Soft sensing of coal moisture

This study presents a soft sensing model of coal moisture for utility boilers. The model is based on the energy and mass balance of matter in the inlet and outlet of a positive-pressure, direct-firing, MPS-type mill. Compared with the results obtained with a proximate analysis method, the results calculated with the soft sensing method are consistent with proximate analysis data. Meanwhile, the accuracy and reliability of the soft sensing method can be improved by data fusion of the calculated coal moisture from other running mills. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.