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HomeISAPublicationsInTechMagazine2011/JanFebWebExclusive:Boilerfeedwatercontrol

January/February 2011
Web Exclusive

Boiler feedwater control

Editorialnote:FollowingthepositiveresponseInTechandauthorJerryGilmanreceivedwhenhis"Boilerdrumlevelcontrol"articleraninthemagazinein2010
(www.isa.org/intech/20100806),Gilmanhasreturnedwithasecondboilercontrolcontribution.

By G. F. (Jerry) Gilman
Someboilersutilizeareasonablysteadyloadsoonlydrumlevelcontrolfromsingleelementdrumlevelmeasurementispossible.
Singleelementcontrolisusedonboilersduringstartuporlowloadregardlessofcapacityorrapidloadswings.Singleelement
controlhasoftenbeenunsatisfactorybecausesomeofthenewerboilerdesignshaveminimumwaterstoragecomparedtothe
steamingrateoftheboiler.Amajorityofthelargersizedunitsandthosesubjecttorapidlyfluctuatingloadsrequiredifferentmethods
ofcontrol.Atwoelementsystemcontrollingthefeedwatercontrolvalvefromthesteamflowsignalandresettingthedrumlevel
signalisabletohandlesomeofthelessdifficultsystems.Largerunitswithsmallstoragecapacityrelatedtothroughput,andunits
experiencingsevere,rapidloadswings,usuallyrequirethreeelementcontrol,wherebywaterflowismatchedwithsteamflowand
resetfromthedrumlevelsignal.

Single element feedwater level control

Singleelementdrumlevelcontrolmeasuresdrumlevelonly.Thisisasimplefeedbackcontrolloop(Figure1).

Themassofthewaterflowandthesteamflowmustberegulatedsomasswaterflowequalsthemasssteamflowtomaintaindrumlevel.Thefeedwatercontrolregulatesthemass
waterflowtotheboiler.Theeffectsoftheinputcontrolactionsinteract,sincefiringratealsoaffectssteamtemperatureandfeedwaterflowaffectsthesteampressure,whichisthefinal
arbiteroffiringratedemand.Theoverallsystemmustbeappliedandcoordinatedinamannertominimizetheeffectsoftheseinteractions.Theinteractionscanbegreatlyaffectedby
thecontrolsystemdesign.Iftheboileroperatesundervaryingsteampressure,thecalibrationoftheliquidleveltransmitterwillalsovarywithsteamdensity.
Whenasingleelementcontrolsystemisimplemented,theleveltransmitter(LT)sendsasignaltothelevelcontroller(Figures1and2).Theprocessvariable(inputsignal)tothe
controlleriscomparedtothesetpoint(SP).Singleelementcontrolistheminimumfeedwatercontrolsystem.Whenthesystemconsistsofsingleandtwoorthreeelementcontrol,two
controllersarerequiredbecausethecontrollertuningisdifferent.

Theoutputsignalismodifiedandadjuststhefinalcontroldevice.ThediagramforaP&IDwouldtypicallybeinISAsymbols(Figure2).Thefinalcontroldevicecanbeacontrolvalve,
pumpspeedcontrol,oracombinationofboth.Forsimplicity,redundanttransmittersarenotshownontheP&IDdrawings.

Two element feedwater level control

Thetwoelementcontrolschemeutilizessteamflowinadditiontodrumlevel.Thisisasimplefeedbackplusfeedforwardcontrolsystem(Figure4)withasecondaryvariablethathas
apredictablerelationshipwiththemanipulatedvariable.Thesecondaryvariable,steamflow,causesthemanipulatedvariabletochangetheprimaryvariable.Thesteamflowadjusts
thefeedwatercontrolvalvebasedonsteamflowsignalandthedrumlevelcontrollersignal.Asthesteamflowincreasesordecreases,thesteamflowadjuststheoutputofthe
summeranddirectlysetsthefeedwaterfinalelement.(See"Summer"sectionforfurtherdiscussion.)

Iftheconditionsareideal,asinFigure4,thefeedwaterflowwouldbeequaltosteamflow,andthelevelinthedrumwouldbemaintained.Iffeedwaterpressureisnotconstant,as
seeninFigure5,thechangesinpressurewouldaffectfeedwatercontrol.

Three element feedwater level control

Threeelementcontrolutilizessteamandwaterflowinadditiontodrumlevel(Figure7).Thisisasimplefeedback,feedforward,andcascadecontrolloop.Thesteamflowadjuststhe
feedwatercontrolvalvebasedonthesteamflowsignalandthedrumlevelcontrollersignal.Asthesteamflowincreasesordecreases,thesteamflowadjuststheoutputofthe
summeranddirectlysetsthefeedwatercontrollersetpoint.Byaddingfeedwaterflow,themeasuredvariableisthefeedbacktothecontroller,thereforemeasuringwhatisbeing
controlled.Controlisimprovedbyaddingmassflowcompensationtodrumlevel,steamflow,andwaterflow.

Threeelementfeedwateraddsthefeedwaterflowmeasurementtothecontrolloop.Thesignificantadvantageinaddingafeedwatercontrolleristhemeasurementofthecontrolled
variable.Bymeasuringthefeedwaterflowandcontrollingittoaflowsetpoint,thefeedwaterequalssteamflowtomaintaindrumlevelovertheboilercontrolrange.Thedesired
feedwaterismaintainedandoverridesshrinkandswellandvariationsinfeedwaterheaderpressure(Figure8).

Control system configuration

Thedrumlevelcontrollerisconfiguredtobeeitherareverseordirectactingcontroller.Thisdependsontheconfigurationofthefinalcontroldeviceandthefailsafemodeofthe
controlvalve.Ifthecontrolvalvefailsclosed,thecontrollerisconfiguredtobeareverseactingcontroller.Ifthecontrolvalvefailsopen,thecontrollerisconfiguredtobeadirect
actingcontroller.Thefinalcontrolelementmaybeacontrolvalve,speedcontrol,oracombinationofboth.Speedcontrolisusedtoreducelinepressuredropandisalsousedin
combinationwithacontrolvalvetoestablishgreaterturndown.

Summer
AsummeroccurswhentwoormorevaluescomeintoanequationandtheoutputequalsthesumoftheinputsinpercentbasedontheKvalues.Thefunctionsarereferredtoas
functionblocksoralgorithms.InFigures4and7,thesummerequationisusedalthoughtheequationisnotfunctioningasasummer.Somecompaniesusemultiplicationordivision
equations.Thesummercanbeconfiguredusingabasicsummerequation.Theequationsusedwillvarywiththecontrolsystemsspecified,includingthenumberofinputs.The
equationbelowrepresentsthreeinputs:a,bandc.OnlytwoinputsareusedinFigure7.Thisisacommontypeofequationthatmayhavetwoormoreinputsdependingonthe
vendoralgorithm/functionblock.Abasicequationperformingthesamefunctionshouldbeavailablewithmostcontrolsystems.
K(a)+K(b)+K(c)Bias=output
Consideringtwoinputstothesummer,setbothKvaluesto1.Setthebiasto50%.Withthedrumlevelcontrollerinmanualmodeandthedrumlevelatthedesiredsetpoint,setthe
controlleroutputto50%.
The50%outputisoffsetbythe50%biasinthesummerequation.Therefore,thesteamflowsignalinputtothesummerwillequalthesummeroutput.Consideringapoundofsteam
equalsapoundofwater,thedrumlevelwouldbemaintainedduringallloadchanges.Eventhoughswellandshrinkmayoccuronloadswing,thesteamflowmodifiesthefeedwater
rate.Thedrumlevelcontrollerbecomesatrimcontrolleradjustingtheoutputofthesummertocontrolthelevelatthesetpoint.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

G.F.(Jerry)Gilman'scareerhasspannedmorethan37yearswithProcter&Gamble(P&G)anditssubsidiaries.Alicensedprofessionalengineer,GilmanprovidestrainingforISA
andconsultingtoutilityplants,industrialpowerplantsandengineeringcontractors.Gilmanisthedeveloperofthe"ISABoilerControlSystemsEngineering"and"ISABurner
ManagementSystemsEngineering"trainingcourses.

RESOURCES
ANSI/ISA77.42FossilFuelPowerPlantFeedwaterControlSystemDrumType
https://www.isa.org/store/products/productdetail/?productId=116733
TheControlofBoilers
https://www.isa.org/store/controlofboilers2ndedition/116058
ControlSystemsEngineering,2ndEdition
www.isa.org/boilereng