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REPORT NO.

PHYSICAL STUDY OF A STEAM GENERATING UNIT

OBJECTIVE
To make a thorough study of a steam generating units and all accessories associated in
it.

BRIEF BACKGROUND
A steam generating unit is composed of a boiler furnace and some of all various
accessories essential to its efficiency of steam generation. These accessories are fuel burning
equipment, superheater, reheater coil economizer, an air heater. The boiler from which water
or other liquid vaporizer may be classified according to:
1. Methods of firing, as internally and externally fired
2. Water tube or fire tube
3. Vertical, horizontal, and inclined arrangement of tube
4. Stationary, marine and locomotive
5. Straight tube and curve tube
6. Return tabular and through tube
7. Vertical-baffle and horizontal-baffle
8. High pressure and low pressure
9. Longitudinal-drum and cross-drum

APPARATUS
The package type boiler in the ME laboratory

ACTIVITY
1. Make a multi-view sketches of the boiler in the ME laboratory. Label all important
parts and indicate complete specification of the equipment or vessels.
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

1. What is meant by boiler horsepower and boiler capacity?


Boiler horsepower measures boiler's capacity to produce steam. One BHP denotes
ability to produce 34.5 pounds of dry steam per hour at 100°C (212°F), and corresponds to
10 square feet of heated surface, 33479 British thermal units (BTU), or 9.809 kilowatt per
hour (equal to more than 13 mechanical horsepower). Boiler capacity or boiler load is the
steam boilers' maximum output, which can be expressed in Boiler Horsepower or in
Pounds of Steam delivered per hour.

2. Define and illustrate through drawings the different classifications of boilers as


enumerated above.
-Methods of firing, as internally and externally
-the furnace is located inside the boiler shell (internally)
-the fire is outside the shell (externally)

-Water Tube
- A water tube boiler is such kind of boiler where the water is heated inside tubes and
the hot gasses surround them. This is the basic definition of water tube boiler. Actually this
boiler is just opposite of fire tube boiler where hot gasses are passed through tubes which are
surrounded by water.
-Fire Tube
- It is a type of boiler in which hot gases pass from a fire through one or more tubes
running through a sealed container of water.

-Vertical
-vertical axis boiler
-Horizontal
-horizontal axis boiler

-Inclined
- inclined axis boiler
- Stationary
These boilers are used for power plants or processes steam in plants

- Marine
- a design of steam boiler best known for its use on ships
-Locomotive
-is a type of railway locomotive that produces its pulling power through a steam
engine.

-Straight Tube
Straight tube boilers have straight water tubes
-Curve Tube
-Curve tube boilers have bent water tubes

-Return Tubular
- Horizontal return tubular boiler (HRT) has a horizontal cylindrical shell, containing
several horizontal flue tubes, with the fire located directly below the boiler's shell, usually within
a brickwork setting

-Through tube

This boiler is made up of the same parts as the return tube, the main difference is that of
arrangement. The rear plate of the combustion chamber forms one tube sheet and the end plate
forms the other. The top of the combustion chamber is stayed to the shell by sling stays which
are bars having forked ends fastened to the shell and to the combustion chamber.

-Vertical-baffled boilers are usually installed in boilers with horizontal tubes.


-Horizontal -baffled boilers are usually installed in boilers with Vertical tubes.
- High pressure and low pressure
A boiler can be considered as high-pressure boiler if its generated steam is above 15
psig while boilers with pressures of 15psig and below care called low-pressure boilers
-Longitudinal-drum and cross-drum
Longitudinal - It consists of a drum connected to a series of front end and rear end
header by short riser tubes
Cross-drum - the steam drum is placed at cross ways to the heat source as shown in the
figure. Here, the down-comer is fitted on the bottom of the drum and riser is fitted on the top of
the drum via a horizontal tube as shown in the figure. 5o to 15o inclined water tubes are
connected with down-comer and riser tubes in same manner of longitudinal drum

3. What are the importance and uses of an industrial boiler?


Industrial hot water boiler systems for generating thermal heat are very similar to the
household heating boilers in our cellars. The main difference is that industrial boilers are
dimensioned significantly larger, so their heating capacity is not only sufficient for a family
home but also for hotels, hospitals, skyscrapers, industrial buildings or entire districts. When
using process heat generated by steam boiler systems the individual applications are far more
versatile. They are used in many industry sectors.

4. What is an air vent, how important is it and how it is done?


Air vent valve is very necessary and comes under one of the boiler mounting. These are
fitted to the upper parts of the boiler as required to release air from drums and headers, either
when filling the boiler or raising steam. Air vent valve also plays a significant role in
preventing the boiler to collapse while draining the boiler.it prevents the vacuum to be
developed during draining. However, it is to be kept in mind that vent valve is opened only
when the boiler is cooled.
5. What is purging?
Purging is required before ignition of the first burner to clear any combustibles that
may have accumulated in the boiler and components. This is a critical time before the
lighting of the first burner.

6. Define the following: de scaling, back firing, water hammer.


De scaling
A chemical substance used to remove lime scale from metal surfaces in contact with
hot water, such as in boilers, water heaters, and kettles. Descaling agents are typically
acidic compounds such as hydrochloric acid that react with the alkaline carbonate
compounds present in the scale, producing carbon dioxide gas and a soluble salt.
Back firing
-A back-fire or backfire is combustion or an explosion produced by a running
internal combustion engine that occurs in the air intake or exhaust system rather than
inside the combustion chamber. Unburnt fuel or hydrocarbons that are ignited in the
exhaust system can produce loud sounds even if flames are not present at the tailpipe. A
visible flame may momentarily shoot out of the exhaust pipe where the exhaust system
is shortened. Fire may also travel into the air intake piping. Either condition may cause
a loud popping noise, together with possible loss of power and forward motion
Water Hammer
-Is a pressure surge or wave caused when a fluid, usually a liquid but sometimes
also a gas, in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly, a momentum change.
A water hammer commonly occurs when a valve closes suddenly at an end of a pipeline
system, and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe.

7. What is a water softener? Give details on its operation and standards.


Is the removal of calcium, magnesium, and certain other metal cations in hard water.
The resulting soft water requires less soap for the same cleaning effort, as soap is not
wasted mopping up calcium ions. Soft water also extends the lifetime of plumbing by
reducing or eliminating scale build-up in pipes and fittings. Water softening is usually
achieved using lime softening or ion-exchange resins

8. What are the dangers associated in boiler operation?


Dangers associated with steam are due to pressure and temperature. The super
high-pressure steam normal operating temperature is 510 ℃. Physical contact with any
equipment or piping that is not insulated with this steam or any other steam source will
cause severe burns. Personnel working around steam systems should wear long sleeve
shirts at all times to lessen the exposure of burns
Steam and hot condensate pose severe burn potentials for the operators in the
performance of this job. Temperatures of the various system range from 160 to 510 ℃.
Burns may occur at temperatures above 46 ℃.
Equipment damage is also to be avoided by preventing eater hammer during
heating and cooling the systems. The heaters and drums containing steam and
condensate have to be heated up slowly and cooled slowly to prevent water hammer
from occurring.

9. What is the difference between economizers and pre heaters?


Economizer
The feed water from the high pressure heaters enters the economizer and picks
up heat from the flue gases after the low temperature superheater. Many types of
economizer are designed for picking up heat from the flue gas. These can be classified
as an inline or staggered arrangement based on the type of tube arrangement. The
staggered arrangement is compact and occupies less volume for the same amount of heat
transfer when compared to the inline arrangement. Economizers are also designed with
plain tube and fined tubes. The fins can be longitudinal or spiral. All these types are
suitable for clean fuels like gas, oil, and low ash coals. For high ash coals, only the plain
tube inline arrangement is used. This is mainly to reduce ash erosion and thus reduce
erosion failures. These economizers pick up about 50 to 55 degrees centigrade in a large
capacity boiler, which will reduce the flue gas temperature by about 150 to 170 degree
centigrade. The boiler designers always keep the economizer water outlet temperature
to about 25 to 35 degrees below the drum saturation temperature. This is done to mainly
avoid steaming in the economizer. A steaming economizer generally is less reliable. As
a rule of thumb, for every one degree pick up of economizer water temperature, there
will be a drop of about 3 to 3.5 degrees.

Air pre heaters


Air pre-heaters are provided in boilers to preheat the combustion air. There are
two main types: recuperative and regenerative air heaters. Tubular or recuperative air
pre-heaters are provided in boilers of medium and small range of steam generation. This
type of air pre-heater becomes very large in size if they have to be used in very high
capacity boilers like 600 tons/hr. of steam production and above. In these cases,
regenerative air pre-heaters are used. The arrangement of all these air pre-heaters differ
with the design and, in large, the way they are combined for very high capacity boilers.
Regenerative air per-heaters are compact and can have a stationary or rotating hood. A
combination of tubular and regenerative type of air pre-heaters is used in very high
capacity boilers. The tubular being used for primary air heating and the regenerative
used for the secondary air heating. In case the boiler designers do not want to go for a
combination of tubular and regenerative air pre-heater, then they have a choice of tri-
sector regenerative air heater. Normally the ambient air is heated to about 300 to 350
degree centigrade. This results in a flue gas temperature drop of around 230 to 250
degree centigrade. So for each degree pick up in air temperature, roughly 0.8 degree
drop in flue gas temperature is achieved.

10. What is the difference between design pressure and operating pressure?
-In designing equipment, it is seen that it sustains the stress imposed on it from the
external and the internal pressures, and this pressure is termed as design pressure.
-MAWP is the maximum pressure at which the vessel or equipment is allowed to
function at a specific temperature.
-Design pressure is the condition of coincident temperature and pressure that is expected
in a normal condition.
-Maximum Allowable Working Pressure is the maximum pressure that is permissible at
the top of the equipment or vessel in normal operating conditions.
-One of the main differences between Maximum Allowable Working Pressure and
design pressure is that the latter one is always equal or less than MAWP of the vessel or
equipment.
-The MAWP will be changing with time because of corrosion and vessel fatigue. Design
pressure depends on the kind of system (fuel, water, steam, etc.) that is used in the
vessels.
REFERENCES
http://banksengineering.com/blrsafety.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back-fire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descaling_agent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_hammer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_softening
http://setxind.com/downstream/the-importance-of-industrial-boiler-maintenance/
http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_need_of_Purging_in_boiler
http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-mawp-and-design-pressure/
https://www.dli.mn.gov/ccld/PDF/guide2saferboiler.pdf
https://www.brighthubengineering.com/power-plants/34240-economizer-and-air-pre-
heaters-are-provided-for-heat-recovery/
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg436.pdf
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-use-of-an-air-vent-valve-in-a-boiler
https://www.scribd.com/document/280624893/Principles-of-Boiler-Operations
https://www.scribd.com/presentation/299865327/Introduction-to-Boiler

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