Plant control apparatus

• US 8,209,040 B2
• Filed: 01/10/2008
• Issued: 06/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Sekiai, Takaaki, Yamada, Akihiro, Hayashi, Yoshiharu, Kanada, Masaki, Eguchi, Toru, Shimizu, Satoru, Fukai, Masayuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Decady, Albert
• Assistant Examiner(s): WHITTINGTON, ANTHONY T
• Application Number:
  US11/971,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20080168016A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,629 Days
• Field of Search: 700/47, 700/48
• US Class Current: 700/47
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 17/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning

Abstract

A plant control apparatus has a measurement signal DB, an operation signal DB, a numerical value analysis executing unit, a numerical value analysis result DB, a model for estimating a value of a measurement signal for an operation signal, learning unit using the model, a learning information DB, a control logic DB for information used by an operation signal generating unit, a knowledge DB for plant running characteristics, and an analyzing unit processing information in the numerical value analysis result DB by information in the knowledge DB, learning information DB, operation signal DB, and measurement signal DB, wherein the analyzing unit includes at least one of a learning base analyzing unit checking adequacy of an operation method, a signal analyzing unit for evaluating an effect of the operation signal upon the plant and presence/absence of an abnormal signal, and a knowledge DB updating unit correcting information in the knowledge DB.

Claims

1. A plant control apparatus having operation signal generating unit for calculating an operation signal to be supplied to a plant by using a measurement signal representative of a running state amount of the plant, comprising:

a measurement signal database for storing a past measurement signal;

an operation signal database for storing a past operation signal;

numerical value analysis executing unit for analyzing running characteristics of the plant;

a numerical value analysis result database for storing numerical analysis results obtained by operating said numerical analysis executing unit;

a model for estimating a value of a measurement signal obtained when an operation signal is applied to the plant, by using information in said numerical value analysis result database;

learning unit for learning a plant operation method by using said model;

a learning information database for storing learning information obtained by said learning unit;

a control logic database for storing information to be used by said operation signal generating unit when an operation signal is derived;

a knowledge database for storing knowledge regarding the running characteristics of the plant;

analyzing unit for processing information in said numerical value analysis result database, by using information in said knowledge database, said learning information database, said operation signal database and said measurement signal database; and

an analysis result database for storing an analysis result by said analyzing unit,

wherein said analyzing unit includes at least one of learning base analyzing unit for evaluating adequacy of the operation method learnt by said learning unit, signal analyzing unit for evaluating an effect obtained if the operation signal is applied to the plant and presence/absence of an abnormal measurement signal, and knowledge database updating unit for adding information to or correcting information in, said knowledge database.

2. The plant control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said learning base analyzing unit comprises:

unit for setting an initial value of a running condition;

unit for extracting an operation signal change width of said operation condition from said learning information database;

unit for extracting two numerical value analysis results corresponding to said operation condition and an operation condition after an operation signal is changed, from said numerical value analysis result database;

judging unit for comparing said two numerical value analysis results and judging whether a difference therebetween can be explained by knowledge in said knowledge database; and

unit for storing, if said judging unit judges that the knowledge in said knowledge database explains the difference between said two numerical value analysis results, the two numerical value analysis results and knowledge in said analysis result database.

3. The plant control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said signal analyzing unit has at least one of an operation signal evaluation functional block and a measurement signal evaluation functional block;

said operation signal evaluation functional block comprises;

unit for extracting two operation signals before and after the operation signal is changed, from said operation signal database;

unit for extracting two numerical value analysis results corresponding to the two operation signals from said numerical value analysis result database;

unit for extracting knowledge capable of explaining a difference between said two numerical value analysis results from said knowledge database; and

unit for storing the extracted knowledge and numerical value analysis result in said analysis result database; and

said measurement signal evaluation functional block comprises;

unit for extracting a present operation signal from said operation signal database;

unit for extracting a numerical value analysis result corresponding to the operation signal from said numerical value analysis result database;

unit for comparing a value of a present measurement signal with the numerical value analysis result;

unit for extracting, if a deviation is large between a value of the present measurement signal the numerical value analysis result, knowledge indicating a reason of a large deviation from said knowledge database; and

unit for storing the extracted knowledge in said analysis result database.

4. The plant control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said knowledge database updating unit has at least one of a knowledge evaluation functional block, a knowledge correction functional block and a knowledge addition functional block;

said knowledge evaluation functional block comprises unit for extracting the number of use times of knowledge regardinq the running characteristics in said knowledge database from said analysis result database;

unit for calculating a larger evaluation value of the knowledge the larger the number of use times of the knowledge is; and

unit for storing the knowledge evaluation value in said knowledge database;

said knowledge correction functional block comprises;

unit for selecting knowledge to be corrected from said knowledge database;

unit for correcting the knowledge so as not to contradict information in said numerical value analysis database, said measurement signal database and said operation signal database; and

unit for storing the corrected knowledge in said knowledge database; and

said knowledge addition functional block comprises;

unit for generating a hypothesis of knowledge;

unit for evaluating adequacy of said hypothesis by using information in said numerical value analysis result database, said measurement signal database and said operation signal database; and

unit for storing, if said evaluation result is good, said hypothesis in said knowledge database.

5. The plant control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said knowledge data base stores knowledge regarding a running state of the plant and influence of said plant running state upon a running performance of the plant, preliminary knowledge regarding an effect obtained by changing the operation signal, knowledge regarding a factor causing an abnormal value of the control signal and a method of avoiding the factor.

6. The plant control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the evaluation value of knowledge is stored in said knowledge database, said learning base analyzing unit or the learning base analyzing unit refer to knowledge in said knowledge database in an order of knowledge having a higher evaluation value.

7. The plant control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein there is provided a functional block for displaying information on an image display apparatus wherein the information is in said measurement signal database, said operation signal database, said control logic database, said learning information database, said numerical value analysis result database and said knowledge database.

8. The plant control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein an operation signal to be input next and a result of analysis of adequacy of inputting said operation signal to the plant are displayed on a screen and there is provided a menu for making an operator of the plant judge whether said operation signal is input to the plant.

9. The plant control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

the plant control apparatus is applied to a thermal power plant; and

said knowledge database stores knowledge regarding the influence upon a plant performance factor, the knowledge includes a position of gas passing through the boiler, a gas temperature and a gas flow rate at the position, a gas composition in weight or density of at least one of fine particles including nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sodium oxide, mercury, fluorine, dust, mist and volatile organic compound, respectively at a boiler output port, and a plant running efficiency.

10. A plant control apparatus having operation signal generating unit for calculating an operation signal to be supplied to a plant by using a measurement signal representative of a running state amount of the plant, comprising:

numerical value analysis executing unit for calculating a numerical value representative of characteristics of the plant;

learning unit for learning for learning a method of generating the operation signal to make the plant have a desired running state, by using a model configured in accordance with a numerical value analysis result by said numerical value analysis executing unit; and

analyzing unit for analyzing an effect of changing the operation signal in accordance with a learning result, in accordance with said numerical value.

11. A control apparatus for a plant having a boiler comprising:

stream line data calculating unit for learning a relation between input data and output data by using a numerical analysis result including at least a gas flow phenomenon occurring in the boiler, and by using, as the input data, at least a fuel flow rate and an air flow rate supplied to burners and an air flow rate supplied to air supply ports other than the burners, and by using, as the output data, position data of a stream line representing a locus of a gas flow supplied from said burners and said air supply ports;

stream line drawing unit for receiving the stream line position data output from said stream line data calculating unit, and executing a calculation process for drawing the stream line on a display screen as an image; and

image displaying unit for displaying the stream line of gas supplied from said burners and said air supply ports and visualized by said stream line drawing unit.

12. The control apparatus for a boiler plant according to claim 11, further comprising:

stream line data interpolating unit for interpolating discrete data of a stream line position output from said stream line data calculating unit,

wherein said stream line drawing unit receives the stream line position data output from said stream line data calculating unit added to interpolation data calculated by said stream line data interpolating unit, and executes a calculation process for drawing an image on the display screen.

13. The control apparatus for a boiler plant according to claim 11, further comprising:

condition adaptive data extracting unit for extracting the stream line position data adaptive to a designated condition, from the stream line position data output from said stream line data calculating unit,

wherein said stream line data drawing unit received data extracted by said condition adaptive data extracting unit and executes a calculation process for drawing the data on the display screen as an image.

14. The control apparatus for a boiler plant according to claim 11, further comprising:

condition adaptive data extracting unit for extracting the stream line position data adaptive to a designated condition, from the stream line position data output from said stream line data calculating unit; and

stream line data interpolating unit for interpolating discrete data of the stream position selected by said condition adaptive data extracting unit,

wherein said stream line drawing unit receives the data selected by said condition adaptive data extracting unit added to interpolation data calculated by said stream line data interpolating unit, and executes a calculation process for drawing an image on the display screen.

15. The control apparatus for a boiler plant according to claim 13, wherein said condition adaptive data extracting unit uses, as an index of a designation condition, at least one value selected from a group consisting of a carbon monoxide density, an oxygen density, a nitrogen oxide density, a sulfur oxide density, a mercury density, a volatile organic compound density and a not-burnt duel density at a predetermined position and in a predetermined flow path area of a gas flow path in the boiler.

16. The control apparatus for a boiler plant according to claim 11, wherein said stream line data calculating unit is a neural net for calculating a locus of a gas flow supplied from said burners and said air supply ports, by using, as in put data, a fuel flow rate and an air flow rate supplied to said burners, an air flow rate supplied to said air supply ports, and by using, as output data, coordinate data of stream lines having said burners and said air supply ports as start points, a flow speed, a gas temperature, an oxygen density, a carbon monoxide density and a nitrogen oxide density at each coordinate position.

17. The control apparatus for a boiler plant according to claim 16, said neural net is divided for each burner and for each air supply port other than the burner.

19. The control apparatus for a boiler plant according to claim 11, wherein said image display unit displays at the same time at least some or all of measurement values and control command values of a fuel flow rate and an air flow rate supplied to burners and an air flow rate supplied to air supply ports other than the burners, and a stream lie image of the gas supplied from said burners and said air supply ports.

18. A control apparatus for a plant having a boiler comprising:

a knowledge database updating unit has at least one of a knowledge evaluation functional block,

a knowledge correction functional block and a knowledge addition functional block;

said knowledge evaluation functional block comprises unit for extracting the number of use times of knowledge regarding the running characteristics in said knowledge database from an analysis result database;

unit for calculating a larger evaluation value of the knowledge the larger the number of use times of the knowledge is; and

unit for storing the knowledge evaluation value in said knowledge database;

said knowledge correction functional block comprises;

unit for selecting knowledge to be corrected from said knowledge database;

unit for correcting the knowledge so as not to contradict information in said numerical value analysis database, said measurement signal database and said operation signal database;

and unit for storing the corrected knowledge in said knowledge database; and

said knowledge addition functional block comprises;

unit for generating a hypothesis of knowledge;

unit for evaluating adequacy of said hypothesis by using information in said numerical value analysis result database, said measurement signal database and said operation signal database;

and unit for storing, if said evaluation result is good, said hypothesis in said knowledge database;

and image display unit for displaying a stream line representative of a locus of a gas flow supplied from burners and air support ports other than the burners on a screen, by using a numerical value analysis result including at least a gas flow phenomenon occurring in the boiler.

20. An operator training apparatus for a plant having a boiler, comprising:

phenomenon visualizing unit for visualizing a phenomenon in the boiler to display a relation between a control operation and the phenomenon in the boiler; and

image display unit for the relation visualized by said phenomenon visualizing unit on a screen,

wherein said phenomenon visualizing unit comprises;

stream line data calculating unit for learning a relation between input data and output data by using a numerical analysis result including at least a gas flow phenomenon occurring in the boiler, and by using, as the input data, at least a fuel flow rate and an air flow rate supplied to burners and an air flow rate supplied to air supply ports other than the burners, and by using, as the output data, position data of a stream line representing a locus of a gas flow supplied from said burners and said air supply ports;

stream line drawing unit for receiving the stream line position data output from said stream line data calculating unit, and executing a calculation process for drawing the stream line on a display screen as an image; and

image displaying unit for displaying the stream line of gas supplied from said burners and said air supply ports and visualized by said stream line drawing unit, and wherein a stream line of the gas supplied from said burners and said air supply ports and visualized by said stream line drawing unit is displayed on the screen of said image displaying unit.