Burner System

This application is a continuation of U.S. non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 17/825,810, filed 26 May 2022, entitled “BURNER SYSTEM,” which claims the benefit of priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. provisional patent application No. 63/193,982, filed 27 May 2021, entitled “BURNER SYSTEM” all of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Fuel burners (or “burners”) are used for a variety of applications where potential energy stored in the fuel is converted for a variety of uses. In many applications, fuel is combusted to provide heat for building conditioning, for process application, or for electrical generation. In some applications, energy is transferred to a working fluid (typically water/steam) which is then used for heating or electrical generation application.

As products of combustion, fuel burners produce a variety of compounds including one or more pollutants such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, particulates, volatile organic compounds, hydrogen, and/or oxides of nitrogen (“NOx”), and the like. To reduce emissions, burners utilizing low NOx, or ultra-low NOx technologies have been developed. Such burners have lower NOx emissions than traditional burners, however, their NOx emissions may be affected by many factors such as hardware positions, fuel and air staging and mixing, load swings, and non-optimized or non-ideal operating conditions (e.g. low pressures, high oxygen conditions, etc.). Variations in these factors can result in inefficient operation and increased pollutant emissions (e.g., increased NOx and/or CO emissions). The frequency and extent of these problems typically worsen with increasingly stringent NOx emissions requirements, due to the narrowing operating zones. Problems may arise due to changes in burner output (e.g., rapid changes in the burner firing rate) and/or operating the burner at or near stable combustion limits.

Improved systems and methods to control burners are desired to address these and other issues.

A burner system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the burner system includes an artificial intelligence configured to be executed on a processing element. The burner system includes a burner control system defining a control envelope. The burner control system includes a burner, an oxidizer subsystem, and a fuel subsystem. The oxidizer subsystem and the fuel subsystem include one or more control devices operative to supply an oxidizer and a fuel to the burner to support a combustion process within the burner. The artificial intelligence is operative to control the burner control system on a trim control curve within the control envelope.

Optionally in some embodiments, the artificial intelligence changes the trim control curve responsive to a burner input data.

Optionally in some embodiments, the control envelope is defined by an upper hard bound and a lower hard bound.

Optionally in some embodiments, the control envelope is further defined by an upper soft bound and a lower soft bound defined within the upper hard bound and the lower hard bound.

Optionally in some embodiments, the burner includes more than one burner zone.

Optionally in some embodiments, the more than one burner zone are independently controllable.

Optionally in some embodiments, the fuel is one of a gas, a liquid, or a solid.

Optionally in some embodiments, the gas is one of natural gas or hydrogen.

Optionally in some embodiments, the burner control system includes an exhaust subsystem.

Optionally in some embodiments, the exhaust subsystem is in selective fluid communication with the oxidizer subsystem and operative to recirculate a portion of an exhaust stream to the oxidizer subsystem.

Optionally in some embodiments, the selective fluid communication of the exhaust subsystem and the oxidizer subsystem is controllable by a flow restrictor disposed between the exhaust subsystem and the oxidizer subsystem.

A method of operating a burner system is disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes receiving, with a processing element, input data of the burner system; receiving, with the processing element, performance data of the burner system; receiving, with the processing element, a setpoint of the burner system; and actuating, with an artificial intelligence executed on the processing element, one or more control devices of a burner control system.

Optionally in some embodiments, the method further includes training the artificial intelligence. The training may include operating, with the processing element, the burner system; tuning, with the processing element, the burner performance; determining, with the processing element, an operating bound of the burner control system; and providing the input data and the performance data to the artificial intelligence to train the artificial intelligence to operate the burner control system.

Optionally in some embodiments, the burner control system defines a control envelope.

Optionally in some embodiments, the artificial intelligence is operative to control the burner control system on a trim control curve within the control envelope.

Optionally in some embodiments, the control envelope is defined by an upper hard bound and a lower hard bound.

Optionally in some embodiments, the control envelope is further defined by an upper soft bound and a lower soft bound defined within the upper hard bound and the lower hard bound.

Optionally in some embodiments, the burner includes more than one burner zone.

Optionally in some embodiments, the more than one burner zone are independently controllable.

Optionally in some embodiments, the burner control system includes: an oxidizer subsystem, and a fuel subsystem. The oxidizer subsystem and the fuel subsystem include the one or more control devices operative to supply an oxidizer and a fuel to the burner to support a combustion process within the burner.

In one embodiment, a burner system includes: an artificial intelligence executed on a processing element; a burner control system including: a burner, an oxidizer subsystem, and a fuel subsystem. The artificial intelligence is operative to control the burner control system.

In one embodiment, a method of operating a burner system with an artificial intelligence executed on a processor includes: receiving, via the artificial intelligence, burner input data; receiving, via the artificial intelligence, burner performance data; receiving, via the artificial intelligence, a burner setpoint; and controlling, via the artificial intelligence, the burner.

In one embodiment, a method of training an artificial intelligence to operate a burner system includes: operating, via a processor, the burner system; tuning, via the processor, the burner performance; receiving, via the processor, burner input data; receiving, via the processor, burner performance data; providing, via the processor, the burner input data and the burner performance data to the artificial intelligence to train the artificial intelligence to operate the burner system.

Disclosed herein are examples of burner systems and method suitable for controlling a fuel burner, such as an ultra-low or low NOx burner. Burner systems disclosed herein may include a controller suitable to receive inputs from one or more sensors and/or to actuate one or more control devices such as actuators in a burner control system. Burner systems disclosed herein may include an artificial intelligence (“AI”) such as an artificial neural net (“ANN”) or other suitable method of machine learning.

In many embodiments the disclosed burner system provides efficient operation of the burner with few or no NOx (i.e., NO, NO) emissions, for example less than about 10 ppm when burning natural gas. Burner systems disclosed herein may include fuel and/or air injection systems, including multi-zone fuel and/or combustion air injection systems. Burner systems may provide control and tuning of fuel and/or air injection systems. Burner systems may include a heat sink that accepts heat from the burner. In one example, the heat sink such as a boiler that absorbs heat from the burner to produce a phase change (e.g., boiling) in a working fluid such as water. Burner systems may include one or more sensors that monitor and produce data related to the environment, fuel, and/or operation of the burner. For example, sensors may monitor, feed, and/or log data related to flue gas composition, ambient environmental conditions, and selected processes (e.g., boiler, furnace, combustor, oxidizer, kiln parameters, etc.) and/or burner parameters such as burner pressure, flame scanner signals, and the like.

The AI includes one or more executable instructions that when executed by a processing element are operative to learn, to solve complex problems, make predictions, or undertake human-like tasks like sensing (such as vision, speech, and touch), perception, cognition, planning, learning, communication, or physical action. The AI may receive and process data from the one or more internal and/or external sources or sensors. In some embodiments, the AI may include an ANN. In some embodiments, the ANN may be trained to recognize burner performance based on sensor data and may optimize burner performance. Optimization of burner performance may include varying or adjusting one or more actuators such as a flow controller, damper, or the like. The AI may model, tune, and/or optimize burner performance, by making or recommending bias adjustments (i.e., changes to an output bounded by one or more limits) to one or more control outputs, such as by adjusting the burner trim control curve. Control outputs may be bound by user-defined adjustment ranges determined during commissioning of the burner system and these outputs may be updated from time to time, for example during periodic manual tuning (e.g., control outputs may be limited by a burner control envelope, described below). The burner system may provide data analytics, system diagnostics, and/or burner optimization such as via the integrated artificial intelligence (AI) module.

In many implementations, the burner system provides machine learning and optimization of prioritized burner performance, which may be defined by one or more criteria, for example, efficiency, emissions, etc. The system may maintain a history or log of optimized biases and may alert the system operator to trend deviations. The system may notify operators of equipment problems, such as drifting sensor calibrations, off-specification fuel, component wear, malfunction, and/or failure, and the like. The AI may use one or more multivariate analysis tools including learning models and/or particle swarm optimization. Such tools may be used to continually monitor and/or tune performance. The AI may enable progressive improvement and/or reprioritization of performance criteria.

illustrates a burner system. The burner systemincludes an artificial intelligence, a controller, and a burner control system. The burner control systemis suitable to operate a burner, such as a low NOx and/or ultra-low NOx burner.

is a simplified schematic of an example of a burner control systemsuitable for use with the burner systemof. The burner control systemincludes a burnerand other suitable control and monitoring equipment as discussed in greater detail below. For example, the burner control systemincludes an oxidizer subsystem, a fuel subsystemand an exhaust subsystemthat respectively manage and control the oxidizer, fuel, and exhaust of the burner. The burnercombines fueland an oxidizersuch as oxygen or air and burns the fuel, generating heat and an exhaust stream(e.g., water, CO2, CO, NOx, and other pollutants). The burnerexhausts the exhaust streamto an outlet such as a stack. The burnermay be operatively coupled to a heat sink. The burner control systemmay include one or more control devices such as a flow restrictor, a flow restrictor, an actuator, a driveand/or one or more flow controls-. The burner control systemmay include one or more sensors, such as a flow sensor, a flow sensor, a composition sensor, and/or a composition sensor

The oxidizer subsystemincludes an inletinto which an oxidizersuch as oxygen or a gas containing oxygen (e.g., air) may flow into the oxidizer subsystem. The oxidizer subsystemmay include an oxidizer moveroperative to draw the oxidizerinto the oxidizer subsystem. The oxidizer moveris in fluidic communication with the inlet. One or more conduits may connect the oxidizer moverto the inlet. The oxidizer movermay be a fan (e.g., an axial fan), blower (e.g., a centrifugal blower, lobe blower), compressor (e.g., a piston compressor, sliding vane compressor), or the like. The oxidizer movermay be operated by a drive. The drivemay be any suitable device that causes the oxidizer moverto draw an oxidizerthrough the oxidizer subsystem. In some embodiments the driveis a fixed-speed drive such as a motor. In some embodiments the driveis a variable speed drive such as an engine or a variable frequency drive (VFD). In many implementations, the flow rate of the oxidizer, and/or the vacuum at the inletincreases as the rotational speed of the oxidizer moverincreases. Thus, as the driverotates the oxidizer moverfaster, relatively more oxidizermay be drawn into the oxidizer subsystemrelative to when the oxidizer movermoves at a slower speed.

The oxidizer subsystemmay include a flow sensoroperative to measure a flow (e.g., mass and/or volume flow) of the oxidizer. In some embodiments, the flow sensormay be a sensor such as a Pitot tube, Volu-probe, hot-wire anemometer, orifice, nozzle, Coriolis meter, turbine meter, or the like. In some embodiments, the oxidizer subsystemmay include a temperature sensor. Themay be a thermistor, RTD, thermocouple, infrared meter, or any suitable type of sensor that can measure the temperature of the oxidizerentering the inlet.

The oxidizer subsystemmay include a flow restrictor. In some examples, the flow restrictormay be a valve, damper (e.g., an opposed vane multi-blade adapter, a single blade damper, or the like). The flow restrictormay be adjustable to an open position wherein the oxidizercan flow through the flow restrictorand may be adjustable to a closed position where the flow of the oxidizerthrough the flow restrictoris blocked. The flow restrictormay be adjustable to many positions between the open and closed positions. In some embodiments the flow restrictormay be continuously adjustable between the open and closed positions (e.g., adjustable to any position between open and closed). In some embodiments the flow restrictormay be discretely adjustable between the open and closed positions (e.g., adjustable to full open, ¾ open, ½ open, ¼ open, fully closed, or the like). As the flow restrictoris adjusted toward the closed position from the open position, the flow rate of the oxidizerthrough the flow restrictor(and into the oxidizer subsystem) may be reduced. In many implementations, the flow restrictormay be operated by an actuator. The actuatormay be any suitable device that can move the flow restrictorbetween open and closed positions. In many examples, the actuatormay be a motor, gearbox, servo, stepper motor, piston and cylinder (e.g., a pneumatic or hydraulic piston and cylinder), or the like. In some examples, the actuatorpower the flow restrictortoward the open and closed positions. In some examples, the actuatorpowers the flow restrictortoward the open or closed position and a biasing element biases the flow restrictorto the other of the open or closed positions such that the biasing element moves the flow restrictorto the biased position in the absence of an input from the actuator.

The oxidizer subsystemmay be in selective fluidic communication with the exhaust subsystem. For example, one or more recirculation conduitsmay be in fluid communication with the exhaust streamand with the inlet. The recirculation conduitmay include a flow restrictoroperatively coupled to an actuator. The recirculation conduitmay be the same as, or similar to the flow restrictorpreviously described, which description is not repeated here for the sake of brevity. The recirculation conduitand the inletmay be in fluidic communication with a chamber. The chambermay be a discrete mixing chamber, or a junction between one or more conduits, such as a tec, or the like. The recirculation conduitmay be operative to enable the flow of all or a portion of the exhaust streamto the chamber. Likewise, the inletmay be operative to direct all or a portion of the oxidizerflow to the chamber. The portion of the exhaust streamflowing to the chamberand the oxidizermay mix in the chamber. The mixture of oxidizerand portion of the exhaust streammay then flow to the oxidizer moverand then the burner. The flow restrictormay be used to selectively change the amount of the exhaust streamthat is recirculated to the chamber. Recirculating a portion of the exhaust streammay have the benefit of lowering NOx or other emissions from the burner. For example, the exhaust gas recirculation (also called flue gas recirculation) can be a highly effective technique for lowering NOx emissions from burners in certain applications, as well as being relatively inexpensive to apply. In some examples, recirculating up to 25% of the exhaust streamthrough the burnercan lower NOx emissions by about 75% or more.

The fuel subsystemprovides fuelto the burner. Examples of fuels used may include natural gas (e.g., methane optionally mixed with other flammable and/or non-flammable gases), propane, ethane, butane, carbon monoxide, petroleum products (e.g., oil, naphtha, diesel, gasoline, etc.), biomass (peat, wood, switch grass, etc.), coal, coke, hydrogen, and/or other suitable fuels. The fuel subsystemmay include a fuel inletthat provides fuelfrom a fuelsource such as a tank, vessel, grinder, or storage location to the fuel subsystem. The fuel subsystemmay include a flow sensor. The flow sensormay be similar to the flow sensoras previously described. In embodiments where the fuel is a solid such as coal or coke, the flow sensormay be a weigh scale or other suitable sensor that can measure a flow rate of a solid fuel. In many embodiments, the fuelis a gas such as natural gas. The flow of the fuelinto the burnermay be controlled by a flow control such as a flow control, flow control, and/or flow control. For example, the burnermay have two or more burner zones, where the flow of the fuelto each zone is controlled by one or more flow controls. In some examples, the burner zones are independently controllable, such as by controlling the respective flow controls-. In some examples, such as when the fuelis a gas, the flow control may be a valve such as an on/off valve, an injector, a metering valve, a mass flow controller, or the like.

In some embodiments, the burnermay be in operative communication with the composition sensor. In many embodiments, the composition sensoris an oxidizersensor that measures the concentration of the oxidizerin the burner. For example, the composition sensormay be an oxygen sensor operative to measure the oxygen concentration in the burner. It may be advantageous to measure the oxygen concentration in the burnerto control the emissions, efficiency, heat rate, or other aspect of the burner, such as by monitoring the stoichiometry of the combustion process in the burner.

As the fuelburns in the burner, heat is released. The heat released may be received by a heat sink. The heat sinkmay be any suitable device or process interface that accepts the heat generated by the burner. In some examples, a heat sink may be a thermal oxidizer, process gas stream (or hot gas generator) and/or other configurations which do not involve transfer of energy from the burner to a working fluid. In many examples, the heat sinkmay be a boiler that accepts heat from the burner to cause a phase change in a working fluid such as water or the like. In some examples, the heat sinkis in operative communication with a turbine suitable to generate electrical power from the burner heat. In some examples, the heat sinkmay be a heat exchanger that conveys the heat from the burnerto another device, process (e.g., an industrial process), building (e.g., a space heating system such as a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, water heater, etc.) or other suitable heat sink. The heat sinkmay be operatively coupled to a pressure sensorthat measures a pressure in the heat sink.

As the fuelburns in the burner, the oxidizerand fuelare converted chemically into an exhaust stream. The exhaust streammay be handled by the exhaust subsystem. The exhaust subsystemmay include a composition sensorin operative communication with the exhaust streamsuch as to monitor a composition of the exhaust stream. In many examples, the composition sensormay be a CO, CO, NO, oxygen, and/or other suitable sensor. It may be advantageous to monitor the composition of the exhaust streamto control the emissions, efficiency, heat rate, or other aspect of the burner, such as by monitoring the stoichiometry of the combustion process in the burner.

The exhaust subsystemmay include a flow restrictoroperatively coupled to an actuator, which may be the same as or similar to the flow restrictor. The flow restrictormay be used to control the pressure in the burner control system, such as a pressure in the heat sinkas may be monitored by the pressure sensor. Additionally and/or alternately, the flow restrictormay control an amount of the exhaust streamthat is recirculated to the chambervia the recirculation conduit. For example, as the flow restrictoris moved to a relatively more closed position, the pressure in the burnerand/or amount of the exhaust streamrecirculated may be increased relative to a more open position of the flow restrictor.

illustrates a simplified block diagram for the various devices of the controllerand/or a device that hosts or executes the artificial intelligence. As shown, the various devices may include one or more processing elements, an optional display, one or more memory components, a network interface, optional power supply, and an optional input/output (I/O) interface, where the various components may be in direct or indirect communication with one another, such as via one or more system buses, contract traces, wiring, or via wireless mechanisms.

The one or more processing elementsmay be substantially any electronic device capable of processing, receiving, and/or transmitting instructions. For example, the processing elementsmay be a microprocessor, microcomputer, graphics processing unit, or the like. It also should be noted that the processing elementmay include one or more processing elements or modules that may or may not be in communication with one another. For example, a first processing element may control a first set of components of the computing device and a second processing element may control a second set of components of the computing device where the first and second processing elements may or may not be in communication with each other. Relatedly, the processing elements may be configured to execute one or more instructions in parallel locally, and/or across the network, such as through cloud computing resources. In some implementations, the artificial intelligencemay be executed by the processing elementof the controller. In some implementations, the artificial intelligencemay be executed by a one or more separate processing elements, such as on a computer, a separate controller from the controller, or the like.

The displayis optional and provides an input/output mechanism for devices of the system, such as to display visual information (e.g., images, graphical user interfaces, videos, notifications, and the like) to a user, and in certain instances may also act to receive user input (e.g., via a touch screen or the like). The display may be an LCD screen, plasma screen, LED screen, an organic LED screen, or the like. The type and number of displays may vary with the type of devices (e.g., smartphone versus a desktop computer).

The memory componentstores electronic data that may be utilized by the computing devices, such as audio files, video files, document files, programming instructions, and the like. The memory componentmay be, for example, non-volatile storage, a magnetic storage medium, optical storage medium, magneto-optical storage medium, read only memory, random access memory, erasable programmable memory, flash memory, or a combination of one or more types of memory components.

The network interfacereceives and transmits data to and from a network to the various devices of the burner system. The network/communication network interfacemay transmit and send data to a network directly or indirectly. For example, the networking/communication interface may transmit data to and from other computing devices through the network. In some embodiments, the network interface may also include various modules, such as an application program interface (API) that interfaces and translates requests across the network to the device or controller. A controllermay include communication options with a combustion control or distributed control (CCS/DCS) system via Modbus, or OPC.

The various devices of the system may also include a power supply. The power supplyprovides power to various components of the controller. The power supplymay include one or more rechargeable, disposable, or hardwire sources, e.g., batteries, power cord, AC/DC inverter, DC/DC converter, or the like. Additionally, the power supplymay include one or more types of connectors or components that provide different types of power to the controller. In some embodiments, the power supplymay include a connector (such as a universal serial bus) that provides power to the computer or batteries within the computer and also transmits data to and from the device to other devices.

The input/output I/O interfaceallows the system devices to receive input from a user and provide output to a user. In some devices, for instance the controller, the I/O interface may be optional. For example, the input/output I/O interfacemay include a capacitive touch screen, keyboard, mouse, stylus, or the like. The type of devices that interact via the input/output I/O interfacemay be varied as desired.

illustrates a method of training the artificial intelligence. The methodmay begin in operationand the burneris operated. For example, an oxidizerand a fuelmay be supplied to the burner. The flow restrictormay be at least partially opened and the oxidizer movermay be driven by the drive. Similarly, the fuelmay flow to the burnervia the one or more flow controls such as the flow control-. The oxidizermay react with the fuelin a combustion reaction in the burner. The oxidizerand the fuelmay be converted through the combustion reaction to the exhaust stream.