Patent ID: 8381690

Claim:
A system for minimizing an amount of cooling flow in a sootblower based on lance temperature, the system comprising: one or more sootblowers, each of the sootblowers having a lance with an elongated hollow tube and at least one nozzle at a distal end of the tube, each of the sootblowers being operable for moving the lance in and out of the boiler in insertion and extraction strokes, a temperature measuring system for measuring and monitoring wall temperature of an annular wall of the tube during operation of the one or more sootblowers, a programmable control system for controlling a flow of steam through the tube and nozzle during cleaning portion and cooling portion of the strokes wherein in the cooling portion of the stroke a lower flow rate of steam is used as compared to the cleaning portion of the stroke, and the programmable control system operable for minimizing the flow of steam during the cooling portions of the strokes based on wall temperature measurements from the temperature measuring system and preventing the wall temperature measurement from exceeding a predetermined temperature limit.