System and method for plant control based on fluid quality

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10503162-B2
Application number	US-201615385438-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2016
Priority date	Dec 20, 2016
Publication date	Dec 10, 2019
Grant date	Dec 10, 2019

Abstract

A distributed control system receives analysis data. The analysis data includes quality attributes of fluid samples and an indication of a plant location corresponding to the fluid samples. The system identifies one or more anomalies of fluid based upon the quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples and attributes the one or more anomalies to one or more particular areas. The system triggers an alert, trigger control, or both, based at least in part upon the identified one or more anomalies and the attributed one or more particular areas.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
an automated analyzer device configured to:
determine an indication of quality attributes of a plurality of fluid samples; and
determine an indication of a plant location of a power plant corresponding to the quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples; and

a distributed control system, configured to:
receive, from the automated analyzer device, analysis data comprising:
the indication of quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples; and
the indication of the plant location corresponding to the quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples;

identify one or more anomalies of fluid based upon the indication of quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples;
attribute the one or more anomalies to one or more particular areas of the power plant based at least in part upon the indication of the plant location corresponding to the quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples; and
identify and trigger mitigation control based at least in part upon the identified one or more anomalies, one or more fluid types of the plurality of fluid samples, and the one or more particular areas of the power plant that the one or more anomalies are attributed to, the mitigation control comprising:
developing and selecting a particular solution for the identified one or more anomalies, based upon the analysis data;
determining if treatment options are exhausted;
if the treatment options are not exhausted, controlling the power plant to implement the treatment options, wherein the treatment options comprise:
when the one or more fluid types of the plurality of fluid samples comprises fuel, the one or more particular areas comprise a downstream area that is downstream of equipment that stores the fuel, processes the fuel, or both, and the identified one or more anomalies comprises inadequate fuel quality, automatically redirecting the fuel for additional treatment; and
when the one or more fluid types of the plurality of fluid samples comprises the fuel, the one more particular areas comprise an initial loading area of the fuel and the identified one or more anomalies comprises the inadequate fuel quality, blocking subsequent loading of the fuel; and

otherwise, if the treatment options are exhausted, controlling the power plant to implement a shutdown of at least one piece of equipment before an end to a time for safe operation of the equipment.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of fluid samples comprise samples of liquid fuel.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of fluid samples comprise samples of water.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of fluid samples comprise samples of lube oil.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein automatically redirecting the fuel for additional treatment comprises actuating one or more valves to redirect the fuel back to a dirty tank such that may be retreated by a centrifuge.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein automatically redirecting the fuel for additional treatment comprises actuating one or more valves to redirect the fuel to a fuel treatment plant for additional treatment.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the distributed control system is configured to:
identify a life expectancy of equipment based at least in part upon the identified one or more anomalies; and
present the life expectancy as an alert.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more fluid types comprise water, lube oil, fuel, or a combination thereof.

9. A tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium comprising machine-readable instructions, to:
receive, from an automated analyzer device, analysis data comprising:
an indication of quality attributes of a plurality of fluid samples; and
an indication of a plant location of a power plant corresponding to the quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples;

identify one or more anomalies of fluid based upon the indication of quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples;
attribute the one or more anomalies to one or more particular areas of the power plant based at least in part upon the indication of the plant location corresponding to the quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples; and
identify and trigger mitigation control based at least in part upon the identified one or more anomalies, one or more fluid types of the plurality of fluid samples, and the one or more particular areas of the power plant that the one or more anomalies are attributed to, the mitigation control comprising:
developing and selecting a particular solution for the identified one or more anomalies, based upon the analysis data;
determining if treatment options are exhausted;
if the treatment options are not exhausted, controlling the power plant to implement the treatment options, wherein the treatment options comprise:
when the one or more fluid types of the plurality of fluid samples comprises fuel, the one or more particular areas comprise a downstream area that is downstream of equipment that stores the fuel, processes the fuel, or both, and the identified one or more anomalies comprises inadequate fuel quality, automatically redirecting the fuel for additional treatment; and
when the one or more fluid types of the plurality of fluid samples comprises the fuel, the one more particular areas comprise an initial loading area of the fuel and the identified one or more anomalies comprises the inadequate fuel quality, blocking subsequent loading of the fuel; and

otherwise, if the treatment options are exhausted, controlling the power plant to implement a shutdown of at least one piece of equipment before an end to a time for safe operation of the equipment.

10. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 9 , comprising machine-readable instructions, to:
using a digital twin model to identify the one or more anomalies.

11. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 9 ,
wherein the initial loading area of the fuel comprises a fuel loading location, and wherein blocking subsequent loading of the fuel comprises restricting fuel loading to avoid contamination of a fuel tank, downstream equipment, or both, based upon an indication of the inadequate fuel quality at the fuel loading location.

12. The tangible, non-transitory, machine-readable medium of claim 9 ,
wherein the treatment options comprise:
when the one or more fluid types of the plurality of fluid samples comprises fuel, the one or more particular areas comprise an area downstream of a centrifuge, and the identified one or more anomalies comprises inadequate fuel quality, modifying a fuel flow to a dirty fuel storage tank, to an additional conditioning system, or both.

13. A method, comprising:
receiving, from an automated analyzer device, analysis data comprising:
an indication of quality attributes of a plurality of fluid samples; and
an indication of a plant location of a power plant corresponding to the quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples;

identifying one or more anomalies of fluid based upon the indication of quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples;
attributing the one or more anomalies to one or more particular areas of the power plant based at least in part upon the indication of the plant location corresponding to the quality attributes of the plurality of fluid samples; and
identifying and triggering mitigation control based at least in part upon the identified one or more anomalies, one or more fluid types of the plurality of fluid samples, and the one or more particular areas of the power plant that the one or m

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Dinu Constantin
• Dinari Otman
• Law Joseph

Classifications

• G05B23/0291 Primary

  Switching into safety or degraded mode, e.g. protection and supervision after failure · CPC title

• G05B2219/32252

  Scheduling production, machining, job shop · CPC title

• G05B2219/14116

  Safe, emergency shutdown, esd of system · CPC title

• G05B19/41865 Primary

  characterised by job scheduling, process planning, material flow · CPC title

• G05B2219/24024

  Safety, surveillance · CPC title