P&W FT8 / Solar Turbines Technical BLOG

Technical information useful for learning & troubleshooting.

FT8 – Datalogs – The Basics

By Donald Murphy April 11, 2022 Comments Off

ARTICLE REF – ART144

What are datalogs:

Datalogs are high definition files with as much as a 5 millisecond update rate.

These datalog (log file extension) can be manually or automatically generated.

These files can only be opened with a licenced Control Assistant, such as on the ICE display.

When the turbine shuts down due to a CSD or fuel chop, running data for approximately 30
seconds before the stop is stored in a file that is automatically generated.

Where are the datalogs stored?

Datalogs can normally be found in the following locations …

F:\inetpub\ft8root\data\unit\*.log

G:\inetpub\ft8root\data\unit\*.log

If you are having difficulty finding the folder do a search for *.log files on the F and G drives.


Selecting what tags to view

The left hand pane contains all the tags available which contains recorded data. To select a
tag, highlight it on the left hand pane and then select the double right chevron. To deselect
use the left double chevron. This brings the tag over to the right hand pane.

The right hand pane will be empty when it opens, and the first thing you do is to select the
first trip. This will identify whether Engine A, B or the Unit tripped. You may know this
information but if you don’t then follow this procedure. For single turbine units such as the
Swift Pak or the mobile unit there will only be a trip for Side A and the Unit.

Once the trips have been selected press OK.

The graphic below will be displayed. The time period for a datalog that is collected

“automatically” when there is a trip is  approximately 30 seconds.

The vertical black lines A and B can be moved with the mouse. The value for each of the tags
at time stamp A will be displayed in the lower part of the window in column Y1. It can be seen
that at the start of the datalog (Line A) the value of all three tags were 0. At the time of the
trip the value of Unit Trip (yellow line) changed to 34. This value of 34 is important as it will

give the reason for the trip. You will also notice that Engine A and B change from 0 to 1. The
reason for this change is because the Unit is shutting down so they are shut down.

34 stands for the 34th unit shutdown as found in the GAP software block.

You can tell from the title that the problem has something to do with “DROPLOAD”. 

This is a typical trip list for the UNIT. Unit trips are common to both Turbine A and B.


This is a typical list of trips for Turbine A. B will have a similar list. So if the shutdown is due to
Turbine A you will lookup this list to see what trip coincides with the number coming from
the datalog.

Continuing on with the analysis of the datafile:

Right Click on the graphic and select “PROPERTIES”.

At this stage we know the Unit shut down and it was because of a “Drop Load”.
You now need to go and look at the information pertaining to “Drop Load”.


 Leave the Unit trip pen as this is our reference as to when the trip actually happened and
get rid of the other two which serve no more purpose.
Then add as many pins (tags) as you need to view. Note too many pins and you will not be
able to see clearly. Added were EGT on B, NP speed, Breaker closed indication and Power
in MW.
Then select OK

The graphic will be displayed now with the changes you requested.

The green line is the Unit Trip and it is used to reference all other data. To the left of the
green line is information before the trip and to the right is the data after.
In red is the breaker closed position. You can see the open indication a couple of
milliseconds after the trip.
In yellow is the EGT which takes some milliseconds to react and start to drop off, which is
normal.
The power in pink starts to drop off as expected.
The NP speed in blue started to drop off BEFORE the trip. With a DROP LOAD you would
expect the turbine fuel system some time to react to a lesser load and during the time
taken to reduce the fuel the speed increases. The only thing a little surprising with this
example is that the MW did not change and would expect to see that. But it gives you an 
example of how to use the datalog.
 Drop Load Logic:

86EB is not tripped plus

NP > 150 RPM plus
NP derivative value is > 200 RPM

END OF ARTICLE

Categories: FT8, FT8 Control System