SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PREDICTING TUBE FOULING IN A FIRED APPARATUS, AND FOR UTILIZING TUBE FOULING PREDICTIONS

摘要

The following provides a system and method to predict an indicator of tubefouling in a firedapparatus such as a boiler. Historical data can be collected when the tubingis still considered tobe clean, and used to build a first model between an indicator of fouling,such as tube skintemperature, and boiler load. The actual measurement of that indicator offouling can then becompared against the model output, such that the error between the model andmeasurement isconsidered an indication of the tube fouling. Moreover, the rate of change ofthe model errorcan be used to measure the fouling rate. Next, historical data on the fluidfeed quality can becollected and together with the historical error rate change data can becombined to develop asecond model. This second model reflects how fluid feed quality variables mayaffect thefouling rate over time.