PGS ENGINEERING TIL 1939-R1

PRODUCT SERVICE 16 OCTOBER 2015

Compliance Category – M
Timing Code - 5

TECHNICAL INFORMATION LETTER

IMPROVED MARK™ VIE NETWORK SWITCH AVAILABILITY

APPLICATION
Gas turbine, steam turbine and balance of plant Mark™ VIe and Mark™ Ve control systems.

PURPOSE
To inform users of the availability of an alternate IONET network switch.
REASON FOR REVISION
GE-IP has stopped working on failure analysis of N-TRON switches for tracking. No need of shipping the failed N-TRON.

Compliance Category
M - Maintenance Identifies maintenance guidelines or best practices for reliable equipment
operation.
C - Compliance Required Identifies the need for action to correct a condition that, if left uncorrected,
may result in reduced equipment reliability or efficiency. Compliance may be
required within a specific operating time.
A - Alert Failure to comply with the TIL could result in equipment damage or facility
damage. Compliance is mandated within a specific operating time.
S – Safety Failure to comply with this TIL could result in personal injury. Compliance is
mandated within a specific operating time.

Timing Code
1 Prior to Unit Startup / Prior to Continued Operation (forced outage condition)
2 At First Opportunity (next shutdown)
3 Prior to Operation of Affected System
4 At First Exposure of Component
5 At Scheduled Component Part Repair or Replacement
6 Next Scheduled Outage

© 2015 General Electric Company

The proprietary information published in this Technical Information Letter is offered to you by GE in consideration of its ongoing sales and service
relationship with your organization. However, since the operation of your plant involves many factors not within our knowledge, and since operation
of the plant is in your control and ultimate responsibility for its continuing successful operation rests with you, GE specifically disclaims any
responsibility for liability based on claims for damage of any type, i.e. direct, consequential or special that may be alleged to have been incurred as
result of applying this information regardless of whether it is claimed that GE is strictly liable, in breach of contract, in breach of warranty, negligent, or
is in other respects responsible for any alleged injury or damage sustained by your organization as a result of applying this information.
This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power & Water PGS Engineering. All rights
reserved.
 TIL 1939-R1

BACKGROUND DISCUSSION
Industrial ethernet switches are configured specifically to meet demands of real time industrial control solutions such as
the Mark™ VIe control system. These switches provide a communication path between the main control processors and
IO (input/output) packs. IONET is a network found on Mark VIe controller platforms that transports data between the
controller and IO circuit boards. Figure 1 below shows the 16-port N-TRON® switches connected in a turbine control
panel.

Figure 1: N-TRON Switches

Recent product returns have indicated that some sites may be experiencing elevated failure rates of these switches.
The GE catalog numbers for the affected 16-port switches are 336A4940DNP516TX and 336A4940DNP517FX. The most
common failure mode relates to the leakage of electrolyte from the power supply input capacitor. In general,
electrolytic capacitors are life limiting components on all electronic boards, however they can last greater than 30 years
at routine operating conditions. Extended exposure to higher than normal temperatures may shorten the life of these
components

The failure mode symptoms are most likely to be a loss of all communication from a group of IO packs due to a switch
reset, and subsequent loss of communication once the switch has returned back to normal operation. These symptoms
may repeat within a time of approximately 20 minutes to several hours. Switches using all or nearly all of the 16
available ports have been observed to be more susceptible to power supply issues. The capacitor failure mode is often
accompanied by an audible hissing or crackling noise.

These network switches were first used on Mark VIe turbine control panels in 2004 and the majority of these switches
continue to provide good service. As such, switches that have not failed and are in service should not be proactively
replaced.

The in-service failure of a single IONET switch should not trip the turbine or process in a triple modular redundant (TMR)
system. These systems are specifically engineered to tolerate the loss of almost any single control component and
should be capable of tolerating loss of communication to any single or group of IO packs. Should a switch failure result
in a trip or shutdown of the turbine, the actual cause of loss of TMR should be investigated and corrected in addition to
replacing the switch. TIL-1810 provides some guidance on common and easily correctable problems that can
compromise TMR reliability.
© 2015 General Electric Company
This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power & Water PGS Engineering. All rights
reserved.
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 TIL 1939-R1

Figure 2: Schematic showing R(Blue), S(Black) and T(Red) IONETs in a triple modular redundant (TMR) system

RECOMMENDATIONS
GE has engineered and developed an alternative IONET ethernet switch shown below, which is backward compatible
with the existing N-TRON switches and may be mixed with the N-TRON switches in the existing Mark VIe and Mark Ve
control systems.

Figure 3: New Style IONET Ethernet Switch

© 2015 General Electric Company
This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power & Water PGS Engineering. All rights
reserved.
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 TIL 1939-R1
In most cases, they are easily mountable in the existing panel. GEI-100810 contains specific guidance for mounting
these switches and lists an additional fiber connector kit that may be required for some applications.

1. Replace switches with P/N: 336A4940DNP516TX and 336A4940DNP517FX that show the failure symptoms
described earlier with IS420ESWBH3A and IS420ESWBH1A respectively.

2. Ensure wiring and other material in the panels does not unnecessarily impede the circulation of air around the
internals of the control cabinet.

3. Maintain TMR capability of the control system per TIL 1810.

4. It is NOT recommended to proactively replace properly functioning N-TRON switches. Information currently
available indicates that most switches will perform reliably.

PLANNING INFORMATION

Compliance
• Compliance Category: M
• Timing Code: 5

Manpower Skills
Ge control TA or qualified technician.

Parts
• First time replacement of 336A4940DNP517FX should order GE switch part kit PK- IS420ESWBH1A which
includes IS420ESWBH1A, fiber optics cable for multi-mode operation, and instructions.
• N-TRON Switches: 336A4940DNP516TX, 336A4940DNP517TX
• GE switches: IS420ESWBH3A, IS420ESWBH1A
• DIN-rail mounting bracket: 259B2451BVP4 (horizontal rail), 259B2451VP1 (vertical rail)

Special Tooling
N/A

Reference Documents
GEI-100810 – Industrial ethernet switch instruction guide
GEI-S1284 – ESWx industrial ethernet switch fact sheet
GEI-S1300 – Mark™ VIe control product description

Previous Modifications
N/A

Scope of work
GE control TA or qualified technician for half eight-hour shift (4 hours).

Contact your local GE Service Manager or Contract Performance Manager for assistance or for additional
information.

Contact your local GE Service manager or Contract Performance Manager in order to update GE unit record sheets
or to submit as-built drawings for changes incurred by this TIL.

© 2015 General Electric Company

This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power & Water PGS Engineering. All rights
reserved.
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 TIL 1939-R1
TIL COMPLIANCE RECORD
Compliance with this TIL must be entered in local records. GE requests that the customer notify GE upon compliance of
this TIL.

Complete the following TIL Compliance Record and FAX or Email it to:
TIL Compliance
FAX: (678) 844-3451
Email: til.compreq@ge.com
TIL COMPLIANCE RECORD For Internal Records Only #
Site Name: Customer Name:
Customer Contact Information GE Contact Information
Contact Name: Contact Name:
Address: Address:

Email: Email:
Phone: Phone:
FAX: FAX:
Turbine Serial Number(s):

INSTALLED EQUIPMENT TIL Completed Date:

100% TIL Completed:

Description:

Unit Numbers: Part Description: Part Number MLI Number

Comments:

NOTE: If there are any redlined drawings that pertain to this TIL implementation, please FAX or Email the drawings
along with this TIL Compliance Record.
FAX this form to: TIL Compliance
FAX: (678) 844-3451
Email: til.compreq@ge.com
© 2015 General Electric Company
This Technical Information Letter contains proprietary information of General Electric Company and is furnished to its customer solely to assist that
customer in the installation, testing, operation and/or maintenance of the equipment described. This document shall not be reproduced or distributed
in whole or in part nor shall its contents be disclosed to any third party without the written approval of GE Power & Water PGS Engineering. All rights
reserved.
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