Operation Optimization Approaches of Thermal Power Units with Big Data-Driven Hybrid Modeling

An accurate and reliable energy-consumption model is the key to operation optimization and energy-saving diagnosis of thermal power units especially under different operation conditions and boundaries. Conventional mathematical and data-driven modeling methods were overviewed and compared in this paper. A hybrid modeling based on thermodynamic theory and fuzzy rough set (FRS) method was proposed to process the great volume of operation data and describe the energy-consumption behavior of thermal power units. On this basis, the operation optimization was performed with intelligent computation methods to derive the realizable benchmark state with the whole set of operation parameters. The resultant optimum operation state reflects the exterior factors and system behavior, taking practical guidelines for the modeling and optimization of large thermal power units.