AIR HEATERS

REQUIREMENT, Types CONSTRUCTION

REQUIREMENT

Air heater is an important Boiler auxiliary which primarily preheats the combustion air for rapid
and efficient combustion in the furnace. The air heater recovers the waste heat from the outgoing
flue gas of a Boiler and transfers the same to the combustion air. In a utility Boiler the flue gas
leaves the economizer at a temperature of around 380 C. As every 550C drop in flue gas
0

temperature improves the Boiler efficiency by about 2.5%, having an air heater in the
downstream of economizer the Boiler efficiency is considerably improved. Further the air heater
may also be iised for heating the air to dry the coal in the pulverizing plant.

Advantages of Using Air Heater

The recovery of waste heat from the flue gas and heating the air required for Boiler In an air
heater gives the following advantages.

a) The Boiler efficiency is increased.

b) More stable combustion in furnace.
c) The combustion is intensified with the use of hot air.
d) Lower grades of coals can be burnt efficiently with hot-air.
e) The use of hot air, improves the heat transfer rate and so less heat transfer area will be required.
f) The combustion is made complete with negligible amount of carbon in ash.
g) Faster load variations are possible.
h) The coal can be dried effectively for easy pulverization and combustion.

AIR HEATER TYPES

There are two main types of air heaters in use; the static recuperative type and the rotary
regenerative type.
In the recuperative type the flue gas in on one side of the surface and the air is on the
other side The heat from the flue gas is-transferred to the air through the heat transfer surface
normally in form of tubes/ plates.
In the regenerative type the gas flows through a closely packed matrix or heat transfer
element giving up heat to the air heater elements and so raising the temperature of the matrix. Air
is then pas through and recovers the heat. Either the matrix or the hoaxes may be rotated to
achieve this heat transfer as a continuous process.

Recuperative Type Air Heater

Tubular air heaters and plate type air heaters are coming under this category. The Plate
type heaters are not generally used in the large capacity Boilers.
 PLATE TIM AIR HEATER

These comprise of parallel plates which provide alternate passage for gas air. The narrow
passes between plates make the cleaning tedious and the replacement of plates is a major task. As
such this type of air heater is not much use in utilities.

ADVANTAGS OF RECUPERATIVE AIR HEATER

The major advantage is that this type of air heater is not having any moving parts. So the
maintenance involved is less and so no auxiliary power consumption.
Also there is no possibility of fly ash carry over by the heated air in these air heaters.

DISADVANTAGES OF RECUPERATIVE AIR HEATER

a) As the heat transfer areas are made of tubes or plates the air heater occupies more area. Also it
involves more material cost.
b) Any puncture in tubes results in leaking of air into flue gas stream thereby increasing the load on
fans.
c) Deposits on the tube surface reduce the heat transfer.
d) Pressure drop of flue gas across the air heater is high.
e) The cross flow heat transfer in tubular air heater is less efficient.
f) Severely affected due to cold end corrosion.
g) Replacement of punctured tubes is a major task requiring more downtime on the boiler.

With the number of disadvantages, the use of recuperative air heaters in large capacity
boilers is becoming unpopular. However in certain boilers, the tubular air heater is used to
separately heat the primary air to avoid carry over of fly ash to pulverize.

Regenerative Air Heater

In this category there are two types of air heaters. One is the Ljungstrom type with
rotating matrix of heating elements and the other Davidson type with stationary heating
elements. The Ljungstrorm air heaters are mostly used in Indian Power Stations.

LJUNGSTROM AIR HEATER

 Here a matrix is rotated at 2 to 3 rpm and alternatively passes through the gas and air
passes. The heating elements pick up the heat from the flue gas and -the same elements gives the
heat to the air when they move through the air pass. the air heater can be bisector or trisect or. In
trisect or air heater, there will be provision for heating the primary and secondary air streams
separately. This facilitates to handle cold air at the primary air fan.

Construction Details (Fig 6.3 to Fig. 6.6)

The air heater will consist of the following major components.
 Rotor
 Bearing
 Housing
 Connecting Plates
 Sealing arrangement
 Drive Units
 Cleaning Devices
 Safety Devices
ROTOR

This is the heart of the equipment resembling a solid cylinder with the extended Shafts
containing the heating elements. In the conventional air heaters (Fig. 6.3 and 6.4) the rotor will
have a hub or rotor post at the center and a shell which is connected to the rotor post by number
of radial or diaphragm plates. These plates divide the rotor into number of sectors and these
sectors are further divided into compartments division plants. The heating element baskets are
packed into these compartments. A pin rack is located around the outside of the rotor to allow it
to be rotated by the drive mechanism.

In the modular type (Fig6.5 and 6.6) modules filled with heat transfer profiles inside them
an: pin racks fixed on the peripheral are suitably assembled to the rotor post to form the rotor.

ROTOR POST

This is a cylindrical shell with two end plates welded to it. At both ends grunion will be
connected to serve the purposes of the shaft and to accommodate the bearings on them. The end
plates otherwise called headers will support the modules that are to be assembled to them. The
top header will have number of holes on its peripheral edge to get assembled modules through
the lug plates and IL, tension pins. The bottom header will support the modules through the
horizontal locating pins.

MODULES (Baskets)

Modules are nothing but cylindrical segments made out of two diaphragm plates and one shed
plated (Division Plate). the diaphragm plates will be stayed with the cross plates to maintain their
shapes. Inside these modules heat transfer profiles of sufficient area are packed. The outer shell
will be mounted with pin racks for the engagement of drive units. At the extreme edges of these
segments lug plates are provided to get assembled the modules to the rotor post to form a rotor.

Modular design is a new concept and has its own advantages. This, infact, reduces the erection
time considerably and improves the quality of erection besides avoiding the transit damages.
Further it also reduces the storage spaces and makes them easier to get storcd. Also, the modules
erection does not call for any welding work and it is just enough if we assemble them with the
fasteners.

HEATING ELEMENTS
The heating elements parted into reversible containers called baskets are placed in the rotor three
tiers, hot, intermediate and cold. The heating elements in hot end and intermediate layer are
having a profile called Double Undulated (DU) as in Fig 6.7. They are made of carbon steel.

The cold end heating elements are made of carbon steel which has resistance to corrosion. The
undulations in the heating elements causes turbulence to the gas and air for efficient heat transfer.
The notches are for maintaining the spacing between the elements and minimizing the pressure
drop across the air heater.

BEARINGS

Both the extended end of the rotor post is mounted with bearing assembly. The bearings
are of spherical roller types to take care of even slightest axial shift if takes place. The bearing at
the cold end is called as support bearing and at the hot end is guide bearing. These bearings are
housed inside the fabricated bearing housing with the oil pump inside.

To dissipate them and there the heat generated in the bearing assembly lubricating oil
circulation units with the necessary heat exchangers are provided separately for each bearing.

HOUSING

The housing is mode of a number of panels and are assembled at site to form the housing
to accommodate the rotor inside. They are of two types ; one is the main pedestal and the other is
the side pedestal. These pedestals are erected on the expansion plates that are mounted on the
support steels. The expansion plates make way for the housing panels to move or their expansion
due to temperature gradient. These pedestals are load carrying members and they transmit the
entire weight of air preheater to the structural members.

CONNECTING PLATES

The connecting plates at the hot and cold ends connect the air heater to the gas and air
ducts. They mainly consists of center section to house the bearings and sector plates for
providing scaling between the air and gas stream. Further these form the bifurcation for the gas
and air streams and maintain the structural rigidity by connecting the hanger plates of the main
pedestal.

SEALING ARRANGEMENT

It is an implied requirement that the rotating parts should have some working clearance
between their static parts to avoid any interference between them. Here, in Air preheaters, rotors
are constructed to have higher clearances to take care of their thermal expansion and these gaps
are closed with the flexible seal leaves. These seals are classified into the following three major
types.

1) Radial seals
2) Axial Seals
3) Bypass seals

The main purpose of these seals is to reduce the leakage between the gas and air
circumferential direction respectively.

Of late automatic leakage control systems (ALCS) have been introduced to reduce the
leakage that can occur due to the thermal deformation of the rotors. By adjusting the sector plates
through mechanical ejaculators to closely follow the shape -of the deformed diaphragm plate the
leakage reductions are achieved. With this system the leakage can be brought down to the
acceptable level.

DRIVE UNITS

The drive mechanism consists of an electric motor connected to a gear reduction unit through a
pinion. The pinion meshes with a pin rack on the rotor which allows the rotor to rotate at a slow
speed. Air motor/DC motor is also provided to the drive arrangement which will drive the rotor
in emergencies like electric motor failure. Hand cranking is provided for uniform cooling after
tripping in case air motor/ DC motor also fail.

CLEANING DEVICE

The heat transfer matrix should be kept in a clean state to avoid the increase in fouling
potentials and aerodynamic resistance. Also any unburnt fuel deposits on these matrixes may
lead to a fire. So an on load cleaning facility by steam soot blowing is provided in the air
preheater to clean the heat transfer matrix during the operation itself.

By any means if the deposits are on the high side, an off load cleaning can be affected
with the water washing nozzle through which high pressure water can be injected.

SAFETY DEVICES

ROTOR STOPPAGE ALARM

By any means, if the rotor stops or slows down, there comes to the rescue of the air preheater a
rotor stoppage alarm. Equally spaced proximity switch, which in turn twin strider the timers,
inside the rotor stoppage alarm, and timing out of any of these times will give both audio and
visual alarm.

FIRE SENSING DEVICE

There are two types of fire sensing device; one is the thermocouple type and the other is the infra
red detecting system.

THERMOCOUPLE TYPE

A number of thermocouple Junctions are exposed to air and gas stream, and their outputs are
continuously compared with the preset value. If any variations are noticed triggering of alarm
will take place to indicate the probabilities of fire.

INFRA RED DETECTION SYSTEM

This infrared detecting system works on the principle that by finding the level of the infrared
radiation emitted by the hot sources. The firing potential could be ascertained. These
sophisticated systems right now are imported and are quite expensive. For our type of operations
it is felt that the thermocouple type itself is sufficient.

FIRE FIGHTING EQUIPMENT

If at all fire takes place then the deluge system provided in the air preheater will come to
the rescue. Through the number of nozzles provided in the manifolds high volume, medium
pressure water can be flooded. Among the various alternatives this arrangement seems to be the
best from the experience of air preheater field engineers. Only thing water in sufficient quantity
should be made to flood the firing zone.

DAVIDSON AIR HEATER

The basic principle of operation is the same as for the Ljungstrom type except that the
elements are stationary and the air hoods rotate within the gas pass at approximately 1 rev/ min.
The axis of rotation may be vertical or horizontal, but again, and for similar reasons, the vertical
spindle is preferred. The drive is normally through an electric motor operating a pinion which
meshes a rack on the outer rim of the hood assembly.

The element configuration is on the same principle as the Ljungstrom type, but that plate
clearances are somewhat greater (about 3mm). Cornet Steel elements are again used in the cold-
end packs.
 ADVANTAGES OF REGENERATIVE AIR HEATER

Regenerative air heaters have the following advantages over recuperative ones (tubular):
i) Compact and hence save space and structure cost. Since this type of air heater can be effectively
cleaned when in service the elements can be closely packed, hence they are compact.
ii) This is the type that can be economically used for high capacity boiler. As the boiler silt increases
heat transfer area required in air-heater also increases and if the presume drop on air and gas side
is to be kept constant to limit the fan capacities and operation cost the recuperative air heater size
assumes even greater proportions than boiler.
iii) From the above two reasons, it is clear that initial cost as well as the operating cost can be kept
minimum with regenerative air heaters for higher size boilers.
iv) Less weight of metal permits economic usage of alloy steel like corten steel elements in the low
temperature section thus corrosion problem is combated to a great extent,
v) Normally the cold end element packs are separate and handy and because of the nature of this
arrangement (possible only with regenerative type) the replacement cost and downtime is very
low.
vi) Minimum metal temperature at the cold end of a regenerative heater is slightly higher than in a
recuperative desigft operating under the same condition. This is because regenerative type works
very close to the counter flow, while that of recuperative is on cross flow where metal reaches
the air Inlet temperature.
vii) Holes in the elements due to corrosion etc. will not materially affect the performance of the
heater.
viii) posit on the heat transfer surface does not reduce the heat transfer. Deposit will educe heat
transfer in the case of recuperative exchanges due to their poor heat conduction.
ix) Ducting arrangements are heat, streamlined, simple and less costly.
x) Pressure drop across the elements can be kept nearly constant through out the operating period
with on load cleaning arrangement. Off-load cleaning also helps.
xi) Hot primary air for coal drying in mill Is possible with single air heater by tri-sector design. This
also helps to make use of a cold primary air fan.

DISADVANTAGES OF REGENERATIVE AIR HEATER

Disadvantages of regenerative heaters include such points as

(a) Moving parts increase the possibility of outages. Even so, the amount of maintenance due to this
will almost certainly be less than that required on an equivalent recuperative design.

(b) Leakage of air into gas, and gas and dust into air, because of entrainment by rotary action.
Leakage of air into gas because of the impossibility of perfect sealing.
(c) A relatively thin deposit on the plates can reduce the flow area quite appreciably, so increasing
the pressure drop. To keep the elements clean, both soot blowing and water washing facilities
must be provided, because soot blowers alone are not able to keep the air-heater elements
absolutely clean.