Damage has always accompanied operation. Some, if identified too late, become the source of failures. If it requires repair during equipment/unit outages, it should be analyzed regardless of whether the outage is classified as a failure, as it always poses a technical and economic problem. The most serious of these can pose a threat to operator safety. We always strive to minimize the likelihood and consequences of such damage, but they cannot be completely eliminated. However, they can always be used to gain knowledge that can eliminate or at least significantly reduce its direct and, especially, indirect causes. Damage requiring repair, not only during unplanned outages, is generally the result of multiple causes, including, especially recently, the increasingly regulated operation of power units. Due to the requirements of the operator, who is most concerned about stabilizing the National Power System due to the growing number of weather-dependent sources, the availability of controllable sources, including coal-fired ones, is becoming a highly desirable feature. Downtime associated with repairing damage and the associated costs can be reduced by knowing the current technical condition of equipment. Analyzing direct and indirect causes, appropriately combined with ongoing analysis of operating history and conditions, can not only help update equipment's technical condition but also identify threats and predict damage, especially preventing future failures and significantly reducing their consequences.
Symposium Topics:
- Availability as the most desirable feature of conventional power units.
- Damages as potential sources of failure - identification of their potential locations due to increasingly regulated operating modes.
- Thermo-mechanical, erosive and corrosive damages - degradation mechanisms during operation and shutdown of equipment.
- Failure as a problem, but also as a source of knowledge that limits the risk of subsequent failures.
- Analysis of the causes of damage in order to prevent them, reduce their frequency and consequences in the form of failures.
- Diagnostics identifying threats related to new operating regimes.
- Risk analysis and damage prediction based on inspections and operational monitoring.