Test Your Knowledge

Water and steam are the lifeblood of a power plant, but contamination in a water system can lead to corrosion, scaling, and pitting on critical equipment including turbines, boilers, pipes, and heat exchangers. Controlling high purity water treatment requires accurate analytical measurements of a wide range of analytics, including conductivity, dissolved oxygen, sodium, silica, and […]

Heat exchangers are at the heart of many critical industrial systems. From power plants to industrial chemical plants and everything in between, the heat exchanger in all its forms is a critical aspect of heat management systems. Therefore, organizations must take heat exchanger maintenance extremely seriously. A heat exchanger failure can be a potentially deadly […]

Most injuries caused during an arc flash result from wearing flammable clothes. That’s why having the proper flame-resistant (FR) clothing is so important. The following quiz will test your knowledge of FR clothing and some of the rules governing its use. Create your own user feedback survey To take more quizzes, go to the Test Your […]

Competitive maintenance uses an analytical process and condition-monitoring tools to select the optimum maintenance strategy for each plant system. For example, the optimum strategy for the plant’s steam turbine will be different than that for its gas turbine, and vastly different than that of its feedwater pumps. How well do you know your maintenance strategies? […]

Test Your Knowledge The quizzes provided here offer an easy way to test your knowledge of various power-related subjects. If you want to learn more about the quiz topics, follow links to articles from the POWER archive, which are provided on each individual quiz webpage. Competitive Maintenance Strategies Quiz https://www.powermag.com/test-your-knowledge-competitive-maintenance-strategies/ Scaffold Safety Quiz https://www.powermag.com/test-your-knowledge-scaffold-safety/ Monitoring and Treatment of Closed-Loop […]

It is safe to say that every power plant in the world uses scaffolding in some way, shape, or form. It is a critical component for many maintenance activities where permanently installed access is not possible or practical. Therefore, the dangers associated with scaffolding should not be overlooked by the industry. Often, plant maintenance personnel […]

There are often multiple closed-loop water cooling systems installed in a power plant. Chances are good that they cool or control temperature on some very critical components. It can be easy to ignore these systems because they are usually quite reliable. By its very nature, when a closed-loop system remains closed and operates properly for an extended period of time, it is often […]

Steam turbine rotors are susceptible to bending during some operational evolutions, which can lead to excessive vibration and ultimately failure. Rotor bending that results in premature failure of steam turbine blades and other internal components is one of the most serious problems experienced in power plants. The problems often reduce plant availability by limiting generation […]

Most engineers and operators know (or should know) that boiler tubes containing deposits create long-term reliability problems for the boiler. Long-term overheating of the metal will result from prolonged operation with heavy tube deposits. The tubes will first bulge and then fail. Because the deposits tend to be widespread, this generally means that large sections of […]

The number of gas turbines operating around the world is growing steadily. In this environment, the number of power sector workers new to gas turbines is also expanding, and a review of what can go wrong with this equipment is useful. Although gas turbines vary, all have a common set of operational challenges. Knowing what […]

Power plants are designed to operate at their highest efficiency. However, once a plant goes into operation, real life takes over and design outcomes are not always realized, which can seriously hurt a plant’s profitability. That’s why improving plant performance and getting back to design conditions should be every operator’s objective. This quiz is designed to test […]

The history of power generation is long and convoluted, marked by myriad technological milestones—conceptual and technical—from hundreds of contributors. Many accounts begin power’s story at the demonstration of electric conduction by Englishman Stephen Gray, which led to the 1740 invention of glass friction generators in Leyden, Germany. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge […]

Thermal insulation is installed on almost every piping system and much of the plant equipment at power generation facilities. It not only saves energy, but also protects workers, reduces noise, helps protect against freezing, and more. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of insulation fundamentals. Create your own user feedback survey If you’d […]

Fires and explosions have caused a significant number of deaths and injuries to power plant staff over the years. To reduce hazards, protective measures must be considered during engineering, design, construction, and operation of power plants, particularly in electrical areas that are often a source of ignition. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of electrical […]

It’s become a cliché that government would be better if it were only run by private-sector managers using standard business practices. However, there are significant differences between the private sector and government. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of those differences. Create your own user feedback survey To learn 18 more differences, read “25 Differences Between […]

Fuel, operations, and plant design all affect the overall efficiency of a plant. This quiz is designed to test your knowledge of heat rate and efficiency fundamentals. Create your own user feedback survey To learn more about coal plant efficiency, frequent problems that reduce efficiency, and some solutions for improving operation and reducing generation costs, read “Understanding Coal […]