A dynamic heat transfer model to estimate the flue gas temperature in the horizontal flue of the coal-fired utility boiler

The flue gas temperature is an important parameter for safe and economic operation of thermal power plants. However, in high temperature areas, it is difficult to measure the temperature directly because the sensors are subject to flying ash erosion. This paper establishes a dynamic heat transfer model for the furnace and the semi-radiative heat exchangers, and proposes an estimation approach of the flue gas temperature in the boiler’s horizontal flue. The boiler-side heat absorption models, which cover the heat exchangers, the metal wall and the heat losses are established to calculate the heat absorption rate of the working fluid in the boiler. By solving the optimization problems which are developed based on the dynamic heat transfer models, the flue gas temperature at the outlet of the furnace and the semi-radiative heat exchangers are obtained. Pseudo-online simulations are performed with the history data of an ultra-supercritical unit to verify the approach. The relative errors between the calculated and the designed flue gas temperature with both designed and calibrated feed coal are found less than 3.5%. Additionally, the proportion of the convective heat in the total heat absorption for each semi-radiative heat exchanger is obtainable with the same approach.