Abstract: A combustion gas measurement apparatus mounted in a gas turbine including: a tunable laser generating a radiation beam passing through a combustion gas path; a controller tuning the laser to emit radiation having at least a first selected wavelength and a second selected wavelength which both correspond to temperature-dependent transitions of a combustion species of the gas, wherein the first selected wavelength and the second selected wavelength are not near absorption peaks of neighboring wavelengths; a detector sensing the radiation beam passing through the combustion gas and generating an absorption signal indicative of an absorption of the beam by the combustion gas at each of the first wavelength and the second wavelength, and a processor executing a program stored on a non-transitory storage medium determining a combustion gas temperature based on a ratio of the adoption signals for the first wavelength and the second wavelength.

Abstract: A method for monitoring the health of a plurality of blades is presented. The method includes determining delta TOAs corresponding to the plurality of blades, determining a standard deviation utilizing the delta TOAs corresponding to the plurality of blades, determining a delta sigma—1 utilizing the standard deviation and an initial standard deviation, determining a normalized delta TOA corresponding to one or more of the plurality of blades utilizing the delta sigma—1, determining a standard deviation of the normalized delta TOA, determining a delta sigma—2 utilizing the standard deviation of the normalized delta TOA and a previous standard deviation of normalized delta TOA, and determining a corrected delta TOA corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of blades based upon the delta sigma—2.

Abstract: A creep life management system includes at least one sensor apparatus coupled to a first component. The at least one sensor apparatus is configured with a unique identifier. The creep life management system also includes at least one reader unit coupled to a second component. The at least one reader unit is configured to transmit an interrogation request signal to the at least one sensor apparatus and receive a measurement response signal transmitted from the at least one sensor apparatus. The creep life management system further includes at least one processor programmed to determine a real-time creep profile of the first component as a function of the measurement response signal transmitted from the at least one sensor apparatus.

Abstract: A method for monitoring the health of one or more blades is presented. The method includes the steps of determining a delta TOA corresponding to each of the one or more blades based upon respective actual time of arrival (TOA) of the one or more blades, determining a normalized delta TOA corresponding to each of the one or more blades by removing effects of one or more operational data from the delta TOA, and determining a corrected delta TOA corresponding to each of the one or more blades by removing effects of reseating of the one or more blades from the normalized delta TOA.

Abstract: A system is presented. The system includes a data acquisition system that generates time of arrival (TOA) data corresponding to a plurality of blades in a device, a central processing subsystem that determines features of each of the plurality of blades utilizing the TOA data, and evaluates the health of each of the plurality of blades based upon the determined features.

Abstract: A system for use in monitoring operation of a rotor assembly is provided. The system includes a plurality of clearance sensors including at least a first clearance sensor configured to measure a distance between the first sensor and a surface of a lockwire tab, and a monitoring unit coupled to the plurality of clearance sensors, the monitoring unit configured to receive measurements from the plurality of clearance sensors, and determine whether a crack exists in the rotor assembly based on the received measurements.

Abstract: A system for use in monitoring operation of a rotor assembly is provided. The system includes a plurality of clearance sensors including at least a first clearance sensor configured to measure a distance between the first sensor and a surface of a lockwire tab, and a monitoring unit coupled to the plurality of clearance sensors, the monitoring unit configured to receive measurements from the plurality of clearance sensors, and determine whether a crack exists in the rotor assembly based on the received measurements.

Abstract: A method for monitoring health of airfoils is disclosed. The method comprises generating at least one feature alarm for a blade by fusing a plurality of features corresponding to the blade utilizing a fuzzy inference method. The fuzzy inference method comprises generating a plurality of intermediate values by fusing one or more combinations of the plurality of features utilizing a fuzzy logic method, and fusing the plurality of intermediate values utilizing a second level fuzzy logic method, wherein the at least one feature alarm is representative of the health of the blade.

Abstract: A system for measuring a dynamic pressure in a gas using a tunable diode laser. The system of this aspect includes a laser transmission system that includes the tunable diode laser and configured to transmit laser light created by the tunable diode laser through the gas and a laser receiving system configured to receive the laser light after it has passed through the gas to create absorption peaks from the received laser light. The laser receiving system is configured to estimate a change in pressure based on an expansion of one of the absorption peaks.

Abstract: Systems and methods of estimating an efficiency of a section of a steam turbine are disclosed. The systems and methods include determining a set of measurement data obtained directly from a set of sensors on the steam turbine, determining a set of derived data relating to measurements that cannot be obtained directly from the set of sensors, and estimating the efficiency of the section using the set of measurement data and the set of derived data. The systems and methods disclosed use physics-based models combined with nonlinear filtering techniques to estimate steam turbines' efficiencies when physical sensors are not available. These models capture the behavior of different components of the power plant, including all steam turbine sections, admission and crossover pipes, flow junctions, admission and control valves.

Abstract: A method for monitoring the health of one or more blades is presented. The method includes the steps of generating a signal representative of delta times of arrival corresponding to the rotating blade, generating a reconstructed signal by decomposing the signal representative of the delta times of arrival utilizing a multi-resolution analysis technique, wherein the reconstructed signal is representative of at least one of static deflection and dynamic deflection in the rotating blade.

Abstract: A combustion gas measurement apparatus mounted in a gas turbine including: a tunable laser generating a radiation beam passing through a combustion gas path; a controller tuning the laser to emit radiation having at least a first selected wavelength and a second selected wavelength which both correspond to temperature-dependent transitions of a combustion species of the gas, wherein the first selected wavelength and the second selected wavelength are not near absorption peaks of neighboring wavelengths; a detector sensing the radiation beam passing through the combustion gas and generating an absorption signal indicative of an absorption of the beam by the combustion gas at each of the first wavelength and the second wavelength, and a processor executing a program stored on a non-transitory storage medium determining a combustion gas temperature based on a ratio of the adoption signals for the first wavelength and the second wavelength.

Abstract: Methods, systems and computer program products for assessing residual life of an airfoil, which would experience high cycle fatigue failure under at- or near-resonance vibration condition, are provided. The method includes receiving, at a processing system, at least one vibration response parameter associated with the airfoil. The method processes at least one cracked airfoil finite element model. Processing the cracked airfoil finite element model includes accessing the cracked airfoil finite element model, computing a modal stress intensity factor (SIF) of the cracked airfoil finite element model using fracture mechanics based finite element analysis, and computing a vibratory SIF based, at least in part, on the modal SIF and the at least one vibration response parameter. The method then computes a residual life indicator of the airfoil based, at least in part, on the vibratory SIF.

Abstract: A method for monitoring the health of one or more blades is presented. The method includes the steps of determining a delta TOA corresponding to each of the one or more blades based upon respective actual time of arrival (TOA) of the one or more blades, determining a normalized delta TOA corresponding to each of the one or more blades by removing effects of one or more operational data from the delta TOA, and determining a corrected delta TOA corresponding to each of the one or more blades by removing effects of reseating of the one or more blades from the normalized delta TOA.

Abstract: A method for monitoring the health of a plurality of blades is presented. The method includes determining delta TOAs corresponding to the plurality of blades, determining a standard deviation utilizing the delta TOAs corresponding to the plurality of blades, determining a delta sigma—1 utilizing the standard deviation and an initial standard deviation, determining a normalized delta TOA corresponding to one or more of the plurality of blades utilizing the delta sigma—1, determining a standard deviation of the normalized delta TOA, determining a delta sigma—2 utilizing the standard deviation of the normalized delta TOA and a previous standard deviation of normalized delta TOA, and determining a corrected delta TOA corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of blades based upon the delta sigma—2.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a blade monitoring system includes: at least one computing device configured to monitor a compressor during a load change by performing actions comprising: extracting a dynamic component of a blade time-of-arrival (TOA) deviation signal in response to the load change on the compressor; calculating, using the dynamic component, at least one of: a natural frequency of the GT compressor blade during the load change, an overshoot of the GT compressor blade during the load change, a rise time of the compressor blade during the load change, a damping factor of the compressor blade during the load change, or a settling time of the GT compressor blade after the load change; and determining whether the GT compressor blade is damaged based upon the at least one of: the natural frequency, the overshoot, the rise time, the damping factor, or the settling time.

Abstract: A system for rotor blade health monitoring include time of arrival (TOA) sensors and a controller comprising a processor configured for obtaining TOA signals indicative of times of arrival of rotating rotor blades from the respective TOA sensors and for determining initial features from the TOA signals; and a feature level fuser configured for fusing the initial features received from the processor for use in evaluating health of the rotating rotor blades.

Abstract: A system is presented. The system includes a data acquisition system that generates time of arrival (TOA) data corresponding to a plurality of blades in a device, a central processing subsystem that determines features of each of the plurality of blades utilizing the TOA data, and evaluates the health of each of the plurality of blades based upon the determined features.

Abstract: Systems and methods for steam turbine remote monitoring, calculating corrected efficiency, monitoring performance degradation, diagnosing and benchmarking are disclosed with an example turbine system including a turbine, a data acquisition device coupled to the turbine, the data acquisition device for collecting turbine data that includes performance parameters of the turbine and a central monitoring system coupled to the data acquisition device, the central monitoring system for receiving the collected turbine data and processing the turbine data to determine turbine performance.

Abstract: A system for rotor blade health monitoring include time of arrival (TOA) sensors and a controller comprising a processor configured for obtaining TOA signals indicative of times of arrival of rotating rotor blades from the respective TOA sensors and for determining initial features from the TOA signals; and a feature level fuser configured for fusing the initial features received from the processor for use in evaluating health of the rotating rotor blades.