Objective
Expected deliverables:
The primary deliverable was to be a prototype optical fibre instrument to measure the strain of power plant structural components operating at elevated temperatures. The contributing deliverables were:
- Fibre Bragg gratings to operate at temperatures in excess of 5500C and monitor strain.
- Transducer to efficiently transfer strain from the component under test to the fibre sensor.
- Attachment methods for the transducers - between fibre and transducer and between transducer and component.
- Cabling, armouring and interconnection for fibres to facilitate remote monitoring.
- Instrument to monitor up to 100 sensors, process information and input to remnant life software.
- Full system integration.
- Laboratory evaluation and field trial.
Project's actual outcome:
The project achieved most of the major deliverables outlined above. The system was evaluated within the laboratory. Full field trials were not undertaken. The system was shown to operate effectively and with further development in certain areas a prototype to meet the required specifications can be designed.
Objectives and content
The integrity assurance of high temperature components in power plant systems is a major problem facing industrial plant operators as existing equipment ages. Owing to uncertainties relating to system stresses, and known incidence of weld and bend failures, the scheduling and directing of maintenance activities has largely been based on comprehensive and frequent inspections. This has led to extended outage or downtime with associated high maintenance costs and availability penalties.
The ability to monitor the strain across critical components such as welds and bends, at operational temperatures (550°C) in real time would provide more accurate residual life predictions, thereby increasing maintenance efficiency and reducing associated costs and increasing safety.
Optical fibres offer an ideal technology for providing the required on-line measurements. The fibre can readily operate in the adverse conditions, it is immune to electromagnetic interference allowing long data pathlengths and the sensors can be placed and remotely monitored along a single optical fibre line. The optical fibre sensor technology is based on Bragg grating sensors which can provide accurate strain measurement and variable gauge lengths. The primary objective of the project is: the development and demonstration of an on-line distributed monitoring system to provide real time life prediction for high temperature components within power generation systems.
To achieve the primary objective several subsidiary objectives (milestones) have been identified:
- Development of processing instrumentation based on optical fibre strain sensors to measure multiple points along a single optical highway
- Development of armoured, high temperature cabling and interconnects for industrial installation
- Development and engineering of transducers and methods for sensor attachment-to components
- Development of software modules to interpret sensor data and evaluate remaining life
- Demonstration of integrated system on high temperature, operational plant
The project workpackages are designed to develop the components in each of the areas toward a field
trial on an operating fossil fuel plant.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences electromagnetism and electronics electromagnetism
- natural sciences computer and information sciences software
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels
- natural sciences physical sciences optics fibre optics
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.