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Boiler specifications
NOTES
1. Boiler capacities
Operating an oversized boiler increases fuel consumption, while
operation of an undersized boiler also increases fuel consumption
and in addition causes increased repair and maintenance as well as
capacity problems. Selecting the correct boiler size and minimizing
investment life cycle costs is the objective.
A boiler rated at 30 bar and 1,000 bhp will not have a guaranteed
generation of 1,000 * 34.5 / 2,204.75 = 15.6 tons of steam per hour
because as stated, the term bhp refers to heating water from and at
100 oC.
Lecture 16: Boiler specifications Page 3
NOTES
Boiler horsepower ratings are rapidly phased out and rarely found
in new boiler installations, except for American boilers.
Boiler rated heat output selection is done much more generous than
electric motor or combustion engine output selection, since
marginal costs of boiler capacity are small. In fact there is more
concern that boilers are oversized to cope with large fluctuating
steam demands.
5. Pressure ratings
On the name plate of boilers you may find its pressure rating in
either bar, kPa, or psi. The pressure rating refers to the highest
boiler drum pressure (= steam pressure) the boiler should be
operated. The conversion factors are
Lecture 16: Boiler specifications Page 4
NOTES
The above units bar, kPa, and psi are also found on steam
pressure gages. In addition the unit kp/cm2 (or kg/cm2) is
occasionally found on gages.
1 kp/cm2 = 0.9807 bar
1 kg/cm2 = 1 atm
NOTES
The higher the Capacity Factor, the longer the unit is being
used. Period hours may refer to any time frame from one day, a
week, months, a year or time since commissioning of the
boiler. For accounting purposes we assume 8,760 hours/year
and 365 days/year.
NOTES
NOTES
EXERCISES
Task 1
Convert the following pressure units:
Task 2
Assume there was an error in the pressure reading of saturated
steam. A value of 45 bar was mistakenly recorded as absolute
pressure although the instrumentation measures the gauge pressure.
Results
45 bar 5 bar
Task 3
Lecture 16: Boiler specifications Page 8
NOTES
Task 4
Plant operators insist that a boiler generates 25 tons of steam (15
bar, saturated) per hour. The available boiler documentation
indicates that the boiler has a guaranteed rating of 13 MW. Do you
believe what you were told? Justify your answer.
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Task 5
How large is the error if we assume a boiler has a capacity of 25
ton/hour of steam at and from 100 oC instead of 25 ton/hour life
steam at 10 bar saturated.
NOTES
Task 6
Making sense of information provided by boiler owners about fuel
consumption, operating hours and nominal capacity is sometimes
not easy and requires detective skills to identify possible
inconsistencies.
(2) Analyze the boiler logbook and point out inconsistencies and
critical areas, where you could perhaps reduce energy
consumption by changing operational procedures.
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