Weighted Hours Use Case Analysis

Rough zone is an operating range where hydraulic instabilities cause significant vibrations, noise, and potential damage to equipment. Operating in the rough zone can lead to component failures throughout the generating system. Units should limit their time operating in the rough zone to the greatest extent possible to prevent turbine, bearing, or even structural failure.

Rough zone is a useful indicator in determining remaining life of a unit – the more time spent in rough zone, the more wear occurs on the unit and the more likely it is that additional maintenance will be required and generating efficiency will decrease. As such, incorporating rough zone into larger analysis allows utilities to make informed decisions about operations and maintenance.

The Weighted Hours Use Case leverages time spent in rough zone operations to adjust runtime to account for the additional wear and tear. The adjusted runtime or "weighted hours" were compared with planned outages to look for relationships. Results of this analysis are available to utility members in the Member Portal.