Granted Patent B1

US 12,644,414 · App. 19/051,070 · Granted Jun 2, 2026

Inventors: Bradly Aaron Kippel (Greenville, SC); John Alexander Petzen, III (Roanoke, VA)

Assignee: GE Vernova Infrastructure Technology LLC

F02C7/18

Abstract

Claims (56)

1 . A method, comprising:

obtaining, via a controller, sensor feedback of temperature of an exhaust flow via a plurality of sensors of a sensor grid, wherein the controller comprises a memory, a processor, and instructions stored on the memory and executable by the processor;

determining, via the controller, that a sensor failure has occurred in the plurality of sensors, then:

establishing, via the controller, an error between a computer model and the sensor grid for an average value and a maximum value of the temperature, compensating for a worst case scenario of the sensor failure; and

subtracting, via the controller, the error from operating limits of a gas treatment system and setting a target average value and a target maximum value of the temperature; and

controlling, via the controller, an air flow into the exhaust flow based on the target average value and the target maximum value of the temperature and the sensor feedback of temperature from the sensor grid.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, for each successive sensor failure in a total number of sensor failures in the plurality of sensors:

establishing, via the controller, the error between the computer model and the sensor grid for the average value and the maximum value of the temperature, compensating for the worst case scenario of the total number of sensor failures; and

subtracting, via the controller, the error from operating limits of the gas treatment system and setting the target average value and the target maximum value of the temperature.

3 . The method of claim 1 , comprising controlling, via the controller, the air flow into the exhaust flow by controlling a fan, a damper, or a combination thereof, of a tempering air injection system, wherein the tempering air injection system is coupled to an exhaust duct and configured to inject the air flow into the exhaust flow in the exhaust duct.

4 . A system, comprising:

a controller having a memory, a processor, and instructions stored on the memory and executable by the processor to:

obtain sensor feedback of temperature of an exhaust flow via a plurality of sensors of a sensor grid;

if a sensor failure occurs in the plurality of sensors, then:

establish an error between a computer model and the sensor grid for an average value and a maximum value of the temperature, compensating for a worst case scenario of the sensor failure; and

subtract the error from operating limits of a gas treatment system and set a target average value and a target maximum value of the temperature; and

control an air flow into the exhaust flow based on the target average value and the target maximum value of the temperature and the sensor feedback of temperature from the sensor grid.

5 . The system of claim 4 , further comprising at least one of:

the plurality of sensors of the sensor grid configured to couple to an exhaust duct and to the controller;

the gas treatment system configured to couple to the exhaust duct; or

a tempering air injection system configured to couple to the exhaust duct, wherein the tempering air injection system comprises a fan, a damper, or a combination thereof.

6 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the controller comprises instructions to, for each successive sensor failure in a total number of sensor failures in the plurality of sensors:

establish the error between the computer model and the sensor grid for the average value and the maximum value of the temperature, compensating for the worst case scenario of the total number of sensor failures; and

subtract the error from the operating limits of the gas treatment system and set the target average value and the target maximum value of the temperature.

7 . A system, comprising:

an exhaust duct;

a gas treatment system coupled to the exhaust duct;

a sensor grid having a plurality of sensors disposed in the exhaust duct;

a tempering air injection system coupled to the exhaust duct upstream from the gas treatment system, wherein the tempering air injection system comprises a fan, a damper, or a combination thereof, wherein the tempering air injection system is configured to inject an air flow into an exhaust flow in the exhaust duct; and

a controller having a memory, a processor, and instructions stored on the memory and executable by the processor to:

obtain sensor feedback of temperature via the plurality of sensors in the sensor grid;

if a sensor failure occurs in the plurality of sensors, then:

establish an error between a computer model and the sensor grid for an average value and a maximum value of the temperature, compensating for a worst case scenario of the sensor failure; and

subtract the error from operating limits of the gas treatment system and set a target average value and a target maximum value of the temperature; and

control the air flow from the tempering air injection system into the exhaust flow in the exhaust duct based on the target average value and the target maximum value of the temperature and the sensor feedback of temperature from the sensor grid.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the worst case scenario of the sensor failure comprises a worst case sensor position.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the worst case sensor position is in a hottest spot based on a temperature profile across the sensor grid.

10 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller comprises instructions to, for each successive sensor failure in a total number of sensor failures in the plurality of sensors:

establish the error between the computer model and the sensor grid for the average value and the maximum value of the temperature compensating for the worst case scenario of the total number of sensor failures; and

subtract the error from the operating limits of the gas treatment system and set the target average value and the target maximum value of the temperature.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the worst case scenario of the total number of sensor failures comprises worst case sensor positions of the total number of sensor failures.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the worst case sensor positions are in one or more hottest spots based on a temperature profile across the sensor grid.

13 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the error is between predictions by the computer model and measurements by the sensor grid for the average value and the maximum value of the temperature; and wherein the operating limits comprise temperature limits of the gas treatment system.

14 . The system of claim 7 , wherein each sensor of the plurality of sensors comprises a plurality of sensor elements to obtain redundant sensor feedback of temperature; and wherein the worst case scenario of the sensor failure accounts for sensor failures of one or more of the plurality of sensor elements.

15 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller comprises instructions to, prior to the sensor failure:

establish an initial error between the computer model and the sensor grid for the average value and the maximum value of the temperature; and

subtract the initial error from the operating limits of the gas treatment system and set the target average value and the target maximum value of the temperature.

16 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller comprises instructions to:

calculate a measured average value and a measured maximum value of the temperature based on the sensor feedback;

compare the measured average value against the target average value and compare the measured maximum value against the target maximum value to obtain comparisons; and

control the air flow from the tempering air injection system into the exhaust flow in the exhaust duct based on the comparisons.

17 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the gas treatment system comprises a catalyst unit disposed in the exhaust duct.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the catalyst unit comprises a carbon monoxide (CO) catalyst, a selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst, or a combination thereof.

19 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the gas treatment system comprises a reductant injection unit disposed in the exhaust duct, wherein the sensor grid is disposed upstream and/or downstream from the catalyst unit, the reductant injection unit, or a combination thereof.

20 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is configured to control the air flow from the tempering air injection system into the exhaust flow by controlling the fan, the damper, or both the fan and the damper.

21 . The system of claim 7 , comprising a gas turbine engine coupled to the exhaust duct.

Assignments (2)

References Cited (9)