Control Optimization via A Practical Closed-loop Identification Method for A Low-pressure Heater in Power Plant

Abstract

During the operation of a power plant, open-loop experiments are prohibited and this results in great difficulties for proportional-integral (PI) controller optimization. To overcome this question, a practical closed-loop identification method with feedforward control is proposed in this paper. The theoretical analyses and the implementations are carried out based on closed-loop data, and simulation results have validated the effectiveness of the proposed method. Finally, the identified system built by the proposed method is applied to the control optimization for a low-pressure heater in a 330MW power plant. Based on the identified system, the PI parameters are retuned and optimized, and the field running data validate the obvious improvement of the disturbance rejection performance. The successful application shows a promising future of the proposed closed-loop identification in practical industrial processes.