P&W FT8 / Solar Turbines Technical BLOG

Technical information useful for learning & troubleshooting.

FT8 – Hydraulic System – Troubleshooting 2

By Donald Murphy September 18, 2022 No Comments

ARTICLE REF – ART035

Let’s look at some items that have yet to be covered on the hydraulic troubleshooting. 

IGV / VSV ALARMS

IGV Position Error Alarm – Difference of > 6 degrees for one second.
VSV Position Error Alarm – Difference of > 8 degrees for one second.

IGV Position Error Drive Back – Difference of > 8 degrees.

VSV Position Error Drive Back – Difference of > 10 degrees.

The servo valve sends a milliamp control signal to the IGV / VSV to position them at a
particular angle. The position feedback from the actuators lets the control system know
where the IGV / VSV actually is. If there is  an error between command and feedback then
this is not good. Above you can see the values when the error reaches certain values. When
there is a difference between the control and feedback the control makes a correction
automatically. So even if the IGV / VSV had a 10 degree error in calibration they would go to
the wrong position and the control would be none the wiser. When there is a difference
between control and feedback it is more likely the servo has  an issue. 

One test that you can carry out while the unit is shut down is to put the IGV or VSV into the
fully open position (push up with wrench). Then spin the turbine on the starter and when the
speed reaches approximately 2,500 RPM there will be sufficient hydraulic pressure to move
the IGV or VSV to the shut-down position of 12 degrees. So if for example if the IGV only went
to 35 degrees and stayed there instead of going to 12 degrees and the VSV went to 12
degrees. Stop the turbine crank and switch the control signals at the turbine control junction
box.  Move the IGV and VSV again to the full open position with a wrench. Crank the starter
again and see what happens. If the IGV moves to 12 degrees and the VSV moves to some
other angel other than 12 degrees, then there is likely an issue with the control card. If you
get the same result as the first time then is more likely that the servo valve on the IGV has an
issue.

Hydraulic troubleshooting 1 discussed what to look out for when the control signal moves
significantly from the neutral signal of 110 mA. Once you see this drift happening it is time to
troubleshoot.

If you change the actuator or servo you need to re-calibrate the IGV or VSV or both. It is also
common for the control system to loose the calibration factors when the control is powered
down and back up.The following trips come directly from the control card. These can be seen
in the GAP logic at the “card block” for each channel. The five shown are for the IGV but there
are five more for the VSV. If it is a TwinPac there are twenty in total. If you have one of these
trips you will most likely have to change the control card.

IGV Driver Fault Trip

IGV Excitation Fault Trip
IGV Feedback Failed Trip
IGV Fault Trip
IGV Position Error Trip

When carrying out any resistance checks it is a good idea to refer to the values found during
commissioning that are recorded in the commissioning sign-off manual.

FILTER F501-1

There isn’t a differential pressure instrument across the filter to detect when filter F501 is
getting blocked. The control system uses the two pressure transmitters PT501 and PT502 to
determine the DP pressure by subtracting one pressure from the other. The Hydraulic
Differential Pressure High alarm is set at 30 psid across the filter. A Hydraulic Differential
Pressure High High Controlled Shutdown is set at 45 psid across the filter. As the hydraulic
system shares the lubricating system fluid as its hydraulic fluid you need to take into
consideration the cleanliness of the oil for use on hydraulic components as they don’t tolerate
dirty oil very well.

PT501 HYDRAULIC PRESSURE

During the start up sequence, the control checks the hydraulic pressure five seconds before
the end of the purge cycle. A Low-Low Pressure Fuel Chop will be initiated if PT-501 senses
200 psig or less. After the engine reaches idle speed the fuel chop setting changes to 600
psig.

In this circumstance it would be a good idea to look at the Process Manager history to see
what way the pressure was trending before the trip. It would be great to have some data to
compare this to. I am going to send you a (revised) startup data excel file which you can use
for this purposes. At the bottom of the file there is a procedure to calculate where your VSV or
IGV should be, given any LP corrected rotor speed.


MECHANICAL CHECKS

The hydraulic oil used in the IGV and VSV is actually oil from the GG system, so to start with
the system suction pressure should be approximately 46 PSIG when the GG is up and
running on load. Problems such as high oil  temperature in the GG oil system may affect the
operation of the hydraulic system.
 Oil leaving the oil pump should have a pressure of 750 PSIG before it passes through the
hydraulic oil filter. The filter should not drop the hydraulic pressure more than 15 PSIG under
normal circumstances (30 PSID is the alarm, 45 PSID is the drive back). Keep in mind that up
to here both IGV and VSV share resources, but how they will go their own way.
 The oil will now enter the servos of the IGV and VSV. So for example if the VSV was giving
problems it may be a faulty VSV servo. The IGV servo is completely independent (although in
the same housing). Unfortunately there is no way we can change over the pipework between
the IGV and VSV to see if the problem moves with the switch of pipes. Even if you could you
could only do a check at crank speed because the IGV and VSV have different schedules and
this would cause the turbine to surge.

 You can change the actuators from IGV to VSV to see if the problem moves. The
actuators are exactly the same and it is easier to exchange actuators than change the
servo.

 One check you can do on the actuator / actuating ring to ensure there is no excessive
stiffness is to put a big wrench on the bell-crank and turn to the extreme of travel full open –
full closed. Obviously with the turbine stopped. Note that the VSV requires more force
because you are moving two stages of variable stators. Also note that you don’t have to
remove any piping to stroke the actuators as there is an interconnecting orifice between the
two sides of the piston.  If there is excessive stiffness then you need to determine if some of
the stators are binding due to corrosion or dirt.
 If you find that the system is not operating as it should check the pressure in the
accumulator. When the nitrogen pressure in the bladder falls below 470 the system pressure
may not be as stable as it should be.

CHECK VALVE CV-501


With the damage on the first photo,  higher than normal pressure readings on both PT501
and PT502 were seen with high pressure on PT612 at times.

The second photo shows some pieces of aluminium missing that ended up in the hydraulic
filter. 

SIGNALS TO RECORD WHEN TROUBLESHOOTING

PT612 – GG lube oil pressure.

PT502 – Hydraulic pressure before filter.
PT510 – Hydraulic pressure after filter.
VSV milliamp signal output to actuator.
IGV milliamp signal output to actuator.
VSV 0 to 100% output signal to actuator.
IGV 0 to 100% output signal to actuator.
VSV 0 to 100% feedback signal.
IGV 0 to 100% feedback signal.
NL RPM.
Ambient temperature TE010.

IGV / VSV ACTUATORS

The IGV  and VSV actuators are both the same. There are three hydraulic hoses attached to
each actuator, two flow / return hoses and one drain (Rod seal drain).  There is a drain line
fitted between the seals at the actuator housing, which prevents oil from leaking onto the
turbine, should it leak. If you are ever consuming turbine oil you need to check if any of these
drains are leaking fluid to the common package drain.

Notice also the yellow orifice. This connects one side of the piston with the other. This allows
a controlled leak of fluid preventing air-locks. It is also the reason why you don’t have to
remove the hydraulic hoses when you want to stroke the actuator with a wrench.


 Each actuator is fitted with an LVDT (Linear Variable Differential Transformer) for position
feedback. Three loops (6 wires) run from the control system to each actuator. Each loop is
connected to one of the three coils of the LVDT. The coils are fixed, but the metal core moves
with the actuator and the position of the core effects the voltage and phase of each of the
three loops. From the three signals returning the control is able to establish very accurately
the current position of the actuator. You can check the voltage as the actuator is stroked to
ensure each coil is working.

IMPORTANCE OF THE TE010 SIGNAL

The IGV and VSV schedule is based on Corrected NL speed. The correction is standard on
performance charts to be able to compare the performance one day with the next. Therefore
it is important that the ambient temperature signal TE010 is working correctly. I have given
you a calculation based on this on the bottom of the excel file containing the start-up data
for the hydraulic system. You will be able to calculate the correct IGV or VSV angle at any time
once you know the NL speed and the TE010 temperature. This will not ensure the IGV / VSV is
calibrated correctly, but it will ensure the control is calculating the scheduled angle correctly.

Tags: Hydraulic