• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1772-1780
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• 2003

An optimal soot blowing system has been developed for an optimal operation of power utility boilers by both minimization of the use of steam and the number of soot blowers worked during soot blowing. Traditionally, the soot blowing system has been operated manually by operators. However, it causes the reduction of power and thermal performance degradation because all soot blowers installed in the plant should be worked simultaneously even there are lots of tubes those are not contaminated by slagging or fouling. Heat transfer area is divided into four groups, furnace, convection area including superheater, reheater and economizer, and air preheater in the present study. The condition of cleanness of the tubes is calculated by several parameters obtained by sensors. Then, a part of soot blowers works automatically where boiler tubes are contaminated. This system has been applied in a practical power plant. Therefore, comparison has been done between this system and manual operation and the results are discussed.