Concept of application of signals from fiber optic system for flame monitoring to control separate pulverized coal burner

Burning pulverized coal in power boilers causes considerable emission of atmospheric pollution. In order to decrease it the combustion process itself has been modified, however at the cost of side effects like: an increased level of unburned coal particles in the ashes. There are tens of burners in a single power boiler and emission level measurements are made in a flue gas duct, so the control based on such averaged and heavily delayed values often results ineffective. The neural controller of the pulverized coal burner attempts to resolve these problems. The clue is the utilization of the fiber-optic system for monitoring of chosen zone of flame developed in Department of Electronics of Technical University of Lublin in subordinate control loop. The article contains a description of controlled system and optical fiber measurement system as well as the idea of new control structure and initial models.