Application of ANFIS Systems in Mill Process Control in Thermal Power Plants

The daily increase in electricity consumption necessitates continuous expansion and increase of production capacities. Although the world is shifting toward renewable energy sources, fossil fuel power plants still maintain their dominance, continuously improving and expanding their capacities. With the aim of extracting the maximum amount of electrical energy from coal, many advanced methods for combustion control in thermal power plant furnaces have been developed. However, few of these methods take into consideration the condition of the coal mills as a parameter, instead leaving this assessment to operators based on their personal experience. If an incorrect assessment of the mills' condition is made, it could reduce the potential capacity of the entire plant or worse, endanger the mill itself. With the intention of minimizing human error and achieving maximum production capacity, the development of an appropriate algorithm is being considered. The development of the algorithm, which relies on expert knowledge, involved considering neuro-fuzzy systems for decision-making to preserve specific methods of thinking and learning characteristic of individuals.