ORCHIDEE

A tool for optimisation of operation and maintenance characteristics of electrostatic precipitators

The ORCHIDEE Package

ORCHIDEE is a simulation software for the
operation of the electrostatic precipitators
(ESP) in coal fired Power Plants, designed
to be installed in the control room of the
plant.
From fuels analyses, boiler operating
conditions, plant characteristics and control
parameters, ORCHIDEE simulates in real-
time the operating conditions of the
different fields of the precipitator, evaluates
the dust emissions at the stack and
estimates the effects of SO3 injection and
back-corona in the ESP efficiency.
As a result, ORCHIDEE enables the plant
staff to take operating decisions supported
by simple “what if” scenario analysis; it
enables also the maintenance staff to
define more effective maintenance plan by
early detection of ESP problems.
ORCHIDEE is also a powerful assistance
tool for on-line and off-line diagnostics.

ORCHIDEE has been installed and validated in 8 EDF coal

thermal power plants in France and UK. It is actually used The ORCHIDEE applications
for the daily operation of the plants. Poor ESP performances may result in
revenue losses, such as reduced plant
production or penalties: a 1 % derating
of a 250 MW unit, due to poor
environmental performances, may
correspond to losses of the order of
1 M$.

Early detection of reduced ESP

performances is therefore essential to
keep plant optimal production levels.
Few plants have resident experts able
to estimate in advance the plant
performances.

ORCHIDEE simulation software enable

plant staff to understand major ESP
problems: by changing plant or ESP
parameters it is possible to review
instantly any modification of the
operating conditions.

IRS srl – Environmental Department Via Vigonovese 81 - 35127 Padova – Italy

tel : +39-049.87.05.156 fax : +39-049-762.52.06
e-mail: [email protected] site : http://www.irsweb.it/
 ORCHIDEE
A tool for optimisation of operation and maintenance characteristics of electrostatic precipitators

A user-friendly tool A useful tool

ORCHIDEE offers a user-friendly interface • Fu el: coal • ESP

with rolling menus, self-explaining forms and characteristics; blend up C haracteristics:
action buttons. This allows fast learning and to 4 coals; oil adm ixture overall geom etry,
easy use of the software. • P ow er p lant: nom inal local electrode
power, electric power geom etry, flue gas
The help on line, always available, facilitates output, therm al velocity distribution at
the use of the software and gives all efficiency. inlet.
necessary information. • Co m b ustion • E S P o peration
p aram eters: com bustion param eters: power
air excess, O 2 % content supply characteristics
at econom iser and , applied voltage or
content at stack, unburnt current, circuits out of
A fast tool % , flue gas tem perature. service

ORCHIDEE computes dust emissions in

real-time. At first installation, the
performance chart is computed by
calibration simulations with different input
parameters: it takes several hours of
computation time. Then ORCHIDEE
computes the ESP operating conditions
instantly, by interpolating the data on the
performance chart.

Databases included with

• Im pact of
co m b ustio n
ORCHIDEE includes two databases: the • C on sequ ences of
p aram eters on
geo m etric or electric
first for coal characteristics, and the second particle em ission
fau lts on E S P
for the electric power plant characteristics. (excess of com bustion
operating conditions
The user needs only to define combustion air, flue gas
• Im pact o f in let flu e
and precipitation parameters. tem perature, etc.).
gas d istrib utio n on
• Co al b lend ing in
E S P perform ances.
order to avoid back-
co ron a and red uce
em issio ns.

Designed for network use

• S im u latio n of E S P retrofitting :
ORCHIDEE is designed to run in a network m odifications of internals
configuration. Databases and files are geom etry (height, channel width,
stored on a network server and the program electrodes type), m odification of
can be accessed from any client computer. power supplies, addition of fields.

Recommended system requirements

• Windows XP, Vista • 128 Mb RAM
• Microsoft Excel • 200 Mb of temporary file on hard disk for calibration

IRS srl – Environmental Department Via Vigonovese 81 - 35127 Padova – Italy

tel : +39-049.87.05.156 fax : +39-049-762.52.06
e-mail: [email protected] site : http://www.irsweb.it/