The marriage of model-based closed-loop control and information technology offers a new level of efficiency and productivity to many industrial areas. It is especially true in steam power generation, where automation is indispensable for the operation of the large boilers that generate the steam used to drive the turbines. Here, such a union provides the ideal basis for minimizing thermal stress - the cause of shortened lifetime - as well as energy consumption during the fast boiler start-ups. A non-linear, model-based predictive controller (NMPC) developed by ABB meets these requirements while taking into account a whole series of constraints. It is the first of its kind to be successfully used in a power plant rated at around 700 MW. Experience to date shows that, thanks to its broad functionality, the NMPC solution could be easily adapted for similar applications in other industrial sectors.
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