POWER September 2016 - 22

3. Operational reliability analysis program (ORAP) Asset Insight process.
Data flows via secure nodes from the power plant, through OSIsoft's PI Cloud Connect
application, to Strategic Power Systems Inc. (SPS), where data validation and transformation
algorithms are applied that customers can use in the Life Calculator and other applications.
Courtesy: SPS
means customers can select new offerings
as they grow. "
Plant Operator Reaps Beneits
Recently, one of SPS's customers began
utilizing the PI System infrastructure,
combined with ORAP data transformation
and analytic capabilities and MapEx's
thermal performance software, to
improve availability, reliability, and thermal
performance. The company operates
three combined cycle gas turbine power
stations in Texas. Its goal was to maximize
power production across the company's
operating fleet while mitigating
technical risks.
Prior to implementation of the new sysexpert
analytical and management skills to
develop new data-driven services or enhance
existing offerings. With the business
agreement, service providers can work with
multiple clients and distribute data to multiple
stakeholders. Service providers, such
as OEM aftermarket service teams, operations
and maintenance service providers,
and plant engineering and design consultants,
can use a highly secure network that
supports the use of more than 400 standard
interfaces to remotely collect data from client-based
assets.
The service provider uses the PI System
to collect, analyze, visualize, and store
real-time sensor-based operational data.
Usually the system is housed in a remote
management and diagnostic center alongside
data center servers, networks, and
storage assets, or in the cloud. It functions
as an archive and central source of
operating data and OSIsoft's Asset Framework
(Figure 2) is used to support simple,
hierarchical access to real-time and contextual
data. This capability allows service
providers to implement analytics for
asset management, troubleshooting, and
predictive analysis, as well as to set up
notifications and alerts.
Flowserve, a global manufacturer
of pumps, valves, and seals, uses a
connected service model to monitor
customer systems in the field. The
company's IPS wireless system collects
temperature, pressure, and vibration
data and feeds it through the PI System.
Flowserve engineers can then apply
their OEM product knowledge to carefully
analyze asset performance to pre22
vent
potential equipment failures, boost
reliability, and improve availability, all
while managing costs.
Another example of a connected service
subscriber is eMotorWerks, a maker
of cloud-based, smart grid electric
vehicle (EV) charging platforms. Integrated
into eMotorWerks' EV charging
platform, a PI System uses connected
services to combine sensor-based data
from eMotorWerks' network of JuiceBox
charging stations with data from electrical
utilities and independent system
operators (ISOs). JuiceBox users can
access an overview of charging loads
and real-time grid conditions used in
the JuiceNet load dispatch algorithms
to easily determine the status of their
charging stations.
The business side of the connected
services agreement offers a number of
financial advantages. For example, SPS
gains the flexibility to operate on what
OSIsoft calls a " pay-as-you-grow " basis.
Agreements usually last from two
to five years. The monthly cost of the
agreement is driven by a number of factors,
including the service provider's
business forecast and technology ramp,
as well as each end customer's asset
types and sizes. That gives the service
provider the opportunity to add new
services for customers as they are needed
rather than incurring high upfront
capital costs for capabilities customers
may not require.
" We are in the software-as-a-service
business, " explained Sal DellaVilla, CEO of
SPS. " We have a menu of modules. That
www.powermag.com
tem, the process of collecting, analyzing,
and reporting data represented virtually
a second full-time job for operations and
maintenance personnel. Each plant used
different processes and personnel to perform
the workload, and in each plant the
job of gathering and documenting the required
information took approximately 40
hours a week.
The new system is highly secure. As
shown in Figure 3, data flows directly
from the asset owner's PI System
through a secure node as part of their
infrastructure into PI Cloud Connect.
Data then goes through another secure
node and into SPS's PI System. Once at
SPS, the data is run through customer
transformation algorithms and an engineering
data validation process. The
algorithms process the raw data into information
for each application the customer
has selected.
By combining the real-time data management
capability with the benchmarking
and analytics capabilities, the client
is now able to make informed, data-driven
decisions that both contribute to the bottom
line and provide a distinct advantage
in the marketplace. Today all of the power
plants collect data in a standardized, consistent
manner. And by automating the
process, the new system has dramatically
reduced data collection requirements for
plant staff.
As a result, all stakeholders now have
greater confidence in the validity of the
data. Moreover, by utilizing ORAP Asset
Insight services, power plant managers
can measure operational readiness and
thermal performance, perform compliance
reporting, reduce costly unplanned
downtime, and maximize parts life and
repair capability. ■
-Enrique Herrera is market principal,
connected services and new markets with
OSIsoft in San Leandro, Calif.
POWER | September 2016

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POWER September 2016

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