Remote Burner Monitoring System and Method

• US 20150316262A1
• Filed: 05/02/2014
• Published: 11/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals Incorporated (Linde Plc)
• Original Assignee: Air Products and Chemicals Incorporated (Linde Plc)
• Inventors: Ward, Christopher Alan, Hendershot, Reed Jacob, Slavejkov, Aleksandar Georgi, Lee, Thomas David Matthew, Immer, Jeremy Glen, Zhao, Yan, Gallagher, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 10,508,807 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 2223/02 Multiplex transmission
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 2223/08 Microprocessor; Microcomputer
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 2223/38 Remote control
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 2223/54 Recording
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 2225/00 Measuring
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 5/00 Systems for controlling combustion regulating fuel supply F23N1/00, regulating air supply or draught F23N3/00
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 5/242 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: F23N 5/265 using electronic means

Abstract

A remote burner monitoring system including one or more burners each including integrated sensors, a data collector corresponding to each of the burners for receiving and aggregating data from the sensors of the corresponding burner, and a local transmitter corresponding to each of the data collectors for transmitting the data, a data center configured and programmed to receive the data from the local transmitters corresponding to the one or more burners, and a server configured and programmed to store at least a portion of the data, to convert the data into a display format, and to provide connectivity to enable receipt and transmission of data and the display format via a network including at least one of a wired network, a cellular network, and a Wi-Fi network.

Claims

1. A remote burner monitoring system comprising:

one or more burners each including integrated sensors;

at least one data collector corresponding to each of the burners for receiving and aggregating data from the sensors of the corresponding burner, and at least one local transmitter corresponding to each of the data collectors for transmitting the data;

a data center configured and programmed to receive the data from the local transmitters corresponding to the one or more burners; and

a server configured and programmed to store at least a portion of the data, to convert the data into a display format, and to provide connectivity to enable receipt and transmission of data and the display format via a network including at least one of a wired network, a cellular network, and a Wi-Fi network.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a computer configured and programmed to transmit and receive data to and from the network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data center includes one or more of a data receiver for receiving the data, a server for storing at least a portion of the data, and a router for providing connectivity to enable network receipt and transmission of data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the data collector of each of the burners is programmed to provide a correct voltage to each of the integrated sensors of the burner.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data collector of each of the burners is programmed to provide power to individual sensors only when data is to be collected, based on one or both of a combination of sensed data and a periodic schedule, and taking into account the specific requirements of each of the individual sensors.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the local transmitter corresponding to each of the burners transmits data wirelessly, either directly to the receiver server or indirectly via one or more Wi-Fi repeaters, as required by the distance and signal path between the burner and the receiver server.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the display format is selected from the group consisting of:

an Internet web page format and a mobile device app format.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the data collector corresponding to each burner is powered by local energy harvesting.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the burners uses an oxidant selected from the group consisting of:

air, oxygen-enriched air, industrial grade oxygen, and combinations thereof.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the burners is configured to combust a fuel selected from the group consisting of:

gaseous fuel, liquid fuel, solid fuel, and combinations thereof.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein at least one of the burners is configured to perform staged combustion.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is integrated with the data center.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is located in the cloud.

14. A method of monitoring operation of one or more burners, the method comprising:

sensing operational data at each of the burners;

locally collecting the data at each of the burners;

transmitting the collected data from each of the burners to a data center;

converting the data into a display format;

transmitting the display format via a network including at least one of a wired network, a cellular network, and a Wi-Fi network.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein converting the data into a display format comprising serving up the data in one or more of an Internet web page format and a mobile device app format.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting the collected data from the data center via the network to the cloud;

storing the collected data in a remote data repository; and

enabling access via the network to the collected data stored in the remote data repository.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

analyzing the collected data including performing statistical analysis of the collected data corresponding to one of the burners, performing comparative analysis of the collected data between two or more of the burners, comparing the collected data for one or more of the burners to preset alarm setpoints and generating alarms, and combinations thereof.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

controlling operation of the one or more burners based on the collected data and analysis of the collected data;

wherein controlling operation includes one or more of maintaining burner operating parameters within prescribed limits, tuning local flame characteristics, and rapidly responding to adverse burner conditions.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the local flame characteristics include one or more of heat flux and flame length.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the adverse burner conditions include one or more of an elevated temperature of a burner component, an elevated temperature of a furnace component, and flame instability.