Remote assessment of the condition of the metal and determination of causes of damage in elements of thermal power plant equipment

Abstract

A branch system for on-line inspection of the condition of the metal of thermal power plant equipment with the use of modern telecommunications is described.At the present time the condition of the metal is assessed in power materials science by comparing the level of mechanical properties and structural characteristics with the requirements of accepted standards and performance specifications. Specifically, the structural state of the metal of thermal power equipment is evaluated with the help of scales determining the grain size, contamination with nonmetallic inclusions, and the degree of damage induced by micropores, dendritic segregation, etc. The appropriate assessment can be performed only by qualified specialists not always present in the metals laboratory of a power plant. Similar problems arise with analyzing fractures in failed parts, determining the causes of damage, and assessing the results of nondestructive control and hardness measurement.The inadequate number of highly qualified specialists in the field of power materials research and the remoteness of power plants hinder the making of timely decisions on the service life of equipment and analysis of the structural state of metal. Emergency situations require timely advisory help.It is expedient to estimate the condition of the metal of thermal power plant equipment within a single materials science information system (MSIS) based on advanced telecommunications. Special attention should be given to creation of MSIS for territorially distributed engineering systems that include objects of the thermal power industry.An example of an active system is an automated image processing system (AIPS) used for commercial control of reactor materials and for telemedicine.This approach ensures continuity of analysis of measurement results and gives reliable, comparable, and generalized data on the interaction between microstructure, operating conditions, and properties of materials of equipment due to the creation of a single information system. Today, the power industry possesses the necessary telecommunication infrastructure for the creation of MSIS. The transmission line towers of the RAO "EÉS Rossii" Company are equipped with fiber-optic links, modern information systems, and technologies. The existing base can be used for creating a branch MSIS. The structure of the suggested MSIS for the power industry is presented in Fig. 1.In order to determine the key parameters of microstructure directly on the equipment of thermal power plants (TPP) mobile computer-aided systems for materials studies are developed on the basis of optical microscopes. Microstructure images are processed and analyzed by automated systems for image processing with the use of methods of quantitative metallography.Simultaneously with estimation of the microstructure, the integrity of a material and its properties should be checked by methods of nondestructive control. The results of nondestructive control and mechanical properties should be recorded and generalized for families of singl...