Automatic control and management of electrostatic precipitator

The efficient operation of an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) in practice depends upon many variables, such as charging method, particle size, gas flow, temperature, dust resistivity, etc. With air pollution control requirements becoming increasingly stringent, it is essential to closely monitor and accurately control the key parameters of an ESP control system. The efficient functioning of an ESP normally means minimizing power consumption and maximizing dust collection. Several control strategies can be adopted to meet this broad requirement. In this paper, a distributed control technique of an ESP, which uses the actual dust emission and boiler load as feedback inputs has been explained. The electrostatic precipitator management system, which is a system designed by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Hyderabad, India, to meet the above control strategies using the distributed architecture to achieve efficient ESP operation is also described