# Flexible Optimal Control of the CFBB Combustion System Based on ESKF and MPC

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a new control method for coal-fired power units to improve performance during flexible operation by combining ESKF and MPC.

## Contribution

A novel ESKF-MPC control scheme is proposed to enhance robustness and performance in combustion systems.

## Key findings

- The ESKF-MPC method showed shorter adjustment times and lower ITAE values for main steam pressure and bed temperature loops.
- Compared to PI strategy, ESKF-MPC reduced overshoot and improved signal stability in the combustion system.
- The method demonstrated stronger robustness under ±30% system parameter perturbations.

## Abstract

In order to deeply absorb the power generation of new energy, coal-fired circulating fluidized bed units are widely required to participate in power grid dispatching. However, the combustion system of the units faces problems such as decreased control performance, strong coupling of controlled signals, and multiple interferences in measurement signals during flexible operation. To this end, this paper proposes a model predictive control (MPC) scheme based on the extended state Kalman filter (ESKF). This scheme optimizes the MPC control framework. The ESKF is used to filter the collected output signals and jointly estimate the state and disturbance quantities in real time, thus promptly establishing a prediction model that reflects the true state of the system. Subsequently, taking the minimum output signal deviation of the main steam pressure and bed temperature and the control signal increment as objectives, a coordinated receding horizon optimization is carried out to obtain the optimal control signal of the control system within each control cycle. Tracking, anti-interference, and robustness experiments were designed to compare the control effects of ESKF-MPC, ID-PI, ID-LADRC, and MPC. The research results show that, when the system parameters had a ±30% perturbation, the adjustment time range of the main steam pressure and bed temperature loops of this method were 770~1600 s and 460~1100 s, respectively, and the ITAE indicator ranges were 0.615 × 105~1.74 × 105 and 3.9 × 106~6.75 × 106, respectively. The overall indicator values were smaller and more concentrated, and the robustness was stronger. In addition, the test results of the actual continuous variable condition process of the unit show that, compared with the PI strategy, after adopting the ESKF-MPC strategy, the overshoot of the main steam pressure loop of the combustion system was small, and the output signal was stable; the fluctuation range of the bed temperature loop was small, and the signal tracking was smooth; the overall control performance of the system was significantly improved.