Development and Implementation of HydroX An On-line Expert Diagnostic System for Hydro Generators

Current technology advances in hydro plant condition monitoring are employing an increasing number of on-line sensors to automatically monitor the status and performance of the complex systems required for power generation. Cost effective online monitoring instruments already exist to continuously monitor the unit partial discharge (PD), vibration, and air-gap. Proper use of this information can assist in saving operating and maintenance expenses, in addition to reducing unscheduled outages and catastrophic failures. However, the large volume of data from these monitors can overwhelm operations personnel and require extensive interpretation. HydroX is an on-line expert monitoring system, which is being developed to provide diagnostic information to hydro generator operators and maintenance personnel on turbine/generator problems. HydroX accepts data from a wide range of sensors and monitoring systems and includes interfaces to SCADA for conventional sensor data, HydroTrac ™ for partial discharge data, and MicroDAU ™ for vibration and air gap information. HydroX combines information from these sensors in a real-time expert system and converts the data to useful information that can be acted upon by operators and maintenance engineers This paper discusses the technical aspects of the development and implementation of HydroX as the latest generation of diagnostic systems for hydrogenerator units operate