and if undetected may go on to have catastrophic consequences".
A solution to a worldwide problem.
There are numerous examples of transformer failures as the worldwide fleet of transformers approaches the latter part of their design life.
According to Gregory, asset owners have three basic choices.
1) Replacement of the asset based on age, risking the loss of several years of useful remnant life.
2) Replace on failure, an unacceptable option for such large critical assets such as transformers.
3) Take better care of the assets now and realise maximum benefits into the future.
"In the big picture," says Gregory, "the PAM system is a cost-effective means of maintaining visibility of the health of assets that are critical to the business, whether this be transformers or any other piece of equipment.
Personally, I think it's worth emphasising (and I do at every opportunity) that PAM is a decision support tool that's here for the long haul, and the benefits and value we will get from the system will only increase over time as more and more data is entered.
Imagine the value PAM will be providing 10 years from now -- I can!". Request a free brochure from MatrikonOPC ...
• MatrikonOPC: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Processingtalk email newsletter
• Processingtalk Home Page
Search the Pro-Talk network of sites
