Mark VI - VPRO Board Replacement

S

Thread Starter

se_lain

Hi guys,

So earlier today, one of the three VPRO boards (VPRO <Y>) at my site was found powered off. We discovered this after the following alarms:

* TCP Minor Trouble
* VPRO Communication Fault
* RST Slot-1 VCMI Diagnostic Alarm

Since I was not physically at the site today, I did not get to dig around further. I will be doing that tomorrow and will share the results accordingly. However, since the VPRO <Y> was found powered off, I don't think it would be wrong to assume that the board is done for and that a replacement is in order.

My questions is therefore with regards to how I can go about replacing it safely while my turbine is running.

This is the procedure I found in GEH-6421 Vol. 1.

<i>1. If a VCMI or VPRO has failed, the rack should be powered down,
and the IONet connector unplugged from the board front, leaving the
network still running through the T-fitting.

2. Loosen the top and bottom screws on the VCMI board.

3. Use the upper and lower ejector tabs to disengage the controller from the backplane.

4. Remove the VCMI and replace it with a spare VCMI.

5. Use the upper and lower ejector tabs to install the new VCMI board.

6. Tighten the top and bottom screws to secure the new VCMI or VPRO to the VME rack.

7. Power up the VME rack.

8. From the toolbox Outline View, under item Mark VI I/O, locate the failed rack.
Locate the VCMI, which is usually under the simplex rack, and right-click the VCMI.

9. From the shortcut menu, click Download. The topology downloads into the new board.

10. Cycle power to the rack to establish communication with the controller.</i>

The procedure above says to power down the entire rack. I figured I would just remove the power to VPRO <Y> from the PDM but there is also the question of downloading after replacement. Wouldn't downloading lead to the entire VPRO rack i.e. <X>, <Y> and <Z> rebooting? Also please clarify step number 10, if possible. Why do I need to cycle the power after I have already powered up the rack and downloaded?

Please let me know if it is wise to do online or should I get Operations to take the turbine on FSNL? The latter depends on site load.

Looking forward to your responses. Thanks.
 
Here's an update, guys. Did some further digging around and found that the fuses on the PDM across J7Y (VPRO <Y> power supply) were blown. After ensuring that this was because of a short-circuit on the VPRO board's PCB, we decided to replace it. To replace, I followed the procedure outlined in my earlier post.

* Turned off power from PDM - toggle switch SW7 for VPRO <Y>.

* Removed the offending VPRO board.

* Installed the new one.

* Powered up the board.

* Carried out download from "Slot 1: VPRO." Selected both Firmware and Parameter.

* Make sure you only select the core you want to download. I selected <S> here which corresponds to <Y>.

* Did all of this while the turbine was operational.

* Rebooted the board in question by cycling power to it.

* It came back online after some time.

So, yes, you can carry out selective download and reboot.
 
se_Iain,

I presume by "powered off" you mean that the board was "dead"--no LEDs were lit or flashing, yet the switch in the <PD> core was in the ON position, AND that the fuse(s) for <Y> were good. If so, then it's still a good idea to try cycling the power to <Y> to see if it re-starts and runs. If not, then, yes, it probably needs to be replaced.

It should be possible to replace the VPRO without shutting down the turbine as long as you unplug the IONET cable from the VPRO properly--not breaking the "loop." Since each VPRO is powered independently from the <PD> and since each VPRO is designed to be entirely independent of the other VPROs and even the control processor it is associated with it should be possible to replace it while the unit is running. (I've never personally done it to a Mark VI, but I have done it several times to a Mark V (replaced the VPRO equivalent, the TCEA)--with no problems. BUT, I was extremely careful to check ALL the Diagnostic Alarms to be sure there was nothing which would cause a problem when doing so, and on a couple of occasions I chose not to attempt doing so because of certain Diagnostic Alarms.

I believe in a TMR Mark VI you can download individually to each VPRO, so that shouldn't be an issue, either. And, most likely to get the download to become effective it will be necessary to cycle the power to the VPRO that was replaced and downloaded to. (Cycling power, or "re-booting," means to open the power supply switch to the card, wait 10-30 seconds, then close the power supply switch to the card to get the information to be loaded into RAM to become effective (active).)

The VCMI is similar--and replacing it in a TMR control panel should also be possible, but it will require powering-down the control processor to remove the failed card and install the new card. You will then have to power-up the control processor and downloading to it when possible, then cycling power to the control processor ("re-booting" the control processor as described above) to get the information to become effective by loading it into RAM.

The thing to be careful of when doing this is to make sure that Diagnostic Alarms from other processors won't "combine" with a card/processor that is powered off to result in a turbine trip. I can't describe every possible condition or scenario, but there ARE certain Diagnostic Alarms which by themselves won't result in a turbine trip while running, but when "combined" with others WILL result in a trip, especially when powering-down processors to replace cards. Just be aware that while the manual (and popular folk-lore) says that it's possible to shut down any single processor to replace a card, that that's written (said) with some qualifications. If there are numerous Diagnostic Alarms from other processors then it's not always possible to shut down one processor/card without tripping the turbine. The presumption is that the other processors/cards are reasonably "healthy" and working properly when powering down a processor to replace a card.

Hope this helps! Looking forward to hearing how your efforts go!
 
Hi guys,

How about swapping an already existing VPRO board from another unit?
For instance, we have a faulty VPRO <Z core> board one one turbine, then we now get a VPRO <Y core> which was already installed on a different turbine controller.
Do we still carry out the installation and download process as stated by Se_lain above?
If No, how do we go about this because each time we try to carryout a firmware download it's tells us that "at least one Mark VI board download did not complete successfully".
And the LED on the board still indicates that core <Y> meanwhile board is on core <Z> position.
 
Hi guys,

How about swapping an already existing VPRO board from another unit?
For instance, we have a faulty VPRO <Z core> board one one turbine, then we now get a VPRO <Y core> which was already installed on a different turbine controller.
Do we still carry out the installation and download process as stated by Se_lain above?
If No, how do we go about this because each time we try to carryout a firmware download it's tells us that "at least one Mark VI board download did not complete successfully".
And the LED on the board still indicates that core <Y> meanwhile board is on core <Z> position.
Hi

What type of unit is ...gas /steam turbine...
Is that a TMR/SIMPLEX/DUAL..


It is said on OEM manual that it may be necessary to update VPRO firmware...

I suggest you to have a read on GEH 6403 ...FOR more precisions..
 
It's a GE frame 9e gas turbine,
It's a TMR/simplex,

I wouldn't know for sure about the update
Thanks for the inputs

So it is more a TMR that a simplex isnt it...I guess that the unit is made by GE Belfort....(GEEPE)...

Did you perform a board compare ( revisions ) ...

How many units at site...as you stated " many unit controller in your first post" (I may know this site as I worled a lot on GE units Worldwide)..<

If more than one unit ..is the whole plant have same configuration regarding the mentionned VPRO board /card...
 
Okay
Thanks for these inputs..

So lets try a "board revisions compare " may be some conflicts occuring as per the description that you shared ..

With more datas provided we will in better position to support you remotely..
 
Any work have been done on the equipment...

Make sure JX1/Y1/Z1 are connected correctly to the dedicated VPRO (X1/Y1/Z1) and also J3/J6 From VPRO TO TPRO ...
Thats what i can add for the moment ...
 
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