NYPA Receives Award From R&D Magazine for HydroTrac™
Contact Connie M. Cullen 914-390-8196 connie.cullen@nypa.gov
October 4, 2001
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CHICAGO—The New York Power Authority today received one of R&D Magazine’s 2001 R&D 100 Award for its work in developing and testing HydroTrac™, a pioneering device for detecting equipment problems in hydrogenerators. The Power Authority received this award, along with its partners, EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) and Iris Power Engineering, in the collaborative effort to develop HydroTrac™. The award was presented Thursday evening (Oct. 4) at the R&D Magazine Annual Awards Dinner in Chicago.
"The Power Authority is at the forefront of innovative energy technology, like HydroTrac™, because of Governor George E. Pataki’s leadership in promoting technology development to serve the energy needs of New Yorkers," said Joseph J. Seymour, chairman and chief executive officer of the Power Authority. "We commend the Power Authority team involved, for their contribution to the creation of HydroTrac™, as advancing hydropower operations is key to our goal of providing low-cost electricity to our customers."
HydroTrac™ is a cost-effective on-line partial discharge (PD) monitoring system for detecting the onset of equipment failure problems in hydrogenerators by giving critical data to plant operators for performing more timely and effective maintenance procedures based on actual equipment conditions which until now were difficult and costly to assess.
The Power Authority played a significant role in HydroTrac™’s evolution from creating the concept utilizing advances in digital technology, developing and testing the prototype to also developing the commercial product that is now available through Iris Power. The prototype was field tested at Power Authority facilities over the last two years. Currently the Power Authority is implementing HydroTrac™ at its hydro facilities, and other utilities, both nationally and internationally, are also instituting it.
Most hydrogenerator outages are caused by stator winding insulation failure due to age, mechanical malfunction or stress. The traditional approach to checking hydrogenerator equipment condition is by utilizing portable Partial Discharge Analyzer (PDA) instrumentation. PDA instruments are connected to sensors embedded in the stator winding and data is taken to help assess machine insulation at that instant in time. However, in order to get accurate PD trend data, many measurements must be taken at various times under similar operating conditions. This entire process is labor-intensive and the cost can be significant. HydroTrac™ has revolutionized this process by providing affordable, continuous information on the condition of the generator to help avoid costly in-service machine failures and allow plant personnel to plan corrective action based on actual conditions instead of scheduled maintenance.
The Power Authority received two R&D 100 Awards in 1995 for its role in developing MONITEQ and the Electro-Optic Voltage Transducer System, both of which are devices that boost efficiency and productivity at electric utility substations.
Held annually, the R&D 100 Awards Competition, now in its 39th year, recognizes the most technologically significant new products and processes of the year according to R&D Magazine. Antilock brakes, automatic teller machines (ATMs), the liquid crystal display, fax machines and high density television (HDTV) are all former R&D 100 Award Winners.
