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TEMPERATURE CONTROL
WITH NEURAL NETWORKS
by
THESIS
DOCTOR INGENERIAE
in
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
at the
RAND AFRIKAANS UNIVERSITY
JULY 1997
Summary
The thesis describes the development, installation, and testing of a neural network-based steam
temperature controller for power plant boilers. Attention is focussed on the mechanical and
thermodynamic aspects of the control problem, on the modelling and control aspects of the neural
network solution, and on the practical and operational aspects of its implementation. A balance
between theoretical and practical considerations is strived for. Experimental data is obtained from
an operational coal fired power plant.
As a starting point, the importance of good steam temperature control is motivated. The
sensitivity of heated elements in boilers to changes in heat distribution is emphasized, and it is
shown how various factors influence the heat distribution. The difficulties associated with steam
temperature control are discussed, and an overview of developments in advanced steam
temperature control on power plant boilers is given.
The suitability of neural networks for process modelling and control are explored and the error
backpropagation technique is shown to be well suited to the steam temperature control problem.
A series of live plant tests to obtain modelling data is described and specific attention is given to
discrepancies in the results. The prOcess of selecting the ideal network topology is covered and
improvements in modelling accuracy by selecting different model output schemes are shown.
The requirements for improving steam temperature control are listed and the philosophy of
optimal heat distribution (OHD) control is introduced. Error backpropagation through the heat
transfer model is utilized in an optimizer to calculate control actions to various fire-side elements.
The scheme is implemented on a power boiler.
It is shown that the optimizer manipulates control elements as expected. Problems with fuel-topressure oscillations and erroneous fuel flow measurement are discussed. Due to process
oscillations caused by OHD control, a reduction in control quality is evident during mill trips and
capability load runbacks. Substantial improvements over normal PID control however, are
evident during load ramps.
ii
Opsomming
Hierdie proefskrif beskryf die ontwikkelling, installasie, en toetsing van n neurale netwerk
gebaseerde stoomtemperatuurbeheerder vir kragstasieketels. Aandag word gefokus op die
meganiese en termodinamiese aspekte van die beheerprobleem, op die modellerings- en
beheeraspekte van die neurale netwerk oplossing, en op praktiese- en bedryfsaspekte van die
implementering. Daar word gepoog om 'n balans te handhaaf tussen teoretiese en praktiese
oorwegings. Eksperimentele data word verkry vanaf 'n operasionele steenkool kragstasie.
Die toepaslikheid van neurale netwerke op prosesmodellering en -beheer word ondersoek en daar
word getoon dat die tegniek van fout-terugpropagering gepas is vir stoomtemperatuurbeheer.
'n Reeks toetse wat gedoen is om modelleringsdata te bekom word beskryf, en aandag word
spesifiek aan teenstrydighede in die resultate geskenk. Die keuse van 'n ideale netwerkuitleg word
gedek en verbeteringe in die akuraatheid van modellering deur middel van verskillende
uitsetskemas word getoon.
Die vereistes vir die verbetering van stoomtemperatuurbeheer word genoem en die filosofie van
optimale hitteverspreidingsbeheer (OHV beheer) word bekendgestel. Fout-terugpropagering deur
die hitteoordragsmodel word gebruik in 'n optimiseerder om beheeraksies aan die vuur-kant te
bereken. Die OHV algoritme word op 'n kragstasiestoomketel geimplementeer.
Daar word aangedui dat die optimiseerder die beheerelemente na verwagting verstel. Probleme
met brandstof-teenoor-druk ossillasies en foutiewe brandstofmeting word bespreek. As gevolg
van prosesossillasies wat veroorsaak word deur OHV beheer, vind 'n daling in beheerkwaliteit
plaas gedurende meulklinke en noodgedwonge vragvennindering. Noemenswaardige verbetering
bo PID beheer is egter merkbaar gedurende vragveranderinge.
iii
Table of Contents
Summary
Opsomming
ii
Table of Contents
iii
List of Figures
vi
List of Tables
List of Variables
1.
Introduction
xi
1.1
Power generation
1.2
1.3
1.4
Research hypothesis
1.5
Overview of thesis
9
9
2.1
Cycle description
2.2
14
2.3
19
30
3.1
30
3.2
40
3.3
47
3.4
55
iv
3.5
4.
5.
61
74
4.1
74
4.2
77
4.3
78
4.4
79
4.5
81
Plant modelling
87
5.1
87
5.2
89
5.3
98
5.4
120
135
6.1
135
6.2
139
6.3
Controller design
141
6.4
Expected results
155
157
7.1
157
7.2
159
7.3
165
7.4
167
7.5
Final results
185
Conclusion
190
8.1
Discussion
190
8.2
192
8.3
Future research
193
Bibliography
195
204
210
213
215
216
vi
List of Figures
1.1
2.1
Carnot cycle.
2.2
2.3
Rankine cycle.
10
2.4
11
2.5
12
2.6
13
2.7
13
2.8
19
2.9
20
2.10
Diagrammatic view of the water & steam path through power plant components. .
22
2.11
23
2.12
23
2.13
24
2.14
27
2.15
29
3.1
32
3.2
33
3.3
39
3.4
42
3.5
44
3.6
48
3.7
49
3.8
52
3.9
55
3.10
56
3.11
Feedforward control.
57
3.12
58
3.13
60
4.1
74
vii
4.2
75
4.3
76
4.4
84
4.5
85
5.1
92
5.2
93
5.3
Correlation between fuel flow and total heat gain was obtained for all tests.
97
5.4
98
5.5
103
5.6
106
5.7
108
5.8
111
5.9
111
5.10
111
5.11
115
5.12
116
5.13
Air flow vs 02 in flue gas with fuel flow derived from generator load.
118
5.14
119
5.15
120
5.16
122
5.17
127
5.18
132
5.19
132
5.20
132
6.1
136
6.2
137
6.3
138
6.4
140
6.5
143
6.6
144
6.7
146
viii
6.8
146
6.9
152
6.10
154
7.1
159
7.2
161
7.3
162
7.4
165
7.5
166
7.6
Fuel and steam flow rates during a down ramp under OHD control.
168
7.7
7.8
169
7.9
170
7.10
171
7.11
171
7.12
172
7.13
172
7.14
173
7.15
Boiler pressure response to fuel flow with OHD control on and off.
174
7.16
Main steam temperature decreasing during load ramp under OHD control
175
7.17
Predicted and target heat transfer rates to superheater during load ramp.
176
7.18
177
7.19
7.20
178
7.21
179
7.22
180
7.23
180
7.24
181
7.25
182
7.26
184
7.27
184
7.28
Reheat spray flow rate used by OHD control to absorb the excess heat transfer.
185
169
178
ix
7.29
185
7.30
186
7.31
187
7.32
187
List of Tables
3.1
37
3.2
47
3.3
50
3.4
50
3.5
51
3.6
53
3.7
54
3.8
54.
5.1
90
5.2
99
5.3
99
5.4
99
5.5
101
5.6
104
5.7
Distillate conditions
105
5.8
105
5.9
107
5.10
125
5.11
126
5.12
127
5.13
128
5.14
129
5.15
130
5.16
131
5.17
131
5.18
133
6.1
155
6.2
156
7.1
171
xi
List of Variables
a
AA
[kg/s]
As
[kg/s]
cpg
[J/kgC]
cp ,,,,
[J/kgC]
[J/kgC]
COIF
es
[W]
e,
[W]
e,
[W]
fe
[%]
fsd
frd
ha
[J/kg]
/ad
[J/kg]
lift
[J/kg]
[J/kg]
h,
[J/kg]
ho
[J/kg]
h,4
[J/kg]
hsp,
[J/kg]
[W/m2 C]
Ica
[W/mC]
kg
[W/mC]
[W/mC]
xii
mez
[kg/s]
mf
[kg/s]
m,
[kg/s]
ink
[kg/s]
moo
[kg/s]
mo
[kg/s]
[kg/s]
[kg]
[kg]
[m]
quantity of heat
[J]
P,
output of a neuron
output of a neuron
[NV]
9er
[W]
qf
[NV]
qn
qaa
qn
[NV]
qed
[W]
qsd
[W]
q,d
[w]
qn
qn
[W]
qrp
[NV]
T.,
gram,
[W]
grad
[NW]
[W]
ga
[W]
a,.a
ra
[m]
r,
[m]
output of a neuron
r,
ro
[m]
[W/W]
12c
film conductance
[why? C]
entropy
temperature
[C]
TJ
[C]
Tg
[C]
[C]
[C]
Too
[C]
tr
[m/s]
WT
[J]
We
[J]
output of a neuron
ae
ar
Pg
[kg/m3]
[kg/ms]
[whn2K4]
1. Introduction
1.1 Power generation
The world today consumes vast amounts of energy as nations strive to satisfy much more than
only the basic human needs of food, shelter and clothing. Virtually the entire environment of a
westerner is in some way dependent on adequate supplies of energy. Over the period from 1950
to 1990, annual world electrical power production and consumption rose from slightly less than
one trillion kilowatt hours (1.0 * 10' 2 kWh) to more than 11.5 trillion kWh [1].
In South Africa, access to electricity is considered one of the rights of every resident. Eskom, the
national power company, with an installed capacity of 38 497 MW, expands its services to new
customers at a rate of 300 000 connections per year [2]. This contributed to an average growth
in electricity sales of 3.6% over the past five years [2], but also contributed to a growth in the
peak electricity demand, with a new winter maximum demand of 27 967 MW recorded on 24
August 1996 [3]. The average power demand during a 24 hour period in South Africa is shown
in Figure 1.1. During an average day in the winter, the peak load demand is 50% higher than the
base load demand. This demand variation requires many of the power stations to perform large
load changes daily.
26
'
24
2 22
E
a)
,3_ 20
pi 18
16
0
12
15
Hour of the day
Summer
Figure 1.1
18
21
Winter
24
2
In 1950 rougly two-thirds of the electricity came from thermal (steam-generating) sources and
about one-third from hydroelectric sources. In 1990 thermal sources still produced about
two-thirds of the power, but hydro power had declined to just under 20 per cent and nuclear
energy accounted for about 15 per cent of the total [1]. Of all the fossil fuels used for steam
generation in power plants today, coal accounts for most of the energy [4]. At an annual
production rate of about 3.5 billion metric tons worldwide, serious depletion of coal resources will
take around 185 years [5]. Therefore, it may be said that coal-fired power stations will be one
of the prime sources of electrical power for many years to come.
Compared to its beginning, the generation of electricity has become a very complicated business.
High energy costs demand that as much electricity as possible be generated from the fuel
consumed. Higher availability of equipment is needed to stem rising operating and maintenance
costs. Protection of both personnel and equipment must be achieved, and unscheduled shutdowns
must be kept to a minimum. While obviously instrumentation and control systems cannot satisfy
such concerns by themselves, the above demands have resulted in a substantially increased
requirement for sophisticated instrumentation and automatic control systems. In this context,
modern power plants are among the most highly automated and centrally controlled and
monitored production facilities in the world.
A discussion on control system development will probably not be complete without reference to
the steam engine governor. The origins of this device lie in the lift-tenter mechanism which was
used to control the gap between the grinding-stones in both wind and water mills. Boulton.
3
described the lift-tenter in a letter (dated May 28, 1788) to Watt, who realized it could be adapted
to govern the speed of the rotary steam engine. The first design was produced in November 1788,
and a governor was first used early in 1789 [7].
Steam pressure control was first patented in 1799 by Matthew Murray who regulated the furnace
draught inversely to steam pressure [6]. His device used the force of steam pressure acting
against a weighted piston to drive a damper in the flue gas duct. In 1803 Boulton & Watt used
steam pressure to alter the height of water in a column, which, in turn, changed the position of
a flue gas damper via a float and chain system [6].
From that time in the early 1800's, while there were some improvements in the hardware used,
the application concepts in boiler control did not advance much until the early 20th century [8].
During the early part of this century power stations used only a few absolutely necessary
instruments for measuring pressure, vacuum, speed, voltage and current. As additional types of
instrumentation became commercially available, more equipment was used to provide data for
control and operation of power plant which was consequently growing in complexity [8].
From the 1930's onward, considerable thought was given to automatic control equipment and to
the development of automatic controllers for boiler plant operation [9]. Progress was slow at
first, because there was much debate about the real need for such equipment, but improvements
in instrumentation since the Second World War gave an impetus to the acceptance of automatic
control systems. By approximately 1950, boiler control developed into integrated systems for
feed water control, combustion control, and steam temperature control [9].
On the plant side, economic considerations have demanded larger and more complex generating
units. Correspondingly, the instrumentation requirements have had to keep in step with this
development by the provision of more sophisticated automatic control. In the period 1950 to
1970 the development of boiler control was primarily hardware-oriented where many
improvements to pneumatic and electronic controllers were made. This further development of
controllers, mechanisms, electronics, and relays led to the design of equipment for complete
automatic boiler control, and subsequently to schemes for automatic start-up, loading, running
4
and shutting-down of large complicated boiler-turbine units [9].
Historically, meters, gauges, and lights displayed equipment status to the operator, while
recorders made a permanent record of plant performance. Remotely operated air cylinders and
electric motors served as actuators and gave plant operators the capability of responding quickly
and efficiently to changing plant requirements. From 1970 onwards, the development of
microprocessors has sparked a beneficial transition to the greater precision of digital control.
computer monitors have replaced the panel-board instrumentation, to provide the operator with
past and present process information through sophisticated microprocessor-based distributed
control hardware [10].
As power plant control became increasingly more complex, the number of measurement signals
from the plant, and control signals to the plant has increased too. Currently around 2 000 analog
signals and 6 000 binary signals are being installed on a new boiler-turbine unit. There is a gradual
movement towards the use of microprocessor-based "intelligent" instrumentation, where, in
addition to measuring one or more process variables, self-diagnostics, time stamping, some
administrative functions, linearization and even control are also performed by the measuring
devices [11]. These instruments are linked to the control system via a two-wire digital bus which
conforms to one of a few industrial field bus standards [12].
Progress is also being made on advanced control philosophies in many directions. A good
example of this is steam temperature control which is one of the most difficult processes to
control in steam generating plant. Many different control strategies have been proposed for, and
5
were tested on the steam temperature control loop. This thesis will discuss the various areas of
progress on advanced steam temperature control at a later stage. It will also introduce a new
control philosophy, discuss its advantages and disadvantages and document results obtained on
a live 686 MW power plant boiler.
The modelling, practical work and experimentation discussed here was done on Unit 3 at Kendal
Power Station, located near Witbank in South Africa. The station comprises six identical boilerturbo-generator units, each rated for 686 MW continuous operation. The peak generating
capacity of the station is 4320 MW (6 * 720 MW peak), which rates it as one of the largest coal
fired power stations in the world.
Because the efficiency of the steam cycle is dependent (amongst others) on steam
temperature [21], it is beneficial to operate with temperatures as close to the upper limits
6
as possible.
The list above is probably not exhaustive, but it does point out the importance of good steam
temperature control on power plant.
Chapter 3 deals with various methods of, and control elements for, steam temperature
control. Three main classes of steam temperature control elements are discussed. The
effect on steam temperature regulation of long process time lags, variations in process
parameters, and process disturbances are presented. The results of a study into the origin .
of temperature excursions at Kendal power station are documented. The instrumentation
7
and control configurations applied in practice are discussed and an overview of
documented developments in advanced steam temperature control on power plant boilers
are made.
Chapter 4 discusses the suitability of applying neural networks to process modelling and
control. The artificial neural network, and aspects related to the topology and training of
networks, are discussed. Arguments are presented for applying neural networks to the
modelling of existing processes. Various neural network controller designs are described,
and the error backpropagation technique is shown to be well suited to the steam
temperature control problem.
Chapter 5 focusses on the creation and testing of a boiler heat distribution model. The
desired characteristics of a heat distribution model for a power plant boiler are listed. The
design and execution of a series of live plant tests for acquisition of modelling data are
described. Processing the data and calculating the heat transfer rates to the boiler
components are described, assumptions are motivated, and the calculation of any
unmeasured variables are explained. Specific attention is given to discrepancies in the
results. The task of selecting the ideal network topology is described and comparative
results are given. Different model output schemes are introduced.
Chapter 6 deals with the design of a neural network based heat distribution controller.
The requirements for improving steam temperature control are listed and it is shown that
neural networks lend themselves very well to these requirements. The philosophy of
optimal heat distribution (OHD) control is introduced. It is shown how the error
backpropagation technique can be applied to calculate optimal control actions.
Chapter 7 describes the implementation and testing of the OHD controller. The
development of the software programme and hardware interface is described and
intricacies are pointed out. Problems with mill production rates and process noise are
addressed. Transient tests are described, and problems experienced with process gain
changes, oscillations, and erroneous fuel flow measurements are explained. Final results
8
with OF-ID control are compared to normal P1D control and improvements, and
drawbacks, are discussed.
In 1824, Sadi Carnot, a French engineer, published a small, moderately technical book,
Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire' [22]. With this, Camot made three important
contributions: the concept of reversibility, the concept of a cycle, and the specification of
a heat engine producing maximum work when operating cyclically between two heat
reservoirs each at a fixed temperature. The importance of the Carnot Cycle here is that
it forms the basis of the water-steam cycle in power generation.
Camot cycles consist of two reversible isothermal and two reversible iserifropic processes
(Figure 2.1). A high temperature heat source and low temperature heat sink are placed
in contact with the Carnot device to accomplish the required isothermal heat addition
.Q, (a b) and rejection Q2 (c-d) respectively. The reversible adiabatic process involves
-
expansion that produces work output Wr (b-c) and compression that requires work input
We (d-a). The state changes experienced by the working fluid are shown in the
temperature-entropy diagram of Figure 2.2.
10
S
Figure 2.2 Carnot cycle T-S diagram.
The classic Camot cycle is such, that no other can have a better efficiency than the Camot
value between the specified temperature limits [21]. Other cycles may equal it, but none
can exceed it. Practical attempts to attain the Carnot cycle encounter irreversibilities in
the form of finite temperature differences during the heat transfer processes and fluid
friction during work transfer processes. Moreover, as all of the process fluid has not yet
condensed at state d, the compression process (d-a), is difficult to perform on this twophase mixture. Compressing the gaseous state also consumes large quantities of energy.
Consequently, other cycles appear more attractive as practical models.
The cornerstone of the modem steam power plant is a modification of the Camot cycle
proposed by W.J.M. Rankine [23], a Scottish engineering professor of thermodynamics
and applied mechanics. The elements comprising the Rankine cycle are the same as those
appearing in Figure 2.1 with the following exceptions:
the condensation process accompanying the heat rejection process continues until
the saturated liquid state is reached and
a simple liquid pump replaces the two-phase compressor.
11
Figure 2.3 shows the component layout of the Rankine cycle with a boiler as high
temperature heat source, a condenser as low temperature heat sink and a liquid pump
replacing the two-phase compressor. The temperature-entropy diagram of the Rankine
cycle (Figure 2.4) illustrates the state changes for the Rankine cycle. With the exception
that compression terminates at boiling pressure (state a), rather than the boiling
temperature (state a), the cycle resembles a Carnot cycle. The lower pressure at state a,
compared to a', greatly reduces the work of compression between d-a.
12
This Rankine cycle eliminates the two-phase vapour compression process, reduces
compression work to a negligible amount, and makes the Rankine cycle less sensitive than
the Carnot cycle to the irreversibilities bound to occur in an actual plant. As a result,
when compared with a Carnot cycle operating between the same temperature limits and
with realistic component efficiencies, the Rankine cycle has a larger net work output per
unit mass of fluid circulated, smaller size and lower cost of equipment.
The turbine in an unmodified Rankine cycle receives dry, saturated vapour from the boiler.
Therefore, part of the vapour condenses as it expands and cools through the turbine. In
superheat cycles, the vapour is heated above the dry-saturation point, before being fed to
the turbine. The use of superheat offers a simple way to improve the thermal efficiency
of the basic Rankine cycle and reduce vapour moisture content to acceptable levels in the
low-pressure stages of the turbine [21].
Figure 2.5
Even with the continued increase of steam temperatures and pressures to achieve better
cycle efficiency, in some situations attainable superheat temperatures are insufficient to
prevent excessive moisture from forming in the low-pressure turbine stages. The solution
to this problem is to interrupt the expansion process, remove the vapour for reheating at
constant pressure, and return it to the turbine for continued expansion to condenser
13
pressure (Figure 2.6). The thermodynamic cycle using this modification of the Rankine
cycle is called the reheat cycle. Reheating may be carried out in a section of the same
boiler supplying primary steam, in a separately fired heat exchanger, or in a
steam-to-steam heat exchanger. Most present-day utility units combine superheater and
reheater in the same boiler [4].
14
T
Superheater
Evaporator
Economizer
12\ eheater
Allik-4 1
Feed pump
Turbines
Condenser
Figure 2.7
Refinements in component design soon brought power plants based on the Rankine cycle
to their peak thermal efficiencies, with further increases realized by superheating and
reheating the steam as described above. Efficiencies were further boosted by increasing
the temperature of the steam supplied to the turbine and by reducing the sink (condenser)
temperature. Currently, all of these are employed with still another modification, being
regeneration.
The regenerative cycle reduces irreversibility by bleeding hot, partially expanded steam
from the turbine(s) and using it to heat the compressed water fed to the boiler. In this way
it increases the overall cycle efficiency. Apart from increasing cycle efficiency,
regeneration impacts the process in two ways: it changes the temperature of the boiler
feed water and it reduces the steam flow through the reheater. These two issues will be
discussed in more detail later in Chapter 5.
15
The mechanisms of heat transfer will be discussed here to point out the factors influencing heat
transfer between the burning fuel and the working fluid. For the purpose of this thesis it is not
necessary to do an in-depth analysis of heat transfer. However, it is important to emphasize the
differences in the physical mechanisms of heat transfer and to discuss the main factors influencing
it
The equation for heat conduction through multi-layer cylindrical walls [26] can be written
to apply to heat conduction through a boiler tube covered with ash:
2n-L(Tg - Tf)
qcond
In(rolr ,)
In(r jr 0 )
Ict
Ica
(2.1)
where:
heat transfer rate through boiler tube and ash [W]
qgond
ka
Tg
r,
ro
ro
7}
The thermal conductivity lc, of steel ranges between 20 and 50 W/ mC depending on its
16
temperature and composition [26]. Much lower is the thermal conductivity of ash and
slag, both being below 1.0 W/ mC [26]. Therefore, if an ash layer forms on a boiler
tube, it significantly reduces, and quickly dominates, the heat transfer rate into the tube.
Due to this reduction in heat transfer, modern furnaces have high pressure sootblowers
installed to periodically blow the contaminants from the heat transfer surfaces.
A (T. -
(2.2)
where:
qcond =
=
=
To,
Tw
The convection heat transfer coefficient is sometimes called the film conductance because
of its relation to the conduction process in the stationary layer of fluid at the wall surface.
The convective heat transfer coefficient is dependent on numerous gas .property and
dimension related variables. Singer [4] states the following expression for film
conductance:
R,
Vg
Pg
/-18
Pt
(2.3)
17
kg
Of the seven parameters affecting film conductance, D and a remains constant for a given
boiler, while pg, pg, cgg and kg change only a few percent with flue gas temperature and
composition (see Table 2.1). On the other hand, the flue gas velocity V, may change
through an order of magnitude from minimum to maximum boiler load, since furnace air
flow varies proportionally to furnace fuel flow. The value of Rc changes from 6.5 to 180
W/m2 C as air flow around a 50 mm diameter horizontal tube increases from natural
convection to 50 m/s forced convection [26].
Temperature [C]
pg [kg/m1
pg [kg/m.s]
cgg [kJ/kgC]
kg [NV lmC]
1273
0.3524
4.152
1.1417
0.06752
1773
0.2355
5.400
1.230
Table 2.1
Properties of air at atmospheric pressure. [26]
0.0946
Flue gas velocity is also important from a control perspective: of the seven variables
influencing the convective heat transfer, it is the only controllable variable, although within
certain limits. This concept will be utilized for control purposes later.
(2.4)
where a is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant and has the value of 5.669 x 10.8 W/m2K4 and
T is measured in kelvin. Equation (2.4) is called the Stefan-Boltzmann law of thermal
18
radiation, and it applies only to black bodies. The net radiant exchange between two
surfaces will be proportional to the difference in absolute temperatures to the fourth
power, i.e.,
grad cc
A ( 7.14
T24 )
(2.5)
Boiler heat transfer surfaces are generally not black, but are covered with a layer of dark
gray iron oxide or gray ash. To take account of the gray nature of boiler surfaces, another
factor is introduced, called the emissivity e. This factor relates the radiation of a gray
surface to that of an ideal black surface.
g rad =
A a (7:14 -
(2.6)
The emissivity of boiler surfaces depends on the cleanliness thereof and the colour and
composition of the iron oxides and ash, but generally c = 0.762 [25]. The interpretation
of Equation (2.6) is that radiant heat transfer will vary proportional to the fourth power
of flame temperature and air flow rate has no direct effect on it.
19
In the process of steam generation, fuel burning systems provide controlled, efficient
conversion of chemical energy of fuel into heat energy which, in turn, is transferred to the
heat absorbing surfaces of the steam generator. To do this, the fuel burning system
introduces fuel and air for combustion into a furnace, mix and ignite these reactants, and
distribute the flame envelope and products of combustion.
Figure 2.8
The basic power plant furnace is a hollow chamber into which fuel and air is introduced
for combustion (Figure 2.8). In the case of coal fired furnaces, technology has progressed
from moving bed furnaces burning crushed coal to pulverised fuel systems burning fine
coal powder [4]. In these systems coal is pulverized in mills (also called pulverizers) and
transported to the furnace by blowing it from the mills along fuel pipes by means of an air
20
supply called primary air. The primary air needed for transportation is only about 15-20%
of the total air required for combustion, hence the addition of secondary air at the burner
nozzle [29].
Power boilers are designed with 4 to 6 mills, each mill feeding 4 to 8 burner nozzles.
Firing systems are mainly classified as horizontally wall-fired systems (characterized by
individual flames), tangentially fired systems (which have a single flame envelope) and
vertically fired systems (which have individual flames merging into one flame envelope)
[4 . The different firing systems are shown in Figure 2.9.
4-
-4t
a.
Figure 2.9
n.
c.
the flow-shaping contour of the burner throat, establishes a recirculation pattern extending
several throat diameters into the furnace. Once the coal is ignited, the hot products of
combustion propagate back toward the nozzle to provide the ignition energy necessary
for stable combustion. The burners are located in rows, either on the front wall only or
on both front and rear walls. The latter is called "opposed firing." In general, each row
of burners will be served by a different mill [4].
21
secondary air are projected from the corners of the furnace along a line tangent to a small
circle, lying in a horizontal plane, at the centre of the furnace. Intensive mixing occurs
where these streams meet [4]. A rotating motion, similar to that of a cyclone, is imparted
to the flame body, which spreads out and fills the furnace area. As with horizontally fired
systems, the burners are located in rows, with each row being served by a different mill.
When a tangentially fired system projects a stream of pulverized coal and air into a
furnace, the turbulence and mixing that take place along its path are low compared to
horizontally fired systems. This -occurs because the turbulent zone does not continue for
any great distance, since the expanding gas soon forces a streamline flow. However, as
one stream impinges on another in the centre of the fintace, during the intermediate stages
of combustion, it creates a high degree of turbulence for effective mixing. This creates
a "fireball" effect where fuel from individual mills is discharged into a high intensity heat
envelope [4].
22
is slightly above turbine inlet design conditions to offset the temperature decrease through
the main steam pipes). Once the steam has passed through the high pressure turbine it is
readmitted to the boiler where its temperature is again raised in the reheater. The reheated
steam is passed through the intermediate and low pressure turbines after which it is
condensed back to water in the condenser.
Saturated Water
Wate
Saturated Steam
0.a
1/II C,
SHS
111=C
SHS
To Condenser
SHS = Superheated
Steam
Economizer
Evaporator
Superheater
Reheater
Figure 2.10 Diagrammatic view of the water & steam path through
power plant components.
2.3.3
The calculation of boiler heat transfer area presents a great challenge to boiler design
engineers. Not only does 'the design have to absorb the maximum possible quantity of
available heat, but it has to do this at the lowest possible cost. The boiler has to maintain
a maximum efficiency throughout its design range. This calls for a carefully calculated
balance between the radiant and convective heat transfer surface. Although much theory
has been developed around the mechanics of heat transfer (for exampl6 [30] & [31]),
boiler manufacturers rely largely on operational experience backed up by scientific data
[29], and computer simulations [32] when designing heat transfer surfaces in boilers.
One of the most pronounced phenomena influencing the balance between convective and
radiant boiler surface, is that radiant heat transfer does not increase as rapidly as
convective heat transfer with increasing boiler load [33]. The increase in furnace draught
in a sense cools down the combustion process while it increases gas velocities. Therefore,
the flame temperature does not increase much with load [34]. Consequently, a larger
increase in convective heat transfer occurs through loading than the increase in radiant
23
40
80
60
% Steam flow
100
Radiant superheater
Convective superheater
Superheaters in series
Boiler surface design needs to take this into account by finding the best balance between
convective and radiant surface throughout the boiler load range. The balance must be
maintained when firing any fuel that has been specified for the boiler, and under varying
load conditions. It may also be noted that the proportioning of heat distribution varies
with the cycle pressure. This is illustrated in Figure 2.12.
At first sight of a sectional side elevation of a modem power boiler it may seem that
although the gas flow is quite simple, the water and steam flow path is unduly complicated
or even random. But in fact, the disposition of the various parts of the cooling surface is
carefully considered to make the most economic use of natural, physical heat transfer
phenomena. It is possible to classify the heat transfer space into three main zones:
radiation zone, convection zone and heat recovery zone [29]. The approximate borders
of these zones are shown in Figure 2.13.
24
3500 r
I
10
12
14
16
Economizer discharge
Evaporator discharge
Superheater discharge
25
Within these zones there is scope for placement of superheater and reheater surfaces
allowing the designer to provide for absorption of the correct proportion of heat in all the
boiler stages as well as to provide for the correct total heat absorption.
Evaporator
Heat generated in the combustion process appears as furnace radiation and sensible heat
in the products of combustion. Most modern boiler have integral furnaces enclosed by
water filled wall tubes that serve as the evaporator [28]. By enclosing the furnace, the
evaporator receives most of the available radiant heat. Water circulating through the wall
tubes absorbs around 50 percent (this will be shown later) of the total heat discharged, and
generates steam through the evaporation of part of the circulated water. The absorption
of such a large portion of the heat of combustion serves to reduce the temperature of the .
gas entering the convective zone to the point where slag deposit can be controlled by soot
blowers [29]. Utilizing radiant heat discharge for evaporation is convenient from a
thermodynamic point-of-view, because as the ratio of radiant heat transfer to steam flow
26
decreases with boiler load (Figure 2.11), so does the heat needed for evaporation (Figure
2.12).
As discussed earlier, the function of a superheater is to raise the boiler steam temperature
above the saturated temperature level. As steam enters the superheater in an essentially
dry condition, further absorption of heat sensibly increases the steam temperature. The
reheater receives superheated steam which has partly expanded through the turbine and
re-superheats (reheats) this steam to a desired temperature.
Superheater and reheater design depends on the specific duty to be performed. For
relatively low final outlet temperatures, superheaters solely of the convection type are
generally used [4]. Towards the end of the convective zone, horizontal tube banks are
installed as low temperature superheater or reheater sections. The boiler roof and
backpass walls are covered with low temperature superheater panels, also for convective
heat transfer.
For higher final temperatures, surface requirements are larger and, of necessity,
superheater elements are located in radiation and'very high temperature convective zones.
Radiant wall type superheaters and reheaters and widely spaced tube panels (located on
horizontal centres of 1.5 m to 2.5 m) allow substantial radiant heat absorption [4]. Platen
sections (tubes separated with steel plate strips to form a solid plate-like bank, on 0.35 m
to 0.7 m centres) are placed downstream of the panel sections to provide high heat
absorption by both radiation and convection [4].
Economizers
Economizers help to improve boiler efficiency by extracting heat from low temperature
flue gas after the convective zone. The economizer heats feed water, which enters at a
temperature appreciably lower than that of saturated steam. Due to its low inlet and
discharge temperatures, economizers are suitably located in the cooler heat recovery zones
[4].
27
Air heaters
Air heaters do not form part of the water-side of a steam generator, but because it forms
part of the heat recovery equipment, it is mentioned here for the sake of completeness.
Steam generator air heaters cool the flue Eps before it passes to the atmosphere while they
raise the temperature of the incoming air of combustion, thereby increasing fuel firing
efficiency. In theory, only the primary air (used to dry the coal in the mills) must be
heated. Ignited fuel can burn without preheating the secondary air [4], but there is
considerable advantage to the furnace heat transfer process in heating all the combustion
air: it increases the rate of burning, helps raise the flame temperature and increases boiler
efficiency. Air heaters are located below the backpass, the furthest away from the furnace,
ending off the heat recovery zone.
Pendant
convection
superheater
or reheater
Radiant wall
reheater
Horizontal
convection
superheater
or reheater
Panel type
superheater
Superheater
Platen type
superheater
Or reheater
Air heater
Furnace walls
28
2.3.5 The Kendal Boiler
The boilers at Kendal Power Station were designed by Combustion Engineering (now
incorporated into ABB). All the boilers are rated for a maximum main steam flow of
577 kg/s at 540 C and 16.5 MPa. The final reheat steam temperature is also 540 C.
The furnaces are of the tangential, corner fired type. Each boiler has five ball mills
providing pulverized coal fuel for combustion. Every mill serves a different elevation of
eight burner nozzles, two per boiler corner.
These boilers deviate from the standard Combustion Engineering design in two areas:
vertical burner spacing and a reheater with mainly convective heat transfer surface [35].
Convective Reheater
On units without an Hp turbine bypass system, furnace temperatures must be carefully
controlled prior to admission of steam to the turbine because there is no reheat steam flow
to cool the radiant reheater tubes. This is especially critical for a radiant reheater.
Although the Kendal units were specified to have HP bypass systems, Eskom specified
that the boiler not have a reheat radiant wall. Eskom did not want the operators to deal
with the consideration of furnace temperatures during the unusual startups when the
bypass would not be available for some reason [35].
29
These wishes were accommodated by designing a virtually 100% convective reheater and
balancing the surface by using a radiant wall superheater in addition to the predominately
radiant superheater division panels [35]. Due to its mainly convective nature, the Kendal
reheaters are very sensitive to the furnace air flow rate. Additionally, due to the lack of
radiant surface, the design reheat steam temperatures cannot be maintained under low load
conditions.
The placement of heat transfer surface area in the Kendal boilers is shown in Figure 2.15.
In comparison to a standard Combustion Engineering boiler, Figure 2.14, the Kendal
boilers have more radiant superheater surface while having virtually no radiant reheater
surface.
Pen dant
ccovection
reheater
Horizontal
convection
reheater
Rivfont
superheater
Divisional panel
super h eater
Platen type
hiah temperature
superheater
Economizer
Pendant type
low ternperanere
superheater
Burner nozzle
eleventh's
Furnace vigils
vigils
\eapciatcr/
30
Firing system manipulation in which the effective release of heat from the fuel burning
process is made to occur at a higher or lower portion of the furnace. This affects the heat
absorption pattern in the furnace and, consequently, the radiation zone exit gas
temperature.
Recirculation of gas, in which a portion of the combustion gases are brought back to the
furnace and are added to the normal once-through flow of gas passing dyer superheater
and reheater.
Gas bypass around some of the installed heating surface that provides excessive heat in
certain parts of the load range. The purpose is to preVent such surfaces from absorbing
heat from the bypassed gas so that the desired steam temperature is achieved without
using any other means.
Excess air concentration influences the balance in heat transfer between radiant and
convective surfaces.
Selective soot blowing reduces heat transfer to elements by letting them foul up with ash
and slag.
31
The following few subsections describe in more detail these different methods of control, used in
one form or another by all manufacturers.
3.1.1 Desuperheating
Desuperheating is the reduction of temperature of superheated steam accomplished by
spraying water into the piping or by diverting steam flow through a heat exchanger for
cooling. The desuperheating Water must be of very high purity and may be supplied from
the feed water line [28]. The heat exchanger-type desuperheater uses boiler water as the
cooling medium, either by diverting it through an external heat exchanger [29] or by
diverting superheated steam through heat exchanger tubes integral to the boiler drum [28].
Many large boiler installations use desuperheating in combination with one or more of the
other temperature control methods [4]. If desuperheating is to be the only method of
steam temperature control on a specific boiler, the heated elements must be designed with
excessive heat transfer surface. Consequently, the steam temperature will be excessively
high and a desuperheater can be used to: remove this excess temperature [4].
Desuperheating of reheat steam is generally not desirable because of its adverse effect on
plant efficiency: the water used for desuperheating has bypassed the entire high pressure
cycle. Consequently, reheat outlet temperature is best controlled using some means other
than water spray, unless it is unavoidable [28].
If located beyond the outlet of the superheater, a desuperheater will condition the steam
before it is passed along to the turbine. Although this arrangement may be practical for
low temperature superheaters, the preferred location of the desuperheater is between
sections of the superheater [4]. In such interstage installations, the steam is first passed
through one or more primary superheating sections, where it is raised to some
intermediate temperature. It is then passed through the desuperheater and its temperature
controlled so that, after continuing through the secondary or final stage of superheating,
32
the required constant outlet temperature is maintained.
The heat given up by the steam during a temperature reduction is picked up by the cooling
water in three steps. First, its temperature is raised to that of saturated water, then the
water is evaporated, and finally, the temperature of the steam so generated is raised to the
final condition of temperature at the desuperheater outlet. By setting up a simple heat
balance equation, it is possible to determine exactly the quantity of water required to
desuperheat for any given set of conditions. It will be shown later how the method of heat
balance across a desuperheater was applied in practice.
Desuperheating can only lower the temperature of steam. If it is necessary to also raise
the steam temperature, other methods, such as those discussed below, must be
incorporated into the boiler design.
There are two common ways to vertically displace the zone of highest heat release in a
furnace to achieve a change in the outlet gas temperature [33]. The first, often used with
wall fired, fixed burners, is to insert or withdraw levels of burners as a function of load
[28]. Removing lower levels and firing through the remaining upper levels effectively
moves the heat release zone higher in the furnace. Because continuous (analog) control
is not possible in this way, it necessitates backup by spray desuperheating for vernier
control.
Tilting fuel and air nozzles, used in corner (tangential) fired systems is a practical method
of controlling furnace outlet gas temperature smoothly without cycling equipment in and
out of service [4]. Depending on design, superheater or reheater steam temperatures can
be regulated by changes in burner nozzle tilt angle.
33
\ /
R t
E
A
(
- - )11.
)
(-
I. .4
'
L
S1
Burner angle
= +30 deg
Burner angle
= -30 deg
. .
The adjustment of the burner tilt angle alters the position of the fireball within the furnace
(Figure 3.1) and hence alters the furnace heat absorption [37]. The gas temperature leaving the
furnace for a given fuel flow rate is directly related to the furnace heat absorption and hence to
the burner tilt angle (Figure 3.2).
1300
'&1200
g 1 150
C
LL
1100
-30
I
-20
I
I
-10
0
10
Burner tilt angle [deg]
1
20
I
30,
34
The main effect of the variation of the tilt angle is to alter the rate of heat absorbed by the
high temperature surfaces situated immediately beyond the furnace [4]. Directing the
flame toward the upper part of the furnace maintains a higher gas outlet temperature than
is the case if the flame were directed horizontally into the furnace. Burners may be tilted
upward during low load conditions or when the furnace walls are clean. At higher loads,
or when the walls are coated with ash or slag, burner nozzles can be positioned
horizontally or angled downward to decrease the furnace exit temperature [4]. A shortfall
of tilting burners is that the buoyancy of the hot furnace gas tend to make tilts below -15
less effective. Mother disadvantage is that the burner boxes are prone to seizure and
loose their effectiveness in steam temperature control [37].
A third method of manipulating the firing system is to bias the fuel flow rate at different
elevations. (This method is believed to be quite uncommon - of nine references discussing
steam temperature control methods, only one reference, [38], briefly mentions mill
biassing.) The effect of mill biassing is similar to tilting burners or placing burner
elevations in and out of service - it positions the heat release area higher or lower in the
furnace. This is achieved by firing more fuel through the upper burners than through the
lower ones or vice versa.
In this temperature control method, a portion of the combustion gas is diverted from the
main stream at a point following the superheater and reheater (usually between the
economizer outlet and the air heater inlet [4] or after the economizer [37]) and is
recirculated to the furnace where it is introduced in the immediate vicinity of the initial
burning zone. The gas passes through a recirculating fan and mixes with the gas in the
furnace, lowering its temperature and consequently causing a reduction in radiation heat
transfer. As a result, the heat available to the superheater and reheater increases, as does
the quantity of gas passing over the surfaces which increases convective heat transfer.
Both of these factors increase steam temperature [37].
35
An alternative to gas recirculation, called gas tempering, also diverts gas from the main
stream after the economizer, but introduces it near the furnace outlet, before the
convective zone [28]. While gas recirculation decreases the furnace radiant heat transfer
rate and increases the rate of heat transfer to all the other boiler elements, gas tempering
does not alter the heat absorbed by the furnace. It does,.however, reduce the furnace exit
temperature while increasing the gas velocities. This has the effect of reducing the heat
transfer rate to the radiant superheater and reheater while increasing the heat transfer rate
to the convective elements [28].
In both arrangements, the flue gas should have a low ash content to prevent serious
abrasion of the recirculation fan impeller. In coal fired boilers, this problem can be
overcome by extracting the recirculating gas from after the induced draught fans [37]. At
this point, the flue gas has been cleaned from most of the ash by passing through bag
filters or electrostatic precipitators. This system has the added advantage that the induced
draught fans can be sized to produce the head necessary to recirculate the gas without the
need for additional gas recirculation fans.
Flue gas recirculation may be used to supplement "normal" temperature control [38]. For
instance, when used in conjunction with fuel nozzle tilt control, gas recirculation may be
applied to maintain the fuel nozzles in their horizontal position.
Although the gas dampers are made of alloy steel, they cannot be installed in a high
temperature zone. Gas bypass control is popular because of its low initial cost, but the
regulating dampers are difficult to maintain because of the high temperatures to which
36
they are subjected [4].
A variation on adjusting the excess air ratio is called air injection [37]. With this scheme,
some additional heated combustion air is diverted from the secondary air ducts into the
furnace hopper area (below the combustion zone). Except for the point of injection, air
injection has the same properties and effects as excess air control.
A superheater, completely separate from the steam generating unit and independently fired
may be utilized as an alternative method of controlling superheater outlet temperatures
37
[33]. The degree of superheat is directly influenced by the firing rate onto this separate
superheater. This arrangement is not generally economical for power generation where
a large quantity of superheated steam is needed, and its use is largely confined to process
industries, such as chemical manufacture and petroleum refining [28].
Burner tilts
The injection angle of the fuel burners is continuously adjustable through an angle of -30
to +30. Because the superheater surface has predominantly radiant surface, the burner
tilts have a significant effect on the heat transfer to the superheater; much more so than
on the convective reheater.
Mill combination
_150
-7.5
+7.5.:;
+15
-15
Table 3.1
During the commissioning of the Kendal Units various control strategies were tried with
the burner tilts as final control element. The final control arrangement compensated for
various mill combinations and also provided steam temperature control when certain
temperature limits were exceeded. Varying the burner tilt angle attempts to keep the
38
furnace heat discharge as central as possible. For example: if the top mill (A-Mill) is out
of service, the burner tilts should be aimed upwards to compensate for the loss of heat
high up in the filmace. The setup in Table 3.1 was heuristically arrived at by Combustion
Engineering and Eskom commissioning staff. Aiming the burner tilts to -15 with threemill combinations was found to assist combustion stability under low loads.
The preselected burner tilt angles in Table 3.1 are overrided by a final steam temperature
below 530C, which increases the tilt angle, or by too high interstage steam temperatures,
which decreases the tilt angle.
Desuperheating
The Kendal units were originally designed with a single desuperheating stage located
immediately after the primary superheater. The designers anticipated that the conservative
furnace size, coupled with the unique tilting burner capability of the ABB/CE boiler
design, would keep the superheater heat pick up within the spray capability of the single
desuperheater stage [35]. When the first Kendal unit went into service it became clear
that at 50-60% unit load, the ability to control steam temperature at steady state was very
sensitive to which mills were in service. Steam temperature control was completely
unsatisfactory when making load changes in this mid load range. The quantity of spray
which could be introduced was limited by the requirement to maintain the desuperheater
outlet temperature at least 10C above saturation temperature for good evaporation [35].
Combustion Engineering proposed, and Eskom accepted, the addition of a second stage
desuperheater located at the division panel outlet (Figure 3.3). This second desuperheater
station allowed more spray to be used due to the larger margin above saturation at this
location. The added temperature control loop could also be tuned faster for improved
control response because there is less surface between this location and the superheater
outlet.
39
mills in service still resulted in steam temperatures leaving the left side division panel
outlet header exceeding 550C.
First stage
desuperheater
Boiler roof
and
backpass
Second stage
desuperheater
Low temp
pendants
Radiant
walls
First stage
desuperheater
Divisional
panels
High temp
platens
Second stage
desuperheater
Excess Air
Because of the mainly convective reheater, furnace air flow may seem a viable method of
temperature control. This option was however not pursued as the primary means of
reheat temperature control as it was feared that a fuel-rich mixture remaining after
,
reducing the air flow may increase the probability of a furnace explosion [36].
The primary means of reheater temperature control is by means of a desuperheater station
at each of the two reheater inlets. These provide short term temperature regulation. In
a
the long term, the quantity of excess air is adjusted through a ratio controller to keep the
total desuperheater spray water flow to the reheater equal to 2.5% of the main steam flow.
The value of 2.5% was determined practically as being the minimum average quantity of
desuperheater flow required for smoothing out temperature deviations.
Excess air is controlled through the 0 2 controller which measures the percentage of free
oxygen in the flue gas, and manipulates the furnace draught to keep this 0 2 measurement
to its setpoint. In turn, the furnace draught influences the convective heat transfer to the
reheater.
40
The previous section showed that heat transfer depends on many factors. Some of these
factors are fixed by design (e.g. location of heater elements), but others may change
during boiler operation and consequently, it may disturb the heat transfer. Changes in heat
transfer will affect the final steam temperatures. Below is a list of process disturbances
that can affect steam temperatures;
Boiler load. A continued constant load is rarely found except perhaps in
high-capacity, high efficiency units that are prime loaded while variable loads are
handled by other units [39]. To maintain or change boiler load, the fuel firing rate
is manipulated to obtain a specific steam pressure at the superheater outlet.
Therefore, the firing rate is dependent on boiler load and is not concerned with the
steam temperatures. However, as the heat distribution changes through boiler
load, so will the steam temperatures (at least until the closed loop pi:introl returns
steam temperatures to setpoint).
Fuel type. The steam temperature can be affected by a change in fuel type,
depending on the luminosity of the flame and the rate of combustion [25]. Taking
samples of the coal being burnt at Kendal Power Station showed variations in
calorific value of up to 10% in 24 hours.
Burner operation. Most power plants are capable of delivering full load with one
or two pulverisers out of service [28]. This is a requirement to ensure that the
maintenance of pulverisers does not impose plant load losses. If the upper burners
are in service; the furnace exit temperature is higher than with the lower burners
41
in service. Consequently, the high temperature superheaters and reheaters gain
more heat which raises the steam temperature.
Burner tilt angle. The angle at which the fuel and air is introduced into the furnace
affects the position of the fireball, the furnace exit temperature, and consequently,
steam temperatures.
Excess air. Changing excess air quantity affects steam temperature, due to the
influence of gas velocity on convective heat transfer and also due to the cooling
effect on the furnace temperature.
Feed water temperature. Superheat increases with a decrease in feed water
temperature. For a given firing rate, a decrease in feed water temperature reduces
the quantity of steam produced. The increased amount of heat discharged per unit
of steam raises the superheat. The removal of feed water heaters from service for
maintenance has the most severe effect on feed water temperature [28].
Blowdown. Removal of heat by means of blowdown increases the firing rate per
unit of steam produced and therefore increases the steam temperature. The effect
here is the same as a decrease in feed water temperature [28].
Steam bleed. The use of saturated steam or steam with low superheat for
auxiliaries increases. the firing rate per unit of steam after the bleed point and
therefore increases the steam temperatute.
where: rd
dead time
r,
1 ')
(3.1)
42
(time for temperature to reach 0.632 of its final value) - rd
Kp
tlq
magnitude of disturbance
For example, measurements made on a reheater of a 686 MW boiler at full load have
indicated a process dead time of 2 minutes and a time constant of 5.5 minutes between a
change in desuperheat flow rate and reheater outlet temperature (Figure 3.4). Valsalam
[43] documented process lags (time lag + dead time) of 8 - 10 minutes.
60
40
ID
20
0
-5
10
15
Minutes
I
25
I
20
I
30
35
The minimum IAE for the reheater recovering after a disturbance causing a 10C deviation
is:
IAEppp(10) = 10 * 2.2 (1 - e
= 6.7 min C
5.5)
(3.2)
(3.3)
43
The real attainable IAE may be significantly more than the theoretical minimum,
depending on how the controller is set up [42].
The reason for the slowness of the process lies in the thermal inertia mechanically present
in the plant. Consider a reheater of a 686 MW power plant with an internal volume of
325 m3, an average working pressure of 4 MPa, an inlet temperature of 300C, an outlet
temperature of 540C, and a steam flow rate of 500 kg/s. The following details regarding
the reheater applies [26], [46]:
Mtteam
Tiftaff, =
420C
Cp steam
2.314 kJ/kgC
steam
4 276 kg
M,,=
Cp metal
Al
540 000 kg
. 0.486 kJ/kgC
* Cp metal = 262
MJ/C
Therefore, it requires 9.9 MJ heat to raise thelemperature of the steam by one degree
Celsius, while a similar rise in temperature for the steel requires 262 MJ heat. This implies
that, during the process of correcting a reheat steam temperature deviation, 96.4 % of the
control action is absorbed by the reheater metal, while 3.6 % of thedontrol action
effectively changes the steam temperature.
The process parameter that varies most significantly with time is that of heat resistance
due to the ash and slag deposits on the heat transfer surfaces. The rate of contamination
depends on the ash content of the fuel burnt, ash properties, boiler load and furnace
temperature. High pressure steam is utilized to clean the surface of boiler components so
that heat transfer is improved. Cleaning evaporator surfaces ahead of the superheater will
reduce the gas temperature and produce more steam. This will tend to decrease the degree
44
of superheat. Cleaning superheater surfaces will increase superheater absorption and raise
steam temperature.
Three major load based nonlinearities affect temperature control in large power boilers:
process time constants, heat transfer and heat absorption.
0
co
co
v 60
rn
Lc)
U)
"6
50
e)
0.
40
-5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Minutes
45
Heat transfer rate
As discussed previously, convective heat transfer increases in relation to boiler load while
radiant heat transfer decreases. This nonlinearity may be cancelled by balancing
convective and radiant heat transfer surfaces during the boiler design. However, should
this balance be suboptimal in practice, the effect on steam temperatures can be significant
and small variations in boiler load may place great strain on the steam temperature control
system.
Steam properties
The volume of steam in a superheater or reheater remains virtually constant through boiler
loads. This is however not so for the mass of steam in these components, as the density.
of steam changes with pressure. At higher boiler pressures, the increased mass of steam
in the superheater and reheater will reduce the effect of short term heat transfer variations
on steam temperature. Also, at higher loads, the increase in steam flow will require an
increase in desuperheating spray water flow to achieve the same control action. The
steam temperature controller gains should therefore be adjustable on-line to achieve
consistent control results. Steam properties also change through pressure. At 10 MPa,
spray water requires 1872.14 kJ/kg to boil from 200C while at 16 MPa it requires
1726.28 kJ/kg - about 10% less energy. This change in energy requirement results in an
increase in spray water needed for desuperheating at higher steam pressures.
Many control loops exist on a large power boiler. The generator load controller
manipulates steam flow to the turbine via governor valves to control generator power
output. Boiler pressure is controlled by manipulating the fuel firing rate and steam
temperature is controlled via one or more of the various methods discussed previously
[44].
A high degree of interaction exists among the control loops, and in most cases, steam is
the common denominator [40]. For example, a reduction in steam flow rate from the load
controller will result in an increasing boiler pressure and increasing steam temperatures.
46
Steam temperature control via desuperheating increases steam flow. A reduction in fuel
firing rate also reduces steam temperatures (at least in the short term). It is therefore not
possible to control just one variable while disregarding the others. Similar interactions
between process systems are also described in [45]. The result of interaction is that two
or more controllers may start cycling continuously, because of phase differences in their
control objectives. A good example here is the following description of cycling caused
by reheater temperature control.
Assume the reheater outlet temperature is above its setpoint. Desuperheating spray water
is injected into the reheater to reduce the temperature and bring it to setpoint. The added
mass of water increases the steam flow rate to the intermediate and low pressure turbines,
which increases generator load. The load controller responds by closing the governor
valves which reduces the steam flow rate. Asa result of the reduction in steam flow rate,
the boiler pressure increases and consequently, the steam pressure controller reduces the
fuel firing rate. The reduction in fuel flow rate decreases the reheater heat pickup and the
outlet temperature decreases below its setpoint. The entire cycle is repeated in the reverse
and may continue cycling or even become unstable unless an operator intervenes manually.
A similar description of system interaction is also given in [8].
3.2.6 Over-firing
When a power generating unit needs to move from one load point to the next, the fuel
flow rate needs to be manipulated to effect the load change. Due to the thermal inertia
of the boiler; the change in steam flow rate will lag behind the change iniuel flow rate.
To make the generator load follow a predetermined load ramp rate, steam flow must be
increased proportionally. To overcome the time lags inherent in the boiler, it is necessary
to inject a substantial quantity of additional fuel during the initial stages of the load ramp.
This technique is called over-firing, and the magnitude of over-firing is dependent on the
load ramp rate. In the case of the Kendal boilers, a 5% per minute load ramp rate requires
almost 20% over-firing [36].
The additional heat injected into the boiler is used to overcome the thermal inertia of the
47
steel pipework of the boiler and the water or steam that flows through it. At this point,
the concept of relative thermal inertia will be introduced as the ratio between thermal
inertia and heat transfer:
Ir -
thermal inertia
heat transfer
(3.4)
If the Ir of all the different boiler components are not equal, the components with the
lower Ir will react more severely to over-firing than those with a higher Ir. For example,
if the Jr of the evaporator is greater than that of the superheateror reheater, changes in
steam production during transients will be lower than changes in heat transfer to the
superheating elements. During a load increase, where over-firing is a positive quantity;
too little steam will be produced for sufficient cooling through the superheater and
reheater. Consequently, the final steam temperatures will be raised and this increases the
burden on the steam temperature controllers.
Criterion
Number of excursions
71
252
61
386
48
Of the 386 temperature excursions, 220 had operator-logged explanations as to why the
particular excursion occurred. The two most common reasons for the excursions were
mill changes / trips and unit load ramps. The remainder of the excursions were due to
instrumentation faults, unit start-ups or shut-downs, special tests, wet coal, capability load
runbacks, etc. Figure 3.6 gives a Pie-chart representation of the weighting of the different
causes of temperature excursions at Kendal.
The two main causes of temperature excursions, load ramps and mill changes, will be
discussed in more detail below.
3.3.1
Load ramps
The loading rate of the units at Kendal is adjustable between 0 and 35 MW/min, but is is
normally set to 15 MW/min for load changes. The magnitude of the load ramp is
determined by the national dispatch centre, based on customer demands and the location
and size of power station units on the power grid. A power generating unit may undergo
hundreds of load changes daily, ranging between 10MW and 100MW in magnitude.
These load variations have a significant disturbance on steam temperature (Figure 3.7).
When generated load needs to be altered, the boiler fuel flow must be adjusted first. The
49
firing rate of all mills are adjusted simultaneously, therefore, the heat transfer to all boiler
components are changed simultaneously. However, the steam flow rate lags behind the
increased firing rate, due to the boiler's thermal inertia. This results in a change in the
heat transfer to the superheater and reheater before the steam flow changes, leading to
overheating or cooling of the steam.
An example of the effects of a load ramp is demonstrated by the following three tables.
The data was taken from an actual unit capability test of an up ramp in load from 60%
load (412 MW) to 80% load (549 MW) at a loading rate of 20 MW / min. Heat transfer
rates were obtained by means of a neural network heat transfer model (Appendix C).
'
Figure 3.7
The steady state conditions before the ramp commenced, are shown in Table 3.3.
50
Heat transfer
Furnace conditions
A-mill demand
48%
Evaporator
480 MJ/s
B-mill demand
48%
Superheater
315 MJ/s
C-mill demand
48%
Reheater
152 MJ/s
D-mill demand
50%
294 kg/s
E-mill demand
0%
60 %
02 setpoint
4%
-15
Table 3.3
About 5 minutes into the load ramp, the conditions have changed drastically from what
they were before the ramp. Apart from the increased fuel flow and steam flow, the burner
tilt angle was decreased via automatic control, due to high temperatures on the
superheater, and the excess air was reduced via automatic control due to high
temperatures on the reheater. The results are shown in Table 3.4.
Heat transfer
Furnace conditions
A-mill demand
63%
Evaporator
604 MJ/s
B-mill demand
63%
Superheater
411 MJ/s
C-mill demand
63%
Reheater
214 MJ/s
D-mill demand
63%
1351 kg/s
E-mill demand
0%
80 %
02 setpoint
3%
-19
Table 3.4
During the load ramp, large disturbances in equilibrium are caused due to changes in heat
transfer without similar changes in steam flow. The heat imbalance during a load ramp
is illustrated in Table 3.5. Five minutes after starting the load ramp the fuel flow had
increased by 33% while the steam flow had only increased by 19%.
51
Boiler element
Before ramp
During ramp
Difference
60%
80%
33%
294
351
19%
Evaporator
480 MJ/s
604 MJ/s
26%
Superheater
315 MJ/s
411 MJ/s
30%
Reheater
152 MJ/s
214 MJ/s
41%
Table 3.5
Although some over-firing is needed to overcome the thermal inertia of the boiler mass,
the over-firing should be proportional to the mass-related thermal inertia of the different
boiler elements. The evaporator has more than double the mass of the superheater or
reheater [46], but the heat transfer to it during load ramps is far below double (Table 3.5).
This maldistribution of heat leads to superheater and reheater steam outlet temperature
deviations from setpoint.
Strong feedforward signals based on load gradient is used to bias the desuperheating on
superheater and reheater. These feedforwards have been tuned to counteract most of the
effect that over-firing has on Steam temperatures, but even with the feedforwards, typical
temperature excursions during 15 MW/min load ramps are 8C on the superheater and
13C on the reheater. The actual capability test described considered here, had an
increase of 12C on the superheater and 17C on the reheater.
Asa result of these temperature excursions, the load ramp rate of the Kendal units have
been restricted to 15 MW/min as opposed to the contractual specification of 35MW/min.
With the reduced load ramp rate, it was possible to maintain the superheater outlet
temperatures within the specified 11,2C from setpoint. However, the reheater outlet
temperature still exceeded the originally specified 11,2C margin, but the contractual
specification was since relaxed to 17C for the reheater only.
The other major contributor to steam temperature excursions is coal mill changes. When
52
a mill is shut down or started up, the fireball in the furnace is shifted or distorted because
the fuel injection points have changed. The shifting of the fireball changes the furnace-toboiler heat transfer pattern. A shift in the heat transfer pattern may increase or decrease
the heat transfer to the superheater and reheater, depending on the change in heat transfer
to these components, thereby affecting the steam temperature.
When a mill is taken out of service or trips, its fuel flow decreases to zero, while the total
boiler fuel demand remains virtually unchanged. Therefore, the fuel demanded from the
mills remaining in service is changed proportionally to compensate for the loss of fuel
from the tripped mill. The opposite is true for placing a mill in service.
M .; 1
es
LH
S H T R '1'.0.11T IMP
.
RH: - $..HIR:10.0T:
Figure 3.8
The transfer of heat from the furnace to the boiler components is sensitive to mill
combination and relative mill loading because the fuel from each mill is injected at a
different elevation in the furnace. Therefore, an upset in heat distribution accompanies a
53
mill change or mill trip. This leads to a disturbance in the equilibrium in heat transfer
needed for maintaining stable steam temperatures. The steam temperature changes due
to the disturbance (Figure 3.8) and the control system responds by injecting more or less
desuperheating spray water. The steam temperature control system cannot anticipate the
disturbance in heat distribution and has to wait for the steam temperature to change before
it can respond.
A typical example is a mill trip on a Kendal unit running at 586 MW. Before the trip, four
mills are in service, say A, B, D, and E. The 0 2 content in the flue gas is 3% and the
burner tilts are angled at 0. The heat transfer to the boiler elements under these
conditions were obtained via a neural network heat distribution model (Appendix C) and
are shown in Table 3.6.
Furnace conditions
Heat transfer
A-mill demand
70%
Evaporator
662 MJ/s
B-mill demand
70%
Superheater
463 MJ/s
C-mill demand
0%
Reheater
242 MJ/s
D-mill demand
70%
E-mill demand
70%
02 setpoint
3%
Table 3.6
Now consider a trip of the D-mill. Its fuel flow decreases to zero while the other mills all
increase production from 70% to 93.3% to absorb the deficit in total fuel flow. The
burner tilts adjust automatically to -15 to compensate for the higher average position of
fuel injection. At first, the 0 2 concentration will remain unchanged (apart from transients)
but it will start reacting slowly on changes in reheater spray water flow rate. Table 3.7
shows the new furnace conditions and the resultant heat transfers shortly after the mill
trip.
54
Furnace conditions
Heat transfer
A-mill demand
93.3%
Evaporator
656 MJ/s
B-mill demand
93.3%
Superheater
511 MJ/s
C-mill demand
0%
Reheater
200 MJ/s
D-mill demand
0%
E-mill demand
93.3%
02 setpoint
3%
-15
Table 3.7
Due to the mill trip, the disturbance in furnace conditions has a major effect on heat
pickup in the boiler. Heat transfer to the evaporator decreased, heat transfer to the
superheater increased, and heat transfer to the reheater decreased. The variations in heat
transfer are summarized in Table 3.8.
Boiler element
Pre-trip Heat Tx
Post-trip Heat Tx
Delta Heat Tx
Evaporator
, 662 MJ/s
656 MJ/s
- 6 MJ/s
Superheater
463 MJ/s
511 MJ/s
+ 48 MJ/s
Reheater
242 MJ/s
200 MJ/s
- 42 MJ/s
Table 3.8
These changes in heat transfer to the different boiler elements cause temperature
excursions. Capability tests have shown steam temperatures to change by as much as
20C after mill trips. Temperature excursions are also caused by normal mill shut downs,
as shown in Figure 3.8.
There is no way for /he installed control system to act directly on changes in heat transfer
because it is not measured. The only method of automatic compensation used, is by
waiting for changes in temperature and then adjusting the degree of desuperheating
accordingly. Temperature excursions as a result of coal mill disturbances are also
55
reported by Aitchison e.a. [39] & Franchot [47].
To turbine
A
Temperature
Setpoint
Tern perature
Measurement
Controller
Superheaters
Adjustment to
control element
\ /
\ /
Figure 3.9
The control element may be the desuperheater spray flow control valve, burner tilt
positioner, bypass darhper, etc, depending on the boiler design. This basic control setup,
referred to by the ISMC [38] as
56
recommended that single element control only be used as the sole method of control in
applications with slow load changes, or where steam temperature is not critical [38].
The outer loop (or master) controller compares the steam temperature to the setpoint and
its output drives the setpoint to the inner loop (or slave) controller. The slave controller
measures desuperheater outlet temperature or spray water flow rate, compares it to the
setpoint received from the master controller and drives the desuperheater spray water
control valve.
Having the inner loop control spray water flow, results in a system immune to changes in
spray water pressure. Having the inner loop control desuperheater outlet temperature
makes the system immune to changes in both spray water pressure and steam flow rate.
Therefore, the preferred method is to control desuperheater outlet temperature [38]. The
arrangement is shown in Figure 3.10.
57
To turbine
Steam
tern perature
setpoint
yy
Main steam
temperature
measurement
Master
controller
Desuperheater
temperature
'setpoint
Desuperheater
Desuperheater
outlet temperature
measurement
Spray water
control valve
YY
Slave
controller
Adjustment to
control valve
3.4.3
Feedforward control
A powerful method used for disturbance rejection is the of feedforward control [48].
In
its simplest form, feedforward control measures a disturbance, calculates the magnitude
of control action needed to counteract the disturbance, and sends this magnitude as a bias
to the control element (or to the slave controller in the case of cascade control). For
power plant steam temperature control, the main feedforward signal may be derived from
the boiler load index, but it is recommended that the feedforward be based on all major
influences on steam temperature, including adjustments to heat distribution within the
boiler and changes in the thermodynamic properties of steam [38].
Many advanced control strategies applied to power plant boilers use a disturbance
calculation for a feedforward signal to cancel out the effect of rapid load changes on steam
temperature. This concept, outlined in Figure 3.11, will be discussed in more detail later
and it will be shown that feedforward signals can be used to control the entire heat
distribution pattern of a power plant furnace.
58
To turbine
Auxiliary process
measurement(s)
YY
Feedforward
control
calculation(s
Boiler
Adjustment to
control element(s)
\ /
Feedforward control is not used as the sole means of temperature control because it
measures process disturbances rather than steam temperature itself. If an unmeasured
disturbance occurs (for instance the sooting of boiler tubes), the steam temperature
deviation will not be corrected because feedforward control does not take steam
temperature measurements into account. In other to control steam temperature in the
reality of unmeasured disturbances and nonlinearities, feedforward control is combined
with feedback control.
The combination of feedforward and feedback control is done by adding the feedforward
signal to the output of the steam temperature controller so that both control modes have
access to the final control element used for steam temperature control [8]. In the case of
cascade control being used, the sum of the feedforward and feedback control modes forms
the setpoint to the slave controller (Figure 3.12).
59
Steam
tern perature
setpoint
Main steam
temperature
measurement
YY
To turbine
Desuperheater
Steam temp
controller
Feedforward
controller
Desuperheater
outlet
temperature
measurement
Spray water
control valve
Desuperheater
)111
tem perature
setpoint
Cascade
controller
Adjustment to
control valve
It is possible to use more than one steam temperature control device on a single
superheater or reheater. The individual control loops can be configured to operate
independent of each other, the control action can be distributed between control elements,
or individual control loops may operate in a coupled fashion [38].
Independent Control
Where more than one control element is used for steam temperature control and the
configuration of the controllers is to operate independently of each other, then each has
a different control objective. For example, on a superheater with two-stage
desuperheating, the first stage desuperheater may be used to control the outlet
temperature of an intermediate stage of the superheater while the second stage
desuperheater will control the final steam temperature [38]. Although the second stage
desuperheater is influenced by actions of the first, the two control loops run independent
of each other. Feedforward control signals should be passed only to the control element
responsible for controlling the final outlet steam temperature [38].
60
Distributed Control
The control action may be distributed among the available control elements. An example
of distributed control would be where the spray water flow rate is divided between the
first-stage and second-stage desuperheaters on a superheater [38]. A single steam
temperature control loop exists but its control action is divided and passed on to two
cascade secondary controllers. The primary control action is divided according to a ratio
recommended by the manufacturer. Feedforward signals are added to the output of the
steam temperature master controller and is thus distributed between the cascade slave
controllers in the same ratio'as the closed loop control signal [38].
Coupled Control
In the coupled control strategy, two closed loop controllers are linked (not cascaded).
The control strategy is divided into a fast primary action and a slower secondary action.
For example, if desuperheating and burner tilt angle is used to control reheater
temperature, the desuperheating is used as the fast primary control method and burner tilt
angle provides slower secondary control [42].
Under these conditions the primary controller is used for steam temperature control. It
receives steam temperature feedback from the plant, compares this to its setpoint and
drives the desuperheater control valve, either directly or through a cascade arrangement.
However, the burner tilt controller is assigned a setpoint representing:some optimal
amount of spray water flow needed for good control. The tilt controller compares this
setpoint to the actual spray water flow rate and adjusts the burner tilt position according
to the error between the two. Changing the burner tilt angle will affect the steam
temperature and consequently the spray water flow rate.
The same arrangement is used when two sets of desuperheaters are installed in series
between different stages of a superheater. Figure 3.13 shows the arrangement where
more than one final control element is used to adjust the same steam temperature.
Feedforward signals are passed on to the primary (fast) controller only.
61
To turbine
Primary control
element setpoint
Tern perature
Setpoint
Tem perature
Measurement
Prim ary
controller
Superheaters
Adjustment to
primary control
element
y
Secondary
controller .
Adjustment to
secondary control /
elem ent
Regardless of which control structure is used, some means of control protection should
be provided to prevent the outlet conditions of a desuperheater from reaching saturation
[38]. This is mainly to protect the turbine from receiving wet steam from the boiler, and
to prevent the scaling or erosion of the inner walls of the superheater tubes. The limit on
desuperheater outlet temperature may even be set marginally (i.e. 10 C) above the
saturation temperature [44].
Although modem control system design methods can improve the dynamic behaviour of many
processes, classical PM controllers are still most widely used [49]. This is true even despite the
increased programming capabilities of modem digital control hardware - allowing the
62
implementation of complex control strategies. Peters [49] motivates two probable reasons for this:
Many advanced control strategies require much time and special skills to design implement
and optimize.
The difficulty to understand complex control techniques promotes a lack of interest in
advanced control systems - especially among plant personnel.
Although HD controllers still outnumber the advanced control installations, requirements for
increased load manoeuverability, reduced emission levels, and increased cost-efficiency is
demanding control capabilities only possible with advanted control strategies [50]. Studies on
the application of advanced control to the process industries show savings of between 2% and 6%
of annual operating costs [51]. The (documented) advanced steam temperature control schemes
recently tested or Stalled on power boilers are all in some way either nonlinear / adaptive, modelbased / predictive, or both. The reasons for these trends are given below:
a)
The change in process characteristics between different loading points gives rise to different
control parameters needed for good control. For instance, less spray water flow is required to
correct a temperature deviation at low steam flows compared to correcting the same deviation
at high steam flows. A controller needs to be either nonlinear or it needs to adapt itself to the
changing process characteristics to provide optimal control throughout the operating range.
b)
The controller needs to know beforehand how a process will react to a disturbance l so that it can
counteract this disturbance before its effects become apparent. For example, because increased
air flow leads to increased convective heat transfer, a model based / predictive controller will
automatically increase desuperheating after an increase in air flow.
Some of the tested and documented advanced control techniques for steam temperature control
on power plant boilers are described below.
63
Gain scheduling
A HD controller is a linear controller and is therefore not well suited to controlling plants
with major nonlinear characteristics or changing parameters [42]. However, modern
microprocessor-based control systems have made it possible to adjust the P, I, and D
settings of a controller automatically, and on-line. The adjustment of the controller
settings are done based on the measurement of some index variable through which the
plant is nonlinear. In many cases, only the controller gain needs to be adjusted [48]. The
advantage of gain scheduling is that the adjustment in controller settings on an essentially
linear PID controller ensures more comparable control actions throughout a nonlinear
operating envelope.
64
boiler behaviour. At each time step the plant inputs are sampled and used as inputs to the
model. The model runs through a number of time steps in order to produce a prediction
of boiler states and steam temperature ahead of time. The predicted value of steam
temperature is compared to the setpoint and the error is used for control.
This technique was used on a 217 MW nuclear reactor for steam temperature control
[52]. The results showed temperature deviations of less than 3C during on-line refuelling
transients. Although no indication of the degree of improvement in temperature
regulation is provided, the control scheme was rated so successful that it was also installed
on other identical units.
Aitchison e. a. [39] documented how attempts at a dynamic feedforward using steam flow
and air flow to modify the desuperheater outlet temperature setpoint during transient
operation proved to be unsuccessful. The reason given was difficulties in establishing the
dynamic process models required for accurately tuning the feedforward signals. It was
difficult to obtain repeatable test data using simple step response type tests.
A more heuristic approach based on the analysis of the system physics was also
documented by Aitchison e.a. [39]. The feedforward was based on a dynamic enthalpy
calculation to determine the required secondary superheater inlet temperature setpoint for
various pressure and temperature operating conditions. The secondary superheater inlet
enthalpy requirements were calculated as the main steam enthalpy less the enthalpy rise
across the secondary superheater. The model of expected enthalpy rise received steam
flow, gas recirculation flow, air flow, and main steam pressure as its inputs and were
65
calibrated at three load points to account for changing process parameters.
A similar approach was followed by Hitz e.a. [53] and major improvements over PliD
control were observed on a boiler simulation. The integral of absolute error was reduced
by a factor of 3 to 5 across ten test scenarios.
Zhu e.a. [45] document the success achieved with a model reference feedforward
controller installed on the 565 MW Unit 1 of Virginia Power's . Mt. Storm power station.
The loading rate of this plant could be doubled and the final steam temperature setpoint
could be increased by 2.8C due to reduced temperature overshoot. The new control
strategy also reduced the need for manual spray action during severe load transients.
Also documented by Zhu e.a. [45] are results obtained with the same control strategy on
a boiler simulation of Virginia Power's Chesterfield power station. This unit has
desuperheaters for controlling main steam temperature and tiltable burner nozzles for
controlling reheat steam temperature. Simulation results showed a potential improvement
in control of superheat temperatures that markedly reduced the amplitude of variations in
steam temperature and fuel control loops.
66
The ratios of heat transfer to air flow for each superheater are initialized with values
determined experimentally and are updated on-line by comparing conditions before and
after a ramp in load. Thus the ratios used in the current transient are determined with data
from the previous transient. This scheme is made feasible by the mode of operation of the
Eraring units, in which substantial load changes are usually followed by periods of steadystate operation. Because the quantity of spray water needed to control the steam
temperature during load transients is computed from enthalpy and a heat balance, the
system automatically compensates for changes in cooling capacity of the spray water (with
steam flow, temperature and pressure and spray water temperature), thereby accounting
for the effect of nonlinearities.
A prototype of the control system has been in operation in Eraring since January 1991.
Unit loading rates are still restricted to 7 MW/min at loads between 200 and 350 MW, but
superheater outlet temperature is now controlled within 2C from setpoint. The loading
rate restriction is due to spray system saturation at low loads. At boiler loads above
400MW, load ramps of 100MW at a rate of 20MW/rnin can be performed while
controlling the steam temperature within 2C from setpoint. This is a vast improvement
over the previous 12C deviation from setpoint.
The model considers combustion, furnace performance and heat transfer and was derived
using first principles. Most model parameters were determined using equipment design
characteristics, but certain model constants were determined empirically during on-line
model calibration.
67
The advanced control strategy implemented on Canal Unit 2 decreased temperature
excursions of between 28C and 55C under normal control to below 14C. The range
limits on automatic (remote) loading could also be increased from 200 - 530MW to 60 600MW.
Due to the high complexity and low accuracy of the analytical method, state equations are
normally obtained by means of tests performed on actual plant [39],[40]. This is done by
injecting pseudo random binary test signals into the system using each of the manipulated
variables in turn. A computer logs the manipulated variables and the state variables, and
uses multivariable autoregression to fit the data to a mathematical model of the plant
dynamics. The order of the model is chosen to minimize the regression error [40]. The
mathematical model is then transformed into a state equation. Once state equation is
defined, the optimal state feedback gain matrix is determined. For this determination, a
digital simulation technique is utilized in which the state equation and a candidate gain
matrix are used at each control interval. The method uses dynamic programming for
adjusting the gain matrix to minimize a quadratic criterion function.
68
optimal control. The addition of integral control action on controlled variables can
compensate for these model mismatches and eliminate steady-state errors [56].
An optimal regulator was first implemented on a thermal power plant in February 1978
at Buzen Power Station No. 1, a 500 MW plant of Kyushu Electric Company of Japan
[40]. As of 1987, Kyushu has optimal control in operation on five power plants. The
improvement in performance realized by the optimal regulator was quite significant [40].
With optimal control the size of load ramps could be doubled and still the steam
temperature deviations remained less than half of that obtained under P133 control.
The implementation of, and results obtained with an optimal controller for steam
temperature regulation, called the ACORD system, is described by Aitchison [39]. The
first installation of ACORD was at the Sendai plant in Japan, and the second was
completed during February 1991 at the 500 MW Babcock & Wilcox boiler of Ontario
Hydro's Nanticoke Unit 7. With the ACORD system, a significant reduction in
temperature deviation was achieved while the maximum ramp rate had been increased
simultaneously. With conventional controls, the maximum boiler pressure ramp rate of
150kPahnin resulted in temperature deviations of -20C to +11C. With ACORD on, the
increased ramp rate of 200kPaimin resulted in temperature deviations of only --9C to
+9C.
Several optimal controllers can be configured to operate in parallel, each controller for a
specific process variable. Hanson e.a. [57] describe the design, installation'and testing of
an array of four optimal controllers, controlling left-hand and right-hand superheat steam
temperatures, reheat steam temperature, and furnace gas outlet temperature (the latter is
used to control NO emissions). Every controller receives inputs from the other
controllers' outputs, effectively decoupling interaction between the different control loops.
Hanson e.a. [57] also report that after the installation of this advanced control strategy in
1994 on Montana-Dakota Utilities' 45 MW Coyote power station, encouraging
improvements in steam temperature control and general control system stability was
evident. Previous temperature swings of 11C under steady state conditions and 22C
69
during transients were reduced to 1.7C and 3.9C, respectively.
The concept of state variable control is to use additional state measurements from the
process (e.g., intermediate temperatures along the superheater or reheater) to provide
more accurate control action [58]. The necessary state measurements are not available
on a power plant, but they can be simulated by means of a dynamic process model - called
an observer [59], or a Luenberger observer [60]. The arrangement is referred to as State
variable Control with Observer (SCO).
The observer consists of a series of first order lags [53]. Each of the lags has an
associated gain and a time constant. The outputs of the lags simulate various
temperatures along the superheater. The simulated temperature signals are multiplied by
individual gain factors and summed to create a control feedback signal. SCO control
provides proportional action only. Therefore, a steady-state error will exist unless integral
control is used to trim the control action [53].
Practical results obtained with SCO on a reheater at Kendal power station, showed an
average improvement of 20% to 50% over PID control in reheater temperature deviations
during load ramps. SCO control was also extensively tested on a nonlinear simulation of
a 250MW unit at Cromby Power Station of Philadelphia Electric Company. Only minor
improvements over PI control was observed [53].
70
Adaptive control essentially consists of three parts: a state observer, an adaptive plant
identifier, and a controller with adaptable parameters, but it may have a fourth part, a
model of the desired plant response [61]. The observer is a state variable filter, for
extracting the plant state information. The identifier determines the parameters inside a
predefined transfer function of the plant from this state information and the error between
the actual plant and the estimation [62]. The desired response model may be a criterion
for stability [43], or it could be a transfer function containing some predefined plant
response to a setpoint change. The adaptive controller parameters are adjusted according
to the desired response and the transfer function of the identified plant. It is necessary to
know the order of the plant beforehand as the order of the plant determines the order of
the reference model and the order of the controller.
It has already been shown how adaptive control is superior to PM control in the nonlinear
application of power plant drum level control [63]. Simulation studies done by Nomura
e.a. [64] showed that with adaptive control the deviations of steam temperatures from
setpoint could be reduced to half of that obtained with conventional PlD control. The
design, application and testing of an adaptive steam temperature controller on two
different 375 MW power plants (Nishi-Nagoya and Owase-Mita) is described by
Matsomura [55]. Tabulated results show that the error squared obtained with adaptive
control under various test conditions was between 11% and 46% of the error squared
obtained with P1D control.
The main practical problem that [64] identified was that the plant needed to be persistently
excited by superimposing a load test signal onto the load demand signal. This is needed
for the identifier to adjust to different plant dynamics and parameters. It is not practical
to have a power plant change its load continually just to update its controller parameters.
It was proposed that the existing load demand signal may be used as the source of
excitation if it is sufficiently rich in frequency to enable good plant identification.
Matsumura [55] addressed the problem of persistent excitation by temporarily suspending
the parameter estimation when the amplitudes or gradients of the input signals to the plant
are small.
71
3.5.7 Adaptive control with prediction
API controller was configured as an adaptive controller via on-line gain scheduling. The
proportional and integral gains were computed from the discrete-time model of the
superheater and the stability criterion in the Z-domain. The predicted steam temperature
was used instead of the measured value for closed-loop control. In this way, the effect
of the inherent process lag was nullified. Results obtained from simulation studies
indicated an improvement in steam temperature control as a reduction of 10C in the
magnitude of temperature excursions.
Fuzzy logic controllers are increasingly being used as nonlinear alternatives for PD, PI,
and PID controllers [66]. The fuzzy logic algorithms are implemented as stand-alone,
single loop controllers or as control modules in a DCS or PLC [67].
Although the rule-based of system fuzzy logic controllers have the ability to capture
human expertise and deal with uncertainty on ill-defined systemS, its value to' he operation
of well-characterized systems are less obvious [68]. This is backed up by practical
experience obtained with fuzzy logic on nuclear reactor load control. The fuzzy controller
had comparable accuracy to an analytical (model based) controller, had a slower response
time and was more difficult to maintain under reactor refuelling conditions.
Fuzzy logic control was shown to perform better than conventional PI control on a
simulated steam temperature control problem [69], but the results were below the
standard attained with model-based feedforward control on the same problem.
72
The matrix controller functions by first predicting the future values of the controlled
process variables, with the assumption that the controls are frozen at their present values.
The objective is to determine error estimates that can be used to calculate the control
actions needed to keep the process variables on setpoint. An error vector is derived for
each process variable. The control action is determined by minimizing a cost function that
contains the error vectors, the control actions, and weighting matrices. This makes it a
class of optimal control.
3.5.10
Other techniques
In some cases it is possible to devise a control strategy based not on formal theory, but
rather on operating experience and observations made during commissioning and testing.
In the case of Kendal Power Station it was noted that the reheater temperature deceases
73
sharply during load reductions. Since these units are operated in sliding pressure mode
(boiler pressure is changed in relation to boiler load), under-firing was excessively large
to achieve a threefold objective:
Reduce boiler load
Reduce the energy reserve stored in boiler pressure
Overcome thermal inertia in the boiler.
The pressure controller was then modified to decrease the extent of under-firing required
by reducing the down-ramp rate of boiler pressure from the sliding pressure requirement
to 0.1 MPa / min [71]. Due to operational difficulties, this limit on down-ramp rate was
later increased to 0.25 MPa / min [44]. Temperature errors were decreased from -20C
to -10C by this method.
Another technique was successfully implemented by Aitchison e.a. [39] after noticing that
the largest steam temperature error occurred during start-up or shut-down of the third
coal mill. This temperature deviation was caused by a sudden increase in the primary air
flow. The error in temperature was reduced by momentarily opening the gas tempering
damper and then slowly closing it, using a simple "kicker" circuit. The main steam
temperature error was reduced from -9 and +9C to -5 and +7C in this way.
An interesting method of compensating for the large thermal lags of thick thermocouple
pockets are described in [54]. Here the control system passes all thermocouple signals
through phase lead compensators using time constants derived from plant tests and
adjusted with boiler load. This compensation proved highly effective in improving the
quality of control, particularly by its increase of speed of the inner desuperheater loops.
74
A neural network (or more correctly, an artificial neural network) is a man-made system
motivated by the neural structure observed in living organisms [72]. Mathematical models
of biological neural networks created by neurophysiologists showed similar properties to
those of the biological systems they described i.e. adaptability, learning, feature
classification, and generalization of learning from past experiences to new experiences
This led to the creation of electronic networks with the same structures observed
in biological systems and hence the term artificial neural networks.
A neural network is composed of many simple and similar processing elements called
artificial neurons (Figure 4.1).
Figure 4.1
75
The inputs of the neuron
of its own and / or other neurons. The output of the neuron (y) is a nonlinear function of
the weighed sum of its inputs. Neurons with no inputs and a constant unity output,
known as threshold or bias neurons, are implemented in a neural network where a
constant offset is required. Neurons of which neither the inputs nor the outputs are
externally connected are called hidden neurons.
Three kinds of transfer functions are commonly used in artificial neurons [75]: the hardlimiter, the threshold, and the sigmoid (Figure 4.2).
Hardlimiter
Threshold
Sigmoid
Assigning the sigmoid transfer function to a neuron is especially attractive due to its
continuity and boundedness and also due to the simplicity of calculating partial derivatives
through these neurons during the training of the network [76]. The function for a sigmoid
is given by:
fix)
(4.1)
1+
76
information-carrying connections. Two basic network topologies exist: feedforward and
recurrent. The difference is that a neuron in a recurrent neural network may receive inputs
from all neurons in the network including feedback from itself, where a neuron in a
feedforward neural network may receive inputs only from the neurons in the preceding
layer, or from the network inputs.
In a feedforward network the information is passed forward through the layers. The first
layer is the input layer and it is provided with data obtained external to the network, i.e.
plant measurements, calculations or data tables. Following the input layer, there are
normally one or more hidden layers. Finally there is an output layer which present the
desired data based on the inputs and the internal state of the neural network. Figure 4.3
illustrates a feedforward neural network with three inputs, two hidden layers with three
neurons and a bias neuron in each layer, and an output layer with one neuron.
HIDDEN 1
HIDDEN 2
INPUTS
OUTPUT
Yi
BIAS NEURONS
Figure 4.3
The connections between the neurons in a neural network each have a certain internal gain
called a weight. Changing the weight of a connection will alter the behaviour of a neuron,
and therefore, it will also alter the behaviour of the whole network. The goal of training
a neural network is to alter the weights in the network in such a way that the neural
77
network achieves the desired input / output relationship.
absiraction and helps the neural network generalize results for inputs which it has not been
explicitly trained on [77]. Increasing the number of hidden layers augments the processing power
of the neural network but also significantly increases processing time and complicates training.
It has been shown that a feedforward neural network with at least one hidden layer has the
capability to approximate any desired nonlinear function to an arbitrary degree of accuracy [78].
Even though networks with only one hidden layer already have the desired approximation power,
Draeger e.a. [79] report that two hidden layers give better convergence in the training process.
A common method for determining the number of hidden layers is by experimentation [77].
However, due to the added processing burden, it is advisable to use more than one hidden layer
only when it becomes necessary due to the inability of a a network with single hidden layer to
train.
The number of input and output neurons are determined by the application of the neural network.
Determining the number of neurons in the hidden layer is another experimental exercise [77].
Some rules of thumb have been said to give a starting point for estimating the number of hidden
neurons:
If one hidden layer is chosen, its number of neurons may be chosen as 34 the number of
inputs to the network [80].
The number of hidden neurons should be equal to two times the square root of the number
of input and output nodes summed [81].
The number of hidden neurons should total the number of training data sets divided by
between two and ten times the sum of input and output nodes (ten for noisy data and two
for clean data) [82].
Brainmaker documentation [83] also suggests estimating the number of hidden neurons
by taking the average between number of inputs and outputs of the network.
These rules are silent on the complexity of the patterns in the training data. Since the neural
78
network should approximate some input-output relationship that could be nonlinear and
multidimensional, the more complex the relationship, the more neurons are required. Too few
neurons in the hidden layer may prevent the network from properly mapping the inputs to outputs.
On the other hand, too many nodes promotes memorization of specific input-output data points
and inhibits generalization [77]. Memorization occurs when the patterns presented to the network
are reproduced exactly without extracting the salient features. The network is then unable to
process new patterns correctly because it has not discovered the proper relationships. Depending
on the total number of nodes in a network, a sufficient number of training sets must be provided
in order to train the system adequately. Otherwise, the situation is the same as trying to fit a thirdorder polynomial to two data points, where an infinite number of sets of polynomial coefficients
can satisfy the equation.
The backpropagation algorithm for network weight adjustment is well known in neural network
literature and will not be repeated here. (For example, [85] derives the backpropagation
algorithm for minimizing the mean-square error of outputs by adjusting the weights for a network
with a linear output layer.) However, some other aspects of backpropagation will be discussed
later.
79
Dynamic processes can also be modelled with neural networks. Dynamic process models require
some kind of dynamic state feedback, either internal or external to the neural network. A neural
network with feedback is termed a recurrent neural network and functions as a discrete-time
80
system model. Internal feedback is achieved by using the output of a neuron as an input to itself,
or as an input to a neuron in a preceding layer [92]. External feedback is achieved by providing
the neural network with inputs originating from previous outputs and previous plant states [93].
The main function of the feedback in the neural network is to encode a time-based memory into
the network.
The external feedback method was used to model a 200MW power plant unit at Ballylumford
power station in Northern Ireland [94]. The neural network power plant model had 16 inpUts,
24 hidden neurons and 4 output neurons producing the 4 modelled outputs. The 16 inputs
consisted of 4 manipulated variables and their values delayed by one time step, as well as the 4
previous outputs of the model and their values delayed by one time step. The network was
trained on noisy data from a validated computer simulation. The results obtained with the neural
network model were comparable to those obtained with a linear multivariable autoregression
model at two predefined operating points. The neural network model was shown to produce
significantly improved results of the plant outputs across the complete operating range. A similar
exercise was done by Reinschmidt [86], who also achieved a very accurate power boiler model.
Mother example of a dynamic model of power plant systems is the modelling of the evaporator
and steam drum of a 235 MW Clifford B. Jones unit by means of a neural network [95]. The
model comprised three task-specific neural networks that were configured with external feedback.
Training data was obtained from a plant simulator developed previously. Results obtained with
the neural network model were compared to output data from the simulator and showed good
drum pressure and drum level modelling.
The modelling capabilities of neural networks have also been proposed for
inferential sensors to
obtain estimates of various process variables for which no easy method of on-line measurement
exists [96]. Also called
soft sensors, these neural network based virtual instruments have been
applied with great success to industrial processes [97], paper making machines [98], and power
boilers [99], while user configuration makes these systems capable of inferring many unmeasured
variables on-line [100].
81
Neural networks are not limited to simulation in the sense of predicting the response to a specified
action, but can also be used to generate the action necessary to produce a given response, i.e. to
control a process.
In supervised control, a neural net learns the mapping from sensor inputs to desired
actions, by adapting to a training set of examples of what it should have done. Thus one
can "clone" a human expert or some other control system with a neural network
controller. The disadvantage of this technique is that the neural network control will only
match, but never surpass, the,control quality of the human or initial control system [103].
In neural adaptive control, linear mappings used in standard designs such as Model
Reference Adaptive Control are replaced by neural nets, resulting in greater robustness
and greater ability to handle nonlinearity [105]. As in all adaptive control techniques, the
neural adaptive scheme comprises identification and control performed by an on-line
82
adaptive structure. The design is based on two neural networks. The first learns the
unknown dynamics of the plant. The second uses this knowledge to adjust its connection
weights and to generate the control signal on-line [106]. The ability of neural networks
with a dynamic learning algorithm to model arbitrary dynamic nonlinear systems makes
the control scheme less sensitive to variations in system parameters [107].
This technique was applied by Khalid e.a. [108] to control the temperature of a laboratory
water bath. It was shown that the performance of the neural network controller was
superior to that of a PI controller under the influence of load disturbances and varying
plant dynamics. Furthermore, [109] demonstrated the inherent capability of a neural
network-based adaptive controller to handle nonlinearities, learn, and perform control
effectively for a real-world system, based on minimal system information.
Adaptive critic methods show promise in reproducing the self-learning capabilities of the
animal brain by exploring the effect of new and different control actions. The underlying
concept is to add a random bias to the output of a neural network controller and if the
control action is better than expected, the controller is trained to reproduce the "new"
action given the same inputs [110].
In direct inverse control, a neural net learns the inverse dynamics of a system! By applying
the desired range of inputs to the plant, its corresponding outputs can be recorded and a
set of training patterns can be obtained. Once trained, the neural network uses the
desired system state as inputs and the network output becomes the control input to the
process. Sbarbo-Hover e.a. [111] demonstrate how this technique could be applied to a
steel rolling mill. Results obtained on a plant simulation showed a marked improvement
over PI control.
The back propagation through time scheme adapts a controller by solving a calculus of
83
variations problem. This scheme has been applied in situations where direct inverse
dynamics will not work because of system singularities [76]. As with the calculus of
variations, this method requires a model of the system to be controlled. By propagating
the output error backwards through the model, it can be determined what the error on the
input of the process was, and the controller can be adjusted or trained accordingly. The
backpropagation technique calculates the derivative of an error on the output with respect
to the inputs.
If a process model has a defined inverse, control actions for reducing the errors could be
calculated without much effort. However, in the case of the boiler under consideration
in this thesis, no defined inverse of the process exists. It will be shown later that the boiler
model maps seven inputs (5 mill fuel flows, air flow index, and burner tilt angle) onto
three outputs, resulting in an infinite number of possible input (furnace element)
configurations that may produce the same output (heat transfer) pattern. Also, many
output heat transfer rates cannot be achieved, regardless of the input conditions. The
control signals for minimising the errors must therefore be calculated in some other way.
Facing a similar problem with the optimization of synthetic fuel reactor production [112],
a neural network system was designed to allow controlled variables,
u, to be perturbed as
a means of establishing the best values of the input variables. Each input to the neural
network reactor model was varied in small amounts and then adjusted according to the
direction of change observed on the network output. This method actually determined
the partial derivative of the network output with respect to the inputs. Adjustment to the
inputs were based on the sign of the partial derivative.
Backpropagation of error
Another, more elegant method, was used by Werbos [113] for optimizing long term gas
industry profits. The technique, utilizing backpropagation, is essentially just a variant of
the steepest gradient method for minimizing or maximizing functions. When a neural
84
network is used to represent a system, the backpropagation algorithm can be used to
propagate the error derivatives backward through the model (Figure 4.4), eliminating the
explicit calculation of the Jacobians of the model [114]. Once the errors have been
backpropagated through the neural network model to appear on the model inputs, these
are used as equivalent errors on the controller outputs. The weights of a neural network
controller can then be adjusted to minimize the equivalent errors.
The backpropagation of error technique in a sense translates the error in the plant output
to the error in the controller output [115]. The real plant cannot be used here because the
error cannot be propagated through it. The relative simplicity of the backpropagation
algorithm is good motivation for using neural networks for plant modelling in place of
analytical methods. For the control of dynamic systems, a run of control actions and plant
outputs are recorded over a predefined number of time steps. The backpropagation
technique is then applied recursively to every time step of the recorded run, starting with
the last run [116]. The error is propagated backward through time, hence the name of the
technique, backpropagation through time.
Previous
output
Controller
Plant model
Error
-411(
Setpoint
Backpropagation
and adjustment
of weights
Backpropagation
of error
Control
signal
Plant
Output
Setpoint
Figure 4.4
Mechanics of Backpropagation
Werbos [116] states that "Backpropagation" refers to how the derivatives of a neural
network map is calculated and has nothing to do with errors. However, to have purely
85
-401111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
w,
Backpropagation
O
y -
X=E x,
x,
11111
Figure 4.5
Feedforward
111
11
MOIO.-
86
algorithm calculates the partial derivative of J with respect to every input. Once the
partial derivative of the output to an input is known, adjustments can be made to the
controller.
This technique lends itself very well to neural network control, because with
backpropagation through time, a neural network controller can be trained without much
prior knowledge of the system to be controlled. No training data from other controllers
to be replaced by the neural network is necessary because the training is done on data
captured on-line. By virtue of providing the partial derivatives of process outputs with
respect to process inputs, the .backpropagation algorithm could lend itself well to solving
optimization problems too. This aspect will be explored in more depth later, where it will
form the basis of a new steam temperature controller.
Other techniques have been proposed that use the modelling ability of neural networks.
These schemes are based on other advanced control methods but use a neural network in
some part of the design. Many of these hybrid neural designs exist, but some examples
are: generalised minimum variance control [117]; neural predictive control [77] & [118];
optimal control [86] & [111], and neuro-fuzzy 'control [119].
87
5. Plant modelling
The new steam temperature control strategy developed in this research project, uses a neural
network model of the heat transfer between furnace and boiler elements as its core. Although the
controller design and its structure should ideally be discussed before the details of any of its
components, the author chose to discuss the model before the controller design. The reason is
that observations made during the modelling phase determined many aspects of the controller
design and to save discussing these issues twice, modelling will be dealt with first.
Due to the effect that different mills has on heat transfer, it will not be sufficient to use
only the total fuel flow as an input to the proposed heat transfer model. For this reason,
fuel flow rates from each individual mill were used as inputs.
88
burners downward increases heat transfer to the evaporator while decreasing heat transfer
to the radiant superheater (Kendal has virtually no radiant reheater surface). Tilting the
burners upward has the opposite effect. Having a large effect on heat transfer necessitates
the incorporation of burner tilt angle as an input into the heat transfer model.
To replicate this effect, the heat transfer model was provided with an index of furnace air
flow as an input. Although it is intuitive to use the total air flow measurement for this
purpose, it will be shown later that the oxygen concentration in the flue gas was favoured
above the air flow signal.
89
Before setting up a test programme, All of the mill combinations possible with 2 - 5 mills
90
were listed. The mill combinations were individually assessed on the basis of flame
stability and fireball height in the furnace. Those combinations deemed to be unsafe, or
bad operating practice were eliminated. Sixteen mill combinations remained. It was
decided to do tests with each of the remaining mill combinations and test numbers were
assigned (Table 5.1).
Mill combination
Test no.
ABCDE.
Yes
ABCD
Yes
ABCE
Yes
ABDE
Yes
ACDE
Yes
BCDE
Yes
ABC
Superheater overheating
ABD
ABE
ACD
Yes
ACE
3 unsupported mills
ADE
BCD
Yes
BCE
Yes
BDE
Yes
10
CDE
Yes
11
AB
Superheater overheating
AC
Superheater overheating
AD
AE
BC
Yes
12
BD
Yes
13
BE
CD
Yes
14
CE
Yes
15
DE
Yes
16
Table 5.1
It was decided to run the tests over a period of sixteen days, each day with a different mill
combination. A test period of eight hours was planned for each day. During the eight
hours, eight sub-tests could be run, each a duration of an hour, and each with a different
91
set of furnace conditions (i.e. unit load, burner tilt angle, % 0 2, and mill biassing). A total
of 128 tests was planned for in this way.
During the hour assigned to each sub-test, the boiler was set up in the first fifteen minutes,
left to settle out for thirty minutes, and the last fifteen minutes were used to record the
steady state data. For each sub-test, one of the mill fuel controllers, the burner tilt
controller, and the 0 2 setpoint generator were placed in manual mode and adjusted to a
specific predefined value.
Process measurements were recorded to capture the furnace conditions during each test
and to enable the calculation of heat absorbed in the economizer, evaporator, superheater
and reheater. Ninety-five process variables were recorded (see Appendix B). The number
of recorded points is in line with similar documented boiler modelling, i.e. Zhu e.a. [45]
recorded 100 data points for boiler plant modelling. Refer to Figure 5.1 and Figure 5.2
for schematic diagrams of the feed water system and boiler components indicating the
location of the most important measured process variables (the symbol P denotes a point
92
of pressure measurement, T denotes temperature, and F denotes flow). Test data was
recorded on the process computer at 5 second intervals over the last 15 minutes of a test.
All process measurements were sampled via analog to digital converters with an effective
resolution of 14 bits.
Deaerator Boiler
storage
feed
tank
pumps
Cold reheat
extraction
P,T
Feed water
regulating
valves
i-pr
e
[P,T
Drum
Economizer
T
T
To super
heater
PA
Feed water
heaters
Distillate
Reheater y
spray water
Superheater
spray water
From LP heaters
Figure 5.1
Boiler
water
circulating
pumps
Evaporator
The following list of operating requirements was drawn up from a plant health, test
integrity and plant safety point-of-view.
The permissible steam and metal temperatures were adhered to at all times.
A minimum steam flow of 40% (230 kg/s) was adhered to at all times.
The tests could be suspended at the request of the national load coordinator
The entire boiler and furnace were soot-blown prior to testing.
93
e)
g)
During all tests, automatic dispatch mode and frequency control was switched off.
Reheater
spray water
Superheater
spray water
T Reheater
Superheater
T,P
From
steam Primary
drum
T, P
Superheater
spray water
Figure 5.2
To IP
turbine
Final
T,P,F
Steam 11
extraction to
feed water
heaters
V
Gland
steam
leakage
Reheater
spray water
Initially, some difficulty was experienced with extracting the data from the process
computer and a large backlog of data accumulated over the first three days. It was decided
to postpone the first weekend's tests to the next week to allow time for the computer
personnel to clear the backlog.
At times the tests were suspended by the national dispatch control centre (National
Control) who requested full load from the unit due to power shortages on the system. As
94
the test loads became lower (3-mill tests), it became progressively more difficult to obtain
access from National Control for testing. Eventually, two days were lost due to National
Control not granting access to do the tests, due to high system demands. It was decided
to continue with the tests during the night - when the demand for load was less. Almost
no access problems were experienced during night testing.
Test 1.7 was done at full load due to power system requirements. The final test for the day,
Test 1.8 was cancelled on National Control's request. The last test on the third day, Test
3.8 was requested to be done at 430 MW and not at 402 MW as planned. A ninth
(unplanned) test was done on the same day, also at 430 MW. Test 7.1 was stopped due
to the very high demands it placed on the mills and consequent fuel and pressure cycling
that occurred on the unit.
While doing the 11th set of tests, the mills on the test unit started choking and blocking
due to coal that was wet as a result of an unexpected high rainfall. The tests were
suspended after the third test and was resumed only after seven days due to these
unfavourable wet coal conditions. When testing was resumed, the first three tests of day
11 were repeated and the remaining tests were run without problems. The series of tests
were completed on 15 March 1996. In total, 130 tests were done.
As said before, the process parameters for each test were recorded at 5 second intervals
over a period of 15 minutes after the boiler conditions had stabilised.' The data was
recorded on the process computer, from which it was transferred to a file server on the
station Local Area Network (LAN) via a serial communications link. From the station
LAN, the data was downloaded onto a Personal Computer (PC), and imported into
Quattro Pro spreadsheets [120], one spreadsheet for each test. A total of 2.2 million data
values were downloaded.
One of the requirements of the steady state tests was that all the test data had to be
95
captured under steady boiler conditions. This was verified for every test by making a plot
of key indicators of state over the 15 minute period of data recording. The variables plot
in this way were:
fuel flow
air flow
feed water and steam flow
superheater and reheater spray water flow
boiler pressure
final steam temperatures on superheater and reheater.
Although minor fluctuations were present in the data, the boiler had settled out prior to the
start of recording in all tests and all the data was deemed representative of the boiler under
steady state conditions.
During the data verification phase, it was noticed that only nine minutes of data were
downloaded for Test 1.4 and only five minutes of data for Test 2.7. However, due to the
steady state conditions that prevailed during data capture, the test data was in both cases
accepted as valid data. It was also noticed that some of the data points in Test 4.3 were
missing. Consequently, the entire data set from this test was rejected, bringing the number
of tests with valid data down to 129.
Average values
Once the data for each test was deemed representative of steady state'conditions, the
average of each data point was calculated. All the averages were compiled into a single
spreadsheet. The heat transfer was calculated using these average values of temperatures,
pressures and flow rates.
Heat transfer to all the boiler elements was calculated by calculating the difference in
enthalpy across an element and multiplying this with the flow rate through the element.
These calculations required the steam or water enthalpy at 26 positions between the
96
deaerator storage tank outlet and the IP turbine inlet for each of the 129 valid tests.
To calculate all the enthalpy (3354 in total), a special programme was written in C-H- [121]
to calculate the steam and water enthalpy. The calculations were based on the IFC
formulations of the thermodynamic properties of water for industrial use [122]. Spread
sheet columns containing pressure and temperature measurements were exported to this
programme, which then calculated the enthalpy of each pressure-temperature pair.
Enthalpy of boiling water and saturated steam were calculated from either temperature or
pressure. The set of enthalpy values was imported back into the spreadsheet where it was
used for calculating heat transfer rates to the various boiler components.
Independent calculations of heat transfer rate were done for all the following components:
Economizer
Evaporator
Left-hand primary superheater
Right-hand primary superheater
Left-hand secondary superheater
Right-hand secondary superheater
Left-hand final superheater
Right-hand final superheater
Left-hand reheater
Right-hand reheater
97
The first three graphs are discussed in the next section. Figure 5.3 shows the correlation
between total heat transfer and fuel flow of the 129 tests. The plot of total heat transfer
rate against fuel flow would have indicated any tests containing corrupt data sets.
1800
1600
2 1400
1
1200
t 1000
800
it-
600
40
50
60
70
80
Fuel flow [%]
90
100
110
Figure 5.3 Correlation between fuel flow and total heat gain was
obtained for all tests.
+10%, -10%
Superheater:
+20%, -20%
Reheater:
+30%, -20%
At this stage, it was already obvious that it was indeed possible to manipulate the
distribution of heat between the different boiler elements by adjusting the furnace elements.
It was expected that even larger heat shifts could be achieved if all furnace elements were
adjusted in tandem to obtain a specific effect.
98
800
tliii
PIES2111:1 1
MaitiliNININGPATal
600
200
200
250
LL
300
350
400
450
Steam Flow [kg/s]
Figure 5.4
500
550
600
Reheater
The Kendal burners are tilted via a pneumatic power cylinder controlled by pneumatic
positioners with mechanical position feedback. These units have been found to be
susceptible to calibration shifts which affect the actual tilt angle. The true burner tilt angle
is not electronically fed back to the boiler control system. Also, if a burner becomes
99
mechanically seized, the fault is not detected by the control equipment.
During the period of testing, burner A-2 was stuck at -22.5 for any setpoints greater than
-22.5. Some burners had large deviations from setpoint and virtually all burners were not
achieving the full 30 travel. Additional technician assistance was requested to check and
recalibrate burner tilt positioners with large offsets. Examples of three typical sets of
physical burner tilt angles for high, horizontal, and low tilt setpoints are shown below.
A
B
C
D
E
Table 5.2
CNR1
-18
-24
-24
-15
-22.5
CNR2
-26
-25
-26
-15
-20
CNR3
-26
-26
-26
-7.5
-26
CNR4
-26
-10
-24
-7.5
-17
A
B
C
D
E
Table 5.3
CNR1
6
3
2
,3
3
CNR2
-22.5
0
4
2
2
CNR3
5
2
0
3
-6
CNR4
3
5
3
0
5
Qcoo0 W
Table 5.4
CNR 1
27
20
24
23
25
CNR 2
-22.5
28
26
28
26
CNR 3
7.5
15
22.5
29
17
CNR 4..0
27
20
28
10
.28
To obtain representative data, the actual position of every burner in service was noted
during a plant inspection done as part of each test. The burner tilt angle used for modelling
was taken as the average of all the individual burner angles.
100
Some of the pressure and temperature measurements of the water inside the deaerator
storage tank converted to slightly superheated steam enthalpies. This could be expected,
since the vessel contains boiling water and saturated steam and small deviations on the
temperature and pressure measurements could very well indicate compressed water or
superheated steam. This problem could be overcome by using either one of the
measurements and assuming boiling conditions. It was decided to use the temperature
measurement to calculate the enthalpy of the water in the deaerator storage tank.
Due to the lower pressure of the reheater compared to the superheater, the reheater spray
water is extracted from the second stage of the main boiler feed pumps. The pressure and
temperature of the extraction are less than that of the pump discharge, and so will be the
enthalpy. Extraction temperature and pressure measurements were not available on the
plant, and so the actual enthalpy of the reheater spray water could not be determined from
measurements.
Plant measurements were available for calculating the inlet and discharge enthalpy of the
boiler feed pumps. Design heat flow diagrams prOduced by the turbine manufacturer show
a linear relationship between total enthalpy rise over the boiler feed pumps and enthalpy
rise from inlet to reheat spray water extraction [123]. These design sheets show that
36.9% of the enthalpy rise takes place before the spray water extraction point and the rest
thereafter, regardless of boiler load. It was assumed that these design calculations hold
true for the actual plant.
As the hot spray water is transported along the piping between the boiler feed pumps and
the spray water injection points, some heat loss will occur. No measurements were
available to obtain the actual spray water enthalpy before injection. The spray water lines
are clad with thermal insulation to keep the heat loss to a minimum, and the flow rate
through these lines are quite high, so the decrease in enthalpy can be expected to be small.
101
However, it is necessary to estimate the impact of heat loss on the spray water enthalpy.
The surface temperature of the superheater spray water pipe was measured through a small
hole in the thermal cladding at the boiler feed pump and at the desuperheater by means of
an infrared thermometer. The decrease in pressure along the line was assumed to be 1.1
MPa (although pressure has very little influence on the enthalpy of water). The calculated
enthalpy of the superheater spray water at the two positions is shown in Table 5.5.
Pressure
Temperature
Enthalpy
[MPa]
[t]
[kJ/kg]
20.1
177
760.2
Desuperheater inlet
19.0
170
729.4
Position
Table 5.5
Under this assumption, a decrease in spray water enthalpy of 30 kJ/kg occurred along the
spray water supply line. Since the spray water is heated and evaporated inside the
desuperheater, it is possible to express the heat loss in the piping as a percentage of the
heat of absorbed by the spray water. The enthalpy loss in the pipe equates to 1.5 % of the
heat absorbed in the desuperheater.
Thus, by neglecting the effect of heat loss in the spray water piping, an error of about
1.5 % will be induced in spray water flow calculations based on a heat bakince across the
desuperheater. This error on spray water flow rate is negligibly small in comparison to the
main steam flow rate. Because the heat loss in the superheater spray water supply piping
cannot be accurately determined and due to the very small effect on the process as a whole,
it was ignored in desuperheater heat balance calculations. On the same grounds, heat loss
in the reheater spray water supply piping was ignored.
The main steam flow rate signal recorded during the tests, is derived from the pressure
before the first stage blading on the HP turbine via a choked gas-flow calculation.
102
Therefore, it is not possible to obtain the main steam flow rate as individual left-hand and
right-hand flow rates from the recorded data. Knowing the steam flow on each of the two
individual flow paths is a prerequisite for making independent spray water flow rate
calculations for each desuperheater and it is also essential for heat transfer comparisons
between the two sides of the superheater.
It is natural to assume equal steam flow rates on the two sides of the superheater, but if
this assumption is false, large errors could be made in terms of heat transfer calculations
and spray water calculations. However, at Kendal, a backup steam flow measurement is
installed. This second steam flow measurement is based on the differential pressure across
the final stage of the superheater. As separate measurements exist for the left-hand and
right-hand superheater, these were used after the tests to compare the steam flow rate
through the two sides of the superheater.
No noticeable difference in steam flow rate existed between the left-hand and right-hand
superheater. It was therefore assumed that the steam flow rate at each superheater outlet
is equal to the main steam flow rate (as calculated from the steam pressure before the
turbine blading) divided by two.
Reheater steam flow rate is not measured at all. This flow differs from the main steam
flow due to steam leakage past the HP turbine gland seals, and also due to the extraction
of steam from the HP turbine exhaust. The steam extraction is used to heat the feed water
as part of the regenerative Rankine cycle.
There was no plant instrumentation to measure the steam leakage rate or other
measurements from which this value can be calculated. Therefore, the steam leakage rate
was estimated from values indicated on the turbine heat flow diagrams [123]. The
following simple linear relation between main steam flow and the design steam leakage was
established:
M
= 0.005194 m ans
(5.1)
103
where:
steam leakage rate
main steam flow rate
ma, =
To calculate the extraction steam flow rate, a heat balance calculation was done across the
feed water heater (Figure 5.5).
Extracted steam
m r, h Ue
Feed water
inlet
mh
Feed water
outlet
.11
Distillate
hd
The feed flow enters the heater, and is heated by the extracted steam. The heat balance
across the heater is described by Equation 5.2.
m a (ha
12,1) = mf (hro
hfi)
where:
ma
mf
ha
hd
hfi
(5.2)
104
Equation (5.2) may be rewritten to obtain the extraction steam flow rate:
mf (ho - hfi)
(her - hd
(5.3)
Due to the physical location of the available temperature and pressure sensors on the plant,
not all temperature and pressure measurements were available for solving Equation (5.3).
Therefore, the following assumptions were made:
The extraction steam pressure and temperature measurements were taken at the
turbine exhaust and not at the heater inlet. It wass assumed that no loss of
enthalpy occurred in the pipe between the turbine and the heater. This assumption
is supported in design sheets produced by the turbine manufacturer (Table 5.6).
Load
40 %
100 %
Pressure
Temperature
Enthalpy
[MPa]
[C]
[kJ/kg]
Turbine exhaust
1.6148
331.3
3105.5
Heater inlet
1.5629
330.8
3105.5
4.0997
331.2
3044.5
3.8946
329.1
3044.5
Position
Turbine exhaust
Heater inlet
Table 5.6
The distillate outlet pressure was not measured. Because of its small effect on the
enthalpy of water, it was assumed that the pressure difference between the steam
inlet and distillate outlet is negligible so that the extraction steam pressure may be
used for enthalpy calculations. Table 5/ indicates virtually no difference in
distillate enthalpy at the minimum and maximum pressures possible for the design
outlet temperature. Design temperatures were obtained from [123]. No distillate
outlet pressures are stated in the mentioned source.
105
Load
40 %
100 %
Table 5.7
c)
Distillate state
Pressure
Temperature
Enthalpy
[MPa]
[t]
[kJ/kg]
Compressed liquid
1.5629
164.1
693.83
Saturated liquid
0.6853
164.1
693.33
Compressed liquid
3.8946
205.2
876.71
Saturated liquid
1.7314
205.2
875.89
Distillate conditions.
The feed water inlet and outlet pressures were not measured, but the discharge
pressure of the feed water regulating valves upstream of the heaters was measured.
As with the distillate, it was assumed that the pressure difference across the heater
has a negligible effect on the enthalpy of the feed water. The measured feed water
pressure at the feed water regulating valve outlets could therefore be used to
calculate the feed water enthalpy at the heater discharge. Design pressure
differentials were obtained from the turbine design heat flow diagrams [123] and
the effect on enthalpy is negligable, as demonstrated in Table 5.8.
Load
Temperature
Enthalpy
[MPa]
[C]
[kJ/kg]
Actual [123]
19.836
247.0
1072.6
Pressure = inlet
20.106
247.0
Actual [123]
8.620
204.0
873.0
Pressure = inlet
8.680
204.0
837.2
at heater discharge
40 %
100 %
Table 5.8
Pressure -
:1072.7
Having made the three assumptions, the steam extraction rate could be calculated. Then
the steam extraction rate and the gland steam leakage were known and could be subtracted
from the measured main steam flow rate to obtain the flow rate of the cold reheat steam.
Similar to the superheater, the reheater is also divided into a left-hand and right-hand side.
106
No measurements on the plant existed to determine the flow distribution between the two
parts of the reheater. Based on the mechanical equivalence of the two sides of the
reheater, the assumption was made that each side carried an equal part of the total reheat
steam flow rate. The flow rate entering any one side of the reheater was set equal to one
half of the total cold reheat flow.
Steam pressure was measured at the superheater inlet (steam drum) and at the superheater
outlet. It is necessary that the steam pressure is known at each of the desuperheaters to
be able to calculate the steam enthalpy for heat balance calculations. But steam pressure
was not measured at the desuperheaters. Only a measurement of the pressure differential
across the final stage of the superheater existed additional to the drum pressure and the
final steam pressure.
0.25
0_
X
X
0.2
a)
X
X
x
0.15
To
Lc:
2
0
X
X
0.1
0.05
ca
a_
0
0
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.2
1.4
1.6
The pressure differential across the final superheater stage was measured and compared
to the total pressure differential across the entire superheater. A zero-zero origin was
107
assumed, related to the condition of no steam flow. A least squares gradient fit was
performed and a linear relation was found between the two pressure differentials (see
Figure 5.6).
With minor variations, 15% of the total pressure differential across the superheater occurs
in the final stage. The other 85% of the total pressure differential must then occur in the
primary superheater and secondary superheater. (The primary superheater refers to the
combination of all superheater stages before the primary desuperheater. The secondary
superheater refers to all superheater stages positioned between the primary desuperheater
and secondary desuperheater.)
Based on the linear relation between pressure differential in the final superheater stage and
total superheater, it was assumed that the pressure differential across all superheater stages
had a linear relation with total superheater pressure differential. The remaining 85% of
pressure differential occurring in the primary and secondary superheater stages was
assumed to be divided equally between these two stages, or 42.5% of the total pressure
differential per stage. If this assumption was not true, the enthalpy calculations at the
primary desuperheater would be less accurate. To test the extremes of the error possible,
one could argue that the pressure differential across the primary superheater can only lie
within 0% and 85% of total superheater pressure differential. If the pressure differential
across the primary superheater was one of these extremes, and not the assumed 42.5%, the
errors will be the largest (Table 5.9).
Load
Pressure
Temperature
Enthalpy
Error
[MPa]
[C]
[kJ/kg]
[kJ/kg]
0% of total
8.2
372
3055.2
6.2
85% of total
7.7
372
3067.5
-6.1
0% of total
18.2
401
2889.2
17.5
85% of total
17.1
401
2923.6
-16.9
Actual DP across
primary superheater
40 %
100 %
Table 5.9
108
The maximum error possible by assuming that the primary and secondary superheaters
carry an equal part of the pressure differential is 6.2 kJ/kg at 40% load and 17.5 kJ/kg at
MI load. These errors represent 0.36% and 1.5% of the total heat rise in the first stage
superheater at 40% and 100% load, respectively. (As the extremes mentioned above are
mechanically not possible, the real error is much smaller than the 0.36% and 1.5%.) The
error due to this assumption is therefore quite small, and the assumption holds true.
Based on the above argument, the assumption was also made that the any difference in
pressure across the desuperheaters will have a negligible effect on steam enthalpy and may
be ignored.
109
Spray water
m
I Steam out
Steam in
m
h gPr
Desuperheater
m; h o
ho
kor
h,
m,
/j
spr
(5.4)
= M. + M spr
(5.5)
For the superheater, all the enthalpy can be calculated, but only the superheater outlet
steam flow is known. Thus:
rn = m0 - m ap
(5.6)
Equations (5.2) and (5.4) may now be combined to form EqUation (5.5), relating
desuperheater spray water flow rate desuperheater outlet flow.
110
m s pr
mo (ho h)
(5.7)
(h h
Once the spray water flow rate was known for the second stage desuperheater, it was
subtracted from the outlet steam flow rate to obtain the nett.inlet steam flow rate. The
inlet steam flow rate equals the outlet steam flow rate for the first stage desuperheater.
The superheater inlet flow rate was determined in the same way.
Unlike the superheater where the outlet steam flow was known, the reheater inlet steam
flow was known. Equations (5.2) and (5.3) can be combined to form Equation (5.6);
relating reheater spray water flow rate to enthalpy and the desuperheater inlet flow as
follows:
. mi (h. h)
mspr
(5.8)
(ho h sp)
The above methods were used to calculate the desuperheater spray water flow rates to all
four superheater desuperheaters and the two reheater desuperheaters individually.
It was noted that, on both superheater and reheater, discrepancies existed between the
measured quantity of spray water and the quantity calculated by means of:a heat balance
across the desuperheaters (Figures 5.8 and 5.9). It was important to identify the cause(s)
of the discrepancies before deciding on which method to use as the best representation of
the actual spray water flow rate. Three discrepancies were evident:
a)
The superheater spray water flow measurement was offset by 10 kg/s from zero.
This flow discrepancy resulted from a permanent leakage of measured spray water
to the economizer inlet. No isolating valves were present on the spray water
warming lines, resulting in a continuous flow to the economizer (Figure 5.10).
111
.7;80
at 70
....0-...
60
50
-
e-
>,40
..1-
.
2- 30
4C-
92 20
en
co
a) 1 0
2 0
10 20
30 40
50
60
Calculated spray water flow [kg/s]
70
7;30
c.
x, 20
co
>,
u) 10
E'
co
co
a)
2 0
sx
Figure 5.9
10
20
30
40
50
Calculated spray water flow [kg/s]
Reheater spray water flow measurement.
60
112
Feed flow
measurement
'Feed regulating .
valve
The leakage flow rate would have been dependent on the pressure differential
between spray water and economizer inlet, which, in turn, depended on the
differential pressure across the feed water regulating valve and the pressure loss
in the spray water line. These variables vary somewhat during the regulation of
drum level and steam temperature and will cause a slight variation in leakage flow
rate. This variation in leakage flow rate could account for the larger variation on
errors between measured and calculated spray water flows evident on the
superheater as compared to the smaller variations evident on the reheater. The
reheater desuperheater supply line had no warming lines connected to it.
b)
The calculation-to-measurement ratio was 0.55 for the superheater and 1.2 for the
reheater. The ratio should ideally have been 1.00 for both. The error could have
113
resulted from thermocouple drift, flow measurement orifice calibration errors, or
in the case of the superheater (because the calculation showed less flow than
measured) incomplete evaporation of the spray water at the position of the
thermocouple pocket.
The calibration of the flow measurement orifices could not be verified because
design data was not available. However, because it was the only*other possibility
that remained, calibration errors on the desuperheater flow measurements were
assumed to be the cause of the calculation-to-measurement ratio not being unity.
c)
The superheater spray water flow measurement saturated at 70 kg/s. This was as
a result of reaching the upper limit on the differential pressure transmitter.
Considering the above three points, determining the desuperheater spray water flow rate
by means of heat balance calculations across the desuperheater appears to be a more
114
accurate method than the orifice and pressure differential method. Therefore, the spray
water flow quantity used for modelling and control was calculated by means of a heat
balance calculation across each of the desuperheaters.
5.3.10
Based on the chemical composition of the coal burnt, a specific amount of air is needed for
combustion. The ratio of air-to-fuel chemically required for combustion is called the
stoichiometric air/fuel ratio. Kendal has a design stoichiometric air-fuel ratio of 6.34 kg
air per kg fuel [36].
Under ideal conditions, stoichiometric air-fuel combustion will consume all the fuel and all
the oxygen. In practice, boilers are run at a air-fuel ratio higher than stoichiometric to
assist combustion efficiency [4]. Under these conditions the excess oxygen cannot be
consumed and a certain percentage of oxygen will be present in the flue gas. Neglecting
the minor effects of CO and NQ on the concentration of 0 2 in flue gas, it can be shown
that the theoretical relationship between 0 2 concentration in flue gas and the ratio of
stoichiometric air flow to actual air flow is described by Equation 5.9.
115
As
(5.9)
CO2F = 21 (1 - A A )
where:
Co2F =
AA
As
Equation (5.9) can be rewritten to obtain the ratio ofA s I A A in terms of Co2p.
AS
C02F
=1-
AA
(5.10)
21
Both sides of Equation (5.10) may be inverted to obtain the ratio of actual air flow to
stoichiometric air flow in terms of oxygen concentration in flue gas.
AA
As
1 - C02F 1 21
(5.11)
Large discrepancies were found between the calculated and measured ratios of A 4 I As
(Figure 5.11).
1.4
x
x
x
To'
E
0
E 1.25
x
'Sc
YXX
:Et 1.15
le
x
xt X,T 0 .1.
X X
,f, xr.,
x x
iee
se
a x
<
4c )a...
/le
xx
K
co 1.2
x
x
>cx
X
x
x 54 a
1.3
x%
X
)4 X
X
x
X X
XX
X
XX
1.05
2
2.5
3.5
4.5
5.5
116
Discrepancies between calculated and measured 0 2 in flue gas may be caused by any
combination of:
Inaccurate 0 2 concentration measurement
The 02 concentration in flue gas was measured via two Zirconium-based sensors,
one located on each side of the flue gas duct, above the air heater.
Inaccurate fuel flow measurement
Steady state mill fuel flow was measured based on the speeds of the two
volumetric coal feeders located above each mill. Transient fuel flow measurement
will be discussed later.
Inaccurate air flow measurement
The total air flow measurement comprised the sum of primary air flow and
secondary air flow. Primary air flow was measured by means a duct venturi
located upstream of each mill. Secondary air flow was derived from a differential
pressure measurement on the inlet of each of the two secondary air fans and a
precalibrated curve.
Accuracy of 0 2 measurement
The accuracy of the 0 2 concentration measurement was tested and reported on earlier in
the life of the power station [124]. The conclusion drawn in the report was that the
Zirconium-based 0 2 measurement, as well as the plant installation was sufficient for
accurate measurement.
117
700
'600
2
Fo 500
O
ro 400
C
6) 300
200
40
50
60
70
80
Fuel flow [%]
90
100 110
Errors in fuel flow measurement could be expected, since the coal throughput of a
volumetric feeder is dependent on coal density. Fuel flow in Figure 5.12 actually refers to
the energy input into the boiler which is also affected by the calorific value of the coal.
The Kendal boiler controls did have a long term correction, called fuel factor, that adjusted
the fuel measurement so that the ratio of generator load to fuel measurement equated to
686 MW : 100 %. The fuel factor was automatically corrected by integrating the fuel flow
excess / deficit with a time constant of 68 minutes and a dead band of about 32 MW. (The
fuel factor adjustment was more complex than described here, but for the:purpose of this
discussion, the above explanation is sufficient.) Variations in coal density and calorific
value, combined with the slow correction rate and dead band, could have resulted in the
deviations evident in Figure 5.12, but it needed to be established whether this was the
cause of the discrepancies between measured and calculated A A / A s.
If the large discrepancies between measured and calculated air flow rates were caused by
the erroneous fuel flow measurement, it should be possible to reduce the discrepancies if
fuel flow is calculated from generator load rather than measured incorrectly from the plant.
The fuel flow can be calculated based on the ratio of 686 MW = 100 % fuel. To test this,
118
measured and calculated AA ' A s were again plotted against 02 in flue gas, but this time the
stoichiometric air flow rate A s was calculated using the fuel flow value derived from
generator load (Figure 5.13).
1.4
K
y
X
X
X X
X
:cT
x.
>k *
sr ' I
1.15
.
x e.
-37
.
,-,
X
EP
X
"%N.
'. X SO.
Or
:<1 flee
' X
gek
._,
XX
.x
_
x.
.
....
)..-.
X X
,x
5\
!,
1.05
2
2.5
3.5
4
4.5
Oxygen in flue gas [%]
x Measured . Calculated
5.5
Figure 5.13 Air flow vs 02 in flue gas with fuel flow derived
from generator load.
Large discrepancies between measured and calculated A 4 I A s still existed, indicating that
the errors did not originate with fuel flow measurement. Since 0 2 and fuel flow
measurement errors have been ruled out to a large extent, the problem must be related to
the air flow measurement.
119
To establish the integrity of the secondary air flow measurement, the difference in air flow
signals from the two fans were calculated for each heat distribution test. The result is
shown in Figure 5.14.
10
5
0
-5
-10
15
I NIi
II III II I ICI 1 HI III 1 III 111111 1 III 1 I H11111111111111111 1 1 11 ' II
I 11111 IIINJIIIIIL 111111111i II 111111i1I I 11.111111ill 111111111111 1 11111 HI
1 1 1 III' I 1 1 1 1
1
I'
I
1
l' 11
1
11 1
III 1
1 '
20
Test #
Figure 5.14 Normalized difference between LH and RH air flow measurements.
Figure 5.14 shows large and erratic differences in air flow measurements taken from two
similar fans operating with similar inlet vane positions. Consequently, it was deemed to
be errors on air flow measurement that contribtited most toward the discrepancies noted
earlier between measured and calculated air flow rates. This was an important observation
which ruled out the use of air flow rate in the boiler modelling process.
5.3.11
The calorific value of the coal burnt during the heat distribution tests were tested on a daily
basis. A maximum variation of 10% in calorific value was observed. The lowest tested
calorific value was 19.0 MJ/kg while the highest was 21.0 MJ/kg. No on-line
measurement of calorific value existed, so it was not possible to do direct compensation
on the mill fuel flow signals.
120
assumption was made that all mills burned fuel with the same calorific value, so that the
fuel factor could be used to correct their respective fuel flows.
In practice, different mills could have burned coal with different calorific values, because
mill bunkers are filled one at a time, and not all at once. If the coal quality changes,
different bunkers will contain variations in coal quality while the fuel factor would have
been adjusted to the average coal quality. Unfortunately, no better way of compensation
existed.
= f (R)
where:
aff,
Modelled
heat transfer
to boiler
elements
.Inputs from
furnace
elements
Neural network
furnace to boiler
heat transfer model
121
Various aspects of neural network modelling as well as the training and testing procedure used
during the modelling phase will be discussed next.
The weights were automatically adjusted after completion of every training run.
Histograms of the weight values were then updated. The histograms were used as an
indication of the degree of saturation of the neural network (weights saturating at -8 or
+8), which in turn, indicates that the neural network is too small [83] (this reference refers
to a neural network with a high degree of saturation as being brain dead) During the
training session, the weights of the neural network were saved to a file every 50 training
runs so that an optimum set of weights could be selected afterwards.
122
neural network was learning specific data sets while its generalization capabilities were
decreasing [83].
0.1
0.08
i.
0.06
a)
cn
2 0.04
Testing
Training
0.02
0
Training cycles (1-6000)
Figure 5.16 Error on test data increases after many training runs.
Figure 5.16 shows atypical training session. Initially, the training and testing errors are
very large, but these reduce rapidly during the first few training runs The error on training
data is (as expected) lower than the error on testing data. The averages of both errors
decrease until, after many training runs, the error on testing data starts to increase due to
the loss of generalization. A neural network selected from the area of minimum error on
testing data was deemed to have the best input-output mapping (although this was not
proved). Since the network weights were saved every 50 training runs, the network
closest to the minimum RMS error on testing data was selected as the final result of the
training session.
123
Once the "best" set of neural network weights was identified, it was loaded into the
Brainmaker neural network software. The entire set of test data (129 points) was run
through the network without training while the neural network outputs were written to a
file and imported into a spreadsheet. There the neural network model outputs were
compared to values measured on the plant during testing, and the error was established.
In this way, the modelling errors from different networks could be compared on a test-bytest basis.
Thirty different feedforward neural network architectures were tested to obtain the
optimum nonlinear mapping of the furnace input elements to the boiler output elements.
As no firm network sizing theory has been established, experimentation with different
neural network sizes was the best way to obtain the smallest neural network that still had
good accuracy. The network sizes tested, ranged between zero and 160 hidden neurons
in zero to three hidden layers. Every layer had one bias neuron of which the output was
set to unity.
Output neurons.
For example: 7:15:5:3, refers to a neural network with two hidden layers, 7 input neurons,
15 neurons in the first hidden layer, 5 neurons in the second hidden layer, and 3 output
neurons. The bias neurons are not indicated, but it may be assumed every layer, except the
output later, has one bias neuron
The neural networks that were tested had similar inputs, but their internal structures and
outputs were different. The next few sections deal with the input, structure, and output
of the various neural network models that were tested.
Inputs
The input vector (u) to the heat transfer model comprised the furnace elements that
affected heat transfer rate of heat distribution. These were the furnace elements
124
manipulated during the heat distribution tests. The same seven inputs were used during
all tests and across all the network topologies. The input vector had the following
manipulated furnace elements:
0 % - 115 %
2.3 % - 5.5 %
-30 - 30
The mill fuel flows were corrected by multiplying them with the fuel factor before being
used as inputs. In this way, abetter representation of energy input could be obtained with
changing coal calorific values. The concentration of 0 2 in flue gas was used as input in
place of the total air flow measurement, because of the poor accuracy and repeatability of
the latter. The average of all the burner tilt angles, as measured on the plant, was used for
the burner tilt angle input.
125
Networks of various sizes were trained with this output configuration. The smallest RMS
error on test data for some network sizes are tabulated below. Although the average RMS
error over all outputs was not excessively high, large, unrepeatable errors were evident
when comparing the individual model outputs to calculated heat transfer rates. In some
cases, errors in superheater component model outputs were as large as 50%. However,
when the sum of the heat transfer rates to all superheater components were compared to
the sum of these model outputs, the errors were more acceptable.
Network architecture
7:21:10
5.13%
7:50:10
4.75%
7:28:36:10
4.45%
Table 5.10
The reason for the poor modelling accuracy could be that the individual boiler components
receive different air flow streams that vary in velocity and temperature (especially on the
superheater) and the size of the components are not large enough to represent an average
heat transfer. Small changes in burner tilt angle disturb these flow patterns and thereby
have a large, almost random effect on heat transfer to the individual components.
This was observed in practice too, where the right-hand side of the reheater requires more
desuperheating than the left-hand side for certain burner tilt angles, and less for other
angles. If these large differences in heat transfer are still present in the back-end of the
boiler, it must also be present at the furnace outlet where most of the superheater heat
transfer takes place.
As the intended use of the neural network model was for the control of heat transfer to the
superheater and reheater, it was not necessary to model the heat transfer to every
individual component. The heat transfer to the superheater as a whole and reheater as a
whole was of prime importance. Due to the high errors, and no real need for the ten
individual heat transfer outputs, this model was not developed any further.
126
Heat transfer to grouped boiler elements
The objective of the heat distribution controller was to control the heat transfer to the
reheater and superheater. The minimum outputs required from the heat transfer model are
therefore heat transfer to the superheater and heat transfer to the reheater. Based on the
minimum requirements and on the large errors obtained with the previous model, it was
decided to group the heat transfer rates to all the individual superheater components into
one variable and similarly, heat transfer to the reheater components into one variable. For
the sake of completeness and ease of error detection, heat transfer rates to the economizer
and evaporator were also grouped to obtain one variable.
The new neural network model still had the same input vector described previously, but
the output vector (g,,,) had only thiee outputs namely:
Evaporator heat transfer rate
Superheater heat transfer rate
Reheater heat transfer rate
Networks of various sizes with the grouped outputs were trained on the same training and
testing data as before, using the same procedure. Best run RMS errors for different
network sizes are given below in Table 5.11. " The increase in error with the very large
network is probably due to a decrease in the generalization ability of the network.
Network size
7:15:3
5.17 %
7:50:3
4.05 %
7:14:6:3
4.70 %
127
Size
Individual components
7:50:10
4.750
Grouped components
7:50:3
4.054
Output Characteristic
Table 5.12
The model output errors for all 129 tests are shown in Figure 5.17 for the best 7:50:3
network. Modelling errors on the reheater output are noticeably larger than that of the
evaporator and superheater. Similar observation were also made in practice during
reheater steam temperature controller tuning. The reheater seemed to "act differently"
from day to day and between consecutive tests.
0.3
0.2
Evaporator
Superheater
Reheater
0.2
0.3
Tests 1 to 129
Figure 5.17 7:50:3 neural network model output errors for all tests.
128
hidden neurons to compare the results with that from the one 7:15:3 network obtained
previously. No major difference in accuracy was noted between the single network model
and the three network model (Table 5.13).
Error [%]
Output Characteristic
Grouped components
Three networks
Table 5.13
Size
Evaporator
Superheater
Reheater
Average
7:15:3
3.00
3.70
8.81
5.17
7:5:1 (3)
2.88
4.08
8.80
5.26
When changing boiler load, variations in absolute heat transfer are far greater than
variations in relative heat transfer. Inaccuracies in a model of absolute heat transfer (as
done up to now), may then overshadow the subtle changes in relative heat transfer. Since
the total boiler heat transfer rate is proportional to fuel flow, this need not be modelled.
What needs to be modelled are the changes in heat transfer of the individual components,
relative to total heat transfer. In this way the model will be trained on variations in heat
distribution which can be superimposed on the linear (relative to fuel flow) heat transfer
rate.
This scheme was tested by training a neural network model on outputs expressed as a ratio
of total heat transfer.
129
Y m=
(5.13)
f(u)
where:
r,
Once the network was trained, the model outputs were multiplied by boiler efficiency and
total heat discharge rate (derived from fuel flow rate and the heating value of the fuel) to
obtain the absolute heat transfer rate to the individual boiler components.
gm
'C
(5.14)
m q qf
where:
qf
77
Errors between modelled and actual heat transfer rates were much lower with the relative
heat transfer model than with the absolute heat transfer model (Table 5.14).
Error [/0]
Output Characteristic
Size
Evaporator
Superheater
Reheater
Average
7:15:3
3.00
3.70
8.81
5.17
7:15:3
2.33
2.20
5.46
3.33
Table 5.14
130
Because the sum of the model outputs should be 1.00, it should be possible to correct any
deviations from unity by proportionally adjusting the model outputs. This was done by
setting the corrected model outputs equal to the individual model outputs divided by the
sum of the model outputs.
an
am, =
(5.15)
rm
where:
vector of corrected modelled heat transfer rates
effIC
r,
Since this correction was used to adjust outputs of a trained neural network, it did not
affect the training of the networks. The same networks that had been trained previously
on relative heat transfer rates could have the output correction done. Table 5.15 indicates
the improvement in accuracy achieved with output correction.
Error [%]
Output Characteristic
Size
Evaporator
Superheater
Reheater
Average
7:15:3
2.33 7
2.20
5.46
3.33
Relative + correction
7:15:3
1.86
1.96
4.64
2.82
Table 5.15
With the heuristically motivated adjustments made to the heat transfer model, it was
possible to decrease the average RMS error from 5.3 % to 2.8 % for similar sized
networks. The heat transfer model with corrected relative heat transfer outputs was the
most accurate configuration achieved with the neural network model, and for this reason,
it was the configuration used in the heat distribution controller.
Figures 5.18, 5.19, and 5.20 compare output errors across the 129 data sets for the last
three neural network configurations shown in Table 5.16.
131
Output Characteristic
Size
Individual components
7:21:10
5.13
Three networks
7:5:1 (3)
5.26
Grouped components
7:15:3
5.17
7:15:3
3.33
Relative + correction
7:15:3
2.82
Table 5.16
Error [%]
Output Characteristic
Size
Evaporator
Superheater
Reheater
Average
Relative + correction
7:30:15:3
1.971
1.938
4.654
2.85
Relative + correction
7:15:10:3
1.846
2.058
4.662.=
2.86
Relative + correction
7:15:3
1.861
1.961
4.641'
2.82
Relative + correction
7:10:3
2.519
2.709
5.380
3.54
Relative + correction
7:5:3
2.424
2.326
5.591
3.45
Table 5.17
132
0.3
0.2
Evaporator
Superheater
E
8-0.1
Reheater
-0.2
-0.3
Tests 1 to 129
0.3
0.2
Evaporator
SS
To
Superheater
Reheater
-0.2
-0.3
Tests 1 to 129
0.3
0.2
Evaporator
Superheater
Reheater
-0.2
-0.3
Tests 1 to 129
133
Mapping discrepancies
One point of concern toward the final stages of selecting an optimum network was
discrepancies in the input-output mapping of identical networks with different
initializations. This became apparent only after the spreadsheet model was available and
testing the networks was simpler.
To demonstrate the discrepancies, three sets of weights were obtained for three 7:15:3
networks initialized differently. These weights were loaded into the software model
(Appendix C) where five similar input scenarios were entered and the outputs noted. The
input scenarios were: burner tilt angle at 0 0, 02 at 3.5 %, all mills in service with four at
50 % load and the other mill at 100%. Each of the five scenarios had a different mill
loaded to 100%. Irregular and sometimes large discrepancies in modelled heat transfer
rates were observed (Table 5.18).
Heat to Evaporator
Weights set 1
Weights set 2
Weights set 3
694
702
688
Weights set 1
Weights set 2
Weights set 3
709
835
677
Weights set 1
Weights set 2
Weights set 3
Heat to Superheater
Heat to Reheater
516
526
536
288
303
273
503
473
553
286
224
267
731
737
717
504
528
510
262
268
270
Weights set 1
Weights set 2
Weights set 3
736
738
719
481
527
500
,/ 281
vz 267
277
Weights set 1
Weights set 2
Weights set 3
742
749
735
491
527
496
265
256
266
After this observation was made, many more 7:15:3 neural networks were initialised
randomly and trained in the same fashion. One neural network was then selected on the
basis of an average representation of heat transfer rates.
134
Although the neural network model needs less prior plant information than analytical or
state-space techniques, the process of obtaining the "best" model proved to be quite time
consuming. It may be remarked that much of the process of training, evaluating, and
selecting an optimum neural network could be automated by means of a computer
programme.
135
When properly tuned, conventional feedback control can regulate steam temperatures
adequately under steady state conditions. This is an idealistic case since various process
disturbances will affect the steam temperature. Examples of these disturbances are: fuel
type, burner tilt angle, excess air, blowdown, steam bleed, load ramps and coal mill
changes / trips. Some of the disturbances may affect the steam temperature much quicker
than the feedback control is able to respond, causing temperature excursions. The most
severe steam temperature excursions originate from disturbances in load and firing system
(see Page 48). Both of these are measurable disturbances. If the effect of the disturbances
on heat transfer or on steam temperature can be predicted in advance, appropriate control
actions can be calculated and executed with minimal disturbance on steam temperature.
An advanced steam temperature controller should have an appropriate process model that
can predict the effects of a disturbance. The controller must also have some algorithm to
calculate the appropriate control action for cancelling out the effect of the disturbances.
Ideally a process model should be used to predict the effect of the control actions too so
that the controller can balance the effect of the control action to that of the disturbance.
136
Figure 6.1 shows the broad structure of a model-based predictive controller. Two models
predict the effects of the disturbances and control actions, respectively. A comparator
feeds the difference between the two predictions to a controller, that calculates a control
action which aims to balance the control and disturbance effects. As a secondary
regulation action, any differences between the real process variables and their respective
setpoints are fed back to the controller.
---jaControl
Disturb.
effect
i-74(-:
effect
model
model
Disturbances
4
Set Points
00
+ _A
Controller
Process
Control signals
Regulated
process
variables
The nonlinear modelling and control capabilities of neural networks have already been
motivated. Based on these capabilities and on the documented successes with neural
networks in nonlinear control applications, it seems feasible to employ neural network
technology for creating the process model and controllers for steam temperature control.
137
The main requirement for using neural network technology (other than an appropriate
controller structure) is that the network must be trained on masses of data. This data is
already available during normal running of the power plant but can also be acquired during
special tests (as done in this case). An advantage with doing special tests is that, when
properly planned, many plant and process characteristics may be extracted over a relatively
short time duration.
Changes in boiler parameters due to boiler tube sooting, changes in coal properties,
variations in feed water temperature etc. necessitates that the steam temperature controller
is adaptable to sustain optimum control. The mechanism of adaptation is to compare the
output of a process model or a controller to some desired output. Adjustments are then
made to some parameters internal to the model or controller to drive the difference to zero
(Figure 6.2).
Inuts
Model or
Actual output
Figure 6.2
For any arbitrary steam flow rate, some design rates of heat transfer to the superheater and
reheater exist (Figure 6.3). The design heat transfer rates are adequate to raise the
enthalpy of the steam and obtain the desired outlet steam temperatures. Deviations from
138
design heat transfer rates would cause temperature deviations had it not been for the
closed loop automatic control system keeping steam temperatures at setpoint. Since the
rate of closed loop control action is dictated by the long process time constants (5 - 10
minutes), the closed loop correction is quite slow.
800
2
600
iL5
ai 400
t
200
a)
----
100
200
300
400
Steam flow rate [kg/s]
500
600
Reheater
Large disturbances can occur on the fire side of the boiler. Disturbances like load ramps
and mill trips were shown to cause substantial temperature excursions due to a large and
almost instant change in the distribution of the heat discharge. These rapid changes in heat
distribution are the cause of steam temperature excursions.
Since the major disturbances all occur on the fire-side, i.e. rapid changes in mill firing rate,
it would be beneficial to eliminate it at the source. It may not be possible to prevent mill
trips and load changes, but it may be possible to maintain a constant heat flow rate to the
superheater and reheater. Many control elements exist in the furnace for manipulating heat
distribution. These are. the individual mill firing rates, furnace air flow rate, and burner tilt
angle. Maintaining design heat transfer rates to the superheater and reheater will improve
steam temperature regulation.
From a temperature control perspective, it is not necessary to maintain design heat flow
139
to the evaporator because disturbances there, will not directly affect steam temperatures.
During load up-ramps an excess in heat flow exists due to over-firing. It is desirable to
direct the excess heat to the evaporator to assist the boiling process. In doing so, heat
transfer to the superheater and reheater can be kept to design (based on steam flow) to
prevent temperature increases. During down-ramps a deficit in heat flow rate exists due
to under-firing. Then heat must be directed away from the evaporator to the superheater
and reheater in order to maintain steam temperatures. Directing the heat away from the
evaporator will also reduce boiling and assist in decreasing the steam flow rate.
140
between mills, changing the burner tilt angle, and manipulating furnace air flow, the heat
distribution between the evaporator, superheater and reheater can be influenced.
The standard boiler controls are configured so that all mills in service are fired equal,
burner tilt angle is determined according to mill combination (see page 37), furnace air
flow demand is calculated from fuel flow rate and 0 2 setpoint, and the latter basically
follows a predefined curve with some correction for reheater temperature condition. The
OHD controller was designed to intercept these control signals, predict the resultant heat
distribution, compare the distribution with design values, correct the control signals if
necessary, and pass them on to the cascade controllers (Figure 6.4). Should the available
control elements not allow total correction of heat transfer, the OHD design allowed for
the utilisation of feedforward signals to the desuperheater controllers to do the necessary
preventative adjustments to the spray water flow rate.
Existing
feedback steam
temperature
control
Desuperheater
control signals
Boiler
heated
and
control
elements
Desuperheater
feedforward
signals
Individual mill
fuel demands
Fuel demand
Existing boiler
pressure, air flow,
and burner tilt
controls
0, set point
Burner tilt set point
Optimal heat
distribution
controller
Furnace
control
elements
Figure 6.4
141
temperature controllers would therefore remain active for normal temperature regulation.
However, should a mill trip or a load ramp start, the furnace elements will be manipulated
by the OHD controller to maintain the design heat transfer rate to the superheater and
reheater. The OHD action was designed to be an open loop controller. Model
inaccuracies and unmodelled disturbances leading to steam temperature deviations will be
trimmed out by the normal closed loop steam temperature controls.
Requirements of predicting the heat transfer rate via a nonlinear model were satisfied by
using the neural network model trained on real boiler data. Inputs to the neural network
were conditions on the furnace side (mill firing rates, 0 2 measurement, and burner tilt
angle) and outputs were the predicted heat transfer rate to the boiler components
(evaporator, superheater, and reheater). The predicted heat transfer rates were obtained
via the neural network as functions of the furnace conditions:
qep = fe(furnace conditions)
(6.1)
(6.2)
(6.3)
where:
predicted heat discharge to evaporator
predicted heat discharge to superheater
gsp
142
f,
(6.4)
qsd
= fsd( n ins)
(6.5)
qrd
= frd(n..)
(6.6)
where:
qed
qsd
qd
and
fed
frd
rnms
fed
Effect of disturbance
The predicted and design heat transfer rates were compared to obtain the predicted effect
of a disturbance. Figure 6.5 shows the basic configuration of the nonlinear error predictor.
143
Any disturbance in the furnace conditions shows up as an error in heat transfer rate.
e e = qed
qq)
es
qsd
gsp
er
qrd
qrp
(6.7)
(6.8)
(6.9)
where:
heat discharge error to evaporator
ee
es
er
0 2 measurement
Evaporator error ).
-
Su erheater error
eheater erroio_
Figure 6.5
Once the predicted heat transfer errors are available, the new control action must be
calculated. The backpropagation technique was already motivated as a practical and easily
applied way to obtain the derivatives of the error on the inputs of the model. With a neural
network as the process controller, the error derivatives can be backpropagated through the
controller network and its weights adjusted accordingly. In the case of OHD control
where a feedforward action must be calculated to counteract fire-side disturbances, the
144
error derivatives may be used directly to adjust the control elements.
Problem statement
A vector of fire-side control signals must be obtained, which will minimize an index of
temperature excursions, J. Also called a cost function, J, must be chosen in such a way
that, through its minimization, the errors between the design heat transfer rates and the
predicted heat transfer rates will also be minimized. A convenient choice of J is the sum
of the square of the errors in heat transfer rate.
1
J = (ti e 2
ee
2
ases2 +
at?)
(6.10)
where:
ae
as
a,
The gain factors allow for changes to be made in the relative importance of errors on
different components. For example, by setting a, = 0, heat transfer errors to the
evaporator will be ignored. Equation 6.10 can be minimized by backpropagating the errors
through the heat transfer model and adjusting the control elements in the direction of the
partial derivatives [76].
Backpropagation
Derivatives
.4
-4
Errors
firin g r ates_
Evaporator
S2 meas urement
Superheater
Reheater
Neural network
heat transfer model
Figure 6.6
145
Calculate the design heat transfer rate to all boiler elements, based on the main
steam flow and a set of design curves.
Set biassing on all OHD control elements to zero. This removes OHD control
alterations and restores the existing boiler control signals. (The control signals are
not passed on to the plant yet) .
Calculate the heat transfer rate based on the boiler control signals plus biasses by
means of the neural network heat transfer model.
Calculate the errors in heat transfer and adjust these through multiplication by the
respective gain factors (a, = 0, a
= 5, a,. = 5).
If the sum of the adjusted errors is less than a predefined limit (3Mi/s), go to Step
10.
If the decrease in sum of adjusted errors from the previous iteration is less than a
predefined limit (1.5 AN), go to Step 10.
Backpropagate the adjusted errors through the heat transfer model to obtain the
error derivatives with respect to the network inputs (control elements).
Add the error derivatives to the respective control element biasses.
If the number of iterations through this routine exceeds a predefined limit (50), go
to Step 10.
Go to Step 3.
Output the boiler control signals plus biasses to the control elements or secondary
controllers.
This routine minimizes the heat transfer error by adjusting the control elements based on
the backpropagation algorithm. Whenever a control element is placed in manual control,
its bias is reset to zero before every iteration and the feedback signal (mill fuel flow,
measured 02, etc) is used as input to the neural network model.
Running on a 100 MHZ Pentium PC, one thousand iterations, each consisting of the
feedforward neural network calculation, the backpropagation routine, and control signal
adjustments, could be executed in 220 ms with a neural network size of 7:15:3.
146
With the gain factors set to 5 (as indicated above), the optimization procedure converged
within 25 to 30 iterations. Figure 6.7 shows the bias development during the iterations of
an optimization run of a simulated load ramp. Figure 6.8 shows the consequent reduction
in errors.
40
30
20
a 10
0
cti
di -10
C
w
-20
-30
-40
Iterations (1 to 25)
A Mill 02 C Mill D-Mill E Mill Tilts
Figure 6.7
800
123 700
7600
:7500
2400
03
"a 300
0 200
I
100
Iterations (1 to 25)
Evaporator Superheater Reheater
Figure 6.8
A disadvantage of using the backpropagation of error method is that, since the algorithm
147
is based on gradient descent and because the error surface may possess multiple local
minima, the. optimization routine may converge to a solution which is locally, but not
globally optimal [114]. This did happen in practice, and will be discussed later. It was also
said earlier that the heat transfer model has no defined inverse because many input
conditions may exist for the same output condition. This argument still holds, but since
the control element biasses are all set to zero when the optimization routine starts, the
algorithm will converge to the solution closest to the initial conditions. This is desirable,
because in practical terms this means that the solution requiring the least biassing will be
obtained. It is desirable to bias power plant control elements as little as possible to reduce
wear and tear on the plant and minimize maintenance costs.
The fuel flow rate optimisation was done iteratively by executing the following steps:
Add the mill bias signals to the original (unbiassed) mill demands.
Adjust all biasses that cause mill demands to exceed upper or lower limits.
If number of iterations exceed a predefined value (100), go to Step 9.
Calculate sum of biassed mills demands.
Subtract sum of biassed mill demands from total fuel demand to obtain file! error.
If fuel error is smaller than a predefined margin (0.1%), go to Step 9.
Add fuel error to all mill biasses.
148
Go to Step 1.
Output biassed mill demands to the individual mill fuel controllers.
Fuel flow rate of any mills running in manual mode were taken into account by using the
mill fuel flow feedback signal, and no bias adjustments were made to the setpoints of these
mills.
If the total fuel demand exceeded the capacity of all mills, Step 6 would never be true and
the algorithm would never terminate, therefore the inclusion of Step 3. This modification
was made after a live test during which OHD control was shut down by the unit controls
while doing a downward ramp at low load. The unit pressure controller requested less fuel
than achievable with all mills at minimum fuel demand. The fuel flow optimizer then
continued looping through, because the total fuel demand and individual mill demands
could not be matched. While stuck in this loop, a watchdog timer built into the boiler
controls timed out, and OHD control was shut down.
A very powerful advantage of having a boiler model is that a fairly accurate estimate of the
heat surplus or deficit to the boiler elements becomes known. This enables the new control
system to balance out disturbances in heat transfer by adjusting the amount of
desuperheating on the reheater and superheater without having to wait for temperature
changes. Thus, apart from reducing the disturbance in heat transfer by manipulating
furnace elements, OHD control was also designed to calculate the exact amount of
desuperheating spray water needed to maintain steam temperatures during transients.
The calculation of the amount of spray water can be demonstrated by the following
example. Consider an upward ramp in boiler load. Assume that, after biassing the control
elements to their limits, an excess of heat transfer to the reheater is still predicted.
Reheater spray water.flow rate needs to be increased to prevent a temperature deviation.
149
Additional spray water must be injected so that, when this spray water is evaporated and
heated to the design reheater outlet temperature, it had consumed exactly as much heat as
the predicted excess heat transferred. The additional spray water mass flow calculation
is given by:
I77
9 ex
spr
(6.11)
h rh s
h spr
where:
mspr
e/ex
hth,
hspr
This spray water demand was divided by the number of desuperheater stations on the
boiler element (four on the superheater and two on the reheater), and the final value
obtained was the amount of change spray water required from each desuperheater to
balance out the error in heat transfer to the boiler element. During a downward load ramp
a deficit in heat transfer may occur. Then the spray water mass flow is a negative value.
This is quite achievable, because under steady state conditions the steam temperature
controller is already injecting spray water. The spray water flow rate will then be reduced
by the amount calculated above.
Unfortunately the desuperheater cascade slave controllers are not mass flow controllers,
so the required spray water mass flow rate cannot be requested directly. Instead, they
work as desuperheater outlet temperature controllers (see Page 56). The setpoint to the
desuperheater slave controllers are made up of the output of the master controller (the
master being the final steam temperature controller), plus a feedforward bias (Page 58).
It is this feedforward that OHD control was designed to manipulate. Consequently, the
spray water flow rate bias derived above had to be converted to an outlet temperature bias.
To do the conversion between spray water flow and temperature, a heat balance
calculation was done across the desuperheater. The outlet enthalpy was obtained as
150
follows:
ho -
117 /7i
tn +mspr
(6.12)
where:
m,
h,
ho
Once the outlet enthalpy had been calculated, the outlet temperature was obtained from
on-line steam tables. The feedforward signal was set equal to the desuperheater inlet
temperature minus the desuperheater outlet temperature.
Therefore, during an upward ramp in load, the desuperheater slave controller receives a
decrease in setpoint as a result of the OHD feedforward signal. The slave controller
responds by opening the spray water control valve to inject more spray water in order to
match the desuperheater outlet temperature to the lower setpoint. Once the outlet
temperature matches the setpoint, the additional spray water injected is just enough to
absorb the excess heat transfer caused by the over-firing.
6.3.5 Adaptation
Operating a biassed furnace is undesirable from an operating and OHD control point-of-
151
view. Firstly, operators prefer the mills to fire at equal rates, because they use the mill fuel
flow indications for early warning signs of milling problems. Also, when inspecting
furnace flame formation, it is difficult to identify an out-of-normal flame if the mills are not
fired equally. Secondly, for OHD control to reject disturbances, the control elements need
room to move. When the control elements are biassed due to mill combination, the
capability of eliminating disturbances are reduced in one direction. In the above example
the fireball is already biassed downward to compensate for the bottom mill which is out
of service. If an upward ramp in load is done, OHD will try to lower the fireball to prevent
overheating of the superheater. With the plant already biassed, there may not be enough
control action left to prevent temperature excursions.
Consequently, a long-term correction must be done to the design heat transfer curves to
relax the OHD control action and reduce biassing. This was done by adjusting the heat
transfer curves according to the real heat transfer rates, calculated from plant
measurements. The adjustments were done by multiplying the design heat transfer rates
of the individual boiler components with adjustable correction factors. The correction
factors were in essence the integrals of the difference between corrected design heat
transfer rates and actual heat transfer rates (Figure 6.9). It can be argued that the
correction must be done far slower than the longest process time constants. By trial and
error, the design correction time constant were set to 2400 seconds (40 minutes). Once
the design curves have been multiplied by this correction factor, they are referred to as the
heat transfer target curves.
However, when a disturbance on the furnace-side occurs and OHD control compensates
totally by means of biassing the control elements, no error will remain and the design
curves will not be updated. For this reason, the OHD action had to be stopped prior to
achieving total disturbance rejection. At first, a variable was introduced to reduce the
biassing by a certain percentage (10 % worked well) after the final bias calculation by the
optimizer. For example, if the tilt angle was to be biassed by 20, the bias would be
reduced by 10 % and the tilts would only be biassed by 18. This resulted in the error
required between design and actual heat transfer, which forced an adjustment of the design
152
curves.
Correction factors
Design heat
transfer
calculation
Steam
flow rate
Inputs
from plant
Figure 6.9
Target heat
transfer rates
Actual heat
absorption
calculation
Although the desired effect was achieved by this reduction in biassing action, another
method was later applied. The new method applied the full biassing to the control
elements, but it placed a dead band of 2.5 MJ/s on the individual heat transfer errors before
calculating the bias. By adding a dead band on the error signals, the errors are effectively
reduced in magnitude before being received by the optimizer. After optimising the heat
distribution, a small error, unknown to the optimizer, still remains between the design
curves and the actual plant condition. This error forces the adjustment of the design
curves as described above.
The dead band method was preferred over reducing the bias because it also acted as a filter
for small variations in heat transfer around the design points under steady-state conditions.
In both cases, slight temperature deviations were expected as a result of limiting the OHD
action, but this would be taken care of by the normal closed loop controls. At full load,
a sustained 2.5 MJ/s error on heat transfer to the superheater will cause a temperature
deviation of only 1.6 C. As the design curves are adjusted to reduce the errors, the
reduction in errors results in a reduction in biassing, which in turn sustains the errors. This
process repeats until the design curves represent the new state of the process without any
153
biassing.
Many factors can influence the rate of heat transfer to boiler components (see Section 3.2).
Some of these factors (such as burner tilt angle and air flow rate) are measurable and can
be modelled, but others (such as boiler sooting and seized burner tilt mechanisms) cannot
be measured easily and are therefore not modelled. Unmodelled process characteristics
lead to an inaccurate process representation, and to prevent erroneous heat transfer
predictions, the process model must be adapted or recalibrated on-line.
154
correcting the outputs of a state-space, linear regression, boiler model [52].
Correction factors
Furnace
conditions
Inputs
from plant
Corrected
heat transfer
predictions
Actual heat
absorption
calculator
Figure 6.10 Adjusting the heat transfer model to match plant conditions.
Many calculations relied on the availability of the enthalpy of water or steam. To obtain
the enthalpy on-line, a special algorithm was developed for the calculation of steam and
water properties. As for the steam properties calculations used during the modelling
phase, the calculations were based on the IFC formulations of the thermodynamic
properties of water for industrial use [122]. This method differs from the lookup table
method generally applied [39] & [54].
Although the IFC formulations are very complex and part of the calculations use iterative
algorithms, the entire set of enthalpy calculations for the boiler model (26 points) executes
in only 50 ms on a 100 MHz Pentium PC.
The main control algorithm was timer driven with a cycle time of one second. The
following functions were performed during each cycle:
Read inputs from plant
Calculate heat absorption
155
Calculate design heat transfer
Calculate predicted heat transfer
Calculate errors and optimise heat transfer through backpropagation
Write outputs to plant
Adapt design heat transfer calculation
Adapt heat predicted heat transfer calculation
Update graphics and write variables to file
The control algorithm executed within 500 ms on an Intel Pentium running at 100 MHz.
Boiler element
Existing Heat
Optimal Heat
Relative
Transient
Transient
Improvement
Evaporator
- 6 MJ/s
+ 8 MJ/s
- 33%
Superheater
+ 48 MJ/s
+ 7 MJ/s
85%
Reheater
- 42 MJ/s
- 15 MJ/s
64%
Table 6.1
The improvements in heat distribution are achieved by manipulating the furnace elements
to minimize the difference in heat transfer before and after the mill trip. Table 6.2 shows
how the furnace elements are set up for optimal heat distribution.
156
Furnace element
Existing control
OHD control
A-Mill demand
93.3%
62%
B-Mill demand
93.3%
115%
C-Mill demand
0%
0%
D-Mill demand
0%
0%
E-Mill demand
93.3%
110%
02 Setpoint
3%
5. 5%
-15
-30
Table 6.2
The optimal heat distribution controller will take similar measures to optimize heat transfer
during load ramps.
157
The boilers at Kendal Power Station are controlled via the ABB Procontrol P13 distributed
control system [125]. This system is not flexible enough to accommodate advanced
control schemes such as Optimal Heat Distribution control. For example, the 70PR03
control processors can do only integer arithmetic. Its programmable memory is limited to
64 kB and the programme resides in an EPROM.
Advanced control schemes as the one described in this thesis are best developed and tested
on one of the modern versatile platforms (like Unix or Windows), using a flexible
programming language (like C, Pascal or Visual Basic). Therefore, prototypes of
advanced control schemes are in most cases not done on the existing plant control system,
but on a programmable personal computer that can do floating point number calculations
and has a large memory area. For example, the advanced boiler control strategy developed
in Microsoft C by Hitz e.a. [54] used a 386/387 industrial PC running MS DOS, since the
process computer could not support the large volume of floating point calculations
required nor had it storage space for steam tables. March [52] states data logging, colour
displays, and flexibility as the motivations for using a PC for modelling and control of
steam temperature on a nuclear plant.
The Optimal Heat Distribution control scheme would perform an enormous amount of data
processing due to the neural network model, the optimisation routines and the on-line
steam table calculations. Because the system would be used on-line for real-time control,
the computer had to have ample processing capacity. With these processing requirements
in mind, a 100 MHz Pentium computer was used for control. The computer was located
in an air-conditioned and vibration free control room, so it was not necessary that the
158
computer be an industrial computer. The control computer was equipped with 16MB
RAM, a CD ROM drive for loading software, a 1.44 MB stiffy drive for downloading data,
keyboard, mouse, and a video display adapter for presenting the graphic screens.
Initially, the operating system of choice was Windows NT [126], due to it being a proven
32-bit multitasking system. However, after comparing this package to Windows 95 [127]
on a cost-benefit basis, the latter took preference. Because networking or multi-tasking
was not envisioned for the control computer, no good reason could be found for running
the control software on the more expensive Windows NT package. The only problem
experienced with Windows 95 was that all application executions are paused while a
window is being resized or dragged across the screen. This problem was later solved by
loading Microsoft PLUS! [128], which allows background processing while windows are
dragged or resized. The programming language used for writing the control algorithms
was C++ [121] and the graphics were done with a charting tools package [129].
The PC screen, keyboard and mouse were used as an operator / engineering interface. The
PC screen was a 17" super VGA monitor for large, clear display in the control room. Two
charts were displayed on the screen. The first was a set of design heat transfer curves for
the evaporator, superheater and reheater, also indicating the actual heat transfer and the
predicted heat transfer with the control elements biassed and unbiassed. The second was
a bar chart indicating the unbiassed control element demands from P13, the degree of
biassing done by the OHD controller, and the control element feedback signals from the
plant. A screen dump of the graphic display is shown in Appendix D.
Engineering access was provided to display and change the internal OHD control
parameters. The OHD control programme could also be executed from within the Borland
C++ integrated development environment in a debugging mode which gave access to all
the programme variables, and enabled the execution of the algorithms to be traced. Both
these facilities proved very useful for programme maintenance, debugging, and OHD
159
control optimisation.
All the control modules in the ABB Procontrol P13 distributed control system are
interconnected through an ABB P42 Intraplant Bus system [125]. Because all the data
needed from the plant can be made already available on any the P13 local control busses,
the most cost effective method of data acquisition was to read the required signals directly
off this system. This was done via a ABB 70BK03 bus coupler. This device is an RS485to-P13 bus interface. The RS485 serial output of the bus coupler was connected to an
RS485 serial interface card on the OHD computer.
As the 70BK03 and the RS485 interface supports bi-directional communication, the same
hardware used for reading inputs from the plant can be used to write the control signals
from the computer back to the P13 control system. A diagrammatic layout of the interface
between the 01-ID controller and the P13 system is shown in Figure 7.1.
Pentium PC for
OHD control
r
II
In
'gat<
RS 485
Interface
Card
Figure 7.1
70 BK 03
Bus coupler
160
necessary data points from the P13 system and store these in allocated variables for use by
the control programme. Once the control task has been completed, the control signals
were written back to the P13 system, where the -original control system executed the
control requests.
Internal P13 variables are 16 bits wide (or a word) and represent numbers scaled between
-200% and 199.97% in 0.024% resolution. In hexadecimal format the word may range
between 0000 and FFFF. The serial communications protocol sends these data words
coded in hexadecimal format by using ASCII characters. The communications module in
the OHD software converted these ASCII characters to a 4-byte string which was then
converted from hexadecimal format to a fraction of unity represented by a floating-point
number. All variables were then converted to the appropriate engineering units.
The maximum speed of the communications link was 38400 bits per second and used 10
bits to transmit a byte. OHD control read in 64 data values @ 10 bytes/value and wrote
out 15 values @ 14 bytes/value. Assuming negligible processing time, the communications
part of the programme took 220 ms to execute. Time consumed by the communications
routine alone was about as much as the rest of the entire programme, graphic displays
included.
OHD control was designed to run in parallel with the existing boiler control system so that
it could be shut down at any time without detrimental effects on the boiler. This was a
requirement for fail-safe implementation and for doing alterations to the system with the
boiler on load. It also made possible a comparative evaluation with the advanced control
turned on and turned off. This approach was also followed by others [39], [55], and [64].
The OHD programme could also be run in Standby mode in which all the control modules
were being executed, but the biassed control signals were not sent back to the P13 system.
The original control signals were just mirrored back to the P13 system when OHD was in
standby mode.
161
OHD control was turned ON and OFF from the operator control panel. When active, the
OHD control programme generated a 0.5 Hz binary square wave signal which indicated
to the boiler controls that the OHD computer is functional, that the OHD programme is
being executed and that the OHD control mode is Active : Should no transition on this
signal be present for three seconds, the P13 control system switched out the OHD control.
The OHD control signals were stored inside the P13 system on the BK03 bus coupler, so
that in the case of the OHD computer failing totally, the last control signals still remained
active until the OHD control was switched out of the control circuits.
OHD control was not designed to perform any closed loop control. All the normal closed
loop controllers in the P13 system remained active regardless of the state of the ORD
system. However, three control signals were 'intercepted' by the 01-1D control system and
modified before being routed back to the P13 system.
Signal switch selector
P13
OHD
P13
A-Mill fuel control
lqtre
)1.
02 control
Tilt positioners
Figure 7.2
One of the signals routed through the OHD computer, the total fuel demand signal from
the boiler pressure controller, was split into five individual mill control signals which could
be modified individually before being routed back to the mill fuel controllers. Analog
162
signal switches were programmed in the P13 system through which the source of the
control signals could be selected. Figure 7.2 shows the signal flow routes between the P13
and OHD systems.
OHD control was configured to take over the existing feedforward control signals to
modify the desuperheater outlet temperature setpoints. A similar approach is also
described in [45]. Irrespective of the feedforward signals generated by the P13 system,
OHD calculated new feedforwards and sent these back to the P13. system. Ana log signal
switches were programmed in the P13 system through which the source of the feedforward
signals could be selected. Figure 7.3 shows the feedforward signal flows between the P13
and OHD systems. The feedforward input signals to OHD were used purely for
comparison purposes when 01 11D was active and were mirroredto the outputs if OHD was
-
in standby mode.
P13
OHO control selector
OHD
Analog signals
Binary signals
OHD
control
algorithm
P13
LH Reheater
LH Reheater
RH Reheater
RH Reheater
Figure 7.3
The P13 control system was provided with interlocks so that OHD control could only be
selected to operate if all its input signals were available and within a realistic range. This
163
method was also used by Aitchison e.a. [39]. For example, the OHD control mode could
not be switched on unless both HP feed water heaters were in service. This was a
requirement for proper reheat steam extraction calculations.
On the other hand, the OHD system performed many internal checks before writing back
new control signals and changing the state of the 0.5 Hz signal. One of the obvious checks
was to see if the boiler is operating in an area contained in the training data of the model
i.e. steam flow rate between 200 and 600 kg/s. Other important checks were also done,
such as ensuring that the enthalpy of steam is used (and not that of water) at the
desuperheater outlet under saturated conditions. (this check was built in after a major
calculation error occurred when the enthalpy of water was returned by the enthalpy
calculator. The calculation was correct, the plant measurements not.) With Windows as
an operating system, it is possible to simultaneously run multiple instances of the one
application. This is undesirable for a control application, and a feature was built into the
OHD programme to prevent the execution of more than one instance of the programme.
The new software for the P13 system was loaded and a BK03 bus coupler was installed
on Kendal Unit 3 during an outage. At this time, the OHD control programme was still
under development. Since the P13 serial communication protocol is ASCII text-based,
the serial interface between the OHD computer and the P13 system could be tested using
the Windows 95 Hyper Terminal software. The new P13 software was cold=commissioned
using simulation modules to generate and check test signals. The power plant was
returned to service normally.
The OHD control programme was developed off-line and tested on simulated data. After
connecting the OHD computer to the P13 system via the serial communications link, the
software communications module was tested and the programme was run in standby mode
while executing the control algorithms using real plant data. Some minor programming
errors were corrected during this period. Once the control programme worked
satisfactorily, the control output signals from the ODD computer to the P13 boiler control
164
system were next in line to be commissioned. Since it was the first time that the OHD
generated signals would be actively used for control, clearance for a 'Risk of Trip' was
obtained from the national load control centre.
Eleven control signals were read in from the P13 system and duplicate signals were sent
back as control signals. These were:
1 - 4) 4 * feedforward signals to spray water flow controllers.
5 & 6) Tilt position setpoint and 0 2 setpoint.
7 - 11) A-Mill to E-Mill demand signal.
The necessary diagnostic hardware was coupled to the P13 system and the eleven control
signals were commissioned one-by-one through the next three steps:
Ensure that the ABB P13 system is receiving the correct value on the signal.
Toggle the software switch inside the P13 system via a simulation to activate the
signal.
Monitor that the ABB P13 system responds correctly.
The 0.5 Hz binary signal, the calculated enthalpy of main steam and reheater spray flow
rate signals were also sent from OHD to P13. These signals were commissioned at the
same time as the eleven control signals.
Apart for some minor problems with the communications software module, the signals
were commissioned as planned. Once all the signals were checked and activated, all the
simulations were removed to restore the signal flow paths to normal. The OHD control
program was modified to do zero biassing and the system was turned ON and OFF from
the control room. Since the P13 - OHD interface was designed to be fail-safe, this too was
tested by activating the OHD control system and, while active, the OHD computer was
turned off. The boiler controls recognised the failure and switched back to normal control
mode without incident. The OHD control system and the P13 interface was then declared
ready to run the advanced control software.
165
Air / Fuel to
boiler
Bypass damper
Air in
Primary air .
Figure 7.4
Coal Mill
Apart from a limited degree of correction done automatically on the bypass damper
position, the mill fuel control is essentially an open loop control system. Should the ball
charge of a mill run low, less fuel is produced with constant primary air flow and bypass
damper position. Consequently, the mill fuel flow falls beloW the demand and an
uncorrected offset on fuel flow develops. A mill is then referred to as 'running off its load
line'. Due to the open loop control the offset between mill demand and actual fuel flow
166
remains until the ball charge is replenished.
Since there are no serious operating consequences to a mill running off its load line (except
at very low loads, where the mill fuel flow may decrease below the trip value), mills are
often run for days with this offset between mill demand and fuel flow. However, the
underproduction of the mill alters the furnace heat distribution pattern slightly. The target
heat transfer rates are updated by the OHD controller to reflect this altered heat
distribution. When the optimisation routine is run, it recognises that this one mill has to
under-produce to match the target heat distribution. Therefore, it biasses the mill down
below setpoint. On receiving this reduced setpoint, the mill controller reduces the primary
air flow to the mill and opens the bypass damper, which reduces the fuel flow rate from the
mill even more. Again, the heat distribution is altered, the target curves are adjusted and
the mill setpoint is reduced even further by the optimizer. The scenario escalates until the
mill demand is blocked by the lower limit.
To prevent this escalation, mills running with an offset in fuel flow had to be compensated
for. This was done via a fuel error estimator, which adjusted a variable called the mill fuel
error over a period of time (Figure 7.5). The time constant of the correction was
determined by trial and error and set to 450 seconds (7.5 minutes).
Mill fueldemand
Figure 7.5
ON- +
Should a mill be under-producing, the mill fuel error had been added to the unbiassed mill
demand signal before the latter was sent to the optimizer, so that the optimizer used the
167
correct fuel flow rate when predicting heat transfer rates. Based on the corrected fuel flow
rates, the heat transfer predictions matched the target heat transfer rates and no further
biassing was required.
To inhibit the unnecessary biassing of control elements, a dead band was placed on the
error between target heat transfer and predicted heat transfer (see Page 152). The dead
band was set to eliminate all errors smaller than 2.5 MJ/s. The control actions were also
affected by measurement noise. First order lags were added to the bias path of the control
outputs to smooth down the operation. It is important to note here that the base control
signals as generated by the P13 system were not filtered to prevent inducing additional
phase lag into the system. Only the bias values were filtered. The filter time constants
were set to 10 seconds.
168
then with 01-1D control active. Before discussing the final results, various problems that were
experienced will be discussed and their respective solutions presented.
The first test was a load ramp from 686 MW to 586 MW at 15 MW/min with B, C, D, &
E mills in service. The biassing worked as expected for under-firing, the upper mill and
burner tilt was biassed upwards to make up for the loss of heat to the superheater and
reheater (Figures 7.6, 7.7, and 7.8). However, a glitch occurred in the mill and tilt biasses
(Figure 7.7 and 7.8) and the biassing seemed to disappear for a while. This was not
expected, since neither the fuel flow rate or steam flow rate displayed an uneven gradient.
105
100
95
7 so
85
80
75
Fuel flow [%]
Figure 7.6
It was suspected that this undesirable biassing action was caused by the neural network and
backpropagation optimizer converging into local minima with sub-optimal heat distribution
results. The recorded data was run through the optimizer again off-line and it was
confirmed that convergence into a local minimum caused the incorrect biassing. By
altering the recorded data, it was established that other minima existed too. Adding a
momentum term to the gradient decent was tried, but did not improve the situation. To
overcome the local minima the momentum term had to be made so large that it frequently
caused instability during convergence.
169
30
20
10
Figure 7.7
110
100
90
*-- 80
.0
7 70
60
50
40
IN
--ra
n- -"m
basee
IIIr
11/
-Mr
Figure 7.8
Different network sizes were then tested. The larger networks were found to be more
prone to local minima than smaller networks. This observation makes sense from a curvefitting perspective. As a simple case, with three coordinates on an x-y plane, the quadratic
function y = ax2 + bx + c can be determined unambiguously. If a higher-order curve is
fitted to the same three data points, many fits are possible, and local minima could be
170
created (see Figure 7.9). A reduction in polynomial order may be thought of as the curve
being stretched tighter between points, consequently reducing the formation of unwanted
minima.
Figure 7.9
It was therefore strived to find the smallest network size that still provided fair modelling
accuracy, to reduce the occurrence of local minima. The same training and selection
procedure described in Chapter 5 was used. Results on accuracy obtained with various
network sizes are presented in Table 7.1.
Based on the increase in error obtained with networks containing less than 5 hidden
neurons, it was decided to change the 7:15:3 heat transfer model with the 7:5:3 one. This
decision was based on a trade-off between a reduction in model accuracy and the aim of
reducing localized minima. Although the numerical values show a 9 % increase in error
due to reducing the number of hidden neurons from 15 to 5, a graphical comparison of the
errors between modelled and actual heat transfer over the 129 tests, shows that no serious
reduction in quality was induced (Figures 7.10 and 7.11).
171
Network size
7:15:3
2.82
7:10:3
3.54
7:7:3
3.14
7:5:3
3.08
7:4:3
3.87
7:3:3
4.12
Table 7.1
0.3
0.2
Evaporator
0.1
.0
..1LiAtAti
E
5-01
Superheater
Reheater
-0.2
-0.3
Tests 1 to 129
0.3
0.2
Evaporator
0.1
.0 0
E
.)
11
Superheater
Reheater
-0.2
-0.3
Tests 1 to 129
172
The 7:5:3 neural network was then loaded into the model and this network configuration
was used for all the following tests.
7.4.2 Cycling
During the transient tests, the fuel flow tended to oscillate when 01-ID control was active.
Figure 7.12 shows this cycling as recorded during a load ramp from 686 MW to 586 MW
at 15 MW/min with A, B, D, & E mills in service. The oscillations caused the control
elements to be biassed in an oscillatory fashion (Figure 7.13 and 7.14).
105
100
.9)- 95
In2
8 so
80
Time (30 minutes)
Figure 7.12 Oscillating fuel flow during down ramp under OHD
control.
Fuel flow rate is the manipulated variable for boiler pressure control. Increased firing
increases steam production, but steam flow to the turbine is kept constant by the generator
load controller through throttling down the governor valves. The excess steam production
therefore increases boiler pressure. The pressure controller is therefore tuned based on the
pressure response of the boiler in relation to fuel flow changes. The pressure controller
settings are calculated based on the pressure response obtained when fuel flow is directed
through all mills simultaneously, and without any burner tilt movement.
173
15
5
Time (30 minutes)
100
90
80
pip
70.
60
50
40
A-Mill
When OHD control is active, an increase in fuel flow is directed mainly through the lower
mills (the upper mills may even reduce their fuel flow) while the burner tilt angles are
decreased. These actions are aimed at directing the additional heat away from the
superheater. The excess heat is then directed towards the evaporator where it augments
the boiling process. When boiler load is decreased, the opposite happened.
Because the excess / deficit heat discharge is directed to the evaporator under OHD
174
control, the boiler steam production response in relation to fuel flow differs from the
normal response from which the pressure controller settings were calculated. Due to the
evaporator receiving much more fuel during an up ramp and much less during a down
ramp, the gain of the fuel-to-pressure process is increased by OHD control. This was
tested in practice by making step changes in total boiler fuel flow with a constant generator
load setpoint, first with normal boiler controls (no biassing) and then with OHD control
active. The results in Figure 7.15 show the faster boiler pressure response when OHD
control is active.
tL
0
0
0
............
0
0
0
1111141111111111111114111111
Fuel flow
From a practical perspective, when the steam pressure is slightly high, the boiler pressure
controller decreases the fuel flow rate. Predicting the deficit in heat transfer to the
superheater, OHD control tilts the burners upward and increase firing rate on the upper
mills while reducing the firing rate on the lower mills. While this action is beneficial for
the heat transfer to the superheater, the evaporator loses much more heat than the pressure
controller anticipated. This causes the pressure to decrease faster than expected and the
pressure controller is caught off guard. By the time the pressure controller responds, the
boiler pressure has decreased significantly, and a large quantity of additional fuel is injected
to reverse the pressure decay. With this large increase in fuel flow, OHD control predicts
overheating of the superheater. Consequently the tilt angle is decreased, the lower mills
175
are fired harder and the process reverses. Continuous cycling results. This is all due to
the process responding more than what the pressure controller was tuned for.
Final calculations showed a 30 % increase in process gain with OHD control active. New
boiler pressure controller settings were then calculated based on the faster boiler response
under OHD control. These settings were entered into the controller, but it was found that
the pressure controller response became sub-optimal with less biassing. Depending on the
degree of biassing of the control elements, the heat shift may be more, or less than obtained
during the above test. The 30 % increase in process gain observed during the test will
therefore not always be constant. An assumption of an average increase in process gain
of 20 % was made, and new controller settings were calculated. These settings had to be
entered manually each time before OHD control is turned on. Toggling between two sets
of controller parameters can easily be automated, but in the case of the Kendal boiler
controls, this can only be done during an off-load period.
Although the reduced controller gain did improve fuel-pressure cycling to a certain extent,
under high degrees of biassing, the process gain was still increased significantly, and the
cycling re-appeared. Large process disturbances, like mill trips and capability load
runbacks, still caused process cycling (these test results will be shown later).
176
542
105
540
a)
2.538
95
tca
2 536
a)
90
TD
(1) 534
85
532
80
Time (30 minutes)
Main steam temp
Fuel flow rate
560
540
520
2
500
'17)
7,,
(
480
TO 460
440
420
It was later established that, during an up ramp, a large discrepancy existed between the
predicted heat transfer rate and the actual heat transfer rate calculated from plant
measurements (Figure 7.18). The predicted heat transfer rate (or rate of heat discharge)
matches the actual heat transfer rate (or rate of heat absorption) at the start of the ramp
and shows a maximum deviation shortly after the end of the ramp. The deviation then
177
slowly decreases over an 8 minute period so that the two signals match again.
1600
.11500
0
@ 1400
1300
Time (20 minutes)
Absorbed
Discharged
Figure 7.18 Discharged and absorbed heat flows.
The rate of heat absorption is calculated from plant measurements (see Page 95) and is
believed to be an accurate representation of the true heat absorption. The total heat
discharge is calculated from the fuel flow rate, the calorific value of fuel, and the boiler
efficiency. The calorific value of fuel, and the boiler efficiency will not change sufficiently
to cause deviations to the extent shown in Figure 7.18. This indicates an untrue fuel flow
measurement during transient conditions.
The mill fuel flow measurement is actually a calculation, taking primary air flow and bypass
damper position into account. The speed of the volumetric coal feeders is used as a long
term correction on the fuel flow calculation, but during transient conditions, the fuel flow
is derived only from the estimated air flow rate through the mill.
The dynamic response of a coal mill is discussed in depth by Peet e. a. [130]. On increasing
the air flow rate through the mill, there is an initial proportional increase in mill coal output
rate due to .the additional pulverized coal picked up by the increased air flow. The
increased output eventually decays back to the original mill coal output rate since there is
no corresponding increase in coal input to make up the coal deficiency in the mill
(Figure 7.19).
178
70
65
T.)
u_
55
50
Time
75
70
E 65
0
a, 60
u_
55
50
Time
179
75
70
65
0
r 60
LL
55
50
Time
Figure 7.21 Mill fuel flow response to increased coal and air flow.
[130]
Since the mill fuel flow measurement at Kendal does not take the above considerations into
account, it is quite possible that the discrepancy between discharged and absorbed heat
transfer during transients arise from the unmeasured and unmodelled mill dynamics.
This was verified by tripping one mill during four-mill operation while the unit maintains
constant load. The three mills remaining in service were automatically ramped up by 30 %
each, to maintain the total fuel requirement. Had the true fuel flow from these mills
increased by 30 % each, no additional correction would have been needed. However, due
to the mill dynamics described above, the mills did not produce the additional 30 % fuel
each, and the total fuel demand was increased by the pressure controller to maintain steady
unit load (Figure 7.22).
During the entire time span covered by Figure 7.22, the generator load and steam flow
were constant. Therefore, the real fuel flow had to be reasonably constant. As a result of
quick increase in fuel demand imposed on the three mills remaining after the trip, the mills
indicated a higher fuel flow rate than actually produced. This is the same fuel flow
measurement used by the OHD controller to predict the heat transfer to each of the boiler
components, therefore the incorrect heat distribution.
180
75
;39
1-c
0
Mill trip
70
iu
c 65
0
60
L
cCI
H
55
Time (30 minutes)
Although generator load, or even measured heat absorption, could provide a more
accurate total fuel flow indication during transient conditions, the OHD controller needs
the fuel flow rate from each individual mill to calculate heat distribution. To provide the
OHD controller with a better representation of actual fuel flow, a lead-lag compensator
plus 3rd order filter was placed on the individual mill fuel feedback signals to mimic the
'mill dynamics (Figure 7.23). The time constants for the compensator were derived by trialand-error.
Measured
fuel flow
1.25 s + 1
1.25 s + 1
Corrected
fuel flow
1
-3/11. 1
(1.8 s + 1) 3
181
1600
a 1500
0
1) 1400
1300
Absorbed
Figure 7.24 Heat discharge calculated from the adjusted fuel flow
measurement.
Based on the improvement it brings to the heat transfer calculations, the adjustment to mill
fuel flow feedback signals were implemented into the OHD controller.
The error in fuel flow measurement did not only have an effect on the predicted heat
transfer. Furnace air flow was also affected. The setpoint to the furnace air flow
controller is calculated from fuel flow and the output of the 0 2 controller (Figure 7.25).
When the fiiel flow rate increases, the air flow rate is increased proportionally, and with
the output of the 0 2 controller increasing, a proportional change is made in air flow rate.
Because the air flow setpoint is derived from the fuel flow measurement, air flow will be
affected by a false fuel flow measurement. During the load ramp considered above, if the
fuel flow measurement over-reads by 20 %, the same quantity of additional air will enter
the boiler. Since the fuel flow measurement is incorrect, there is no fuel to consume the
oxygen in the additional air. Consequently, the 0 2 measurement will increase, and the 0 2
controller will start responding by reducing its output. The air flow setpoint will be
reduced continuously by the 0 2 controller until the additional air flow has been eliminated
and the 02 measurement is on setpoint.
182
02
set point
0 2 controller
02 measurement
[4(
Furnace
Air flow
controller
Air flow
set point
Forced
daught fan
At the end of the load ramp, the awl flow will stabilize, the mill dynamics will expire and
the fuel flow measurement signal will reduce to the true value of fuel flow. The air flow
will be reduced in proportion with the fuel flow measurement. All this happens while the
real fuel flow remains virtually constant. The reduction in air flow with constant fuel flow
then reduces the 0 2 concentration in the flue gas to the normal value.
This happens under normal boiler control and it also happened under OHD control. Under
these conditions, the OHD controller could not effectively manipulate the 0 2 - the
influence from the incorrect fuel measurement was too strong. An attempt was made to
speed up the 02 controller, but the limit of stability was reached before any improvement
was noticeable.
A second method was devised which took into account the inability of the OHD to
influence the furnace air flow by manipulating the 0 2 setpoint. Two optimization runs
were done with this method. The first run was made to obtain the desired 0 2 setpoint.
The second run was made with the 0 2 input to the model fixed to the actual measured 0 2
concentration in flue gas. The optimizer then ran and optimized the heat transfer rate the
183
best it could without changing the 0 2 setpoint. The final control values that were output
by the OHD control system to the P13 system were the 0 2 setpoint obtained from the first
optimization run and the other control element setpoints obtained from the second run.
Although this method showed some improvement in heat transfer rate to the reheater when
it was tested on the spreadsheet heat transfer model, in practice it introduced large process
oscillations. The difference between the model and the real plant (in this perspective) is
that on the actual plant, the 01-ID controller balances the excess heat transfer with injecting
additional spray water. During a load ramp, the 0, measurement increases due to the
reasons given above. The heat transfer predictor translates the increased 0 2 to excess heat
transfer to the reheater.
During the first optimization run, the OHD optimizer takes action against the predicted
heat excess by reducing the setpoint to the 0 2 controller. During the second optimization
run, the 02 is not optimized, and a large degree of excess heat transfer to the reheater is
predicted. Consequently, the spray flow to the reheater is increased substantially. This
spray water is evaporated in the reheater and produces additional steam flow to the IP and
LP turbines. This increases the generator load output. The generator load controller
closes down the governor valves, thereby reducing the main steam flow and increasing the
boiler pressure. The pressure controller, in turn, reduces the boiler firing rate. This
reduces the error on fuel measurement, which reduces the furnace air flow. Consequently,
the heat transfer to the reheater is reduced. This is reflected in the 0 2 concentration, and
the OHD controller reduces the reheater spray flow rate - which starts the'same sequence
in the opposite direction.
Figure 7.26 shows cycling this effect as recorded during a load ramp test from 586 MW
to 486 MW at 15 MW/min with A, B, D, and E mills in service. The 0 2 deviations which
result from the excess air (due to the untrue fuel flow measurement) are clearly evident.
The excess air increases the convective heat transfer rate. This effect is correctly predicted
by the neural network model as excess heat discharged to the (mainly convective) reheater.
The deviations in heat transferred to the reheater are shown in Figure 7.27.
184
80
Ci
(
60
240.
7220
,t200
CO
L3 180
1B'
t ) 160
140
Time (30 mintes)
Discharged Target
Absorbed.
Deviations in heat transfer are balanced by the OHD controller through injection of
reheater spray water. The resulting fluctuations in spay water flow rate are shown in
Figure 7.28. Due to the undesired effect on process stability, the method of double
optimization was removed from the OHD controller. Unfortunately, due to the poor
control over furnace air flow rate, 0 2 setpoint manipulation was not a feasible means of
controlling heat transfer with the current erroneous fuel flow measurement.
185
45
7))30
.z
0
0
a15
0
Time (30 minutes)
Reheat spray flow
02 Concentration
The OHD biassing action on the mills and burner tilts worked very well, apart from the
oscillations caused due to the increased process gain that were sometimes evident. The
0, setpoint bias adjustment also worked well, but the air flow never really responded to
this setpoint due to the fuel flow measurement errors. Figures 7.29 and 7.30 show the mill
and burner tilt biassing recorded during a 150 MW load ramp from 536 MW to 686 MW
at 15 MW per minute with A, B, C, & D mills in service.
186
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
A-Mill
B-Mill
Normal
Figure 7.29 Biassed mill fuel flows under OHD control compared
to normal.
Due to the excess heat entering the furnace during the upward ramp, the upper mills are
biassed down in load, while the lower mills are biassed up to regulate heat flow to the
superheater & reheater (Figure 7.29). Burner tilts are biassed downward to add to the heat
shift (Figure 7.30) 0 2 biassing is not shown since OHD could not effectively manipulate
it. During transients, 0 2 varied more with fuel flow than with setpoint changes.
30
20
10
a) 0
10
20
30
Time (18 minutes)
Normal OHD
187
in heat transfer rate were achieved on both superheater and reheater under 01 ID control.
-
In most cases the regulation of heat transfer to the reheater was not as good as the
superheater due to the lack of control over the furnace air flow rate. Heat transfer rates
to the superheater and reheater recorded on a 150 MW downward load ramp from 686
MW to 536 MW at 15 MW/min with A, B, C, & D mills in service are shown in
Figure 7.31 and Figure 7.32.
600
550
3 500
1; 450
C
co 400
350
300
Normal OHD
542
_540
538
g- 536
co
E 534
co
a)
532
530
Time (30 minutes)
Normal OHD
188
Up-ramps
During up-ramps in load, OHD control shifted the excess heat away from the superheater
and reheater to the evaporator. This assisted steam temperature control and deviations in
steam temperature were smaller with OHD control than without. Under conditions where
the OHD optimizer could not balance disturbances fully, the calculated increase in spray
water for balancing the remainder worked well. Cycling in process variables due to
increased gain in the pressure loop, were frequently evident. Results from a 200 MW load
ramp test from 486 MW to 686 MW at 15 MW/min with A, B, C, & D mills in service are
available in Appendix El.
Down-ramps
When active during down-ramps in load, OHD control shifted the excess heat away from
the evaporator to the superheater and reheater. Unfortunately, manipulating the 0,
setpoint proved largely unsuccessful due to the incorrect fuel flow measurement discussed
earlier. With most tests, deviations in steam temperature were smaller with OHD control
than without. Cycling was frequently evident. Results from a 100 MW load ramp test
from 686 MW to 586 MW at 15 MW/min with A, B, C, & D mills in service are available
in Appendix E2.
189
7.5.5 Performance during load runback
During a capability load runback from full load, the unit load decreases almost
instantaneously by 40%. One of the four mills in service is tripped automatically to assist
with this sharp reduction in load. As with mill a normal trip, large changes in heat
distribution occurs over a short period of time. Consequently, the process started cycling.
No improvement in steam temperature control was achieved with OHD control during
capability load runbacks. Unlike a mill trip, the fuel flow is fixed at 60 % after a unit
capability runback. Steam pressure is then controlled by steam flow and not by fuel.
Under OHD control, cycling still occurs, but with fuel flow fixed, the cycling occurs
between steam flow and steam pressure.
A capability load runback test was done during by tripping one boiler water circulating
pump to initiate the runbck. E-mill was tripped automatically and A, B, & D mills
remained in service. Results from this test are available in Appendix E4.
190
8. Conclusion
8.1 Discussion
The thesis studied steam temperature control on power plant boilers. The role of power
generation in modern society was introduced and a historical overview of boiler controls was
given. It was reasoned that coal fired power stations will still be used for many years to come.
The mechanical and metallurgical importance of controlling steam temperature was motivated
(Chapter 1).
The power plant thermodynamic cycle was described, and three means of heat transfer between
fuel and boiler tubes were discussed: convection, radiation, and conduction. It was shown that
the balance between convective and radiant heat transfer changes through boiler load, while
conduction changes with boiler tube sooting. Reference was made to literature and it was
described how the placement and surface area of boiler components are critical to the design of
boilers. The sensitivity of heated elements to changes in heat distribution patterns was emphasized
(Chapter 2).
Various methods of steam temperature control and also the final control elements were described.
Three main classes of steam temperature control elements exist: altering the firing pattern,
changing the furnace air flow rate, and direct or indirect water cooling of steam. Long process
time lags, variations in process parameters, and process disturbances were identified as difficulties
associated with steam temperature regulation. Results from survey on steam temperature
excursions at Kendal were dicussed. Mill trips and load ramps, both causing fire-side disturbances,
were found to cause 80% of all excursions. The instrumentation and control configurations
applied in practice were discussed and an overview of documented developments in advanced
steam temperature control on power plant boilers was made. Two main streams of progress were
identified: model based / predictive control schemes and adaptive / nonlinear control schemes.
Comparative results between PID and advanced control showed definite benefits in applying
advanced control methods to steam temperature control (Chapter 3).
The suitability of applying neural networks to process modelling and control were explored.
Neural networks were described and aspects related to the topology and training of networks were
191
discussed. It was argued that the nonlinear mapping capabilities and training properties of neural
networks are strong motivations for using neural networks to model existing processes. Various .
neural network controller designs were described, and the error backpropagation technique was
shown to be well suited to the steam temperature control problem (Chapter 4).
The desired characteristics of a heat distribution model for a power plant boiler were listed. The
design and execution of a series of live plant tests for modelling data acquisition were explained.
Processing the data and calculating the heat transfer was described while all assumptions were
motivated. The calculation of many unmeasured variables was explained and specific attention was
given to discrepancies that appeared in the results. Using the 02 concentration in flue gas as an
index of furnace air flow was motivated on the grounds of a very inaccurate air flow measurement.
The process of selecting the ideal network topology was described and comparative results were
given. Improvements in modelling quality by selecting different model output schemes were
shown. Modelling the heat transfer to boiler elements in relation to total heat discharge, with
output adjustment to unity, was selected as the best modelling scheme on the grounds of results
obtained (Chapter 5).
The requirements for improving steam temperature control were listed. It was showed that neural
networks lend themselves very well to meet these requirements. The philosophy of optimal heat
distribution (OHD) control was introduced. This scheme used plant measurements and a neural
network heat transfer model to predict steam temperature excursions. The error backpropagation
technique was then applied to the same neural network model to calculate the control actions
necessary to prevent the excursions. In the case of optimizer or control element saturation, spray
water quantities were calculated for eliminating the remaining errors (Chapter 6).
The 01-1D control algorithm was implemented on a personal computer and was interfaced to the
boiler controls of an operational power plant. The development of the software programme was
described and intricacies were pointed out. During the steady state testing phase, problems
experienced with mill production rates and process noise were addressed. The optimization
routine worked well and control elements were manipulated as expected. Transient tests showed
an unexpected increase in process gain due to the control action manipulating the fireball inside
192
the furnace. This caused fuel-to-pressure oscillations which could not be eliminated effectively by
decreasing the gain on the pressure controller. Erroneous fuel flow measurements during transient
conditions affected the heat transfer calculations and air flow rate. Although the fuel flow signal
could be improved for heat transfer calculations, the 0 2 setpoint could not
be used effectively as
a control element. Final results with OHD control were presented. Due to process oscillations
caused by OHD control, a reduction in control quality was evident during mill trips and capability
load runbacks. However, during load ramps, OHD control showed substantial improvements over
normal PID control in main and reheat steam temperature regulation (Chapter 7).
The heat transfer from the firing system to the evaporator, superheater and reheater on a
power plant boiler was effectively modelled by using a neural network trained on real plant
test data. The best modelling results were obtained with a 7:5:3 neural network, modelling
the heat transfer rate of individual components relative to the total heat transfer, and with
error correction by adjusting outputs to summate to unity. Modelling accuracy was high
and RMS errors were around 3.5 %.
This neural network model was used to estimate the effect that firing system disturbances
would have on the boiler heat transfer before the steam temperature was affected
significantly by these disturbances. Heat transfer rates were predicted and compared to
design heat transfer rates. Any disturbances on the fire-side showed up instantaneously
as errors on the comparators.
Adjustments to the firing system for minimizing the error between estimated heat discharge
and design heat discharge were obtained from an optimization routine that iteratively
backpropagated the errors through the neural network model. If the optimizer were unable
to eliminate the errors entirely, corrective spray water calculations were done.
193
The new control scheme did not work well under disturbances caused by mill trips or load
runbacks, due to process oscillations. However, during load ramps, the effect of firing
system disturbances on steam temperature was reduced significantly.
To summarize the above points, the model predition obtained via a neural network was of high
accuracy and could be used in a backpropagation control algorithm. However, stability aspects
regarding the boiler pressure controller needs to be adressed.
The accuracy of the fuel flow measurement is very poor during transients. The mill fuel
flow feedback signal is not really a measurement but rather an estimation based on primary
air flow rate and bypass damper position. A long term correction on the bypass damper
is made when the indicated fuel flow rate and volumetric feeder speeds are mismatched.
The mill feeders are driven by the mill level controller. Once again, the mill level is not
measured but rather estimated from mill motor power level and sonic emissions from the
mill drum. Both these measurements are also affected by the ball charge inside the mill.
Complex, nonlinear, dynamic relations exist between the variables involved, and process
parameters change through mill load and time.
The problem of estimating mill fuel flow and mill level could be possibly be solved to a
large degree with a neural network model. Even if such a model is only about 90 %
accurate, it will already reduce fuel flow indication errors by a factor of three. Apart from
the improved fuel flow measurement, consequential advantages could be: improved air-fuel
ratios during load ramps, improved pressure control during transients, and better furnace
flame stability.
194
8.3.2 Stability of the pressure control loop
Instability in the pressure control loop originated from the process gain increase due to the
excess or deficit in heat transfer being directed to the evaporator. The gain increase is not
constant and therefore the instability problem cannot easily be corrected just by
recalculating the pressure controller settings.
Directing excess heat to the evaporator makes sense from a temperature control
perspective, but it negatively influences the pressure control loop. This conflict in interests
could be addressed by modelling the boiler pressure and temperature dynamic response.
A recurrent neural network could be employed as the dynamic boiler model. Pressure and
temperature targets can then be optimised simultaneously with a time-based minimum
square error cost function. Backpropagation through time seems an ideal control solution
for this expanded control scheme. In this case, a second recursive neural network may be
used as a controller, but it must be able to manipulate the total fuel flow, as well as the
other control elements used for heat distribution control.
By assigning the task of total fuel flow control to a neural network controller, maintaining
stability in the pressure loop becomes a function of this controller. Process gain changes
as a result of the mill biassing and burner tilting will still occur, but the same controller
responsible for these control actions is also tasked with maintaining stability. Stability
must therefore be one of the criteria built into the cost function to be minimised by the
backpropagation algorithm. Consequently, the ability to maintain dynamic stability will be
trained into the neural network controller. Success in this field has already been
demonstrated by Nguyen and Widrow [115].
In this way, a new dynamic O1-ID controller will manipulate the amount of heat discharged,
as well as its distribution, to control boiler pressure and steam temperatures simultaneously
and with greatly improved stability.
195
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Appendix A.
14-Feb-96
Wednesday
662
619
E
B
104
53
52
3
6.0
Sub 3
Sub 4
612
85
67
585
86
70
3.0
3.6
12:00 - 13:00
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 5
574
45
Sub 6
570
70
99
32
2.6
5.8
14:00 - 15:00
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 7
543
64
Sub 8
538
48
8
8
5.7
5.1
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
10:00 - 11:00
11:00 - 12:00
15-Feb-96
Test 2
Thursday
5.7
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
685
106
49
4.9
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
644
57
21
5.1
10:00 - 11:00
Sub 3
604
A
D
104
95
3.1
11:00 - 12:00
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 4
572
63
99
4.7
Sub 5
560
61
51
5.3
13:00 - 14:00
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 6
473
Sub 7
449
B
C
66
71
72
74
3.5
4.0
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
432
73
68
3.8
16-Feb-96
Test 3
Friday
3.6
99
19
3.7
57
67
77
83
3.5
5.8
524
70
3.5
C
C
86
76
67
26
5.0
4.1
46
49
4.4
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
683
94
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
Sub 3
641
611
C
B
11:00 - 12:00
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 4
587
Sub 5
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 6
10:00 - 11:00
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
493
439
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
402
205
17-Feb-96
Test 4
Saturday
08:00 - 09:00
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
Sub 1
684
573
E
D
108
83
10:00 - 11:00
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 3
Sub 4
542
528
B
B
64
64
17
39
96
14
5.2
4.9
3.3
3.7
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 5
D
E
90
103
4.8
Sub 6
522
485
51
13:00 - 14:00
70
2.6
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
472
50
55
3.3
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
406
56
50
4.6
18-Feb-96
Test 5
Sunday
69
4.1
59
76
28
10
3.1
4.1
12
95
5.6
5.6
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
666
09:00 - 10:00
10:00 - 11:00
Sub 2
Sub 3
632
632
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 4
614
51
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 5
546
91
13:00 - 14:00
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 6
505
79
71
3.5
Sub 7
489
D
C
69
63
4.6
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
441
48
4.1
19-Feb-96
Test 6
Monday
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
689
84
39
4.0
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
675
81
2.7
10:00 - 11:00
Sub 3
631
103
46
2.5
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 4
614
60
90
3.8
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 5
611
66
60
3.9
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 6
536
74
77
3.6
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
498
57
84
4.8
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
436
66
56
5.2
206
20-Feb-96
Test 7
Tuesday
08:00 - 09:00
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 1
Sub 2
646
10:00 - 11:00
Sub 3
611
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 4
552
526
12:00 - 13:00
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 5
Sub 6
514
482
14:00 - 15:00
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 7
Sub 8
458
21-Feb-96
Test 8
D
A
109
79
58
29
5.2
3.8
58
102
79
63
5.4
5.9
21
84
109
3.1
4.5
D
C
109
80
D
C
400
18
9
29
2.8
2.6
Wednesday
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
613
80
14
5.0
09:00 - 10:00
10:00 - 11:00
Sub 2
Sub 3
603
90
576
78
69
5.4
5.1
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 4
102
77
54
99
3.6
3.2
38 -
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 5
544
509
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 6
462
.C
77
42
3.9
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
378
71
66
3.1
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
356
81
89
3.5
Test 9
22-Feb-96
Thursday
64
56
4.4
482
47
69
5.9
Sub 3
427
105
20
4.3
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 4
339
85
3.5
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 5
323
72
53
2.5
3.1
4.8
3.6
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
531
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
10:00 - 11:00
310
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 6
Sub 7
52
300
49
49
49
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
299
50
88
13:00 - 14:00
207
23-Feb-96
Test 10
Friday
08:00 - 09:00
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 1
Sub 2
647
621
B
D
102
103
13
47
5.5
4.6
10:00 - 11:00
615
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 3
Sub 4
E
D
106
74
82
16
5.0
5.9
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 5
77
56
3.1
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 6
440
420
78
43
4.6
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
Sub 8
6
B
55
81
49
5.3
15:00 - 16:00
504
401
310
Test 11
24-Feb-96
4.8
Saturday
46
82
4.9
60
34
0
3.9
4.7
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
640
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
567
10:00 - 11:00
Sub 3
549
105
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 4
524
46
70
5.2
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 5
481
91
13
2.6
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 6
450
81
21
4.7
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
420
78
43
4.6
68
16
5.0
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
25-Feb-96
333
Test 12
2-Mill Tests: BC
Sunday
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
392
78
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
378
10:00 - 11:00
Sub 3
363
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 4
5.1
79
54
38
5.6
54
60
3.9
356
91
33
3.9
93
4.8
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 5
338
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 6
336
88
68
2.5
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
300
50
58
4.2
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
296
51
83
3.1
208
26-Feb-96
Test 13
2-Mill Tests: BD
Monday
08:00 - 09:00
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 1
Sub 2
424
419
10:00 - 11:00
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 3
Sub 4
415
397
12:00 - 13:00
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 5
Sub 6
396
393
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
340
316
27-Feb-96
Test 14
101
19
106
79
4.2
5.6
92
104
12
57
2.8
3.6
104
94
10
5.5
1
62
5.5
3.8
75
4.0
D
D
D
D
D
105
76
2-Mill Tests: CD
Tuesday
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
419
106
42
6.0
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
Sub 3
419
399
C
D
98
30
5.3
107
68
5.1
11:00 - 12:00
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 4
343
Sub 5
331
C
C
65
51
25
15
5.2
5.0
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 6
299
67
46
4.0
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
294'
51
11
4.3
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
294
50
100
5.8
10:00 - 11:00
28-Feb-96
Test 15
2-Mill Tests: CE
Wednesday
414
106
58
2.9
Sub 2
391
Sub 3
386
88
107
51
4
5.0
3.3
E
C
109
58
3.7
56
23
4.1
74
6
2.7
5.8
90
5.6
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
09:00 - 10:00
10:00 - 11:00
11:00 - 12:00
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 4
372
Sub 5
347
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 6
344
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
329
71
71
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
307
77
209
29-Feb-96
Test 16
Thursday
2-Mill Tests: DE
0, setp
08:00 - 09:00
Sub 1
371
96
68
4.1
09:00 - 10:00
Sub 2
345
63
31
3.8
10:00 - 11:00
Sub 3
336
77
3.3
11:00 - 12:00
Sub 4
333
92
92
4.5
12:00 - 13:00
Sub 5
323
67
35
5.5
13:00 - 14:00
Sub 6
310
70
89
5.4
14:00 - 15:00
Sub 7
298
45
33
4.4
15:00 - 16:00
Sub 8
288
68
49
4.5
210
Appendix B.
Tag Name
Signal address
Pt. Variable name
AP no.
FEED WATER & SPRAY ENTHALPY
AP0649 LAA10CP001 XQ01 DST STM PR
1 DST Press
DST WTR TMP
AP0183 LAA1OCT001 XQ01
2 DST Temp
AP0680 LAB40CP001 X1001 BFP COMMON OUT FW PR
3 BFP outlet Press
AP0802 LAB4OCT001AXQ 01 BFP COM OUT FW TMP
4 BFP outlet Temp
TOTAL FW FL
AP1117 LABOOCF901 ZQ01
5 Total feedwater flow
FEED HEATERS & HP EXTRACTION
6 HP htr 6X steam Press Use cold reheat press AP0392
7 HP htr 6X steam Temp AP0827 MAA5OCT021 XQ01 HP TRB EXH TMP
Use cold reheat press AP0392
8
HP htr 6X dist Press
AP0638 LCH61CT001AXQ01 HP HTR 61 CND OUT TMP
HP htr 61 dist Temp
9
AP0763 LAB50CP001 XQ01 FW CTRL VLV DIS PR
10 HP htr 5X fwtr Press
HP HTR 51 FW OUT TMP
AP0803 LAB51CT002 XQ01
11 HP htr 51 fwtr Temp
Use
fwcv
disch
press
AP0763
12 HP htr 6X fwtr Press
HP HTRS OUT FW TMP
AP0807 LAB6OCT001 XQ01
13 HP htr 6X fwtr Temp
ECONOMIZER
Use drum press AP0006
14 Eco outlet Press
AP0596 HAC21CT401 XQ01 LH ECON OUT TMP
15 Eco outlet Temp LH
Use drum press AP1111
16 Eco outlet Press
AP0597 HAC22CT401 XQ01 RH ECON OUT TMP
17 Eco outlet Temp RH
EVAPORATOR
AP0006 HAD6OCP001 ZQ01 DRM PRESS
18 Drum Press
AP1111 HAN53CP001 XQ01 DRUM PRESS
19 Drum Press
SUPERHEATER
20 Shtr atpr 1 LH in Temp
21 Shtr atpr 1 LH vv1 pos
22 Shtr atpr 1 LH vv2 pos
23 Shtr atpr 1 LH out Temp
24 Shtr atpr 1 RH in Temp
25 Shtr atpr 1 RH vv1 pos
26 Shtr atpr 1 RH vv2 pos
27 Shtr atpr 1 RH out Temp
28 Shtr atpr 2 LH in Temp
29 Shtr atpr 2 LH vv1 pos
30 Shtr atpr 2 LH vv2 pos
31 Shtr atpr 2 LH flow
32 Shtr atpr 2 LH out Temp
33 Shtr atpr 2 RH in Temp
34 Shtr atpr 2 RH vv1 pos
35 Shtr atpr 2 RH vv2 pos
36 Shtr atpr 2 RH flow
AP0010
AP1254
AP0676
AP0011
AP0013
AP 1255
AP0017
AP0014
AP0731
AP0741
AP0743
AP0747
AP0733
AP0735
AP0742
AP0744
AP0746
211
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
HAH82CT013 XQ01
LAE50CF001 ZQ01
LBA11CP901 XQ01
LBA11CT904 XT03
LBA12CP901 XQ01
LBA12CT904 XT02
HAH8OCF900 XQ01
LBC12CP401 XQ01
LBC11CT001 X001
LAF53AA001 XQ50
LAF55AA001 XQ50
LBC11CT003 XQ01
LBC12CT001 XQ01
LAF54AA001 XQ50
LAF56AA001 XQ50
LBC12CT003 XQ01
LAF40CF001 ZQ01
LBB22CP011 XQ01
LBB11CT001 XQ01
LBB12CT001 XQ01
LBB12DT901 XT04
HFE5ODU500 XT01
HFB52DS001 XQ50
HFB51DS001 XQ50
HFE4ODU500 XT01
HFB42DS001 XQ50
HFB41DS001 XQ50
HFE30DU500 XT01
HFB32DS001 XQ50
HFB31DS001 XQ50
HFE2ODU500 XT01
HFB22DS001 XQ50
HFB21DS001 XQ50
HFE1ODU500 XT01
HFB12DS001 XQ50
HFB11DS001 XQ50
HJF00CF901 ZQ01
HFEOODU500 XT11
HHAO10E001 ZTO1
HLB00DF900 XT10
HLB10CF901 XG)02
HLB20CF901 XQ02
HLBOOCF901 a)02
HNA12CQ001 XQ01
TOT PA FL
LH FD AIR FLOW
RH FD AIR FLOW
TOT AIR FL
LH 02 CONTENT
212
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
02 content RH
AP0362
Precip air inlet Temp LH AP0775
Precip air inlet Temp RHAP0776
MISCELANEOUS
Target load
AP0669
Generated MW
AP1147
Unit load setpoint
AP0670
Turbine demand
AP0672
AP0671
Boiler demand
Shtr Press setpoint
AP0361
HP governor vv position AP0454
IP governor vv position AP0455
Ambient air Temp
AP0580
AP0816
Condensor vacuum
Dust level
AP0715
Fuel factor
AP0666
HNA22CQ001 XQ01
HNA14CT904 ZQ01
HNA24CT904 ZQ01
RH 02 CONTENT
LH P/CIP GAS INL TMP AVR
RH P/CIP GAS INL TMP AVR
CJAOODU590 XJ07
CJAOODU450 XU15
CJAOODU570 XU01
CJAOODU460 XU53
CJA00DU500 XJ23
CJAOODU460 XU51
MAA12CG001 Xia01
MAB12CG001 XQ01
PADOOCT001 XQ01
MAG10CP005 XQ01
HME1OCQ001 XQ01
CJAOODU540 XT12
213
Appendix C.
Spreadsheet model
Previously in this thesis, mention was made of a boiler heat transfer model that was used to
determine heat transfer rates. This model was created on a Corel Quattro Pro [120] spreadsheet
running on a personal computer. The spreadsheet has a neural network as its core which it uses
to calculate heat transfer rates from any given set of boiler conditions It can also be used for
optimization of control elements to achieve desired heat transfer rates.
An engineering interface is used to input the state of various furnace elements. The modelled heat
transfer rates are calculated from these inputs and displayed numerically and graphically. All the
neural network calculations are done in spreadsheet cells.
Four spreadsheet pages are used by the heat transfer model, each with a specific set of
calculations. The first page is configured as the engineering interface. From here changes can be
made to mill firing rates, burner tilt angle, and 0, setpoint. Fuel factor and coal calorific value can
also be adjusted. The second page does scaling of all the variables for use by the neural network.
The latter is configured over two pages, one for each layer of neurons in the network. The neural
network outputs are rescaled to relative heat transfer rates on the second page and adjusted to add
up to unity. The first page displays the modelled heat transfer rate to the evaporator, superheater,
and reheater.
Brainmaker [83] was used to train the neural network. The training data was obtained during a
series of special heat transfer tests run on Kendal Unit 3. The neural network weights were
uploaded from a network configuration file created by Brainmaker after training.
The model can also be used for optimization. In this mode, target heat discharge rates for the
evaporator, superheater, and reheater are entered into allocated celles. Errors in heat transfer can
be weighted individually. Thereafter the built in optimizer of Quattro is used to manipulate
furnace elements to obtain target heat transfer rates to the superheater and reheater. The optimizer
minimizes the sum of the weighted RMS errors between the target heat transfer rates and the
model outputs. Limits may be placed on total fuel flow rate, individual mill fuel flow rates, 0,
214
concentration, and burner tilt angle. Optimization is performed within these limits.
The heat transfer model, which is quite easy to operate, is used as an engineering tool for
determining heat transfer rates under various conditions. Figure C.1 displays the engineering
interface of the model.
INPUTS =r
.., .--,-,
..i, .,
cr
'r
111114:0111S IN Mia
Niagatimow
al12101111M NI ai
IIMUILSE a
IS/2a MI MIES
pa' , -my-
'
I 0
.4
.
1;3111111111111Sal
Mill SI
11111
iiiirEann= MEMOISMILM
114111,M=1.
EMILILIIIIIIII
-.
tuna II
iiiiiia
=Mel"
=Aar, "0 in ou" -9 211111111611052:1121r MISIM
fl:11
S-heat (33.12%)
..7-i
--
. -..-
On uncorrectedibUrhonftranster
11
111-
maims
91
Evap (48.51%)
wialilLam a=
IN
,
Figure C.1 The neural network boiler heat transfer model running on a
spreadsheet.
215
Appendix D.
12
r-
co
Yr
0
CI
0
CO
0
qv-
0
CO
0
CO
CO
E2
0
10
i
lyric atsueineeN
216
Appendix E.
The following four pages contain prints of the key parameters measured, calculated, and recorded
from Kendal Unit 3 during the OHD control tests. Each page is dedicated to two tests, done
under exactly the same conditions, one with only the normal boiler controls, and the other with
OHD control active. The pages contain prints of test data recorded under the following
conditions:
Appendix E 1
200 MW load ramp from 486 MW to 686 MW at 15 MW/min with A, B, C, & D mills in service.
Appendix E2
100 MW load ramp from 686 MW to 586 MW at 15 MW/min with A, B, C, & D mills in service.
Appendix E3
E-mill trip at 586 MW with A, C, & D mills remaining in sevice.
Appendix E4
Capability load runback from full load to 60 %. E-mill was tripped automatically and A, B, & D
mills remained in service. One boiler water circulating pump was tripped to initiate the runbck.
217
Appendix El
200 MW load ramp from 486 MW to 686 MW at 15 MW/min with A, B, C, & D mills in service.
Superheater temperatures
550
545
540
535
530
525
LH Norm
60
50
560
/
550
40
-1
30
540
20
/
10
0
Star Norm
530
520
LH Norm RH NOM U-I w OHD RH w OHD
Tilts & 02
30
120
-..'-f\--n
10
\ -{ '"i1
z \J i \!
,-,
A7C
re-
so
40
20
20
-30
100
ao
\\ i
0
-10
LH w OHD RH w OHD
Repeater temperatures
70
20
RH NOWT
tionny
Tia NWT
0
-
OHD Enabled
OHD Disabled
800
900
700
800
700
600
600
500
500
400
400
300
300
200
200
100
100
Discharge Target
Absorbed
Discharged Target
Absorbed
218
Appendix E2
100 MW load ramp from 686 MW to 586 MW at 15 MW/min with A, B, C, & D mills in service.
Superheater temperatures
105
100
540
95
so
535
\
es
k \
NN
530
8o
75
525
Fuel Non
Reheater temperatures
35
30
545
25
20
15
10
5
r\A
ft.____N
N
S1 Nam
M
540
535
530
a.lree
4r,1 A
rilik
11
wq
525
so
40
20
0
A-Mill B-Mill
0-Mill E-Mill
OHD Enabled
800
700
630
t/
500
400
300
II
200
Discharged Target
Absorbed
219
Appendix E3
E-mill trip at 586 MW with A, C, & D mills remaining in sevice.
85
8o
75
70
55
Fuel Norm
Repeater temperatures
550
60
545
50
540
40
30
20
535
innenAleaw
530
telleM1111M-.
525
ItalraMaiena.
10
520
0
Shtr Norm
515
LH Nom%
RH NOIM
Tilts & 02
30
20
10
0
,c,itN NAN..4%
a.
'\
maka I
yansines
10
-20
30
TiS Noah
MV/Itallna
120
100
8o
40
20
-%
. Ai 40 /a.
AWAILTICatallalln
allS112
,/
11 1
INi
11
OHD Enabled
OHD Disabled
eco
800
700
700
600
LH w OHD RH w OHD
600
500
SW
400
400
300
300
200
200
.'tag
ww,
103
100
Discharged Target
Absorbed
Discharged Target
Absorbed
220
Appendix E4
Capability load runback from full load to 60 %. E-mill was tripped automatically and A, B, & D
mills remained in service. One boiler water circulating pump was tripped to initiate the runbck.
Superheater temperatures
545
100
540
535
90
530
ao
525
70
520
60
515
510
LH Norm
50
Fuel Norm Steam norm Fuel OHD Steam OHD
Reheater temperatures
50
550
ao
540
30
20
530
__ALVA1111111ra
v
520
10
0
Shtr Norm
510
500
LH Noun RH Norm LH w OHD RH w OHD
Tilts & 02
30
20
10
10
-2o
-30
Tilt NOM
0
02 Norm Tilt w OHO 02 w OHD
OHD Enabled
SOO
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
Discharged Target
Absorbed