INSUS Dubai

Know when a compressor washis worth the outage.

INSUS tracks axial compressor fouling on an ambient-corrected baseline, separates recoverable loss from irreversible ageing and prices it in lost MW and fuel. Performance engineers keep the wash decision.

Talk to a power performance expertSee how it works

  • 01

    Output and heat rate degrade together as the compressor fouls.

  • 02

    Ambient-corrected, because raw readings hide the trend.

  • 03

    Advisory only. Your team schedules the wash.

The problem

Recoverable degradationhidden behind the weather.

Raw output moves with ambient temperature, humidity and pressure more than with fouling, so gradual loss is hard to see and harder to justify an outage over. Fouling reduces mass flow and pressure ratio, cutting output and raising heat rate. Online washing slows fouling; offline washing recovers what online cannot. Calendar intervals often mean washing too early or too late.

Raw and ambient-corrected turbine output over the same period
01
02
03
  • 01Raw output swings with ambient
  • 02Corrected output shows decline
  • 03Loss nobody signed for

The shift

From washing on the calendarto washing on the numbers.

Wash procedures stay the same. What changes is when the outage is justified, using corrected loss and cost for this machine.

Today

The interval is set, the loss is estimated

  • Intervals follow a schedule or a general OEM recommendation.
  • Degradation is judged from raw readings that ambient conditions obscure.
  • Recoverable fouling and irreversible ageing are not separated.

With INSUS

Timing follows corrected loss and cost

  • Timing is driven by where accumulating loss crosses wash and outage cost.
  • Degradation is tracked against an ambient-corrected baseline for this machine.
  • Recoverable and irreversible components are trended separately.

How it works

From corrected performanceto a wash decision.

This fits OptiStudio as performance decision support beside existing turbine and historian systems. Access is read-only. Engineers decide when to wash.

  1. Connect

    Link performance, ambient and wash records

    Connect read-only to compressor pressures and temperatures, inlet filter differential, ambient conditions, IGV position, fuel flow, output, exhaust temperature, operating hours and wash history.

  2. Understand

    Build an ambient-corrected baseline

    Establish a clean performance baseline for this machine. Split deviation into fouling-driven degradation, irreversible ageing and measurement drift so washing is not asked to fix losses it cannot recover.

  3. Predict

    Project degradation and wash recovery

    Project the degradation trajectory and estimate what an online wash and an offline crank wash would each return, based on this machine's own wash history.

  4. Advise

    Find the economic wash point

    Show where accumulating lost generation and extra fuel exceed wash and outage cost, using your dispatch value and fuel price. Engineers decide, because outage timing depends on dispatch obligations the model cannot see.

  5. Verify

    Measure what every wash recovered

    Compare predicted and realised recovery against each wash's pre-wash baseline. Falling recovery can flag irreversible degradation that washing will not reverse.

Unit performance and historian data feeding a degradation model for engineers

Getting started

Start with one unitand the washes you already ran.

For gas turbine and combined-cycle plants with performance and wash history. Delivered through OptiStudio as wash-timing decision support. Expert Services can help with data assessment and validation. Advisory and read-only. No new hardware.

  • What we need. Two or more years of performance and ambient data, wash history with type and duration, fuel and output records, and any performance test results. Standard turbine instrumentation, read-only.
  • What you see first. A back-test on one or two units across washes already done: ambient-corrected degradation with each wash's recovery marked, showing whether earlier or later timing would have been better.
  • Where the limits are. Ambient correction quality bounds the analysis. Incomplete wash records weaken recovery estimates. Published recovery figures do not transfer site to site. No closed-loop control; washing is a physical outage job.
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Related for power

Other powerstarting points

Compressor wash economics sits beside cycling damage and minimum emissions-compliant load on the same generating unit.

Questions performance engineers ask us

Compressor fouling is hard to see in raw output and wash intervals are often calendar-based. This use case tracks ambient-corrected degradation and advises when a wash is worth its outage cost.

At least two years of performance and ambient data, wash history with type and duration, and fuel and output records. No new sensors when standard turbine instrumentation already exists.

Possibly nothing, and discovery should establish that honestly. Where existing monitoring reports degradation but not wash economics against your dispatch value and outage cost, that gap is the use case.

No. Engineers decide when to wash. Access to the turbine control system and DCS is read-only. There is no closed-loop version.

Recovery varies widely by site and fouling severity. Each machine is modelled from its own wash history. Published recovery figures are not a typical expectation and are not INSUS results.

Through OptiStudio as performance decision support. Expert Services can support data assessment, integration and validation with your performance team.

Ambient correction quality and wash-record completeness bound the analysis. Recommendations are unit-specific. The system does not schedule outages or guarantee recovery.

Power · Gas turbine performance

What did your last wash actually get back?

A back-test on your own performance history will answer that, and show whether the wash before it was worth its outage.

Talk to a power performance expertSee related use cases