IMEKO (International Measurement Confederation) is a non-governmental federation of 42 Member Organizations individually concerned with the advancement of measurement technology. IMEKO’s objectives are the promotion of international interchange of scientific and technical information in the field of measurement and instrumentation, and the enhancement of international cooperation among scientists and engineers from research and industry. Finnish Society of Automation represents Finland as an IMEKO member organisation.
The IMEKO XXIV World Congress was held in Hamburg in early September. The Congress was full of top-quality presentations, with speakers such as Nobel laureates Stefan Hell and Klaus von Klitzing. Topics for workshops ranged from digital transformation, quantum technology and sustainable development to metrological traceability. The tours available included Airbus Hamburg, DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron), XFEL (European X-Ray Free-Electron Laser Facility GmbH) and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) located in Braunschweig.
A total of 1,100 participants from around the world attended the Congress, including principal lecturer and RDI coordinator Petri Koponen and principal lecturer Tommi Kauppinen from the Kajaani University of Applied Sciences.
Finnish delegate at the General Council was Petri Koponen
IMEKO’s activities are carried out through five Technical Committees (TCs). Their duties include organising events at regular intervals, such as conferences, workshops and seminars. A joint TC3, TC5 and TC22 conference was held in Finland in 2017. Petri Koponen acts as the Finnish delegate in the General Counsil, IMEKO’s supreme governing body. He is also a member of TC3, the Technical Committee for the measurement of force, mass, torque, and gravity. IMEKO’s General Counsil Session was held in connection with the Congress, with Petri Koponen attending as the Finnish delegate. The Session made decisions on the election of the Secretary General, other secretaries and new TC chairpersons and members.
‘From Forest to Energy’ research project featured
The aim of the From Forest to Energy (MENER) project is to optimise the combustion process of wood-based fuels burned in power plants. Knowing the delay between harvest and wood chips feed to combustion power plant is useful for controlling and estimating the power generated at any given time. Furthermore, estimating the delay can bring about new opportunities for optimising the journey from timber harvesting to combustion.
The problem is approached through data, statistical methods, and artificial intelligence. The project involves creating a mathematical model that describes the flow of fuel from unloading to combustion. The key objective of the model is to predict the moisture percentage of the fuel entering the boiler so that the information can be utilised in process control and boiler adjustments. A more optimal combustion process means greater energy efficiency – ideally, both emissions and costs will be reduced.
Employed by the Kajaani University of Applied Sciences, Tommi Kauppinen, Anssi Korhonen, Juho Pinola and Petri Koponen authored an article for the IMEKO Congress. Working with the article as their foundation, they prepared a presentation titled ‘Estimating the delay in wood chips feed to combustion power plant by both mathematical and visual aid.’ Tommi Kauppinen held the presentation. The article presents two new methods for estimating the delay. The research methods are based on the moisture levels measured in the transported wood chips and the combustion exhaust gases. The primary analysis was conducted with data provided by Kuopion Energia Oy.
Image 1. Tommi Kauppinen held the presentation at the Congress. Image by Petri Koponen
The study showed promising results using a generalised model of combustion power plants. However, to process the delay distribution, it is advisable to determine the unique characteristics of the combustion power plant in question. In this study, the delay estimation was solely based on moisture measurement, which reduced the uncertainties related to multiple measurements. In the context of a measurement technology conference, it was fascinating to present a method where using a small amount of measurement data enabled reducing the cumulative uncertainties of the measurements.
The study managed to reliably deliver the average delay. This in turn enables both fuel feed optimisation and economic and environmental optimisation. And by extending the analysis to other species of tree outside this study, wood chips can be fed to the combustion process in a way that optimises the forestry value chain.
Accuracy of measurement and assessment of uncertainty in focus, sustainable development also discussed
Relevant topics in measurement technology include the proliferation of measurement and the significance of assessing measurement uncertainty. Increasingly small objects and phenomena can be measured with innovations such as laser-based technologies.
It was interesting to note that the discussion in the field of measurement technology is yet to place a stronger focus on measurements related to the climate crisis. While sustainable development was a theme at the conference, it was not the focus. Measurement is still largely understood as relating to base quantities, effectively keeping improvement of measurement accuracy a primary topic of discussion. What’s more, the assumption can be made that measuring new quantities relevant to e.g. policies and governance would be a more prominent topic of discussion in a measurement technology conference.
