NTPC / Simhadri STPP, Stage-II, 2 x 500 MW RECOMMENDED AUTO CONTROL WRITE-UP

WRITE-UP ON BOILER AUTO CONTROL SYSTEMS

THE FOLLOWING CONTROL LOOP DESCRIPTIONS ARE COVERED IN THIS WRITE UP

Sl. No.
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08

Description
FEEDWATER CONTROL FURNACE DRAFT CONTROL PRIMARY AIR HEADER PRESSURE CONTROL MILL OUTLET TEMPERATURE CONTROL COMBUSTION CONTROL AIR FLOW CONTROL FUEL FLOW CONTROL AIR HEATER TEMPERATURE CONTROL SUPERHEATER AND REHEATER STEAM TEMPERATURE CONTROL

Drg. Ref. (Sheet No.)

2.1, 2.2 3.1,3.2 4 5.1,5.2 6 7.1,7.2 8.1,8.2 9 10.1,10.2,10.3, 10.4, 10.5

09

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NTPC / Simhadri STPP, Stage-II, 2 x 500 MW RECOMMENDED AUTO CONTROL WRITE-UP

01. FEED WATER CONTROL (DRUM LEVEL CONTROL) The objective of this control system is to maintain the drum level to the normal water level of the drum at all loads. At lower loads (less than 30% MCR), the start up feed control valve will be used as final control element and at higher loads; speed control of Boiler Feedwater Pumps (BFPs) will be used. Drum level is measured by transmitters through temperature compensated constant head unit. The pressure compensated drum level signal may be selected by Mid Value Auto Selection (MVAS) circuit for control. Low load: The drum level measured signal is compared with the drum level set point. The error signal will have a proportional, integral and differential action in the single element controller. This controller output will be the position demand signal for the start up feed control valve. Auto/manual station is provided for auto/manual selection and operation. Position indicator is provided for the start up feed control valve. High load: At higher loads the start up control valve shall be closed. The steam flow shall be measured. In order to prevent sudden response due to drum swell and shrink on load change, a time lag unit shall be included in the steam flow signal. The temperature compensated feed water flow signal is computed by adding feedwater flow at economiser inlet and superheater spray water flow. The error signal produced between drum level measured signal and drum level set point shall have proportional, integral and differential action in the three-element drum level controller. This will be added with steam flow signal, which is the feed water flow demand signal (set point for feed water flow). This will be compared with the feed water flow in the feed water controller. Deviation if any will have a proportional and integral action in the feed water controller. This controller output will be the desired speed signal for the individual Boiler Feedwater Pump (BFP) speed control system. Auto/manual station is provided for auto/manual selection and operation. Position indicator is provided for the motor driven BFP hydraulic coupling scoop position indication and speed indicator is provided for turbine drive BFP speed indication. 02. FURNACE DRAFT CONTROL The main objective of the control is to maintain the furnace pressure constant at the desired set value at all loads. This is achieved by changing the flow of flue gas by modulating the inlet guide vane or inlet damper and varying the speed of the ID fan by variable frequency drive system. Furnace pressure is measured by three transmitters. One signal is selected by mid value auto selection circuit for control. Excessive furnace pressure is monitored for directional block on Induced Draft (ID) and Forced Draft (FD) fans. Furnace pressure is compared with set point and error, will have proportional and integral action. Fuel demand signal is added as a feed forward feature. Master Fuel Trip (MFT) feed forward feature is provided to minimise negative
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NTPC / Simhadri STPP, Stage-II, 2 x 500 MW RECOMMENDED AUTO CONTROL WRITE-UP

furnace pressure excursion. Separate auto/manual station, and the position indicator for each ID fan-regulating device is provided. To have equal loading of the ID fans each ID fan motor current (sum of channel 1 and channel 2 current) is measured averaged and compared. The difference is used for taking corrective action. The corrected signal is used to position the ID fan inlet damper. The ID fan inlet damper positions between a maximum and a minimum position limit for optimised control action. If ID fan position goes outside these limits, an error signal goes to a controller, whose output is used to vary fan speed to bring back the inlet damper within the set limits. Separate auto/Manual station and position/speed indicator are provided for each ID fanregulating device (damper/VFD) 03. PRIMARY AIR HEADER PRESSURE CONTROL The main objective of this control is to adjust the primary air header pressure according to the feeder speed. That is, out of all the feeders, the feeder speed, which is higher than that of others, is considered as set value for this control. Primary air header pressure is measured with three transmitters. One signal is selected by mid value auto selection circuit for control. The measured signal is compared with the selected feeder speed signal through a high signal selector to maintain the minimum header pressure. Deviation if any will have proportional and integral action. Separate auto/manual station and position indicator are provided for each Primary Air (PA) fan-regulating device. To have equal loading of two running PA fans, the PA fans motor current is measured, averaged and compared. The difference is used for taking corrective action. The corrective signal is used to position the PA fan-regulating unit. Refer the 'notes' in the control scheme for the interlocks. 04. MILL OUTLET TEMPERATURE AND AIR FLOW CONTROL The objective of this control system is to adjust the mill air flow according to the feeder speed and to maintain the mill outlet temperature at the constant set value. Mill airflow is maintained by adjusting the hot air regulating damper while the mill outlet temperature is maintained constant by adjusting the cold air-regulating damper. The temperature compensated linearised mill airflow signal is compared with variable airflow set point as a function of feeder speed. Any error between these two signals will have proportional plus integral action. Rate of change of fuel demand signal is
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NTPC / Simhadri STPP, Stage-II, 2 x 500 MW RECOMMENDED AUTO CONTROL WRITE-UP

added to provide feed forward feature. An auto/manual station with position indicator is provided. Mill outlet temperature is measured using a thermocouple with tungsten carbide thermowell to avoid erosion. The mill outlet temperature is compared with constant set point and error will have proportional, integral and derivative action. An auto/manual station with position indicator is provided. 05. COMBUSTION CONTROL The objective of this control is to maintain the turbine throttle pressure constant at the desired value by adjusting the firing rate (both fuel flow and air flow). Turbine throttle pressure is measured with primary and redundant transmitters. Deviation is alarmed and the controller is tripped to manual. The selected signal is compared with the set point and any error will have proportional and integral action. A proportional value of total steam flow and derivative of drum pressure signal are taken as feed forward feature for the control. An auto/manual station is provided. The output of A/M station is the airflow demand and fuel flow demand signal. Refer the 'notes' in the control scheme for interlocks. 06. AIR FLOW CONTROL The secondary airflow is measured at left and right side of the secondary air ducts to wind box by means of aerofoils. Each flow will have temperature compensation. The flow is linearised by means of square root extractors. The total PA flow measured for each mill in service, is added to obtain total airflow to the boiler. This signal is compared with the developed set point. The airflow demand from coordinated control and actual fuel flow whichever is high (lead lag system) is selected to ensure enriched combustion air. The oxygen in the flue gas at the inlet of AH is measured as primary or redundant. Transfer switch can be selected for either average value or individual value. This signal is compared with excess air set point and any error will have proportional and integral action to have better combustion efficiency. High/low limiters are used to limit the value in case the oxygen analyser is out of service. Under any circumstance the airflow should not be less than 30% MCR flow. This signal is the developed set point and the airflow signal will have proportional and integral action in the airflow controller. This position demand signal will be selected to the corresponding FD fans in service through' auto/manual station. To have equal loading of FD fans the FD fan motors current is measured. The difference is used for taking corrective action. The corrected signal is used to position the FD fan-regulating damper. Necessary interlock from FSSS, Boiler auxiliaries interlock system Maximum Deviation Limit (MDL) etc. are
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NTPC / Simhadri STPP, Stage-II, 2 x 500 MW RECOMMENDED AUTO CONTROL WRITE-UP

provided. Separate auto/manual station and position indicator for each FD fanregulating device are provided. Refer notes in the drawing for interlocks. 07. FUEL FLOW CONTROL Fuel flow demand from combustion control and air flow signal from air flow control corrected for fuel air ratio are compared and the lower is selected for the set point of the fuel flow controller. (lead-lag system). This is to ensure that under any circumstance the fuel flow should be lesser than the airflow. Fuel flow is measured by adding the feed signal of the feeders (or mills) in service and the heavy oil flow corrected for calorific value. The feeder speed/rate measured signal is hooked up to the control after a delay to suit the process lag. The actual fuel flow signal is compared with the developed set point signal above and any deviation will have proportional and integral action. The controller's output signal is the position demand signal for feeder speed regulating device. Bias unit is provided to modify the signal whenever required. An auto/manual station is provided for each feeder. To ensure air rich furnace at all times, a maximum deviation limit system (MDL) is used. i.e. Whenever the fuel flow is more than the air flow this will automatically reduce the fuel flow and increase air flow to a safe value and both the air flow and fuel flow control is transferred to manual. Refer the 'notes' in the control scheme for interlocks. 08. AIRHEATER TEMPERATURE CONTROL The control basically consists of the following two interrelated control systems. A. Cold end temperature control. B. Hot gas damper control. SCAPH steam flow control The purpose of this control loop is to maintain the cold end temperature above the dew point thus preventing condensation and resultant corrosion of airheater surfaces. The cold end temperature of AH. i.e. AH air inlet and AH flue gas outlet temperature is measured and averaged. The average temperature is compared with the set point and any deviation will have proportional and integral action. An auto/manual station with
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NTPC / Simhadri STPP, Stage-II, 2 x 500 MW RECOMMENDED AUTO CONTROL WRITE-UP

position indicator is provided. The operation of this control may be required while lighting up the boiler. The steam valves are automatically slowly closed if the measured cold end temperature is approximately at setpoint value and the associated hot gas damper is not fully open. This improves the overall efficiency by allowing the hot gas damper instead of the steam valve to raise the cold end temperature when possible. Refer the 'notes' in the control scheme for interlocks. Hot gas damper control This loop is used to equalise primary and secondary airheater gas outlet temperatures. This serves to reduce gas temperature imbalances (stratification) at ID fan and increases unit efficiency. In the automatic mode, average primary and secondary airheater gas outlet temperatures are compared and the resulting signal is received by a PID controller. The controller output is received by two function generators, whose output determine damper position. A limit is provided to maintain damper operator between a specified minimum and full open position. An alarm is activated if dampers reach their minimum position. When a temperature difference is sensed, the controller output will change and the damper controlling the hotter gas outlet will begin to close while the damper controlling the colder gas outlet remain open. (See function generator on the reference drawing) the resultant redistribution of hot gas will serve to equalise the outlet temperatures. With this scheme one damper (that controlling the colder outlet) will always be fully open while the other damper modulates between its minimum and full open position. In manual control, dampers are to be initialised by the operator at 100 % open position. A signal indicating that both dampers are fully open is to be interlocked into the ID fan start logic as a start permissive. Transfers are designed to be bumpless. If control power is lost dampers are to lock in position or to be forced fully open. Refer notes in control scheme for interlocks. 09. SUPERHEATER/REHEATER STEAM TEMPERATURE CONTROL General Steam temperature control is provided by a combination of burner nozzle tilt positioning and Superheater (SH), Reheater (RH) de-superheating spray. Steam temperature is maintained by allowing nozzle tilt to respond to the lower of either SH or RH outlet temperature, with spray responding to the higher. Auto manual stations are to be provided for modulating the following 1 2 SH spray water valve - left SH spray water valve - right
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NTPC / Simhadri STPP, Stage-II, 2 x 500 MW RECOMMENDED AUTO CONTROL WRITE-UP

3 4 5

RH spray water valve - left RH spray water valve - right Burner tilt power cylinder.

Each measurement is manually selectable between a primary and redundant element. Each pair of elements is compared and excessive deviation between the primary and redundant is alarmed, with control transferred to manual. SH spray water valve control In the automatic mode, each SH spray water valve is controlled by a cascade control. Under normal conditions average SH outlet temperature (Tsho), the primary controlled variable, is in the outer loop of the cascade control for each valve; SH Desuperheater (DESH) outlet temperature (Tshdso), an index of the immediate effect of spray valve operation, is in the inner loop. The outer loop PID controller receives an error signal equal to the average deviation of Tsho set point and each measured final SH (left and right) outlet temperature (Tshol and Tshor). The Tsho set point is programmed as a function of unit steam flow for constant pressure operation (or sliding pressure operation). The outer loop controller establishes a set point for the SH DESH outlet temp. This set point is compared to measured Tshdso and the resulting error is used to position the SH spray valves. If the deviation between Tsho set point and measured Tshol or Tshor exceeds a preset high limit, control of the outer cascade loops is transferred from average Tsho to the individual final SH outlet temperature, Tshoa and Tshob. Strong feed forward to the SH temperature control which interact with each other are provided. These feed forwards are needed to compensate for over firing and under firing which may be required initially. When changing unit load, feedforward signals are utilised as follows (using unit load increase as an example): 1. The rate of change of fuel demand increase (an indication of over firing) is used to open the SH spray valves to counter the initial temperature rise. 2. Drum pressure and steam flow (applied inversely) to spray valve demand) and tilt position (applied directly) are used as an index to recognize the tendency for temp. to drop after item-1 above occurs, and is used to close the SH spray valves to counter the subsequent temperature drop. Interlocks are provided to close the SH spray valves at loads less than 20% MCR. RH spray water valve control In the automatic mode, each RH DESH spray water valve is controlled by a cascade control. Under normal operating conditions RH outlet temperature (Trho), the primary
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NTPC / Simhadri STPP, Stage-II, 2 x 500 MW RECOMMENDED AUTO CONTROL WRITE-UP

controlled variable is in the outer loop of each cascade control; RH DESH outlet temperature (Trhdso), an index of the immediate effect of spray valve operation, is in the inner loop. The outer loop PID controller receives an error signal final RH (left and right) outlet temperature (Trhol and Trhor). The Trho set point is programmed against the main steam flow curve, for constant pressure operation (or sliding pressure operation). The outer loop controller output is modified with tilt position to establish a set point for the RH DESH outlet temperature. This set point is compared to measured Trhdso, and the resulting error is used to position the associated RH DESH spray water valve. If the deviation between the Trho set point and the individual measured final RH outlet temperature exceeds a preset high limit, control of the outer cascade loops is transferred from average Trho to the individual measured final RH outlet temperature (Trhol and Trhor) to allow spraying of the hot lead. Interlocks are provided to keep the spray valves closed at loads less than 20% MCR. Nozzle tilt control The average Tsho and Trho error signals are compared and the greater of the two errors (i.e., the lower of the two temperatures) is selected for nozzle tilt control. An interlock is provided to keep the tilts at their base (horizontal) position at loads less than 25% MCR. If any spray water valve opens fully, the tilt control is interlocked to disallow further raising of the tilts, and thus prevent possible over heating of the SH and RH outlet lead. Refer notes in control scheme for interlocks.

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