New Thermal Imaging System Uses Sharper Video Imagery to Improve Coal Plant Efficiency LumaSense Technologies

LumaSense’s BoilerSpection increases coal-fired boiler efficiency by providing clear and continuous through-flame imaging

LumaSense Technologies, Inc. has introduced a unique thermal-imaging system that uses high-quality video and data analysis software to help coal fired power plants run their boilers and produce power more efficiently.
The LumaSense BoilerSpection™ is a heavy-duty, radiometric thermal imaging system that allows operators to see through combustion flames, providing clear images from inside boilers, furnaces and kilns. This helps plants to better monitor boiler tubes and slag deposits that prevent boilers from running at peak efficiency. By proactively maintaining boilers, coal plants can improve boiler uptime by reducing the number of manual cleaning cycles and decreasing tube erosion typically caused by excessive cleaning.
For example, Alabama Power’s Miller Steam Plant – located in West Jefferson, Ala. – has significantly reduced the number of “de-slags” on two of its four boilers using BoilerSpection, and eliminated the need for online washes during a six-month beta period. Prior to using BoilerSpection, the plant estimates it performed approximately 51 de-slags (a process that decreases generation on the units from 720 megawatts to 300 megawatts for approximately 4-6 hours) on the boilers in 2010. During the six-month beta test, they performed only 12 of these processes. The plant is planning to outfit its remaining two boilers with BoilerSpection.
BoilerSpection enables plant operators to manage multiple camera systems, configure trip alarms for automating soot-blowers or water cannons, and establish minimum acceptable levels of clinker formation. The camera itself is protected by a heavy-duty enclosure with an integrated cooling system. The imaging system also uses cooled borescope optics and a 3.9-um infrared wavelength to see through combustion flames and monitor the boiler tubes and slag deposits.
In addition to the high-resolution camera designed to withstand harsh boiler conditions, BoilerSpection’s data analysis software allows operators to measure and track changes over time, trigger events or alarms to help prevent unplanned shutdowns, archive data, and view images anywhere in the plant using HTML platforms, among other functions.
For more information, please visit www.lumasenseinc.com.