Boiler Controls - Drum Level Control

Water problems are responsible for 90% of boiler accidents.

DrumPAK drum level control is designed to provide significant improvements in maintaining boiler
drum water level, stabilizing the effects of feedwater pressure changes, and responding to plant
load changes. Installing a DrumPAK drum level controller can significantly reduce or eliminate
boiler shutdowns due to drum level or feedwater pressure. DrumPAK not only helps prevent loss of
valuable production time and materials, but increases the safety of your boiler. A DrumPAK drum
level control system more than pays for itself when it prevents just one shutdown per year.

The DrumPAK drum level and feedwater controller is a pre-enginereed, pre-configured package
that includes a pre-programmed controller and application-specific installation, startup and
operation manuals. DrumPAK comes ready to install, with only a few parameters to enter from the
front face of the controller to get up and running. It can be installed as a standalone system or used
in conjunction with other SteamPAK systems for total boiler control and efficiency improvement.

DrumPAK is ready to use as a single, two-element or three-element controller as standard; simply

enable the desired strategy during controller setup. Furnace pressure (draft) control, fuel
  totalization and economizer monitoring are available as options. Modbus RS-485 communication
is standard.              Data Sheet

  Single-Element Drum Level Control

This is an easy and economic way to upgrade on-off level control to continuous control to reduce
wear and tear on feedwater pumps and motors, and ensure a more consistent control around
setpoint on smaller boilers, boilers with slow load changes, or systems without steam flow
measurement. Only level measurement is required. DrumPAK allows easy upgrade to two- or
three-element control in the field simply by adding the measurement device and selecting the new
control strategy.

Two-Element Drum Level Control

 With the addition of steam flow measurement, DrumPAK provides “shrink” and “swell”
compensation and better response to load changes. The controller calculates the feedwater flow
requirement based on level, and uses the Steam Flow signal from a flow transmitter or vortex
meter as a feedforward signal to anticipate the effect of steam demand changes on level.

Three-Element Drum Level Control

A three-element system adds measurement and control of feedwater, which allows the system to
compensate for variations in feedwater pressure and
valve linearity. Variations in feedwater pressure result in significant changes in drum pressure,
drum level and water temperature, causing the boiler to increase its firing rate and expend more
energy as it attempts to recover full power. When set up for 3-element control, DrumPAK protects
against this as well as reducing boiler trips due to unstable feedwater pressure. Large boilers or
those with large or rapid load changes benefit most from a 3-element control system.

Drum Level Control Strategy Selection Guide