Week 12, 25th June

A knowledge sharing session is conducted by Razak, electrical technician about the types of circuit breaker and its function. A circuit breaker is an automatically-operated electrical switch designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by overload or short circuit. Its basic function is to detect a fault condition and, by interrupting continuity, to immediately discontinue electrical flow. Unlike a fuse, which operates once and then has to be replaced, a circuit breaker can be reset (either manually or automatically) to resume normal operation. Circuit breakers are made in varying sizes, from small devices that protect an individual household appliance up to large switchgear designed to protect high voltage circuits feeding an entire city.

Week 12, 23rd & 24th June

Mr. Suhaili (Safety & Security Executive) briefed us about the emergency preparation plan. Emergency and disaster planning is a basic necessity of every safety and control system. Safety boots and helmet is a must before entering the power station.

Week 12, 21st & 22nd June

Muridon (store keeper) explained the store management procedures to us. The purpose of store management is to ensure that all goods, materials, spare parts and fuel that are received by the station are checked, inspected, stored in the designated storage location and issued as and when required in accordance to the power station procedures.

Purchasing procedure is also explained to us so that we have the clear idea of how a stock is purchased.

Purchasing procedure

Week 11, 18th June

A knowledge sharing session is conducted by Tai Chin Wee and Zurain from CNI session. The presentation is about the basic instrumentation which is the art of measuring the value of plant parameter. The $ parameters are pressure, flow, level and temperature. The output signals are standard signal 4-20mA and 20-100kPa pneumatic signal.

Week11, 17th June

Silica, pH and conductivity tests are performed twice a day. Silica tests are performed using Silica Analyzer. If the silica content in the water is too high, bottom blowdown valve will open at the boiler drum. pH testr30 and HANNA conductivity meter are used to perform pH and conductivity test.

Week 11, 16th June

Yukhaimi took me to electrochlorination plant to gain further understanding about electrolysis. Inside electrolysis room, the electrolysis cell needed to be cleaned once a week using hydrochloric acid. The function of hydrochloric acid is to extract ion chlorine and the unwanted positive ions become insoluble substances.

For the electrolysis process, the seawater booster pump will pump the seawater to the strainer for filter purpose. The seawater then will undergo the electrolysis process and the gas hydrogen will stored in the degasifier tank.

Electrolysis process

Electrolysis Cell

Week 11, 15th June

The cation exchanger and anion exchanger needed to regen every 350m3 of usage while mixed bed exchanger is every 4500m3

The regeneration of the anion exchangers requires caustic soda (sodium hydroxide). During the regeneration, warm sodium hydroxide at 50’C is required; hence the regeneration water heater is used to supply demineralized water at 82’C to the water blender which provides 50’C water to the caustic dilution.

The regeneration of the cation exchangers requires sulfuric acid. The supply of 98% sulfuric acid is stored in demineralizer sulfuric acid storage tanks.

Cation exchanger, Anion exchanger and Mixwd Bed exchanger

Week 11, 14th June

Yukhaimi, chemical technician explained the process of demineralization to me.

Firstly, service water is fed to the carbon filter. The influent water is passed through a column of activated carbon to remove the major part of the organic matter and residual chlorine.

Then, the water is routed to the cation exchanger packed with a column of strong acid cation, exchange ion resin in the hydrogen form.
The cation effluent is then passed through a strong base anion inside the anion exchanger. The hydrogen ions from the cation resin neutralized the hydroxide ions from the anion resins and yield pure water.

The demineralized water is then passed to the mixed bed exchanger which contain a mixture of anion exchanger and cation exchanger to further polish the water before the water is discharged to demineralized water storage tank.

Demineralization process for the plant

Week 10, 11st June

In the evening, there is a knowledge sharing session conduct by Amer (mechanical technician). He shared his experience about overhauling shutoff gas valve with us. This work will be done once a year during the outage session. Before installing the valve, they need to measure the valve can sustain how much pressure. The minimum pressure is about 25bar.

Week 10, 10th June

As the process of turbine start up includes torque converter, I had been asked to find out the function of torque converter.

The heart of Voiths’ hydrodynamic torque converter is its hydraulic circuit; consisting of a pump, turbine, and a guide wheel with adjustable guide vanes. This is combined in a common housing filled with hydraulic oil.

The mechanical energy of the motor is converted into hydraulic energy through the pump wheel. In the turbine wheel the same hydraulic energy is converted back into mechanical energy and transmitted to the gas turbine/generator shaft.

The adjustable vanes of the guide wheel regulate the mass flow in the circuit. At closed guide vanes (small mass flow) the power transmission is at its minimum. With the guide vanes completely open (large mass flow), the power transmission is at its maximum.

Basic design hydrodynamic torque converter

Week 10, 9thJune

Azlan (SBO) explained the trend of turbine speed during the start up. Before the turbine can be fired and brought to operating speed, it must first be rotated or cranked by an motor, operating through a torque converter to provide the cranking torque and speed required by the turbine startup. After the cranking speed reach 25% of the full speed, the turbine will start purging.

The process of purging stop when the turbine speed drops to 9% of the full speed. The function of purging is to drain out all the combustable gas from combustion compartment until exhaust compartment.

The process of firing starts after the purging until the turbine speed reach full speed.

Turbine speed trend

Week 10, 7th@8th June

As the plant having audit for integrated management system, the staff told us that we at least must know the mission and vision of the company.

Vision – The group envisions itself to be a global player in the energy and energy related business.
Mission – the group’s mission is to enhance shareholder return.

For the Quality Policy & Objective of the plant, the group is committed to be efficient and responsible by ensuring high standards in Quality and achieve full customer’s satisfaction by making ‘Quality A Way of Life’.

Quality Policy & Objective

Week 9, 4th June

In the morning, I followed Awang (BO) to the roof of the control room to make air-condition changeover. Air conditioner for control room was changed from 1B to 1A.

From Nooter Eriksen Operating manual, I learnt that recirculation pump on HP and LP economizers are use to increase the inlet feedwater temperature. It is required during the distillate oil as fuel. Condensation of acid can occur and corrodes the tubes of economizer if the temperature is low.

Week 9, 3rd June

I and another staff, Leo checked the temperature of the inlet and outlet drain valve at HRSG as there is suspected leak at the drain valve. If the inlet and outlet temperature is difference, that mean there is leakage at the valve. We use the infrared thermometer to measure the temperature.

Week 9, 2nd June

Two lecturers, Syed Zahidul Islam and Azrul Ghazali came over for plant visits. After get to know our direct supervisor, they have a short meeting to discuss our progress during the industrial training.

Week 9, 1st June

I participated in the steam turbine auxiliaries weekly changeover. As last week I followed patrolman, this week I will be at control center room monitor the changeover. Abang Azmi, SBO, let me to handle the changeover work under his supervise. I need to communicate with Nazirin (BO) to make sure that every pump is function able when I activate the standby pump. Once the pump is running, then the running pump will be deactivated. This process is repeated for every changeover pump.

Week 9, 31st May

I followed abang Fadzli, patrolman to do the gas turbine auxiliaries changeover. Before the changeover begins, abang Fadzli take down the suction pressure discharge pressure abd the expansion tank level for cooling water pump. After the changeover, the readings also need to take down. The following changeover is continuing with turbine compartment ventilation fan and distillate forward pump.

Then, abang Fadzli brought us to activate online water wash to decrease the turbine temperature so that the load will increase.

Week 8, 27th May

I followed abang Azmin, patrolman to do the emergency diesel generator test run. Before the test run, the engine running hour, distillate meter reading need to take and the generator circuit breaker (52 DG) must be disconnected. After all the preparation had done, the test run begin. The test run last for about 20 minutes and accessories like exhaust temperature, lube oil level, air vessel pressure need to take after the test run. When the test run begin, the exhaust dark smoke density need to check every minute.

Abang Azmin is doing the EDG test run

Cooling tower for EDG system

Week 8, 26th May

Abang Nasir, peronda, brings me to fire fighting pump house to check the availability of the pump. He explained that if pressure is less than 9 bar, jockey pump is activated while less than 7 bar, electric pump is on. Diesel pump 1 will activate when pressure less than 5 bar and diesel 2 will activate when pressure less than 4 bar.

The procedure of doing the checking is opened the bypass valve to let the water flowing back to water tank. Then manually turn on the electric pump, follow by diesel 1 pump and diesel 2 pump. Reading of discharge pressure and flow of water were taken. After all the reading had taken, the bypass valve is closed and all the pumps were set back to automatic mode.

Week 8, 25th May

I followed abang Suhaimi, block operator, to do the pump changeover at STG. The pumps that need to do the changeover are demin water transfer pump, closed cycle circulating water pump, service water pump, condenser extraction pump, gland steam condenser exhauster, hydraulic pump, lube oil pump and seawater booster pump.

This activity will be done weekly so that the pump can extend its working period. The main reason is to test the standby pump availability so that when in emergency, it is still functional.

Week 8, 24th May

I will be in the operation section for the next three weeks. As I just joined the operation section, abang Fadli, senior block operator, explained to me the importance of the operation section as they monitor the plant’s operation.

At around 11am, steam turbine trip suddenly due to loss of instrument pressure. Abang Halim, shift charge engineer (SCE), informed National Load Dispatch Center (NLDC) due to full block trip. Then, he informed ECNI technician to identify the problem. After checking the tube of instrument air that found no leaking, they focus on the air compressor. It is found that the instrument air compressor 1B air separator broken.

After identify the problem, the start up of GT1 begin then ST and GT2. At around 5pm, the SCE declare to NLDC that load back to maximum that is 322MW.

The instrument air compressor 1B that make the steam turbine tripped due to loss of pressure

outage, 15th May

The outage started from 12am Saturday. All the preparation had been done and the operation team had get permission from NLDC (National Load Dispatch Center) prior shutdown.

After shutdown, the maintenance outage is started. The preventative maintenance that I followed were carbon brush inspection, field breaker maintenance, 52G inspection, exciter inspection, interposing relay panel inspection, protection relay inspection and testing of all DC motors for GT1 , GT2 and ST. as the time is limited, a;; the inspection need to finish it as soon as possible.

For the corrective maintenance, abang Fadzli and abang Razak changed the defect contactor for circulating water pump panel box.

For the plant improvement, the plant had hired the contractor to upgrade the primary injection of 190 feeder PT and CT and the overcurrent and earth fault relays for station board 2. These works are all included in electrical section works.

For the mechanical parts, I participated in the circulating water pump rotary drum screen pit preventative maintenance. A stop block pathway is put to prevent the seawater flow into the drum screen pit. The cleaning process begins with pull up the primary drum screen and cleans it. Then the pit contractor will climb down the pit to clean up the trashes that sink in the pit.

A dry type transformer

A rectifier

Week 7, 21st May

After finish repair the shaft, connection between the sleeve bearings is screw and the new shaft is being installed. The spacers that installed at the top of the shaft then are coupled with the motor. After all the work had done, we installed the pump back to the water treatment plant there.

Abang Yunizar do the final touching up and examination

before installing the pump back at water treatment plant

Week 7, 20th May

Today the work is continuing with the transfer pump yesterday. A new shaft is being replaced and the cleaning of the pump is done.

Week7, 19th May

At the water treatment plant, the chemical waste pump is found faulty. I followed abang Syahrul to check the pump. The pump motor is in good condition; hence the problem mostly is the shaft. After dissemble the pump, we found out that the connection of the shaft and impeller broken.

In the evening, there is a farewell party for our plant station manager, Mr. Chew, as he is going oversea on June for working purpose.

The pump is lift up to do the checking

Week 7, 18th May

I and other 2 trainees, Zul and Saw had been ordered by En. Rahimi to follow abang Munir to do the general air service compressor preventative maintenance. We check the air filter, lube oil filter and refill the lube oil as the running hour for the compressor had reached the limit.

Then, abang Munir explained to us that the function of the service air and instrument air and their differences. He also explained the flow of how dry, oil-free compressed air is produce.

The service air system provides compressed air at the required pressure and capacity for general plant use and as a backup supply to the instrument air system while instrument air system provides dry compressed air at the required pressure and capacity for all pneumatic valves, controls, transmitters, and instrument.

The flow of compressed service air

Week 7, 17th May

Today work is about corrective maintenance. At the water treatment plant, the demineralized recycle pump 2A is found leaking. I followed abang Ramli to do the checking and rectify it.

In the evening, all the technicians do the cleaning at the workshop as the outage had finished.

Week 6, 14th May

I followed abang Yunizar to go to the loading bay to take submersible pump. The pump is used to pump the water out from drum screen pit during the outage.

Then all the following works today are just preparation for the outage.

The equipment that need to use during the outage

Week 6, 13rd May

Boiler feed pump control valve pipe is found leak. To solve the leakage problem, welding is done by En. Ramli. Then, to detect whether there is still leakage, dye penetration equipment is used. If there is leakage, the red colour will show at leakage part.

En. Rahimi doing the welding for boiler feed pump control valve pipe

For other technicians, they were busy preparing the equipment that need to use during the outage that is on Saturday.

Week 6, 12th May

This morning, I followed abang Yunizar to the rotary screen area to do the circulating water rotary screen trash basket maintenance inspection. All of us came to help the cleaning.

The contractors are cleaning the primary drum screen

En. Rahimi explained to us the alignment and its function. It is about finding the rotational center of motor and positioning of the motor. The symptoms of misalignment are high discharge of temperature, vibrate or loosen of the foundation bolts and etc. The causes of misalignment are bent shaft, soft foot and etc.

To show us in the more practical way, En. Rahimi brought an old pump to workshop for alignment demonstration. Laser alignment device is used to detect the state of accuracy of the alignment

En. Rahimi demonstrate how to measure the alignment

Week 6, 11st May

I was assigned to follow abang Yunizar, technician of mechanical section, to do the PM for service water pump discharged NRV. To increase the efficiency of the motor, maintenance need to do frequently.

Then for the part of the valve, we opened it and do the cleaning as there are a lot of rusted layers in the valve. After finish the cleaning, abang Yunizar then changed the motor oil to let the motor run smoothly.

Abang Yunizar is changing the motor oil

Week 6, 10th May

For the next two weeks, I will be joining the mechanical section. After meet with En. Amir, mechanical engineer, he explained to me roughly the staff in mechanical section and then En. Rahimi, mechanical supervisor, asked me to meet him at the workshop. He told me that the operation of the mechanical section.

The PM that I followed is HRSG blowdown transfer pump. The function of the transfer pump is transferring the demineralized water to water treatment system. Most of the work is about corrosion. The corrosion layers were scraped and the whole exterior of transfer pump was painted with anti-rust paint.

The worker take out the transfer pump using forklift

The exterior of transfer pump was painted with anti-rust paint

Week 5, 7th May

I followed Mr. Tai to do the CCTV inspection PM. We need to check from the control center room to see whether all the function is ok. If the screen is blurring, we need to note down the number of CCTV and clean it later.

After finish the PM, all the CNI technician went to the boiler building to install the motorized actuator.

Abang Azim is installing the motorized actuator at boiler drum

Week 5, 6th May

The PM that I did today almost same with yesterday, that is HRSG2 Siemens CEMS inspection.

Then, abang Syahrul and abang Azim explained briefly about bailey infinet and termination unit in the network system of the power plant. Every process control unit (PCU) will connect to a single termination unit (TU) and send to redundant/bailey infinet communication system. The information then will send to the operator interface station (OIS) to let the operator to control the final control element (open or close, start or stop). For amending the program of the PCU, the programmer can go to the management command system (MSC) or engineering work station (EWS).

The network system of the power plant

Week 5, 5th May

The plant has the force outage as the HP feedwater NRV is not functioning. The valve needs to be open to let the HP feedwater flow from boiler feedwater pump but the valve is jammed. Hence, the mechanical technician use hydraulic jet to force the valve open and repair will be done during the outage.

In the evening, I followed abang Syahrul to do the HRSG1 Siemens Continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) inspection. We need to check the lamp, switch, indication bulbs whether it is function or not. Then, we need to take the measurement for UTM120 and UTM130 device for the flow rate and percentage of oxygen.

Abang Syahrul explained the CEMS to us on how it works

Week 5, 4th May

The preventative maintenance that I followed today is Bailey Infi90 power supply monthly inspection. I and Mr. Tai need to check the indication lamp and voltage measurement. If the indication lamp is green, the device is fine. If the indication lamp is red, the device needs to repair. For the voltage measurement, we need to note down the voltage of +15V, -15V, 48V, 24V and 5V for each connection in the PCU power supply.

In the evening, En. Sharif asked me to help the electrical section to wash the motor of the air compressor. I used the chemical (synthetic isoporaffinic hydrocarbon) to clean the stains on the shaft of the motor.

The technicains clean the stains on the motor

Week 5, 3rd May

En. Yunus, CNI supervisor, asked me to follow abang Azim to do the corrective maintenance as the air dryer system at the EDG house need to install a new air drain device. The process of installing the air drain device take time as all the precaution step need to be checked before the work start.

In the evening, Sri Daran gave us a set of basic electrical test. Our result will know after he finish marking the paper.

Air drain device

Week 4, 30th April

In the morning, I followed abang Azim to do the Gas Chromatography (NGC) monthly inspection and calibration preventative maintenance. There are 4 parts in this inspection, which is visual inspection, current measurement, calibration procedure and calibration result.

For the visual inspection, we need to check the cleanliness and physical connection of tubing and cables.
For the current measurement status, we need to note down the sample pressure, un-normalized value and superior (dry) current value.
For the calibration process, manually run STREAM 4 and STREAM 1. Then view the chromatography for STREAM 4. There are 7 peak values for chrom-1 and 5 peak values for chrom-2.
For the calibration result on STREAM 4, we need to note down all the components value in the gas. The components are ethane, propane, carbon dioxide, methane and etc.

In the evening, all of the staffs required to attend the knowledge sharing session. En. Azizul, IT executive, provide a talk about the new ICT password policy. It is stated that the password must be changed after 6 months or 180 days of usage. Then, it is the turn for En. Sharif, supervisor for electrical department, gives a talk about steam turbine power distribution system.

Week 4, 29th April

The PM that needs to do today is GT 1&2 local temperature gauge inspection. The procedure is almost same with the PM that had done yesterday.

In the evening, I was given an assignment by Sri Daran. I need to find out the ANSI code for the protection relay that used in the plant. ANSI stand for America National Standard Institution that provide the code for all the protection relay.

Week 4, 28th April

Today, I followed abang Syahrul to do the HRSG 1&2 local pressure gauge inspection. We were required to take the reading and check for the defects. After finish taking the reading, we found out that blowdown transfer pump 7 pressure gauge is defect. As there is no pressure gauge for range 0-4 bars, replacement will be made when the order arrived.

Abang Azim then explained to me the type of pressure gauge that we used in the plant and its function. The C-type bourden tube pressure tube is used for measuring pressure difference. Then he also explained to me the difference between the gauge pressure, absolute pressure and atmospheric pressure.

C-type bourden tube

Week 4, 27th April

The preventative maintenance that I participated in is steam turbine generator and heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) 1&2 motorized actuators inspection. We need to check the feedback availability whether it is close or open and check for the defects.

The actuators that used in the plant mostly is limitorque L120 series actuators. It can be used to control butterfly, ball, and plug valves which requires 90 degrees movement.

motorized actuator

Week 4, 26th April

The 2 PMs that required to do are fire fighting tank and distillate tank transmitter inspection and turbine flow meter inspection. This is the first job I participated in for control and instrumentation section.

For the fire fighting tank and distillate tank transmitter inspection, I followed Mr. Tai, CNI technician, to take the reading for fire tank A and B from the level transmitter. Same process applied to the distillate tank.

For the turbine flow meter inspection, I followed abang Syahrul to take the flow meter reading for steam turbine. Besides that, we also checked whether it need for lubrication or not.

During the free time, Mr. Tai explained to me that AT-1000 series transmitter is designed to attach to the LT-LTC series level gauge. One of its main function is to convert the level gauge’s signal into voltage and electric current to perform tank inventory management.

AT 1000 series transmitter that attach to the LT-LTC series level gauge

Week 3, 23rd April

Today, i have also been exposed to a new task, which is unloading. Unloading in power plant means to fill up the distillate that have been used for power generation purpose and the minimum level of the distillate storage in the tank must be 70 % from the maximum. The tanker will come to the power station and the distillate will have to be checked before it's being filled.

For my first time, i have the chance to have a close look about the tanker and finally i know the tanker is not what i think all the time. The big tank is actually divide it into a few compartment and then i climb up top to take a look for every compartment. The sample of every compartment will be taken in which will used to determine the purity and density of it.

As the unloading process was going, i was being explained by the person in charge to know further about the machine that we will use for the whole process.

The worker is unlocking the lock

Abang Yukaimi is taking the sample of distillate oil for every compartment

The purity and density of distillate oil is being tested for every compartment

The unloading of distillate oil starts

Week 3, 22nd April

The whole day spent on connecting the ventilation fan motor for gas turbine hall. It was a suffering work as u need to do it under the hot sun as it is at the roof and the heat that come from the gas turbine. We able to finish connect 4 out of 5 of the motors as the heat that generate from gas turbine make us feel uncomfortable and slow down the process.

Abang Razak is connecting the wires for the motor

Week 3, 21st April

The 2 CMs (corrective maintenance) that do today is drum screen wash pump motor and lighting system in gas turbine. For drum screen wash pump motor, it is stated that current is hunting, means unstable. A free run test is done and the motor is functioned. Hence, further checking is required. For lighting system, we were required to do the functionality test or troubleshoot to check what is defect.

In the evening, we had done the BOP (balance of plant) motors PM inspection. We were required to take the reading of the motor’s temperature and bearing vibration. The motors that we inspect are service water make up pump motor, demineralized water transfer pump and sea water booster pump.

Sea water booster pump motor

Demineralized water transfer pump motor

Week 3, 20th April

Due to the request from the admin staff, we were required to install a new fax cable line at the admin office. The wire goes through from the ceiling of the admin office and reaches the connection point. The connection of the wire must do carefully as the wire is life.

In the evening, I and abang Fadzli checked the transducer in the power transformer as the reading of the measurement is out of range. After a round of checking, we found out that the problem is the transducer problem. A new transducer will be replaced when the ordered transducer reached. Other that involve is Mr. Tai, control and instrumental technician.

Tap changer for a power transformer

Week 3, 19th April

In the morning, we had been instructed by En. Sharif to install a new streetlight near the guard house as the old light had defect. A skylift track is used to bring us up. The process of installing did not go as smoothly as expected. After taking out the old light, the wires that connect the circuits went into the hole of the post. We need to use a long wire to pull it out and it wasted a lot of time. After the wire successfully taken out, the installation process went smoothly and testing is done. The light is function and job done.

Abang razak is taking out the old light.

The new light had installed.

In the afternoon, I and abang Razak were required to do the cathodic protection system preventative maintenance. We need to take the reading of control reference setting which is 1 connect resistance side and 1 at ground side and measure the voltage. For anode performance, it also requires to take the voltage reading which can directly take from the screen.

During the free time, I also taken the opportunity to check the steam turbine generator transformer protection relays at steam turbine generator control panel. This is the assignment given by Sri Daran. I had been ordered to check the relay whether it is in the list and at the side and the quantity must be correct too. Besides that, I also able to check the 6.6kV/415kV switchgear panels at switchgear room for steam turbine. Same process for gas turbine protection relays.

Calibration of protection relays at EDG

6.6kV switchgear panels

415V switchgear panels

Week 2, 16th April

The 3 ventilation fan motors that haven’t install is being installed today. This time a bigger size crane is rented and the job is finished by afternoon. This time, Zulklifi and Saw, both trainees also went to the roof to observe our work.

After the lunch, a knowledge sharing session is held at the training room. Mr. Yunos, control and instrumental supervisor share his knowledge about pneumatic actuator. It is a good additional knowledge to all of us.

The place where ventilation fan motor need to be installed

Ventilation fan motor had installed

Picture taken on the roof