A method and apparatus for controlling a process in a system comprising pre-processing of a raw material, processing the pre-processed raw material and acquisition of the result of the processing of the pre-processed raw material, comprising the steps of: capturing input and output variables of the pre-processing; capturing output variables of the processing of the pre-processed raw material; creating a first, second and third process model for at least two different time scales, which describes the effects of adapting the pre-processing of raw material, the effects of adapting the processing of the pre-processed raw material, the effects of adapting the pre-processing of raw material and adapting the processing of pre-processed raw material on the output variables of the processing of pre-processed raw material; wherein the process in the system is controlled using the prediction of the process model which currently provides the best predictions for the process in the system.

Methods and systems for providing appliances with gas quality information are described herein. One system includes a single calorimeter or a single gas chromatograph configured to determine a calorific value of a gas being supplied to an area having a plurality of appliances and communicate the calorific value of the gas to the plurality of appliances.

The invention relates to a control module for controlling at least one radiant tube burner, the burner comprising a fuel supply valve, an oxidant supply valve and a combustion fume discharge conduit, wherein the control module comprises: a means for measuring the quality of combustion, installed in the combustion fume discharge conduit of said at least one burner, a unit for measuring the fuel flow rate, a unit for measuring the oxidant flow rate, and a means for driving said at least one burner, acting on the opening percentages of the oxidant and fuel supply valves of said at least one burner in order to adjust the ratio of the oxidant flow rate to the fuel flow rate on the basis of the information delivered by the means for determining combustion quality.

A method for online monitoring and determining the calorific value of a solid fuel that is currently combusted in a boiler, that includes: on-line measuring the operational data of the boiler and of at least one mill during the operation 10 of the boiler; collecting the historical data; calculating the energy balances of the steam production system; iteratively determining the efficiency of the boiler by: determining sets of mill characteristics, the fuel mass flux, and the actual calorific value of the fuel for the historical data; training a model based on artificial intelligence algorithms to predict the calorific value using the historical data and measured operational data; determining in real time, using the trained model, the calorific value of the solid fuel that is currently combusted.

In one embodiment, a gas turbine system includes a controller configured to receive fuel composition information related to a fuel used for combustion in a turbine combustor; receive oxidant composition information related to an oxidant used for combustion in the turbine combustor; receive oxidant flow information related to a flow of the oxidant to the turbine combustor; determine a stoichiometric fuel-to-oxidant ratio based at least on the fuel composition information and the oxidant composition information; and generate a control signal for input to a fuel flow control system configured to control a flow of the fuel to the turbine combustor based on the oxidant flow information, a target equivalence ratio, and the stoichiometric fuel-to-oxidant ratio to enable combustion at the target equivalence ratio in the presence of an exhaust diluent within the turbine combustor.

Various embodiments include a method for controlling a combustion device comprising a first combustion sensor and a second sensor. An example includes: specifying a first setpoint value for the first sensor for a first fuel; controlling the combustion device to the first setpoint value; recording a first value of the signal from the first combustion sensor and a second value of the signal from the second sensor; determining a second fuel as a function of the first signal and the second signal; comparing a composition of the first fuel to a composition of the second fuel; and, if the second fuel is of a different composition from the first fuel, determining a second setpoint value for the signal from the first combustion sensor as a function of the second fuel and adjusting the combustion device using the first combustion sensor to the second setpoint value for the signal from the first combustion sensor; else making no further adjustment.

A method of operating an aircraft that includes a propulsion system. The propulsion system includes a gas turbine engine and a fuel tank arranged to provide fuel to the gas turbine engine. The method includes: determining at least one fuel characteristic of the fuel arranged to be provided to the gas turbine engine; and controlling the propulsion system based on the at least one fuel characteristic.

A control device of a hydrogen gas burner device sets a target flow rate of a hydrogen gas such that a flow rate of the hydrogen gas decreases as a temperature of the hydrogen gas becomes higher, based on the temperature of the hydrogen gas and a needed quantity of heat of the hydrogen gas during the combustion, sets a target flow speed such that the flow speed of the hydrogen gas released from a combustion nozzle via a flow speed regulator becomes a flow speed based on the target flow rate and the flow speed of the hydrogen gas increases as a value of the target flow rate decreases, controls the flow rate regulator such that the flow rate of the hydrogen gas reaches the target flow rate, and controls the flow speed regulator such that the flow speed of the hydrogen gas reaches the target flow speed.

Methods and apparatus to automatically control oil burning operations are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a first control valve to control a flow of a first fluid into a fluid mixture to be burned; and a second control valve to control a flow of a second fluid into the fluid mixture. The example apparatus further includes a meter to monitor a property of the fluid mixture in substantially realtime, the property indicative of a flammability of the fluid mixture, at least one of the first control valve or the second control valve to be automatically adjusted based on a measured value of the property of the fluid mixture

A power system for an aircraft comprises a gas turbine engine, arranged to burn a fuel in a combustor so as to provide power to the aircraft; a plurality of fuel tanks arranged to contain fuel to be used to provide power to the aircraft; and a fuel manager. A first fuel tank of the plurality of fuel tanks is arranged to contain a first fuel, and a second tank of the plurality of fuel tanks is arranged to contain a second, different, fuel. The fuel manager is arranged to store information on the fuel contained in each fuel tank and to control fuel supply so as to take fuel from the second tank for engine start-up, before switching to the first fuel tank.