Excessive Generator Temperature

Understanding check for excessive generator temperatures in a little more detail

What is the purpose of the turbine issue check?

  • To identify if the turbine’s generator is operating at excessive temperatures.  While generator failure is not as high as many other components, it is quite expensive to repair or replace and requires long-term shutdowns.  An unexpected increase in component temperature could indicate overload, poor lubrication, or possibly ineffective passive or active cooling.

Can you see this in 10-min data? 

  • Yes, it is typically possible to identify this issue in 10-minute data as temperature tends to be a slow changing signal.  That being said, high-frequency data can be a useful tool to narrow down if the temperature fluctuation is linked into any specific turbine behaviors.

What does this look like / How do you identify this issue?

  • The anomaly score of 2 signals exceeded the prescribed threshold (see below for details, and see evidence for details regarding the anomaly score and threshold) between 2023-01-21 and 2023-03-16 (defined as the issue period) during the detection period between 2023-01-21 and 2023-03-18.

  • Showing the extended time window of turbine generator non drive-end bearing temperature, T01 is operating at a higher temperature in the winter months when compared to the neighboring turbines.
  • Target turbine is highlighted in red and all other turbines with the same turbine model are shown in gray as reference. Each data point represents the maximum value of the 10-min SCADA data during a 1-day window.
  • An additional example of a main bearing temperature higher than peers (in this case there are a few outliers):

How can you tell the issue is corrected?

  • This issue will be corrected when the temperature does not show outlier behavior and follows a similar trend to peers.