Activities to Conduct during Plant Performance Testing

Plant performance testing involves several critical inspections and activities. Know the activities that are conducted while executing plant performance testing services on an industrial facility or plant.

Instrumentation Installation during Plant Performance Testing

The installation of high-precision instrumentation at the test site is one of the operations necessary to execute plant performance testing. This instrumentation will only be in place for a limited time.

The business doing the test will arrive on-site with the necessary tools and staff to finish the instrumentation installation.

The plant performance testing service specialists usually arrive on site 5 to 10 days before the scheduled testing day. This is dependent on the service’s scope. It’s also possible that the precision instrumentation required for testing will be installed well ahead of the scheduled performance testing date.

Even if we prepare for every potential unforeseen circumstance. For example, some of the equipment’s installation locations may be difficult to reach, or the instrument’s intended installation position may have been destroyed during commissioning (i.e. a thermowell or a pressure tap)

An experienced plant performance testing engineer will need to assess the impact on test accuracy and address the lack of this measurement or alternatives with the other parties involved in the test.

Site Activities

Prior to executing plant performance testing services, all parties involved should coordinate their efforts. The major points on which you should agree will be.

The current state of the testing preparations
Each party will be in charge of its own activities.
The test execution schedule is expected to be completed on time.
Any conceivable variations from the testing technique should be discussed.
Agree on on-site support for the performance test days and nights.

Data collecting from the following sources is one of the actions to complete before the Plant Performance test.

Permanent Instrumentation
High Precision Instrumentation
Manual Data Collection

Power Plant Stability

During the test, the team should agree on the plant’s thermal stability. This could have an impact on the testing timetable. The grid is generally stable in certain cities, but in those where the frequency can fluctuate above the actually permitted stability limitations imposed, the team should look for a period when the grid is more stable, which is frequently at night.

The same is true for meteorological conditions, particularly ambient temperature. However, if we notice significant variations in ambient temperature, humidity is also affected. The optimal time to visit is when the ambient temperature is as constant as possible, according to the weather forecast.

Another source of instability for coal plants, in particular, could be the coal utilised in the test. The crew should try to burn coal from one of the more homogeneous silos on-site as much as feasible. Prior to the exam, the parties involved should sign a formal agreement stating that an official test would be conducted.

Conducting a Plant Performance Testing Services

During a performance test, the test coordinator will be the conducting party. The first step is to determine when the test will begin. There should be confirmation of being ready to conduct the official test at least 3 hours prior to the commencement of testing. Instrumentation, process preparations, conditions to meet the stability requirements, and people support coordination are all factors to consider.

It’s critical to keep track of the following during the plant performance test:

Thermal stability of a power plant as determined by a site-specific performance test process and an equivalent testing code.
Data collection from Distribution Control System (DCS), Process information (PI), and Temporary Manual Data Collection and Instrumentation
Walk down to see if there are any steam or water leaks that may be avoided.
Isolation of the power plant cycle.
Obtaining fuel samples

All parties should meet at the given time for the test to be completed and agree that the testing can be officially accepted. After then, the site coordinator should transmit the information to all parties involved.

After Plant Performance Testing

Before removing the temporary testing equipment, a preliminary findings report will be generated and discussed when the actual test is done. All of the fuel samples will be packaged and ready to ship to the lab. The contractual fuel analysis will be used to generate the preliminary results.

The plant performance testing service team will then demobilise from the site and return to the office to finish the official power plant performance testing report.