Motor ship steam plant

Silencer boiler (Spanner)

Spanner exhaust gas boilers can be provided as steam

raising boilers or hot water boilers or economisers. These
boilers recover from 20% to 50% more heat at a higher
working pressure than some other designs.
They utilise the heat contained in the exhaust gases from
diesel engines and gas turbines. Spanner boilers of this type
have tubes expanded and then seal welded into the tube
plate thus designed to be able to be run dry or with varying
water levels giving varying steaming rates. In the dry
condition access doors are opened to allow air circulation.
They may be fitted with an integral by-pass with either
manual or automatic control so that steam output can be
controlled by varying the amount of gas passing over the
heating surface.
The boiler is designed to offer the minimum of resistance to
gas flow with a back pressure less than 150mm water.
There are therefore three ways of controlling steam
pressure/generation rate
1. via a gas by-pass valve
2. via a steam dump system
3. via changing water levels(thus changing
generating surface)
There is no capability for oil firing therefore a donkey
package boiler is required for use in port.
SWIRLYFLO tubes are used
Stone vapour boiler.
The steam generating part of the unit consists of sets of
coiled tubes nested and connected in series to form a single
tube several hundred feet long. Water is pumped into the
coil inlet and converted to steam as it progresses through
the coils. Heat is furnished by combustion of diesel fuel oil
which is sprayed by compressed air through an atomizing
nozzle in the fuel spray head into the firepot above the
coils. Here fine oil spray mixes with air supplied by the fan
and is ignited by a continuous electric spark. The heat flow
is first downward, then outward through the nest of coils.
The fuel supply is regulated such that the steam generated
is equal to 80% to 90% of the water supplied, and any scale
or sludge formed is carried out of the system by the water
and deposited in a separator. This ensures that the inner
surfaces of the tubes are kept clean, the outside is cleaned
by filling the chamber with water and bubbling steam
through the water for about 12 Hrs.
In the separator the sludge etc, settles to the bottom and is removed periodically by
blowdown. When water level reaches overflow level it is removed via a steam trap back
to the water supply tank but some of its heat energy is first used to heat the incoming feed
water. Feed pumps are driven at constant speed, regulation is by a by-pass valve. When
demand for steam falls, the steam pressure at outlet increases, this acts on the feed
regulator in such a way as to increase the proportion of by-pass. Fuel and air control is by
feed flow into the boiler, thus if the by-pass is opened and feed flow to the boiler reduced,
so the fuel/air flow is adjusted accordingly.

Water pressure relief valve 40bar

Fuel pressure regulator 10.9 bar
Atomising air pressure 4.9bar
Max evaporation at 7bar 1250 Kg/Hr
Fuel consumption 114 litres hr
Water capacity 77 litres
The advantage of this type of boiler is a very short warm up
time, the disadvantage is of course the disastrous
consequence of a perforated pipe
Composite boilers-
(Clarkson
thimble tube)
This type of boiler
will generate steam
by means of exhaust
gas and oil firing,
many different
arrangements are
possible, the one shown is the Clarkson composite boiler
which makes use of thimble tubes for heat steam
generation. The only restriction is that it must not be
possible to have oil firing and exhaust gas firing on the
same heating surface at the same time. If this were the case
there would be the possibility of exhaust gas entering the
engine room through the burner section or of blowback due
to the action of exhaust gas and oil firing. There would also
be a risk of poor engine performance due to exhaust back
pressure, in order to avoid problems and ensure that full use
is made of exhaust gases even at slow speeds it is usual to
have completely separate oil and exhaust fired heating
sections.
Boiler tubes
In order to promote better heat transfer between gas and
water it is necessary to provide as large a surface area as
possible. Specially shaped tubes will allow for this. Heat
transfer is also improved by giving the water a swirling
action and the tubes shown will achieve this, for plain tubes
twisted strips of metal known as retarders were sometimes
inserted in order to cause turbulence in the water flow.
The Swirlyflo tube is formed from plate and rolled into
seamless tubes. The Cochran sinuflo is straight when
viewed from the side, to prevent deposits building up in the
depressions.
Swirlyflo tubes may be inserted anyway around but the
sinuflo tubes must be inserted as shown. In addition they
can only be fitted through one tube plate and hence only
removed the same way.
With any tubes deposits and corrosion can occur on the
water side. The nature of deposits and the degree of
corrosion if any will depend upon the quality of the feed
and the effectiveness of treatment. The amount of treatment
is important too, too or too much both causing problems.
Circulation of water will also influence corrosion especially
if stagnant flow areas are allowed to develop. Stresses
induced in the tube and the tube plate due to expansion can
cause cracking in the area of the tube plate connection.
Vibration can also weaken this expanded connection.
On the gas side the nature of the deposits and there quantity
depends upon the quality of the fuel burnt and the
combustion process. Vanadium, sulphur and carbon can all
form deposits with the sulphur leading to corrosion. Carbon
will impair the heat transfer as will Vanadium which can
also cause corrosion.
Severe corrosion on either side of the tube means that it
must be replaced but the degree of corrosion must be
considered in terms of thickness, operating conditions and
history. I.e. has the corrosion been reduced.
Tubes should be expanded if signs of leakage are evident.
Over expansion damages the tube plate and may cause
problems when replacing the tube. A leaking tube can be
plugged as a temporary measure but only if that leakage is
from the tube itself and not from the expanded connection.
Replacing a tube requires the old tube to be removed
usually by cutting three grooves through the tube at the
expanded connection and collapsing the ends and then
punching the tube out.
Motor ship steam plant
Were a large quantity of exhaust gas is available for
extended periods of time it is economical to make use of
the exhaust gas to improve the quality of the steam
generated by superheating. This allows for the use of a
turbine which connected to a generator can provide
electricity. Diesel generators are required as back up in the
event of failure. For in port a boiler with an independent
superheater will be required.
The steam generator part of the waste heat unit does not
generate 100% dry steam at out let. 10% remain as water
which carries back any sludge to the boiler where it can be
removed. The waste heat unit should have sufficient reserve
capacity to allow several minutes of operation after engine
load reduction to allow the in port boiler to be flashed
Motor ship steam plant control
For the burner control to be fully automated transducers
must be fitted to monitor such things as fuel and air flow,
steam pressure and water levfel. Steam pressure is the main
controlling parameter and the controller will adjust fuel to
maintain this at a set level .
The water level is monitored and kept within a certain
range. Should the level become too low then firing is
ceased. Automated restarting after this trip is not allowed
and a manual reset must be operated. A high level shut off
may also be fitted by tradition tripping the feed supply
pumps.
With this system fuel is delivered at a constant
rate.Therefore before commencement of firing the fuel may
be circulated through the heater so is available at the
correct temperature. The diverter valve can deliver a
varying quantity of oil to the burner dependent on the
master controller signal.
When flashing the fan will operate for a certain period at
full flow to purge the furnace of gasses. The spark relay
operates and the fuel solenoid opens. A period is allowed
for ignition. If the photocell fails to detect a flame at the
end of this set period the fuel solenoid is shut down.
Depending upon set up a second attempt may be made or
an alarm output signal will be generated.
Each item in the system must be tested on a regular basis
for correct operation by simulated failures.
This came up in my class one motor paper!!