A large amount of American electricity is generated in coal-fired boilers. In order to reduce plant emissions, particularly NOx, it is important that the coal burners be operated within a narrow band of optimal conditions.  New instrumentation is needed to permit determining the flows of pulverized coal and air in the transport piping to the burners.  In pursuit of this goal, Foster-Miller has been working with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to develop an inexpensive, accurate coal flow meter. This meter uses an accelerometer mounted on the outside of the coal pipe to detect the sound of coal particles striking the pipe wall.  The results obtained with this approach have shown less than 2 percent difference in measured vs. predicted flow.  In addition to working well in conditions for which the instrument analysis is calibrated, we found that it works well for determining the flow split among several pipes in conditions that are very different from the ones for which it had been calibrated.

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