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Acoustic Profiling of Bottom Ash

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Subject: UFTO Note – Acoustic Profiling of Bottom Ash
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997 14:47:36 -0700
From: Ed Beardsworth

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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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Acoustic Profiling of Bottom Ash

Entech Design, of Denton TX, sells a Material Acoustic Profile System (MAPS), which uses sophisticated oceanographic sonar mapping equipment to provide two and three dimensional images of bottom ash levels in water filled hoopers. Plant personnel can observe the level and distribution of material in the hopper, enabling smarter ash handling schedules and giving advance warning of any problems. The system can by integrated with distributed control systems for automatic control of bottom ash conveying routines.

MAPS has been on the market since 1991, and is currently installed on 44 units (including a couple of UFTO utilities). Extensive information and references are available.

BinMinder is an offspring of MAPS that monitors liquid-material interfaces in a wide variety of applications, such as chemical production and waste water systems. Utility applications include flue gas desulfurization tanks, pyrite holding tanks, and bottom ash dewatering bins, where it can be used to reduce material carryover due to overfilling, along with other operational benefits.

Contact:
Randy Minnis
Entech Design, Inc.
Denton TX
817-898-1173, entech@iglobal.net

Robotic Hot Inspection and Repair of Waterwall Tubing

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Subject: UFTO Notes — Robotic Hot Inspection and Repair of Waterwall Tubing
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 1997
From: Ed Beardsworth

————————————————————–
| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
————————————————————–

Robotic Hot Inspection and Repair of Waterwall Tubing

Entech Design, a Texas company with several successful products for bottom ash handling and mapping, has a put together a proposal to develop a new robotic pipe-crawler system to inspect and repair waterwall tubing in fossil power plants.

Inspection — While NDE techniques are well known, they are not used as frequently as might be indicated because of the high cost of currently available procedures. The proposed system will provide a rapid and cost-effective means to get comprehensive tube condition data, making it possible to predict failures and to schedule preventive repairs during scheduled outages. The company believes that over 30% of forced outages could be eliminated.

Repair and Replacement — Robotic technology is highly developed in other industries, and capabilities exist to manipulate, cut and weld tubes. Performing these tasks with heat-tolerant robotic systems would significantly reduce boiler cool-down time, by as much as ten hours. Over all outage times would be reduced and scaffolding costs would be eliminated.

The company has a detailed plan involving collaboration with Sandia National Lab (one of the leading robotics R&D groups in the U.S.), and a leading provider of robotic equipment. The system would use available off-the-shelf components.

They’re looking for an electric utility partner to provide development capital and program guidance, and to participate in the ownership of the service company that will employ the technology.

Contact:
Randy Minnis
Entech Design, Inc.
Denton TX
817-898-1173, entech@iglobal.net