Acquisition and Review of Diesel Generator Testing Data

Historically, diesel generator qualification and periodic testing has been primarily concerned with demonstrating equipment operability and providing a data base for which numerical values for reliability are calculated. Although these factors are required for plant licensing and operation, a properly planned and implemented testing program can provide useful information regarding maintenance and testing procedures and intervals, component deterioration, setpoint drift, or impending failures. To provide meaningful results in these areas, a testing program must rely on accurate data acquisition as well as a thorough review by qualified personnel to point out discernable trends and determine their significance. This paper is intended to be neither a comprehensive checklist of test data to be recorded and analyzed nor a reference book of problems associated with certain data trends. Rather, it is presented to illustrate examples of useful information obtained through test data review.