Ebara Densan, an incineration plant in Fujisawa, Japan, uses automatic control software to constantly monitor incinerator performance and also to collect and store data about incinerator performance. The data is continually archived so the company can maintain an incinerator performance record.

Other users of this software include Domtar Communications Papers, a paper manufacturer in Windsor, Ontario, which uses the product to transmit data between computers and serial printers, and Taiwan Power, which uses the system for remote and automatic control of its power distribution substation.

Now the manufacturer has released its Virgo 2000 software for automatic control, which can be used for applications such as power distribution control as well as shop-floor control and monitoring.

The software, from AlterSys of Montreal, is configured and monitored on a Windows-compatible computer, but runs on a personal computer-based controller operating on a QNX real-time operating system. This allows users to develop, configure, and monitor automatic controls on computers that have the look of, and are used as, the desktop PC, though the control code is running on QNX.

Making the Most of Capacity

Northern States Power of Minneapolis is testing software intended to save on power transmission costs through more efficient use of system capacity, according to the Electronic Power Research Institute of Palo Alto, Calif., which distributes the software. NSP is demonstrating software use to government, industry, and utility representatives in several countries, said Greg Pieper, who is responsible for implementing the software at NSP.

EPRI, the science and technology development organization for the power industry, sponsors the software project with Siemens Power Systems Control in Minneapolis, which acts as the contractor. The software, called Dynamic Security Assessment, determines safe operating transfer limits on interfaces within the electric power grid, according to Peter Hirsch, EPRI's project manager.

"Poorly understood voltage and dynamic constraints can unnecessarily narrow the limits, reducing a utility's competitive position and increasing costs," Hirsch said.

Generally accepted transmission parameters usually provide safe calcu- lations, but sometimes they either exceed safety limits or are overly conservative, Hirsch said.

"The stability of the high-voltage electric power grid is important," Hirsch added. "Changes in the grid may cause the system to oscillate, which could generate disturbances, including transient instability, thermal overload, and voltage collapse."

Maintenance Savings

Twelve years ago, Delmarva Power in Wilmington, Del., instituted a performance improvement program that, over the years, has become a way for the power plant to evaluate the economic effectiveness of utility plant maintenance and upkeep. Using the program, plant employees have been able to revise maintenance schedules and have seen savings as quickly as three weeks after those schedules were revised.

Delmarva supplies power to Delaware, the Virginia peninsula and eastern Maryland.

The program consists of four steps—testing, analyzing, reporting, and correcting. After those four steps are carried out, tests are done again to ensure that employees made proper corrections. The plant performs each test based on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers power test codes. Employees carry out the second step—a detailed analysis of test data—by use of modeling software.

Plant engineers and operators use the models that the software generates to study the thermal implications of their maintenance activities, to quantify operating conditions, and to look at alternatives to maintenance schedules.

For example, Delmarva decided to delay overhauling six boiler feed pumps that were scheduled for annual inspection and service. Engineers ran models of boiler feed pump performance before the overhaul and found that the modeling software showed no appreciable degradation from the feed pumps' start-up performance. Employees decided the overhaul would be unproductive, and the pumps have continued to work well.

The software is from Syntha Corp. of Framingham, Mass. When engineers modify or replace equipment, the models are changed to reflect the upgraded equipment's performance.

Also, Delmarva records each customer's power usage and billing records, and keeps on record schematics of pipe placement around homes or businesses so that service personnel will know where to look if pipes leak. Until recently, the plant kept most of this information on a mainframe.

But due to constantly changing demographics in the service area, Delmarva employees needed to upgrade records that used more storage room than the mainframe had available.

The plant moved to a data storage system that is integrated with the mainframe computer. The system, from Sun Microsystems of Palo Alto, Calif., gives staff quick access to records without conducting record searches. This is especially important for printing and generating reports, said Blaine Boyles, a Delmarva project systems analyst. On hot or cold days or when storms blow down power lines, Delmarva engineers need to get information immediately or customers will go without power, Boyles said.

Low-Cost Part Procurement

Planners who operate offshore oil platforms can comparison shop online for various parts needed for construction and maintenance.

Aspect Development of Mountain View, Calif., provides software that enables engineers designing parts for oil rigs or for electrical distribution systems or power transformers to find the lowest-cost parts with which to complete the design, said Tom Schaefer, vice president of process industry solutions at the company.

The software functions as a go- between from the designers' computer-aided design software and their company's procurement systems, Schaefer said. It identifies all the vendors a company deals with that produce the parts designers must have.

"Price and availability are provided by the vendor and are continually being updated," Schaefer said.

The software uses a Web interface. It helps ensure that designers buy the lowest-cost item for their design, and that the item will perform the way they need it to, Schaefer said.


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