Tecnologico de Monterrey , México

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Abstract: Thermal power plants are a reliable source of electricity. To improve their competitiveness in the electricity markets, they must improve their operational procedures to be more efficient. Being one of the most important components of a thermal power plant, the drum boiler has the potential to improve the competitiveness of a thermal power plant by means of the reduction of its startup time. However, if startup is carried out too fast, excessive thermal stresses can occur in the drum boiler components. In this paper, we propose a dynamic optimization approach that takes into account the mechanical integrity of the equipment. The optimization is carried out by means of the simulated annealing algorithm with a solution representation of 3 chromosomes to synthesize the optimal operational procedures for the startup of a drum boiler of a thermal power plant. The goal is to find a sequence of valves that reaches from an initial state to an objective state in the shortest time possible, while while reducing the impact on the lifetime of the components of the power plant. The simulation model is developed using OMEdit Modelica environment. The results of the proposed method outperform the time, avoiding situations of stress that endangers the components of the power plant, compared to a reference startup operation.

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