Evaluating the lifespan of industrial plant components
The XPECTION project developed a prototype integrating a measuring and monitoring system for residual lifetime assessment of high temperature plant components in fossil power generation and the chemical industry. The project created an advanced inspection methodology employing real structure analysis by on site X-ray diffraction and merged it with the inspection and maintenance infrastructure. An interdisciplinary approach spanning several research fields was applied. The work resulted in hardware and software for data acquisition and residual life time assessment in addition to an ageing process simulation. An algorithm known as the Counterclockwise Loop was integrated into the XpectionTool which uses selected data. Its main potential lies in its complete assessment of the ageing state in regard to the expected residual lifetime. Additionally, it provides quality control in production and inspection in other fields outside the project. The most likely end users consist of those involved in fossil electric power generation and in the petro-chemical industry.
