FORCE Technology has developed an inexpensive monitoring system to ensure optimum location of the combustion zone and improved control of the combustion process in biofuel plants.
FORCE Technology’s monitoring system helps provide new information about the combustion at grate fired plants. The operator can use this information to optimise the entire combustion process and thereby improve operation security and production at the incineration plant.
Graphic visualisation of the combustion process
The core of the monitoring system is a modified CCD camera providing real time data to a computer that continuously analyses the pictures and graphically visualises and quantifies important parameters in the combustion process. Linking the monitoring system to the existing SCADA system of the plant enables immediate and automatic control and optimisation of the combustion.
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The camera gives a precise picture of the combustion. |
“We have decided to build our monitoring system on the basis of a relatively inexpensive camera developed to give a precise picture of the combustion. The flickering and blurred pictures that are usually presented as visualisation of the actual combustion process are a thing of the past. Now, the operator can look directly through the flames and into the combustion zone. The efficiency of the plant is closely related to the location and area of the combustion zone as well as the radiation intensity. These are some of the central data that the system focuses on and analyses,” says Senior Project Manager Jesper Cramer from FORCE Technology.
Identify and rectify
Using different colour indications the operator can now follow the surface temperature of the grate layer on monitors and obtain a precise identification of the burn-out zone’s start and end position in the oven. The visual system enables the operator to keep the burn-out zone at the same position on the grate. The system will then warn the operator if the burn-out zone exceeds the fixed limits.
“The operator has visual documentation of where to make the adjustments so that the system functions optimally again,” says Jesper Cramer.
Operation analysis
Optimum combustion is what all incineration plants aim for, to get as much energy out of the fuel as possible, but also to minimise the amount of residuals. The monitoring system collects data on an ongoing basis to be used for immediate correction of the operation. But the information can also be accumulated in the existing SCADA system of the plant as documentation or for a subsequent analysis of the operation.
“The monitoring system is economically attractive for the incineration plants and, in addition, it is simple and user-friendly. We can adjust the picture processing method of the system to fit several types of grates and combustion processes,” says Jesper Cramer.
