 A BRIEF IDEA ABOUT AUTOMATIC

PROCESS CONTROL
 CONTROLLING WHAT?
 DIFFERENT MODES OF CONTROL:
 Turbine Follow Mode
 Boiler Follow Mode
 Coordinated Master Control (CMC)
 INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT

PROCESS

CONTROLLED LOAD MANIPULATED

VARIABLE VARIABLE VARIABLE
•ANY SYSTEM WHICH HAVE AN INPUT AND A DIFFERENT OUTPUT
DUE TO ADDITION OR DELITION OF ENERGY AND OR MASS CAN BE
CALLED A PROCESS.
•EVERY PROCESS ESSENTIALLY HAS THREE VARIABLES NAMELY:
CONTROLLED VARIABLE, LOAD VARIABLE & MANIPULATED
VARIABLE
 IN A PROCESS THE CONTROLLED VARIABLE TENDS
TO CHANGE DUE TO CHANGE IN THE LOAD VARIABLE

 MANIPULATED VARIABLE COUNTERBALANCES THE

LOAD VARIABLE TO KEEP THE CONTROLLED
VARIABLE WITHIN THE LIMIT OF THE DESIRED VALUE

 THE JOB OF AUTOMATIC PROCESS CONTROL IS

TO DETERMINE AND CONTINUALLY UPGRADE THE
MANIPULATED VARIABLE AS LOAD VARIABLE
CHANGES.
•SELECTION OF CONTROL SYSTEM IS VERY MUCH
IMPORTANT FOR PROPER CONTROL OF CERTAIN PROCESS.

•THERE IS AN INHERENT TIME LAG ASSOCIATED WITH ALL

THE COMPONENTS OF A CONTROL SYSTEM. THE REAL
CHALLENGE OF THE CONTROL SYSTEM IS TO SELECT AND
DESIGN THE CONTROL SYSTEM IN SUCH A FASHION SO
THAT IT CAN COUNTER THE LAGS.

•THERE ARE MAINLY THREE TYPES OF CONTROLS THAT

CAN BE ASSOCIATED WITH A PROCESS; NAMELY
PROPORTIONAL (P) CONTROL, PROPORTIONAL & INTEGRAL
(PI) CONTROL AND PROPORTIONAL INTEGRAL &
DERIVATIVE(PID) CONTROL
1. A steady generation in Unit
2. The Steam pressure at Turbine inlet
3. The combustion in Boiler to achieve maximum
efficiency
4. Different Turbine parameters to keep the
Turbine healthy
 In this mode:
 Turbine follows the Boiler
 The Final Steam pressure is controlled by the
Turbine admission valves
 The Load is controlled by the Boiler. Boiler master is
kept in Man mode
 EHG is kept in Auto. Will act in Pressure control
mode
 Turbine Follow Mode Continued..

MS Pressure
Actual
PR. Tx.
GRID
Boiler Pr. Set Point
EHG
PI Controller

Fuel & Air Turbine Generator

 The Steam pressure at Turbine inlet remains
almost constant
 The load may fluctuate depending upon the
combustion in Boiler
 In case of large load fluctuation, the Turbine
stress parameters are overlooked
 Response to changes in load demand is
sluggish
In This Mode:
 Boiler Follows The Turbine

 The Steam Pressure is controlled by controlling

the fuel firing in the Boiler.
 Boiler Master is on Auto Mode.

 EHG is on Man Mode and EHG acts as Power

Controller
 EHG in Power Control means it will try to
maintain the Generator output to a fixed follow
as per the power controller set point given
from EHG console.
 Main Steam pressure set point is given from
CMC console and Boiler master set point is
given initially during putting Boiler master in
Auto.
 MS FLOW MS PRESSURE

Grid
MS Pr. Set point
PD

BOILER Turbine

PID
EHG PI Cntrlr G

+ +
Fuel Contl Air Contl
LOAD

Load Set Point

Boiler Demand
 Combustion system is fully Automatic
 The Main steam pressure varies as Boiler
response is slow (energy conversion)
 EHG, acting in Power Control mode, keeps the
Power output fixed to the set value
 In turbine follow mode, the system goes
through a fast process, overlooks load, load
fluctuation, Turbine parameters
 In Boiler follow mode, the system goes through
a slow process, pressure fluctuation happens in
large amount
 CMC is answer to the above two challenges
 CMC is a Coordination control between fast
response Turbine and slow response Boiler
 It has preset values for producing Unit Load
demand keeping in mind all the primary
protection parameters in mind
 The primary aim of CMC mode is to make the
Unit steady and reliable with fixed load output
and minimum pressure deviation
In this mode:
 Boiler Master should be in Auto

 EHG should be on Auto and EHG in Power

control mode
 Unit load set point given from CMC console

 Fixed/sliding pressure set point given from

CMC console
 CMC looks after different availability of
Load Bearing equipments
 It can restrict the upper limit of load
irrespective of the load set point given
 Again whenever any load bearing
equipment trips, CMC brings down the Unit
load to a preset value automatically so that
Unit remains stable and safe
- This feature is called Run Back
Equipment Tripping Load Limit
One BFP, CW pump, CEP 350 MW
Tripping (If std. by Does Not
take start),ACW,AH,BCW
One FD fan / One ID fan 350 MW
Tripping/PA
One Coal Mill Tripping ACTUAL
LOAD/RUNNING MILL
MW
Generator/ Turbine Tripping 180 MW (Boiler will run
keeping HP-LP Bypass open)
 During CMC mode operation, all the
important auto control loops remain in
service.
 If any of them can not act properly, CMC
logic understands that there is some
problem
 It then brings down the control deviation of
the incapable control loop by changing the
load until the deviation minimizes
- This feature is called Run Down
The conditions of the Auto loops are:
1. Drum level 3 element control deviation
>9.8% and BFP scoop (maximum scoop of
BFP A, B or C >95%
2. Air flow deviation >9.8% and FD Blade
pitch (maximum of FD A or B >85%)
3. Furnace Pressure deviation >9.8% and ID
fan scoop <15% or ID fan scoop >85%
4. Coal flow deviation >10% and maximum
Feed rate >90%
 Run Back and Run Down are two most
unique features in CMC logic
 Here proper importance is given to all the
relevant drives and the main control loops
are given significant weightage so that they
do not face restriction and the equipments
and/or protections do not reach the limit
 Up Directional Blocking:
 3 element drum level control deviation >
9.8%
 BFP scoop (maximum of scoop of BFP A, B,
C > 93 %
 Air flow deviation (set value – actual value)
> 9.8 %
 FD fan A or B blade pitch > 85%
 ( Maximum of FD A or FD B)
Up Directional Blocking:
Furnace pressure deviation > 9.8%
 ID Fan A or B hydro coupling % > 85%

 Coal flow deviation > 10%

 Mill feeder rate (Maximum of feeder A to F )

> 90%
 Load control deviation > 20%
 Down Directional Blocking:
 3 element drum level control deviation < -
9.8%
 BFP scoop < 15 %
 Air flow deviation ( set value – actual value)
<- 9.8 %
 FD fan A or B blade pitch < 15%
 Furnace pressure deviation <- 9.8%
 Down Directional Blocking:
 ID Fan A or B hydro coupling % <15%
 Coal flow deviation <-10%
 Mill feeder rate < 15%
 Load control deviation <-20%
 Turbine Stress Controller ( TSC) calculates the
thermal stress developed in different portion
of turbine viz. HPT shaft, IPT shaft, HPT casing
, IPT casing, MSV and decides a margin for
load increment or decrement depending upon
instantaneous temperatures.
 Tm: - Mean temperature (°C)
 ti: - Inner surface temperature (°C)
 dt :- ti - tm
 It is obvious that during load increase;
mean temperature will be less than the inner
surface temperature. The opposite will take
place in case of load decrease.
 That means dt is positive for load increase
and negative for load decrease. If we plot a
curve of dt vs. tm, then the instantaneous
point can be define on it. The point must be
within the allowable limit define in the
curve.
 (tmi , dtu)
dt Upper temp. margin
Present operating
Point (instantaneous)

(tmi , dti) tm
Lower temp. margin

(tmi , dtL)
 Say, for tm being same as that for the current
point, the maximum allowable dt for positive
side is dtu and for negative side is dtL
 Then upper temperature margin = dtu - dti
and lower temperature margin = dti - dtL .
 If these margins go down a minimum value,
TSC will restrict load increment ( for low upper
margin ) and load decrement ( for low lower
margin)
 While machine is on CMC mode, TSC
influences the load change rate looking after
turbine thermal stress.
 Gen MW

PB/VPC MAX To next slide

2 ADD MIN

CMC in
Tracking for service MAX S.P. MIN S.P.
Runback / Freq.
Rundown Or Influence Defeat Switch
no CMC
 Ramp
From Previous slide
1 1
MIN 2 2
Block
CMC demand
Grad
Runback/ Rundown
Limit
EHG Hold
Up/Down Dir
Block
Load Rate SP
TSC Rate Min

Runback/Rundown Rate
 For Changing load

1 D

2
ADD Boiler
Master
Load. Dev
ADD
Steam PID
Pr. Dev.

D
For Steady State
 Dead Time 3
Delay
2

Pr. Dev.
ADD EHG

3 +10MW +ve Limit

+
MAX
2 - PID / P

MIN -ve Limit

-10MW
PB/VPC Load Rate
SP Stn
1
MIN

TSC Rate Load Rate

2
Runback Rate 1
Rundown Rate 2

Runback / Rundown
In Action
Runback in action