Chapter List

3.1 Introduction

There can be no doubt that the ideas of modelling and control have generally been found quite acceptable within the electric power generation industry. With the introduction of modern distributed control systems (DCSs), it is now possible to implement many of the ideas resulting from modelling and control studies, although control engineers generally feel much more could be done than is currently the case (Rees and Lu, 2002). The control vendors and the applied control literature now regularly describe 'modern' control systems for the industry. Particular attention has been paid to steam temperature control (Mann and Lausterer, 1992; Nakamura and Uchida, 1989), load pressure control (Maffezzoni, 1996; Waddington and Maples, 1987) and water level control (Kwatny and Maffezzoni, 1996; Peet and Leung, 1993).

An area of power plant control that has received much less attention from modelling and control specialists is the coal mills. This is in spite of the fact that it is now accepted that coal mills and their poor dynamic response are major factors in the slow load take-up rate and they are also a regular cause of plant shut-down (Maffezzoni, 1986). The reasons for this lack of interest are uncertain but relate very much to...