Advanced control algorithms for steam temperature regulation of thermal power plants

A model-based controller (Dynamic Matrix Control) and an intelligent controller (Fuzzy Logic Control) have been designed and implemented for steam temperature regulation of a 300 MW thermal power plant. The temperature regulation is considered the most demanded control loop in the steam generation process. Both proposed controllers Dynamic Matrix Controller (DMC) and Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) were applied to regulate superheated and reheated steam temperature. The results show that the FLC controller has a better performance than advanced model-based controller, such as DMC or a conventional PID controller. The main benefits are the reduction of the overshoot and the tighter regulation of the steam temperatures. FLC controllers can achieve good result for complex nonlinear processes with dynamic variation or with long delay times. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.