Curtiss-Wright is a global integrated company with a long tradition of providing state-of-the-art, reliable solutions through trusted customer relationships.

The Plant Optimization Group, a business unit within Plant Information Monitoring and Control, provides a variety of products, services, and software-related solutions to the global power industry. We are leaders in thermal performance software and services; equipment reliability solutions; valve condition monitoring; and advanced data analytics. We further enhance our customer support through our Monitoring and Diagnostic Center providing remote detailed evaluation of the condition of clients’ assets.

We are committed to the safe operation and improved performance and reliability of power plants worldwide.

Aging plants, deteriorating valve performance, and increased demand for electric power require careful attention to any potential loss of efficiency and generation. Often capturing lost MWs is the greatest return on investment, especially inside of the steam cycle. To find these lost MWs in the steam cycle, Curtiss-Wright has developed our Cycle Isolation product to keep your plant operating at its peak performance.

Finding and correcting issues with leaking valves in power plants leads to:

• Improved plant efficiency
• Prevention of valve damage
• Increased generation
• Decreased fuel usage
• Decreased water production cost
• Decreased maintenance cost

Cycle Isolation is valve leakage losses that bypass the generation process. Leakage through these valves is one of the largest and often most overlooked issues in nuclear, fossil, and CCGT power plants. In some cases, leaking steam valves can result in more than 5 MWs of lost generation! These losses are compounded by the undetected valve leakage continuously damaging the valve, increasing the leak, and leading to additional losses in generation and increased heat rate.

By understanding and evaluating the valves’ performance, we can balance MW losses against planned outages and determine maintenance scheduling that is most advantageous to the utility.

On-line Cycle Isolation monitoring and reporting is now an integral part of our FAMOS suite and PEPSE-RT thermal performance monitoring software. Combining real-time data and web browser displays, our product quickly detects cycle isolation issues and automatically estimates the leakage rate as well as generation and heat rate impacts for each leaking valve.

The Cycle Isolation product uses downstream temperature information to generate leakage alerts. These temperatures can be entered manually from plant walk downs, or, if instrumentation is available, the data can be gathered in real time. Additionally, tools are available to set up notification, alarms, and reports to be automatically delivered to users and recorded in the historian.

The Cycle Isolation module can be deployed as an upgrade to an existing FAMOS/PEPSE-RT installation or independently. With either option, the cycle isolation monitoring system is a must-have for getting the most out of your power plant.