On fusion of PCA and a physical model‐based predictive control strategy for efficient load‐cycling operation of a thermal power plant

Abstract

AbstractControlling a thermal power plant optimally during load‐cycling operation is a very challenging control problem. The control complexity is enhanced further by the possibility of simultaneous occurrence of sensor malfunctions and a plethora of system disturbances. This paper proposes and evaluates the effectiveness of a sensor validation and reconstruction approach using principal component analysis (PCA) in conjunction with a physical plant model. For optimal control under severe operating conditions in the presence of possible sensor malfunctions, a predictive control strategy is devised by appropriate fusion of the PCA‐based sensor validation and reconstruction approach and a constrained model predictive control (MPC) technique. As a case study, the control strategy is applied for thermal power plant control in the presence of a single sensor malfunction. In particular, it is applied to investigate the effectiveness and relative advantage of applying rate constraints on main steam temperature and heat‐exchanger tube‐wall temperature, so that faster load cycling operation is achieved without causing excessive thermal stresses in heat‐exchanger tubes. In order to account for unstable and non‐minimum phase boiler–turbine dynamics, the MPC technique applied is an infinite horizon non‐linear physical model‐based state‐space MPC strategy, which guarantees asymptotic stability and feasibility in the presence of output and state constraints. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.