System and method for least squares filtering based leak flow estimation/detection using exponentially shaped leak profiles

A method for detecting and estimating leaks in any conserved flow around an industrial boiler wherein said conserved flow and industrial boiler form a process, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) measuring mass flow imbalances in the process to uncover any deviation from the mass flow imbalances being zero defined as variability;
• (b) partitioning the variability in the measured mass flow imbalances into:
• 1) a process model component;
• 2) a leak model component;
• and
• 3) a noise component;
• to form a mathematical representation of a leak in the process;
• (c) utilizing at least one leak shape for said leak model component and wherein said at least one leak shape represents a leak that is non-decreasing;
• (d) applying least squares filtering to said mathematical representation by estimating unknown parameters from said measured mass flow imbalances to generate an estimated leak flow model;
• (e) estimating statistical distributions of said unknown parameters to determine the statistical significance of said unknown parameters;
• and
• (f) generating statistics from said at least one leak shape to detect a leak.

A system for detecting and estimating leaks in any conserved flow around an industrial boiler wherein said conserved flow and industrial boiler form a process, said system comprising:

• (a) means for measuring mass flow imbalances in the process;
• (b) means for modeling a mathematical representation of a leak in the process, said mathematical representation comprising a process model component, a leak model component and a noise component, said modeling means utilizing a family of leak shapes for said leak model component and wherein each of said leak shapes represents a leak that is non-decreasing;
• (c) means for applying least squares filtering to said mathematical representation by estimating unknown parameters from said mass flow imbalances in order to generate an estimated leak flow model;
• (d) means for estimating statistical distributions of said unknown parameters to determine statistical significance of said unknown parameters;
• (e) means for generating a family of statistics from said family of leak shapes, wherein each of said statistics is optimized to detect a variety of leaks;
• and
• (f) wherein said means for generating a family of statistics combines said statistics to form a single significance-testing leak statistic.

A system for detecting and estimating leaks in any conserved flow around an industrial boiler wherein said conserved flow and industrial boiler form a process, said system comprising:

• (a) means for measuring mass flow imbalances in the process;
• (b) means for modeling a mathematical representation of a leak in the process, said mathematical representation comprising a process model component, a leak model component and a noise component, said modeling means utilizing at least one leak shape for said leak model component and wherein said at least one leak shape represents a leak that is non-decreasing;
• (c) means for applying least squares filtering to said mathematical representation by estimating unknown parameters from said mass flow imbalances in order to generate an estimated leak flow model;
• (d) means for estimating statistical distributions of said unknown parameters to determine statistical significance of said unknown parameters;
• and
• (e) means for generating statistics from said at least one leak shape to detect a leak.