In order to realize fast and efficient tuning of the proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller parameters in thermal power plants, this paper thoroughly analyzes the problems existing in the relay characteristic method based on the phase angle margin auto-tuning method (PM method), and proposes an improved PM auto-tuning method for the most common first order plus dead time (FOPDT) model in practical engineering applications. The improved algorithm proposes the design of the target phase angle margin and the method of plant identification. Then, the optimization algorithm is used to calculate the correction coefficient of the setting formula to obtain the PID controller parameters that minimize the integrated time absolute error (ITAE) index of the control system. Finally, through the auto-tuning experiment on the generalized control model of the main steam temperature system in thermal power plants, it is verified that the improved algorithm is superior to the traditional PM method and Ziegler–Nichols method (Z-N method), and can obtain a fast and stable control performance.

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In this work, an optical emission-based two-color method was experimentally investigated for the measurement of surface temperatures of different types of fly ash samples using a CCD camera. A heating system consisting of a Hencken flat-flame burner, a narrow piece of stainless steel wire mesh to separate the flame and the ash samples to be studied, and a thermocouple to record the temperature, was used to heat fly ash samples. A color camera equipped with a tri-band filter was used to capture radiation images. Fly ash samples collected from three kinds of coal-fired boilers were heated and imaged at different temperatures. The chemical compositions, elements, and particle size distributions were analyzed. The emissivity ratios of the wavelengths corresponding to the R and G optical channels and permitted by the tri-band filter were experimentally determined. A two-color method was subsequently used to calculate the average surface temperatures with relative errors within ? 2 % in the experiments, and an uncertainty analysis was conducted. Surface temperature distributions were also calculated and presented. The results demonstrate that the emission-based two-color method can be used to determine reliable average surface temperatures and surface temperature distributions when the radiation emitted from the ash samples is obviously greater than the ambient light. The results also show that the method has a lower limit of temperature measurement, which will lessen with the use of larger apertures and a higher radiation capacity of the ash samples to be studied.