Efficient Operation of Boiler Using PLC-SCADA

As the boiler is a very important part of the industry, it requires continuous inspection with specific time intervals. In earlier days, this inspection and monitoring were done with human workers. There are several possibilities for errors with human workers while measuring particular values in the boiler operation process. So a reliable monitoring system is required to avoid these errors and maximize profit. This paper gives the design and development of some techniques used for boiler automation. This boiler automation system includes the monitoring of oxygen concentration in the flue gases, steam pressure at the steam header and vacuum / negative draft inside the furnace using different sensors. This boiler automation system consists of an FD fan, an ID fan and two fuel feeders. Three VFDs are been used to control the speed of the FD fan, ID fan and fuel feeders. Three sensors are been used—oxygen sensor, pressure transmitter and vacuum transmitter. It is a three-loop boiler automation system, i.e., the first loop is an interlink of an oxygen sensor and FD fan, the second loop is an interlink of pressure transmitter and fuel feeders and the third loop is an interlink of ID fan and vacuum transmitter. TIA Portal software is been used which consists of Wincc advanced SCADA package and the programming of this process is written in Siemens S-7 1200 PLC which is also an inbuilt package in TIA Portal software.