Efficient model predictive control of boiler coal combustion based on NARX neutral network

Abstract

During coal-fired power generation, uniform combustion temperature in the boiler is desired which will benefit both economical efficiency and pollution reduction. To this end, a model predictive control (MPC) algorithm based on the Nonlinear Auto-Regressive Exogenous Inputs (NARX) neural network and KS-function is proposed, and the uniform combustion in the boiler is realized by controlling the opening travel of secondary windgates. In the modeling process, a multi-input and multi-output(MIMO) NARX neural network is developed using the historical data of the real system The NARX neural network is then used to predict the state variables, and the optimal control input is achieved by applying sequential quadratic programming (SQP), comparing with linear MPC the mean temperature difference is reduced by 64.2%. In addition, this paper proposes a new method to reduce the computational time of the online optimization process based on KS-function, which greatly accelerates the searching speed of SQP by 67.3%. The proposed MPC algorithm is applied to a 660 MW power generating unit. The results show that by applying the proposed algorithm, the temperature difference in the boiler is kept within 100 °C, the average coal consumption of the power plant is reduced by 5.71 g/kWh, and the NOx emission is reduced to 23.84 mg/m₃. It can be concluded that the proposed algorithm greatly improves the economical efficiency of the power plant and reduces the emission of pollutants.