http://www.powermag.com POWER Mag en-us 2012 Wed, 8 Feb 2012 15:08:29 EST Handheld smart devices providing custom applications and Internet access at the touch of a virtual button are common today. Hidden beneath their touchscreens is a global network of digital technologies that respond to each command. Will these familiar commercial technologies and apps make their way to industrial digital control systems?... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/4327.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 0:00:00 EST Asset management means different things to different people. But it boils down to converting raw data and observations about equipment and components into information and knowledge that is then used, propagated, and shared by workers and digital components to manage performance. Nuclear plants have special asset management needs, given the level of their safety, reliability, and regulatory requirements.... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/4328.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 0:00:00 EST The enhanced plant performance achieved at the 1,477-MW Morgantown Generating Station shows the value of model predictive control in conjunction with intelligent distributed control algorithms. This project update looks at how the project team moved from ramp rate improvements to reducing tube metal temperatures to improved component life.... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/4329.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 0:00:00 EST Control loop performance-monitoring software can help to improve loop performance at electric power plants by automatically collecting data, assessing several aspects of loop performance, and providing the results in reports and user interfaces.... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/4330.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 0:00:00 EST The consideration of power supplies has become critical to the success of converting analog instrumentation and control systems to digital control systems (DCSs). Careful planning is particularly necessary for nuclear power plants, where instrumentation systems are required for safely shutting down a reactor, mitigating the consequences of an accident, and performing post-accident analysis.... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/4331.html Wed, 1 Feb 2012 0:00:00 EST One of the great successes of the power generation industry over the past two decades has been the significant increase in nuclear plant reliability and other performance standards. However, there is reason to be concerned that the design, operation, and maintenance practices used by the current fleet of plants do not leverage all the possible advantages from a digital controls upgrade. Perhaps past success is the biggest barrier to future success.... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/4123.html Tue, 1 Nov 2011 0:00:00 EDT Asset “virtualization” extends and combines the technologies of 3-D visualization and virtual reality to a new, practical level for the life-cycle management of power industry equipment. All pertinent data for a component, subsystem, or plant is associated with, stored, and accessed through as-built 3-D digital models of the actual plant that are constructed using laser scanning techniques.... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/4056.html Sat, 1 Oct 2011 0:00:00 EDT When adding, modifying, or upgrading a system, many critical infrastructures conduct a factory acceptance test (FAT). A FAT includes a customized testing procedure for systems and is completed before the final installation at the critical facility. Because it is difficult to predict the correct operation of the safety instrumented system or consequences due to failures in some parts of the system, a FAT provides a valuable check of these safety issues. Similarly, because cyber security can also impact the safety of critical systems if a system is compromised, it makes sense to integrate cyber security with the FAT.... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/3965.html Thu, 1 Sep 2011 0:00:00 EDT Recent advances in water laboratory instrumentation—from improved sample conditioning to advanced online instruments—have reached the market. Here’s a look at the equipment you’ll find in the best-equipped power plant laboratory this year.... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/3975.html Thu, 1 Sep 2011 0:00:00 EDT In November 2008, a central Texas utility commissioned HPI, a full-service turbomachinery design and construction firm based in Houston, to perform a major upgrade of its plant’s power distribution and turbine control systems.... http://www.powermag.com/instrumentation_and_controls/3719.html Wed, 1 Jun 2011 0:00:00 EDT