Heating and power plants
Scalable and accurate sampling even for larger number of loads
Heating and power plants must continuously improve their energy efficiency, and it can be significantly improved by investing in fuel quality and quality control. These are emphasized, in particular, when switching from the combustion of more homogeneous coal to the combustion of inhomogeneous biomass. It is important to determine the exact energy content of the fuel in order to get the right price for the fuel. In addition, information of the moisture content of the fuel is important for optimizing the combustion process and fuel logistics.
Huge quantities of biomass and coal are transported to power plants with tens, sometimes hundreds of trucks and train wagons. Taking samples of the entire load manually is time-consuming, insufficient and unreliable. This causes faults and increases the margin of error in the quality determination. The Q-Robot sampler automatically takes several samples of each incoming truck and train load, changing the point and depth randomly, and always in accordance with solid biofuel sampling standards.
Q-Robot:
- takes several samples from different points and depths randomly
- takes samples that represent the whole load
- includes possible ice and water
- minimizes the risk caused by manual labour
- improves occupational safety
- enables sampling of the entire flow in the longitudinal, transverse and depth directions
- has been proved to decrease the error in efficiency calculations of power plants by 2–8 %.
