Gas & Steam Path Audits

Improved Equipment Efficiency

As the power industry moves toward deregulation, the importance of equipment efficiency is becoming increasingly more significant to the base load producer of power. Path audits are designed to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of today’s power plant by:

  • Reducing fuel costs
  • Recovering lost output
  • Identifying parts needs in advance of outages
  • Providing performance improvement upgrade recommendations

A gas or steam path audit is a performance assessment service that helps you realize lower outage and maintenance costs by planning the most cost-effective maintenance. A gas path audit also helps you improve efficiency and increase output (recover lost output) by identifying and quantifying sources of performance losses occurring during operation.

Gas Path Audits

A gas path audit’s value lies in its four-step process.

  1. Pre-outage performance survey
  2. Hot gas path hardware inspection
  3. Assessment, reconciliation and analysis of performance losses on a stage-by-stage basis
  4. Maintenance and planning recommendations

Steam Path Audits

Steam turbines typically suffer performance losses from:

  • Leakages
  • Increased friction
  • Aerodynamic changes
  • State energy distribution

GE’s steam path audit services quantify the impact of erosion, deposits, mechanical damage and packing and spill strip wear on steam turbine performance. Our condition assessment includes a thorough inspection of the steam path including diaphragms, diaphragm packings, tip radial spill strips and ends packings.

We assess the performance loss for each steam component in terms of the effect on section, kilowatts, heat rate and annual fuel costs. These results provide the critical information necessary for making technically and economically prudent maintenance decisions for your steam turbines.

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