Trends in Improving Automatic Control and Regulation Systems of the Thermal Power Plants

Relevance of the article is determined by the need to improve power and dynamic performance of the thermal power plants and indicators of their fuel efficiency and toxicity of the exhaust gases. An integral part of these facilities are the automatic control and regulation systems that ensure coordination of the elements and systems of the combined thermal and power facilities in a wide range of their operating modes. The most important criteria in such elements and systems coordination are the indicators characterizing toxicity of the exhaust gases. Currently, thermal power plants based on the piston and combined internal combustion engines are widely used. Main areas of improving thermal power plants with the internal combustion engines and their automatic control and regulation systems were analyzed. For example, expanding their functionality including the exhaust gas purification systems control and the use of thermal power plants in adaptation to operate on the alternative fuels; improving the quality of control and regulation processes and minimizing the share of unsteady operating modes of the thermal power plants. Current level of systems for automatic control and regulation of the thermal power plants was evaluated. Working processes of the internal combustion engines and their systems were studied. The most important systems of the combined thermal power plants with internal combustion engines, such as fuel supply, air supply, gas distribution, cooling, lubrication, purification and exhaust gas recirculation systems were considered. The need was also noted for comprehensive optimization of the engine parameters and its main systems