December 17, 2015

DIAGNOSIS OF HUSK FEEDING ISSUE IN UNDER BED FEEDING SYSTEM AT RIDDHI

SIDDHI

The visit was made along with Mr.Thirugnanam to study the difficulty faced at husk feeding at
Riddhi Siddhi power plant. The visit was made on 15 December 2015. The boiler was operating at
68-70 TPH load at the time of visit.

1. The bed height was reduced first in order to improve the bed temperature. The air box pressure
was brought down from 580 mmWC to 520 mmWC. Due to free board combustion the bed
height is to be reduced to achieve a combustion temperature of 850 - 925 deg C. Otherwise
combustion temperature is at 750 deg C. This leads to increased free board burning and high SH
pick up.
2. The PA pressure was increased to 1400 mmWC. The pressure after mixing nozzle was measured
at two mixing nozzles. It was found to be around 420 mmWC. Nearly 980 mmWC pressure drop
takes place in mixing nozzle. About 0.48 times velocity head is expected to be the pressure drop
in mixing nozzle. This means approximately 210 m/s velocity at throat. The line velocity is 17
m/s. The suction pressure at the tip of cone will be about -628 mmWC by Bernoulli equation.
3. When two fans are operated and with a head of 1200 mmWC, with 54 mm throat mixing nozzle,
the line velocity works out to be 22.8 m/s to create a negative pressure of - 401 mmWC. This is
not sufficient as the feed opening is about 125 mm. The velocity at the cone is 188 m/s.
4. The overall air quantity is reduced and the suction is effectively created by using smaller throat &
higher PA header pressure. This is the reason that the mixing nozzles are now handling more
husk with one fan. The fan IGV is open to 45% to 50%. By referring to fan performance curve
one may check what can be air flow.
5. There was no back pressure created at mixing chamber. There was no vomiting of husk. The
husk was not being distributed to all the mixing nozzles. The husk from Distributing DCF
(DDCF) is found to fall only to 4 / 5 mixing nozzles. All the mixing nozzles are not used. DDCF
receives husk from the metering DCF. It falls to the DDCF through chutes. These chutes are not
fully filled; the surge hoppers (above DDCF) are not fully filled either. Hence the husk falls in
the DDCF as per the orientation of the DCF (metering feeder) outlet chute. The flights are
pitched at 76 mm. The flights have stiffeners at the back. The net space is causing bridging of
husk. See photo in annexure. The husk gets conveyed as a pile and returns as a pile at the bottom
deck plate. The approved drawing shows flights spacing of 152 mm. The present flights system is
causing the DDCF to work like a pan conveyor. It is required to remove the alternate flights
welded to the inner chain links.
6. The front doors of DDCF were in open condition except in the first compartment. The dust
comes as cloud due to free fall. It is advised to fix a curtain made of tarpaulin or thin conveyor
belting in place of fixed door.
7. The DDCF shall be provided with a leveller above the bottom flight. This shall be of rubber
belting (cut in to 25 m wide strips) or small chains attached to a flat as in truck mud flaps. This
shall be placed after the coal drop point.
8. With 100% coal operation, there can be difficulty in spreading. For which the chutes from the
DCF itself has to be three chutes welded a flange. The chutes should have 1 m straight portion
before they land in to DDCF.
9. After the even distribution is achieved the tempering air shall be reduced to the extent possible.
At present the temperature is 85- 90 deg C. Similarly head may be optimized based on husk to be
handled. At lower load the PA header pressure may work at 1300 mmWC. This can be varied as
per load.
10. Husk feed was being made by overbed in order to cope up with the pressure. This is because
there is no time delay in over bed feeding. In under bed there is a time delay because the husk has
to travel through the DDCF. About 5 % was maintained at one or two overbed feeders. This is
with back pressure turbine. As the load changes downstream of turbine, the back pressure
changes. This affects the boiler pressure. As per design HP heater steam flow should be varied to
cope up with sudden changes. This is not being done yet. This will avoid the use of overbed for
pressure control.

K.K.Parthiban
ANNEXURE

Photo 1 & 2: The husk is not distributed to the full width of the DDCF. The lights are welded to the
inner and outer chain links. Flights are to be welded only to the outer link plate. The flights are now
spaced at 76 mm. The flights have stiffeners which reduce the space to 50 mm.
Photo 3 & 4: The above photos show the improper distribution of husk from the other DDCF.
Photo 5: The photo shows the view from the inspection door at the rear. The cleaning brush is doing
the job of scrubbing down the husk. Yet it is not successful. The stiffeners still carry the husk to the
tail end.

Photo 6: The photo shows the view DCF - metering feeder. There are no stiffeners welded to the
flight. The chain is forged link chain. The spacing of flights is more.
Photo 7: The husk from DCF falls through chute. The chute is let in to the DDCF at one end. The
inlet hopper is of 500 mm wide. Chain pitch is 780 mm. The husk needs to be spread to 780 mm.

Photo 8 & 9: When foreign materials come, two things can happen. The husk flow to mixing nozzle
can get stopped. Or else the line may be choked up. Line choking will allow PA to come out of the
feeders. These foreign materials have to be effectively filtered out.
Photo 10: Feeder running at 65% of the full feeder speed. Dust is not seen when the pipes are free of
foreign material. Yet we can see husk is falling after the flights start taking turn. Otherwise all the
material must be discharged at the beginning of feeder discharge opening. Feeder rpm was raised
upto 80%. It was found that the husk started piling up from chute where already husk was falling was
more.