Identification of the Failure of VFD Heat Sink at Fossil Power Plant

The water cooling system for VFD (Variable Frequency Drive) of a fossil fuel power plant was reported to be shut down due to a water leak at the metal connection of the heat-sink to the hoses. In order to identify the cause of the failure, the system was visually inspected, and corrosion products were analyzed with SEM equipped with EDX. The failure was observed repeatedly at the nipples of certain location, suggesting galvanic corrosion. In a U-shaped heat sink with two nipples, for inlet and outlet, only one nipple was corrosively damaged at the tip, while the other was not. Most of the corrosion products were observed at the sound nipple and in the filter, identified as $Cu(OH)_2$. Some other corrosion products, composed of mostly $Cu_2O$, were found at the corrosively attacked nipple. A fair amount of Cl was also detected on the surface of the damaged nipple. It was concluded that galvanic corrosion was occurred due to a current leakage over the whole system, and the damage was accelerated by the accumulated chlorine ions in the cooling water.