Kazuo TAKANO*
Takashi HAMANAKA*
Kei MATSUOKA*
*Ebara Environmental Plant Co., Ltd.
In the aim of more stable and sophisticated operation of waste incineration facilities, we established the Fujisawa Remote Support Center (hereinafter, “FSC”) in the Fujisawa District of Ebara Corporation in June 2016 and started real-time operation support services for waste incineration facilities. We also established the Haneda Technical Support Center (hereinafter, “TSC”) in the head office (Haneda Office) in June 2018 and started control parameter adjustment by professional engineers stationed in the head office, the development of operation status evaluation support systems using BI tools, and remote support for maintenance operations using wearable cameras and other types of ICT. Here, we give an overview of the FSC and the TSC, their configurations, functions, and past operation performance, as well as the future outlook.
Keywords: Waste incinerator, Remote support, Wearable camera
In recent years, the mainstream for the operation of waste incineration facilities has been shifting to long-term comprehensive contracts to private companies, such as DBO (Design Build Operate) contracts. In connection with this, private companies, which handle the operation business, are required to provide advanced on-site control over an extended period, including compliance with contract provisions, such as exhaust gas regulation values and the amount of waste to be processed, appropriate maintenance that will not cause unscheduled shutdowns or the deterioration of plant capabilities, and electric power generation and the consumption of utilities according to the plan.
To meet these requirements, we established the Fujisawa Remote Support Center (hereinafter referred to as the “FSC”) at Ebara Corporation’s Fujisawa District in June 2016 and the Haneda Technical Support Center (hereinafter referred to as the “TSC”) in the head office (Haneda Office) in June 2018.
Figure 1 shows the remote support system organized by FSC and TSC.
Figure 1. Remote support system
At the FSC, operators are assigned to remote operation support services and support operation in real time. At the TSC, specialized engineers stationed at the head office adjust control parameters and provide maintenance support. Namely, the necessary functions for the remote support services are assigned to each of both centers in consideration of the advantage of their location.
Figure 2 shows the system configurations of the FSC and the TSC. Each network uses a high-speed Internet VPN (Virtual Private Network) via an optical line and is designed not to connect externally in order to ensure security.
Figure 2. System configurations
Data on each plant is stored regularly on servers that the FSC and the TSC can access. Table 1 outlines these servers.
Table 1. Overview of data servers
Table 2. Data storage functions
Plant operators assigned to operation support services are stationed full time at the FSC. They provide remote support in collaboration with the operation engineering department of the head office to check whether the waste incineration operation of each facility is carried out appropriately (Figure 3). The details of main support are described below.
Figure 3. Fujisawa Remote Support Center
[1] Alarm monitoring and management
Any facility may overlook some abnormal values, alarms or warnings, or experience operation errors occasionally. The FSC extracts important alarms and warnings for each facility from its respective server and monitors whether appropriate action is taken when an important alarm or warning is issued.
[2] Alarm and warning management
Alarms and warnings are necessary information to detect anomalies in operation. However, there is a risk that issuing alarm or warning with a low degree of importance may result in disregarding alarm or warning with a high degree of importance. To prevent this, we conduct weekly analysis of the incidence of alarms and warnings and actual phenomena (Figure 4) to classify which alarm or warning requires action and which do not, resulting in the reduction of alarms and warnings with a low degree of criticality. In addition, if the incidence of a given alarm or warning shows an increasing tendency, there is a possibility that the quality of waste has changed or that an equipment malfunction has occurred. So if an increasing tendency is observed with the incidence of a given alarm or warning, we investigate the cause and take action, such as equipment maintenance or operation parameter adjustments.
Figure 4. Example of alarm and warning management
[3] Assessing the operating state
On a weekly basis, we assess important indicators for operation control, such as the amount of waste processed, hazardous component concentrations in exhaust gas and utilities comsumption, and issue a weekly report to each facility (Figures 1 and 5). If the value of any control indicator has worsened, we investigate the cause (such as an equipment malfunction) and take action. In the past, we used a monthly report to check and control the operating state on a monthly basis, but we have increased the frequency to weekly, enabling us to make improvements early.
Figure 5. Example of operating state assessment
[4] Standardizing incinerator operation
If the operation of a waste incineration facility deviates from the range that can be controlled by automatic control due to, for example, a significant variation in the quality of waste, operators may intervene manually to operate the incinerator. What is important in such a case is that the quality of incinerator operation can be maintained by operating it according to the standard no matter who operates it.
On a weekly basis, we assess on whether operators are operating the incinerator according to the standard at the time of manual intervention. At each facility, operators are trained to carry out appropriate manual intervention, and regularly reviews and revises the incinerator operation standard to include operator knowledge.
The manual intervention operations that can be carried out automatically are automatized in collaboration with the engineering department, leading to improvements on ACC (Auto Combustion Control) in functionality and operability.
The FSC supports daily operation activities of each facility, whereas the TSC is the base for taking prompt action to the site by specialized engineers of the design, instruments and control, and maintenance departments stationed at the head office as remote basis (Figure 6).
Figure 6. Haneda Technical Support Center
[1] Streamlining control and adjustment operations
Various control parameters related to the automatic control of a plant are set and adjusted by specialized engineers on site from the final stage of the construction work through the commissioning period. After performance test, the construction of a plant is completed and it is delivered to the customer, but even after delivery, the control parameters may need to be adjusted due to changes in the quality of waste or other reasons. In the past, specialized engineers visited the site and performed adjustment operations, but the operation time was unavoidably limited, and in some cases, it was difficult to perform long-term assessment, and control parameters could not be adjusted completely.
At present, however, specialized engineers can adjust control parameters at the TSC and thereby respond promptly to adjustments needed by the facility concerned. It is also possible to perform long-term assessments based on weekly reports issued by the FSC and to ensure appropriate and streamlined adjustments.
[2] Sophisticating operating state assessments
In a quantitative assessment of the operating state control indicators performed by the FSC (see (3) of the preceding section), we determine whether the operating state is appropriate based on the control limits of the control indicators, such as the temperature of each device in the plant and the concentrations of hazardous substances in exhaust gas. In addition, if the operating state needs to be improved, we determine what measures to take from a comprehensive standpoint with reference to various operation data, and propose a measure.
If the number of facilities to be covered by remote support is going to increase in the future, it will be necessary to streamline and standardize assessment and improvement proposal operations. As a solution, we are developing an operating state assessment support system utilizing a BI (Business Intelligence) tool (Figure 7).
Figure 7. Screen of the operating state assessment support system (image)
Specifically, we aim to establish a system capable of analyzing factors relative to increments or decrements of important control indicators, such as the temperature of individual plant devices and the concentrations of hazardous substances in exhaust gas, and capable of displaying related operation data trends interactively and quickly so that the operators at the FSC can promptly analyze factors. Moreover, the accumulation of analysis results makes it possible to perform statistical analysis of the frequency and causing factors of a given phenomenon, including deterioration by aging and comparison with other facilities. We believe that we can also contribute to the development of appropriate operation guidelines considering the standardization of operation skills and deterioration of the facility by aging.
In the development of this system, and in the setting of control limits and the establishment of factor analysis approaches in particular, we intend to realize a system that is practical and proven by statistical grounds by integrating the knowledge of process engineers who are stationed at the head office with statistical analysis results of operation data accumulated at the FSC and the TSC.
In the future, we will work to establish a system by combining this system with various statistical machine learning approaches, that will be capable of contributing not only to operating state assessments but also to reducing facility operation costs by, for example, predicting the anomalies, presenting countermeasures to avoiding them, minimizing utility consumption, and maximizing the amount of electric power generated.
[3] Supporting maintenance activities with the aid of wearable cameras
The system can share images and voice transmitted from wearable cameras worn by field operator and maintenance personnel of each facility with specialized engineers of the TSC in real time. This system enables specialized engineers of the TSC to provide each facility with remote inspection support and maintenance support in case of emergency (Figure 8).
Figure 8. System configuration of the wearable camera
Since the wearable camera can be attached to protective cap, the advantage is that the field operator can communicate hands-free with the TSC and use it hands-free during moving or work on the site (Figure 9).
Figure 9. Example of use of the wearable camera
An example of remote maintenance support using a wearable camera is given below. Figure 10 shows an image of the state of the screw shaft of a given facility taken by a field operator and received by the TSC in a case where the screw conveyor was damaged and the facility was shut down. Even the substances adhering to the surface of the screw shaft and the state of corrosion can be identified.
Figure 10. Example of an image taken by the wearable camera
The system also has a function that allows specialized engineers of the TSC to make markings on the image as shown in Figure 11 so they can give accurate and interactive instructions about, for example, the areas they want field operators to check in detail.
Figure 11. Instruction by marking to the site
In the past, when a shutdown or other urgent event occurred, specialized engineers of the maintenance department of the head office would visit the site, investigate the situation and collect information, and then return to the head office and consider measures based on the information. Thus, it would take two or three days from the event at the earliest to develop the measures.
In this case, specialized engineers of respective departments gathered immediately, discussed and estimated the cause of the trouble from the image sent from the wearable camera of the field operator, and completed the development of urgent and permanent measures within several hours. We think that the system can ensure not only smooth communication of information between sites and the FSC/TSC in regular operation, but also prompt response to device failures. It is also particularly effective when the plant needs to continue operation or avoid an unscheduled shutdown
In this report, we introduced the status of implementation of remote support utilizing the FSC and the TSC, which Ebara is carrying out toward the further stabilization and sophistication of the operation of waste incineration facilities.
The effects of remote support identified through implementation thus far are as follows:
① Improved quality of operation
We have quantitatively clarified the status of incineration operation, which was likely to be left to the site, and improved the quality of operation by standardizing incineration operation.
②Established quantitative assessment of operation control indicators
We have established system for quantitatively monitoring and assessing the operating state of each facility and changes in control indicators important for operation in particular.
③More prompt resolution of problems
As a consequence of the establishment of the system described in (2) above, we have been able to more promptly resolve problems, such as correcting equipment anomalies and improving the automatic operation ratio.
④More prompt action
Operations such as field investigations and control and adjustments, which previously were performed by specialized engineers of the head office visited on site, can now be carried out at the head office, achieving more prompt action and the streamlining of operations.
Judging from these effects, we think that we have realized the transformation of facility operation and incinerator operation control performed based on each facility’s unique experience and findings in the past into a control approach as a company-wide standard reflecting experiences and findings learned at other facilities and proven by scientific grounds. Moreover, through the implementation of remote support, we can promptly share information about the operating state of each facility and problem-solving with the design, operation engineering, maintenance, and other internal related departments and run the company-wide improvement cycle effectively.
As a future outlook, we will push forward with the following activities:
①Establishing an emergency response system in case of natural disasters
With regard to emergency response in case of natural disasters, it may be difficult to secure personnel for the operation of each facility because the facility personnel need to be assigned to restoration work on the site. In preparation for such situations expected to occur in the future, we provide training in incinerator operation from the FSC to make it possible for the FSC to provide appropriate support.
We will commit to establishing a support system capable of ensuring safer and more secure operation of facilities for customers by enhancing hardware (such as securing system integrity in case of disasters) and software (such as rules about the delegation of authority between a site and the FSC in relation to incineration operation).
②Utilizing operation data for maintenance
The operation data accumulated thus far by the FSC and the TSC has been utilized mainly for the standardization of operation skills and the stabilization of incinerator operation. We will also utilize operation data that will help avoid equipment problems, emphasizing the correlation between changes in the operating state of each device or the history of alarms and warnings issued and the maintenance record of the device concerned.
③Supporting optimized operations as an electric power generation facility
The power transmission output at a waste incineration electric power generation facility (Waste-to-Energy facility) may vary due to the effects of changes in the quality of waste, of the operation or shutdown of incidental equipment, and other such factors. For this reason, as a response to the planned value balancing system in association with electricity deregulation, it is necessary for each facility to accurately predict future variations in power transmission output based on the latest operation history and prepare a reliable power transmission plan. At Ebara, we have already put into practical use a system capable of automatically preparing power transmission plans based on the operation data on each facility with the aid of a statistical approach. We will also link this system to the operating state assessment support system operated at the FSC and the TSC as well so as to contemplate the development of power transmission plans with higher accuracy and the feasibility of electric power demand/supply control in collaboration with plural incineration power generation facilities.
④Saving manpower for incinerator operation and contributing to automatization
Ebara is working to put automatic operation technology for waste incineration facilities to practical use, such as the development of an Automatic Crane System with Waste Identification AI utilizing deep learning (see “Automatic Crane System with Waste Identification AI” in this issue of Engineering Review). We have also started the development of technology for further manpower saving and complete automatization of facility operation in near future. The various activities at the FSC described in 3-1 provide basic data for the establishment of automatic incinerator operation technology. We think that it would be possible to construct a system capable of autonomously determining the operation that should be followed according to the situation by applying various machine learning approaches, which have recently made notable progress, to the massive amount of data accumulated on the history of alarms and the history of manual intervention in particular. We are concentrating our energies on this.
⑤Saving manpower for support operations
Ebara regards remote support as part of the operation system for future long-term comprehensive projects. At present, we provide remote support for eight facilities and are planning to start remote support for two more by the end of this year. The number of facilities that will introduce remote support is expected to further increase with the increase of new DBO projects. We will start to develop services to provide more appropriate and timely support for an increased number of target facilities in a stable manner, without allowing the quality of support to deteriorate, by enhancing the functions of the operating state assessment support system described in 3-2 and maximizing the automatization and manpower saving of the processes described in 3-1, such as alarm and warning control and operating state assessment.
The waste processing business requires further streamlining of operations due to chronic shortages of manpower resulting from the reduction of workforce, the retirement of skilled workers, and stringent local government finances. Under these circumstances, we are considering making full use of cutting-edge technology, such as ICT and IoT, which are indispensable to continuing the secure, safe, and stable operation of facilities in compliance with contract provisions, laws, and regulations, and to contributing to social responsibility and local communities.
The remote support utilizing the FSC and TSC introduced in this report represents the various commitments by Ebara to meet the above-mentioned requirements. We will further strive to enhance the support system and fulfill social needs and expectations from customers.
1) Kazushige Kurosawa, Kazuo Takano, Hiromi Koike, Practical Use of a Remote Support Center for Waste Incineration Facilities, EBARA Engineering Review, No. 254, pp.58-61 (October 2017).
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