Troubleshooting reports

Electric Power Research Institute. (1987). Electrostatic Precipitator Guidelines. Volume 1 Design Specifications Volume 2 Operations and Maintenance Volume 3 Troubleshooting. EPRI Journal CS-5PJ8. Final Report (June). 

The specific energy from Eq. 10.13 is reported in J/g for convenience in analyzing the process. If a change in a process causes the specific energy to increase by 50 J/g, the troubleshooter can translate this to an adiabatic temperature increase of 20 °C because many unfilled resins have heat capacities near 2.5 J/(g °C). This temperature change calculation, however, is an approximation because extruders typically do not operate adiabatically. 

One of the most interesting troubleshooting assignments of my career involved a deaerator in New Orleans. The operator reported loss of the water level in the deaerator drum. The level-control valve shown in Fig. 8.9 would open 100 percent, but this drove the level down even faster. The operator reported that the only way he could restore the water level would be to mostly close the water makeup level-control valve. 

The converging-diverging steam jet is a startlingly complex device. Not only is the theory of operation rather weird, but the jets are subject to a wide range of odd, poorly understood, and never reported malfunctions. For all these reasons, I dearly love to retrofit and troubleshoot steam jet systems. 

Shortly after the valve to the sump was opened and the valve to the hopper was closed, the No. 4 reactor began experiencing erratic pressure problems. The system pressure troubles continued for about 15 minutes. As the supervisor and operator were troubleshooting the problem the relief valve on the reactor heat transfer chest opened with a loud report, signaling real troubles. The two employees started to head out of the unit. About 20 seconds later a large section of a 9 ft. (2.7 m) in diameter expansion joint burst. The initial explosion and the resulting thrust shifted the massive reactor. 

Technical Report, A Troubleshooting Guide to Plumbing Problems in HPLC, MAC-MOD Analytical Inc., Chadds Ford, PA. 

Because of the high level of automation and instrument control, many modem analytical LC/UV/MS instmments have open-access software that enables non-trained users to use the system. In essence, such software needs only to be developed by expert users but once complete, will allow inexperienced personnel to operate the instmment and generate their own data reports without any intervention by trained operators. Trained operators/expert users are only required for system maintenance, troubleshooting, etc. This software gives the appearance that the system is easy to use and also does not require the user to set any operating parameters. Although not fully developed in either case yet, we are currently working on such software for both the autoprep and MS-prep systems. 

Step 4 combines diagnosis and condition indicator status levels and generates an overall risk of failure indication. Typically the worst case condition indicator severity is used to indicate the fluid condition status. Since the diagnosis will relate to a specific maintenance or inspection instruction, this procedure requires a search of the user s maintenance database for previous and scheduled work. Once the maintenance data are known, the fault diagnosis reports the appropriate maintenance response from the users troubleshooting instructions. 

The hrst step in controller troubleshooting is to check overall controller behavior during the recent past. This quick screening is often a simple set of questions or a few simple reports. For example, here are some questions to ask each morning ... 

Spend time creating detailed processes for system use, training, maintenance, programming, troubleshooting, problem reporting, and change control. 

Both these contradictory reports left me cold. Anyway, the key to successful troubleshooting is personal observation. So I decided to make a field test. 

PLASTEC is one of 20 information analysis centers sponsored by the Department of Defense to provide the defense community with a variety of technical information services applicable to plastics, adhesives, and organic matrix composites. For the last 21 years, PLASTEC has served the defense community with authoritative information and advice in such forms as engineering assistance, responses to technical inquiries, special investigations, field troubleshooting, failure analysis, literature searches, state-of-the-art reports, data compilations, and handbooks. 

Brown, J. S., Burton, R. R., and Bell, A. G. SOPHIE a sophisticated instructional environment for teaching electronic troubleshooting. BBN Report 2790. Bolt Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, MA, 1974. 

Feedback Troubleshooting and feedback sessions, feedback on planning reports and final reports, feedback on oral presentations, peer feedback on final reports and oral presentations... 

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