Development of microprocessor control systems for electrostatic precipitators

Power plant electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), in many cases, must be designed to cope with ash from a wide variety of coal types. If the electrostatic precipitators are designed to provide a specific emission from the worst of the fuels fired, in terms of their ash characteristics, then when less demanding ashes are to be caught, the ESPs will behave as if they were over-specified. In such circumstances, the required emission levels can be achieved with less than the maximum power input. The authors describe how it is in this situation that a microprocessor based control system can be programmed to achieve significant power savings as part of a microprocessor based total energy management system (TEMS). The system here described is capable of being used for new plant or for retrofit onto existing plant