Morpho Develops AI to Forecast Bearing Temperature for Hydroelectric Power Plants

Tokyo, Japan – June 15^th, 2023– Morpho, Inc. (hereinafter, “Morpho”), a global leader in image processing and imaging AI solutions, announced today that it has developed an AI model for hydroelectric power plants that uses sensor data to forecast the temperature of bearings ^(*1) inside turbines ^(*2). This has contributed to improved maintenance efficiency of power plant equipment.

Monitoring certain key sensor measurements is crucial in many industrial applications for a number of reasons, such as quality and stability control, safety considerations and so on. The time-series forecasting AI model developed by Morpho makes it possible to monitor critical parts of the system and detect signs of malfunctions and other problems, enabling predictive maintenance before equipment failure.

In this project, we used historical data collected from the customer to train the model and developed an AI model to predict bearing temperatures inside the turbine (Figure 1). Predicting bearing temperatures is critical in learning when cooling water needs to be injected inside the turbine and when maintenance is required. This time-series forecasting AI model is capable of predicting the changes in bearing temperature when the turbine is shut down, based on data from different sensors.

Figure2 is a schematic illustration of an example prediction for the bearing temperature (yellow) during a shutdown transition. The power generation (green) has been stopped, while the turbine is still rotating but the rotation speed is being reduced gradually (blue). The prediction (dotted line) is being made at the time denoted by ‘Now’, and the model only uses data up to this point. The data after this shows what actually happened. The prediction matches very closely to the actual drop in the bearing temperature after the shutdown.

This technology enable early detection of turbine failures and abnormalities, improved maintainability, and more efficient  power plant operations.

Morpho will continue to propose optimal methods and promote technological development to solve issues such as improving the maintainability of power plants, factories, and other industrial equipment.

*1: A turbine is a device that converts the energy of a working fluid, such as flowing water, steam, gas, or air, into rotational energy.
*2: A bearing is a component used to support a shaft in a machine and keep it rotating smoothly in the correct position.