Detecting Water System Leaks in a Solar Plant-Rankine Cycle

Situation

‍

The Rankine cycle system of a solar plant includes a pump, boiler, turbine, and condenser. At the end of the cycle, the pump delivers water to the boiler before it turns to steam. This steam then is used to drive the turbine. The water for this process needs to be maintained and controlled to avoid any problems while the process continues. A leak could lead to less water in the system, which could cause the turbine and evaporators to become unstable. The leaks can lead to corrosion, attrition, plant lifecycle reduction, and increased utility consumption.

Problem

‍

At this solar plant, the water level in a tank that collects leaks in the steam heat exchanger is noticeably higher. To reduce the accumulation of this wastewater, operational experts perform a root-cause analysis to pinpoint the origin of the leaks. Once the cause is found, they will set up a monitor and alert to inform them when wastewater levels begin to increase.

‍

‍

Solution

‍

• Perform a value-based search to look for leaks after the tank level goes down
• Check the mass balances on each heat exchanger to pinpoint potential loss in mass that could indicate a leak
• Calculate the overall equipment efficiency to reduce energy and utility consumption

‍

Challenges

‍

• Several slow leaks have not been measured, and therefore it will be difficult to determine the source of the leak
• The intermittent nature of a solar plant creates a lot of noise in the data that must be filtered out

‍

Results

‍

• Using TrendMiner, operational experts find the root cause of the water system leaks
• They set up a monitoring system that checks for new leaks
• When leaks are detected, operational experts will receive an alert that will empower them to take proactive actions to reduce waste and utilities consumption
• By correcting the leaks, the overall equipment efficiency and process efficiency will increase by 2%

‍