title: Generating a representative signal of coal ash content to anticipate combustion control in a thermal power station.
abstract: This paper describes the possibilities of continuously measuring coal ash in the boiler feeding circuit of a thermal power station so that the measurement can be used as a signal for the boiler combustion control system. An installation was designed, at semi-industrial scale, that could faithfully reproduce the operation of a belt feeder. In order to measure the ash content, a natural radioactivity meter was installed and a large number of coal samples with different ranks and grain sizes were tested, eventually showing the possibility of achieving the objective.
authors.affiliation: Area de Máquinas y Motores Térmicos, Universidad de Oviedo, Campus Universitario de Viesques s/n, Gijón, Asturias 33203, Spain. ismaelp@correo.uniovi.es
authors.forename: Ismael
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Prieto-Fernández
authors.forename: José M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Santurio-Díaz
authors.forename: Belén
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Folgueras-Díaz
authors.forename: M Rosario
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: López-Bobo
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fernández-Viar