Integrated maintenance features of hydro turbine governors

Governor is one of the most maintenance intensive equipment in hydro power plants. The maintenance computerization of the governor is studied. A knowledge bank, which summarizes both the expert knowledge and the analytical knowledge on the failure modes and their manifestations as well as their effects, is established. An expert system is developed to optimize the control parameters, to detect and diagnose the equipment degradations or/and failures, and to give both control and maintenance remedy on base of the online state monitoring and performance evaluation of the governing system. This expert system is integrated into the powerful microcomputer of the governor and runs in parallel with the regular governing tasks. A successful application in industry is presented.