A New Thermoeconomic Method for the Location of Causes of Malfunctions in Energy Systems

Diagnosis procedures primarily aim at locating the control volumes where anomalies occurred. This is not a simple task since the effects of anomalies generally propagate through the whole system and affect the behavior of several components. Some components may therefore present a reduced efficiency, although they are not sources of operation anomalies, due to nonflat efficiency curves. These induced effects are a big obstacle in the use of thermoeconomic techniques for the search of the origin of the anomalies. On the other hand, the real cause of the alteration of component behavior is the modification of its characteristic curve, due to degradation or failures. According to this concept, a new approach, based on an indicator measuring the alteration of the characteristic curve of the component affected by the operation anomaly, is proposed and applied to a test case power plant.