Optoelectronic controller for pulverized coal burner

Burning pulverized coal in power boilers causes considerable emission of atmospheric pollution. In order to decrease it, the combustion process itself has been modified, however at the cost of side effects like increased level of unburned coal particles in the ashes or increased corrosion. There are tens of burners in a single power boiler, emission level measurements are made in flue gas duct, so the control based on such averaged and heavily delayed values often results ineffective. The neural controller of the pulverized coal burner attempts to resolve these problems. The clue is utilization of fiber-optic system for monitoring chosen zone of flame developed in the department of electronics of technical university of Lublin. The article contains description of controlled system, optical fiber measurement system and the controller as well as some results obtained for an experimental burner.