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Sootblowing optimization for improved boiler performance

  • US 8,498,746 B2
  • Filed: 09/07/2012
  • Issued: 07/30/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2007
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A computer-based soot cleaning optimization system for optimizing soot cleaning operations in a boiler of a power generating unit, wherein the boiler is divided into a plurality of zones, the system comprising:

  • a zone selection component for receiving current operating conditions of the power generating unit that include current operating conditions associated with soot cleaning devices and the boiler, and for selecting one of said plurality of zones of the boiler for a soot cleaning operation given said current operating conditions of the power generating unit, wherein said zone selection component includes an expert system comprised of;

    an inference engine,a first knowledge base comprising a plurality of propose rules, wherein each of said plurality of propose rules has associated therewith;

    (a) one or more trigger conditions, (b) one or more enabling conditions indicative of whether soot cleaning can be currently initiated in a zone of the boiler, and (c) a proposed action having an associated rank, anda second knowledge base comprising a plurality of apply rules;

    said zone selection component programmed to select one of said plurality of zones of the boiler by executing the following steps;

    accessing the expert system;

    using the inference engine for evaluating the plurality of propose rules to generate a list of proposed actions for achieving boiler performance goals for operation of the boiler, wherein each proposed action identifies a zone for a soot cleaning operation,wherein the proposed action associated with a propose rule is added to the generated list of proposed actions only when the following conditions are satisfied;

    (a) the trigger conditions associated with the propose rule and (b) the enabling conditions associated with the propose rule, andwherein satisfaction of the trigger conditions and enabling conditions are determined using the current operating conditions transmitted by the communications interfaces;

    using the inference engine for evaluating the plurality of apply rules of the second knowledge base to select one proposed action from the generated list of one or more proposed actions determined by evaluating the plurality of propose rules, wherein said one proposed action is selected from the generated list of proposed actions according to the rank associated with each proposed action; and

    a soot cleaning device selection component for selecting at least one soot cleaning device within the zone identified by the selected proposed action.

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