THERMAL POWER PLANT FAMILIARISATION - VOL (BOILER AND AUXILIARIES) CONTENTS SL.No. TOPIC Page No. 1 Principles of Steam Generation 1 ey Development of Boilers - Types n 3. Boiler Pressure Parts 25 4. Draught System 85 Si Soot Blowers 140 6. Pulveriser Plant 45 1 Fuel Firing System 176 8. Burner Management System 197 9. Emission Control System 204CHAPTER 1 PRINCIPLES OF STEAM GENERATIO) 1.0 | STEAM GENERATION : Steam Generation is the process of converting water into steam, a vapor exhibiting the ie eererin of a gas by application of heat. — water at any pressure eventually will cause it to boil and steam will be released. 1.1 SENSIBLE HEAT: The heat required to bring the water from 0°C to the boiling point is the enthalpy or heat content of the liquid measured in Kcal/kg. This is also known as sensible heat, The sensible heat required to bring the water to the boiling point depends on the pressure at which the water is heated. Higher the pressure, higher will be the requirement of sensible heat. 1.2 SATURATION TEMPERATURE : When required sensible heat is added to water, it starts boiling with the continuation of heat addition, But both water and the steam remains at the same temperature though heat is continued to be added till the entire water is converted into steam. This temperature is the saturation temperature. For each boiling pressure there is only one saturation temperature and vice-versa. The water and steam at this temperature are termed saturated water and saturated steam respectively. 13 LATENT HEAT: During the: boiling process, that is after the water attains the saturation temperature, even though heat is being added the temperature remains constant. 1This heat is being used to change the water from liquid to vapor state. This heat is the enthalpy of evaporation or the latent heat. Thus the latent heat is the heat required to convert the saturated water info saturated steam. Like sensible heat the latent heat required also depends on the pressure at which boiling occurs. Latent heat requirement decreases with increase in pressure. 14 CRITICAL POINT: It can be seen in Fig. 1.1 with the increase in pressure for steam generation, the sensible heat required increases with decrease in latent heat. At every pressure between saturated water and saturated steam a phase called wet steam exists. However at one point the water turns into steam on addition of TEMPERATURE'C HEAT ADDITION Keallg Fig 1.1 sensible heat alone without going through the phase of wet steam. This occurs at a temperature of 374°C and 224.6 kg/cm? absolute pressure. This point is called as critical point and the pressure and saturation temperature corresponding to this point are the critical pressure and critical temperature. At critical point the density of water and steam remains the same.“1s SUPER HEAT : When the steam is heated out of contact yyith water, the steam temperature increases above saturation temperature. Such a heating is known as super heating. ‘On superheating of the steam, the enthalpy (heat content) of the steam will ‘increase by the amount the heat is added and the temperature of steam also will tise. The rate at which the temperature rises depends to some degree on pressure. 2.0 HEAT TRANSFER: For effecting steam generation, it is essential to transfer heat from a source to the water. In an equipment like boiler where steam is generated all modes of heat transfer viz. conduction, convection and radiation have a part in transferring the heat released during combustion to the boiler water to make steam. 21 CONDUCTION : Here the heat is transferred from one part of the material to the another or, to a contiguous material through the molecules. Substances differ greatly in their ability to conduct heat. Gases and vapors are the Poorest conductors, liquids are much better and metals are the best. In boilers heat transfer through conduction takes place from the outer to inner surface of the tubes carrying water for steam generation or steam for superheating. - 2.2 CONVECTION : ; Convection heat transfer takes place by the movement of the heated a medium. When a fluid is heated its density decreases. If part of a fluid mass is : heated, the cooler, heavier portion acts to displace the heated portion. Cooler Portions become heated in turn and are displaced. Result is continuous flow of Cooler fluid to the heated area and of heated fluid away from it, setting up a convection current. The moving hot fluid becomes the heat transfer medium. 3‘The convection flow when caused by density difference alone is natural convection and if aided by a fan or pump it is forced convection. In a boiler mostly the tubes receive the heat fromsthe convectional flow of hot gases from combustion chamber (furnace). Also within the tubes the water or steam picks up the heat from inner surface of the tubes by convection. 2.3 RADIATION: = ~ c All heated bodies radiate heat energy. Radiation does not require a transmission medium and it travels through vacuum as well as through a gas. Radiation travels like light waves. The amount of energy a body radiates depends to some degree on its size, shape and substance but mainly on the fourth power of the body’s absolute temperature. Within a boiler all the tube sections surrounding the combustion chamber or in the vicinity of furnace receive heat by radiation. 3.0 BOILING When a container of water is heated, steam forms in bubbles at the heated surface. These bubbles are displaced by heavier — steam free water and circulation currents bring bubbles to the surface where steam is released. This process, boiling, can take place in two ways. i) —_Nucleate Boiling ii) Film Boiling 31 NUCLEATE BOILING: (Fig 1.2.) When the water droplets, adhered to the inner surface of a container heated upon, receive the heat from the inner wall and the droplets are individually converted into steam bubbles. As these bubbles grow in size, they get themselves detached from the wall and move up through the water body due to low density.Fig 1.2. Other water droplets occupy their space and this process continues as long as the container is heated. This process of individual bubble formation is termed as Nucleate Boiling. Under this condition the inner walls are always in contact with water droplets and so the inner wall temperature normally remain around the saturation temperature corresponding to the pressure. , 3.2 FILM BOILING: (Fig1.3.) If the heat flux (heat added per unit area in unit time) to the container is greatly increased before individual bubbles detach from the wall more steam bubbles adjacent to each other will be formed. These adjacent bubbles of steam coalesce to form a steam film on the inner wall of the heating surface. That is between the inner wall and water body a steam film, which is a poor conductor of heat, will be formed. This reduces the heat flow from the heating surface to water but the steam film gets superheated and so the metal temperature increases. This Phenomenon is called Film boiling. The deviation of boiling process from } Nucleate boiling condition to film boiling is termed as Departure from Nucleate Boiling (DNB). Occurrence of DNB in steam generation process leads to overheating of the metal.Fig 13 40 HEATING SURFACE: For evaporation of water into steam, essentially the water needs tobe held in a container, which has to be heated. The walls of the container, through which heat is transferred to water, form the heating surface. A boiler, which provides steam of large quantity, must have sufficient heating surface. Though the arrangement of heating surface in a boiler depends on the type of boiler, for more practical purpose and in large capacity boilers generating steam for Power Generation or Industrial applications the heating surfaces are in the form of round tubes. Through these tubes placed in heating zones water or steam will be circulated to receive sensible heat, latent heat and superheat. A boiler will have number of circuits of heating surfaces such as economiser, water walls, boiler bank, super heater and re heater for efficiently transferring the heat of combustion to the water and steam. They may absorb heat either by radiation, convection or both. 6CIRCULATION : " Flow of water, steam or both through the tube ciruits ofa boilers termed 4%: the Circulation. An adequate circulation is necessary forall the circuits to emove the heat and cool the heating surfaces thereby Keeping the surfaces within the temperature limits of the material. In circuits where water is evaporated into steam sufficient circulation will be needed to to avoid the deposit of salts from water ‘on the surfaees (scaling). In a circuit if the fluid enters at the inlet and Jeaves the outlet to the next circuit itis a once through system. If part of the fluid from the outlet of the circuit is returned to the inlet of the same circuit it is are circulation system. Ina a the following circuits always adopt once through system. i) Economiser ii) Super heaters iii) Re heaters In these circuits the inlet pressure of the fluid effects the circulation. The” water walls or evaporator circuits of a boiler will have either a once through or re circulation system. Many boilers for these circuits adopt only re circulation system. 5.1 CIRCULATION TYPES : In the evaporating circuits of a steam-; -generating unit, the circulation may be produced naturally by the action of the force of gravity, mechanically by means of pumps or by a combination of the two. Accordingly there are three types of circulation as follows: i) Natural circulation ii) Forced circulationiii) Assisted circulation. 5.1.1 NATURAL CIRCULABION : IFAT NATURAL CIRCULATION Fig 1.4. This is adopted in re circulation systems. In the Fig. 1.4. water from the economiser circuit enters a drum and joins the circulation system. Water entering the drum flows down through the down comer pipes kept in non heating zone and enters the bottom of the water wall tubes, that is the evaporator section. As these tubes are heated by furnace radiation, a part of the water is converted to steam and the mixture flows back to the drum, In the drum the steam is separated. Remaining water mixes with the incoming water from the economiser and the cycle is repeated. This sort of steam generation is adopted to ') prevent the dissolved salts in water, precipitating and depositing scale on the surface of tubes when all the water in the tube is evaporated to steam. fi) ensure the inner walls of the tubes are continuously wetted with water and to have nucleate boiling throughout the tubes. The circulation in this case takes place on the thermo-siphon principle. The down comers contain relatively cold water, whereas the water wall tubes 8contain steam water mixture, whose density is comparatively less. This density difference is the driving force for the mixture to over come the frictional resistance, Circulation takes place at such a rate that the driving force and frictional resistance are balanced. SATURATED WATER — DENSITY DIFFERENCE, SATURATED STEAM — PRESSURE Fig 15. As the pressure increases the difference in density between water and steam reduces as shown in Fig 1.5. Thus the hydrostatic head available will not be able to overcome the frictional resistance for a flow corresponding to the minimum requirement of cooling of water wall tubes. Therefore natural circulation is limited to boiler with drum operating pressure around 175 kg/cm’, 5.1.2 ASSISTED CIRCULATION: Beyond 175 kg/cm* of pressure in a re circulation system, circulation through the evaporator is to be assistéd with mechanical pumps to overcome frictional losses in the tubes. A pump called Boiler circulation pump will be placed between the drum and water wall tubes inlet to do this function.In such a system some times to regulate the flow through various tubes in accordance to the amount of heat received orifice plates will be used at the inlet of the tubes. Such a system is known as Cofftrolled Circulation. 5.1.3 FORCED CIRCULATION : In the once through systems of sub critical pressure or in boilers operating above critical pressure, the water from the feed supply is pumped to the inlet end or ends of the heat absorbing circuits. This is called forced circulation. Evaporation or change of state gradually takes place along the length of the circuit and when evaporation is complete, further progress through the heated circuits results in superheating the vapor. Conventionally this type of forced circulation requires no steam and water drum, 5.2 CIRCULATION NUMBER : ‘The circulation number is the ratio of the quantity of water-steam mixture flowing through the circuit to the quantity of steam produced in the circuit. In other words if 10 kg of water is circulated for each kg of steam generated, the circulation number is 10. The circulation number for a boiler will be decided considering many factors especially to ensure nucleate boiling is maintained for all operating conditions. Higher circulation number reduces the chance of scale formation in evaporating tubes and DNB but needs more evaporating surface. "The general practice adopted for circulation number in various boilers is: i) Natural Circulation Industrial boiler - 10 to 15 ii) Natural Circulation Utility boiler - 709 iii) Assisted Circulation boilers : 204 iv) Forced Circulation/Once through boiler “ 1 10CHAPTER 2 DEVELOPMENT OF BOILE! DEVELOPMEN?! OF 18 ~=INTRODUCTION: ‘The use of steam can be traced back as far as 150 BC. At about that time Hero of ‘Alexandria in his treatise Pneumatica described about devices which used the expansive force ‘ef steam to raise water above its natural level. The Egyptians may have used it even earlier but ‘Sees not until 1712 that any development of an Industrial nature took place. Zs BOILER: 'A boiler or steam generator essentially is a container into which water can be fed and Seam can be taken out at desired pressure, temperature and flow. This calls for application of Text on the container. For that the boiler should have a facility to burn a fuel and release the Sect The functions of a boiler or steam generator thus can be stated as (1) to convert chemical Seergy of the fuel into heat energy (i) to transfer this heat energy to water for evaporation as sell to steam for super heating. ‘The working of a boiler is represented as a block diagram in Fg. FEED WATER STEAM STEAM GENERATION > HEAT h HEAT GENERATION TRANSFER ' 1 t a BOILER DRUM EVAPORATIVE TUBES SUPER HEATER REHEATER ECONOMISER AIR HEATER, . FURNACE FUEL BURNING EQUIPMENT AUXILIARIES & ACCESSORIES FUEL PREPARATION DRAUGHT SYSTEM ASH REMOVAL INSTRUMENTATION ETC. . Fig.2.1.3.0. THREE GENERATIONS OF BOILER : Boiler design has been an evolutionary proce§s over the past three centuries. Various types of Boilers have been developed to suit the requirements of the day. Developments are oriented towards increased steam generating capability, efficiency, safety etc. and trouble free operation. Though many types of boilers were developed almost during same period, for convenience sake the development of boilers can be taken into broadly three generations as follows. First Generation - —_Shell Type Boilers Second Generation - _Fire/Smoke Tube Boilers Third Generatiof™ - Water Tube Boilers. 3.1. SHELL TYPE BOILER: This is the earliest type of boiler. It has a simple shell with a feed pipe and steam outlet, mounted on a brick setting called furnace. Fuel is burnt on a grate within the setting and the heat released was directed over the lower shell surface before most of it went out the flue There are many variants in this type basically on the shape of the shell. The shells are made of riveted wrought iron plates. SHELL TYPE BOILER Fig.2.2. 12The major disadvantage of shel] ‘ype boiler is its very low heat transfer area compared BB sel ci7- Heating a single large vessel of water is remarkably inefficient. Further for Meine steam, Senerating capability the size Of the shell only has to be increased which hag sor, limitations, These boilers are Senerating steam at very low Pressures close to f ® FIRE/SMOKE TUBE BOILER; = __ E¥eation of steam engines in the 1g century called for better boilers of higher SE Pebilties. To meer this requirement Fire/Smoke tube boilers Were developed. Here Se ® Made to bring more of the water into close Contact With the heat, ‘Thig boiler is also ee 2 shel] containing water as shown in Fig.2.3. The hot Fombustion products (Fiue gas) : : es : Beexdes more heating Surface, but also helps to distribute steam formation more uniformly SBeoeshout the mass of mater. These types of boilers are still in use in industrial applications Bree a low sicam demand, FIRE TUBE BOILER Fig.2.3Though the fire tube boilers are better than shell type boilers still there are certain difficulties. Fire tube boiler also needs a shell to hold the water for steam generation, the size of which has to be increased with incred€e in steaming capacity. The solid residues of combustion present in the hot gases will settle inside the tubes, thereby reduce the heat transfer as well choke the tubes. Hence these boilers also will not be suitable for applications like: power generation where a large quantity of steam will be required: 3.3 WATER TUBE BOILERS : Development of water tube boilers in the late part of 18" century and early part of 19" century brougfein revolutionary charges in boiler design. An eafly water tube boiler is shown in Fig.2.4. Here feed water from a lower drum is circulated through a bundle of tubes called tube bank. The hot products of combustion from the furnace pass over this tube bank and heat is transferred to water through the tube metal. Depending on the amount of heat added either all. the water in the tubes will be evaporated into steam by the time it comes out of the tubes or part of the water will be converted into steam with a water steam mixture coming out of the tubes. In the later case the mixture from the tubes will be collected in a drum and after separating the: steam the remaining water will be returned back to the inlet of the tubes. EARLY WATER TUBE BOILER Fig.2.4. Compared to fire tube boilers, in water tube boilers there is no problem of choking o the tubes by the solid products of combustion. Any soot deposit over the tubes can be cleaned] easily even during service. As no single shell to hold the water for evaporation is required andjSe steam generation takes place in sub-divisions (tubes), it makes possible to design boilers of ‘very large capacities and high pressures. To-day most of the boilers used for industrial appligations and almost all the boilers used ‘Sx electricity generation are water tube design only. Many developments have taken place on ‘Ge carly water tube boilers over the last two hundred years to make them more and more The evolution of modern power boilers from the early water tube boilers is discussed ‘@e sebsequent paragraphs. 48 EVOLUTION OF MODERN POWER BOILER : Simultaneousedevelopments have taken plaee on all the aspects of boiler viz. Steam ‘Gestion Circuits, Combustion Chamber, Fuel and Air admission, Fuel Firing System, Flue (Ges Cleaning ete. For convenience each one of them is discussed separately. 41 STEAM GENERATING CIRCUITS : The major developments in steam generating circuits of an early simple water tube Seder are the introduction of Economiser, Re circulation Concept Boiler Drum with Steam Separators Water walled furnace Super heaters Re heaters. 411 ECONOMISER: 2 In a simple water tube boiler the hot gases leaving the tube bank are having substantial ‘sssount of heat which is lost to atmosphere if the gases are directly let out to the chimney. To secover a good amount of heat from these gases between the boiler bank tubes and the chimney, coils of tubes are introduced. The feed water to the boiler is first passed through ‘ese coils before admitted to the bank tubes. This preheats the feed water and considerably ‘cools the gases going out thereby recovering a good amount of heat, which is otherwise wasted. These coils of tubes are named as Economiser. 412 RECIRCULATION CONCEPT: In a water tube boiler if the heat addition to the tubes is in such a way to evaporate all she water in the tubes to steam by the time it comes out of tubes it is called once through system. In such a case the dissolved salts in water gets deposited inside the tubes when only ‘he water is evaporated. This deposit called scale is a poor conductor of heat. Due to this the ‘beat received by the outer surface of tubes can not be transferred fully to water. This not only ‘ampers the steam generation in tubes but increase the tube metal temperature beyond limits and ultimate failure. To over come this the heat addition to the tubes will be in such a manner ‘© evaporate only a small fraction of water into steam and at the outlet of the tubes a mixture ofwater-steam only be received. This mixture directed into a steam separator is separated into steam and water. The water will be returned back to the boiler tubes. This is called as re circulation concept. Here the salts of water gvill not immediately deposit on the tubes but gradually their concentration build up in the boiler water. However by suitable blow down procedures their concentration can be lowered to tolerable levels. Since, in the early days of boiler development and for that matter even till very recently no suitable method of water treatment was available to provide totally a salt free water to boilers, most of the boilers adopt only this re circulation concept to over come the scale deposits in boiler tubes. ~ ce 4.1.3 DRUM WITH STEAM SEPARATORS With the introduction of re circulation concept, there is a need for steam separation. These steam separators are housed in a boiler drum, which collects the steam water mixture from the boiler tubes. Also the drum facilitates the mixing of water separated from the mixture with the water from the economiser before returning the same to boiler tubes. 4.1.4 WATER WALLED FURNACE: A jester Wg Min BOILER WITH BANK TUBES Fig.2.5 _ Early water tube boilers had evaporating tubes (bank tubes) placed across the flue gas path as in Fig.2.5. In this arrangement as the gases moves form one bank of tube to another the rate of] heat transfer reduces due to the reduction in temperature gradient. This calls for increased heat transfer area at later stages that will have practical limits and also increase cost. Further in such| 16oiler the combustion chamber is built up with fire bricks which is inefficient in many an effort to produce more efficient and economical steam generators, the furnace built up with tube walls called water walls. The water for steam generation is the water wall tubes, which receive heat, by radiation. With such a forming only 16% of the unit’s total heating sfirface, 53% of the total heat can be = against the boiler bank tubes forming 58% of the heating surface absorbing only Also the water walled furnaces increase the heat rating of Jigs (i.e. Keal/m’ as compared to a furnace built with firebricks. z : HEATERS : steam separated and given out by the boiler drum is only in dry saturated condition. specially for running a turbine; on efficiency aspects the steam must be d condition. To meet this requirement the boilers are provided with separate tube ‘flue gas path. These heat transfer areas are termed as super heaters. When the from the drum is circulated through the tubes of super heaters the steam aters are provided only in boilers supplying steam to large capacity steam turbines than 100 Mwe.). Like super heaters, re heaters are also heating surfaces in the ‘meant for heating the steam. The difference is, in re-heaters the steam brought - pressure from the turbine is heated to a higher temperature before returning back to is required for improving cycle efficiency. FUEL FIRING SYSTEMS : Coal remains as the main fuel for boilers from the early days of development till to day. boilers the coal is fed into the furnace manually by firemen. The furnace will at the bottom over which the fuel settle and burn. These being primitive method nitations on firing capability, mechanisation of fuel feeding were developed. R FIRING: okers are equipment, which mechanically feed coal uniformly into a grate at the the furnace and remove the ash residue from the bottom of the furnace.CHAIN GRATE STOKER Fig.2.6. In a typical stoker firing arrangement, a moving chain grate mounted on sprockets is located at the bottom of the furnace. Coal fed from a hopper by a mechanical feeder falls over the moving chain grate enters the furnace and burns. At the far end of the travel, the ash is discharged over the end of the grate into the ash pit. This type of firing is termed Bed Firing. Though stoker firing increased the firing rate capability many fold compared to manual firing, still the fuel need to be fired over a bed only which puts limitations on boiler size. As the coal is fired in lumps of size around 10 to 20 mm the combustion efficiency is also poor. 4.2.2. PULVERISED — COAL FIRING : The next development in coal firing is burning coal in pulverised form. Here the coal is pulverised into a fine powder of size around 70 to 80 microns in a pulveriser plant. This powdered coal is then sprayed into the furnace by suitable methods. The coal burns when it floats inside the furnace. This is termed as Suspension firing. Burning coal in pulverised form makes combustion efficiency as high as 99% compared to below 80% efficiency in stoker 18__ Also as the entire volume of the furnace is utilised for combustion and no bed is ‘to support the fuel during combustion, pulverised coal firing makes it possible to rge capacity boilers. All power boilers of capacity 50 MW and above use only the ed coal firing. e ATR ADMISSION: the combustion of fuel in the boiler adequate air is need to be supplied to the the hot products of combustion are to be evacuated from furnace. In a boiler this is e Draught System. Early boilers used the density difference between cool air and hot movement of air into the boiler. As boiler sizes increased mechanical equipments are introduced to effect the flow of air and gas in the boiler. The modern boilers are such meclamised draught systems only, which is described in detail separately. Air heaters are the another addition to the boilers to improve the boiler efficiency. Like omisers, the air heaters are used to preheat the air entering the boiler for combustion, by sat available in the outgoing flue gases. By preheating the air the combustion efficiency is ly increased. The air heaters are located after the economiser. FLUE GAS CLEANING : from the boiler contain finely dispersed ash particles as well toxic gases like sulphur and nitrogen oxides. They cause enormous pollution to the atmosphere if allowed to < with the atmospheric air. Depending on the quantity of these pollutants in the gas, the will be provided with the following equipments. Precipitators Flue gas Desulphurisers , Nitrogen Oxide absorbers/reducers. Of the above the precipitators are invariably used in all boilers. They separate the fly ‘the flue gas before sending the gas to chimney.tee Puneteation ‘Supply TYPICAL POWER BOILER Fig.2.7. a 5.0 BOILER TYPES : Boilers are classified into different types in many ways. Apart from the classificati on tube content basis as Shell type, fire tube and water tube which have been discussed earli the boilers are classified according to application, operating pressuré, fuel used, draught syst adopted, boiler setting arrangement etc. 5.1 APPLICATION: Under this category boilers are classified as a) Utility or Power boilers b) Industrial or Process Steam boilers c) Others. 20S11 UTILITY BOILER: Boilers meant for supplying steam to a steam turbine for electricity generation are ‘own as Utility Boilers or Power Boilers. Generally ghese boilers will be of high steaming ] 255 Ke/om 255 Kylom } 140 Kyle! 185 Kyfem With single R.H| With double R.H | Economiser 4 7 15 10 | ‘Water wall As 32 37 37. Super heater 28 35 28 25 Re-heater 14 16 20 28 252.0 | ECONOMISER 21 REQUIREMENT : Economisers are provided in fhe Boilers to improve the efficiency of the Boiler t extracting the heat from flue gases and add it as either sensible heat alone or sensible heat an latent heat to the feed water before the water enters the evaporating surface of the Boiler. 2.2 ADVANTAGES : Provision of economiser ina Boiler brings in two major advantages. 1) As the economiser recover the heat in flue gas that leaves the boiler an transfer to working fluid there will be savings in fuel consumption. ii) As the feed water is preheated in the economiser and enters the Boiler tubes a an elevated temperature (Near to saturation temperature) the heat transfer are: Tequired for the evaporation surface required will be reduced considerably. A: such the size of the Boiler also will be reduced, 2.3 DEVELOPMENT The design and use of economisers followed naturally the development of Boilers, The features of early economiser designs are larger tube diameter and widely spaced tubes t meet the requirement of natural draught Boilers and surface cleaning requirements and cast iron tubes because of cast iron’s inherent resistance for corrosion both internal and external, These early designs were gradually improved keeping in phase with other developments in Boiler. Deaeration of feed water prior to economiser reduced internal corrosion in economiser. High feed water temperature at economiser inlet due to regenerative feed heating has reduced flue gas condensation over economiser tubes, consequently the corrosion and plugging on the outside of the tubes. Further higher draughts due to the use of improved fans and better soot blowers for surface cleaning are now available, These developments make it possible to use steel for economiser tubing, most desirable tube diameters and tube spacing for economical heat transfer and cleaning by steam or air. The economiser in the present day Power Boilers have tubes made of low. carbon steel with tube outside diameter in 38 mm to 52 mm with spacing about 90 to 140 mm. both horizontally and vertically. In the modern Power Boilers the need of heat recovery by economiser is reduced a lot and economisers are much smaller than an older plant due to 26i) use of greater heat transfer within the super heaters and reheaters corresponding with advances in cycle conditions thus resulting in progressively lower gas temperature at economiser inlet. ii) The increase in feed water temperature at €conomiser inlet by the regenerative feed heaters introduced to increase the efficiency of the cycle. iii) The need for heat recovery from flue gas at air heater for air heating for coal drying and efficient combustion of coal which is essential for pulverised fuel fired Boilers and so necessitate to keep economiser gas outlet temperature high enough. Using of ecBiiomiser or air heater or both is decided by the total economy that will ‘sesalt flexibility in operation, maintenance and selection of firing system and other related ‘=qsipment. Moder medium and high capacity boilers use both economiser and air heater. In ‘Jee capacity Boilers especially in industrial boilers either economiser alone or air heater alone may be selected. 24 ECONOMISER TYPES The economisers, broadly based on whether both sensible and latent heat are added or ‘only sensible heat is added to the feed water, can be classified as i) Steaming Economiser ii) _ Non-steaming economiser 241 STEAMING ECONOMISER “ When the heat available in the flue gas is sufficiently high after superheaters especially in ‘small capacity non re-heat boilers, it would be advantageous in producing part of the steam in ‘Seonomiser itself. In such a case sensible heat and part of latent heat is added to the feed water ‘@ the economiser and the economiser is termed as steaming’ economiser. The evaporation to ‘Sam in the economiser is generally limited to 20% of the feed at full boiler out put and less as ‘Be load decreases. Steaming economisers calls for treating a high percentage of the feed water to a condition does not cause scaling inside the tubes and the gas temperature required at economiser ‘ict must be sufficiently high which is not feasible in a high capacity re-heat Boilers. Also ‘Ssnsferring the two-phase fluid from economiser to Drum poses difficulties. Due to these ‘s=sons steaming economisers are not preferred or provided in modern high capacity boilers.ee he ee 2.4.2 NON STEAMING ECONOMISER » In this type of economiser only sensible heat js added to feed water thereby after heating by flue gas, the feed water leaves the economiser it a temperature lower than the saturation temperature corresponding to the operating pressure. ‘The economisers by their tube construction can be further classified as plain tube and finned tube economisers. 2.42.1. PLAIN TUBE ECONOMISER = cee Here the economisers are constructed with several banks of plain tubes. ‘The height of each bank is not more than 2m for effective soot blowing. The tubes cap either be in-line or staggered tube formation (Fig.3.1).Staggered formation induces more turbulence in the gases giving about 20% to 80% more heat transfer than in-line arrangement. ‘Though this results in requirement of less surface for a given duly, itis at the expense of higher draught loss. Inline aurangement may need about 10% to 15% more surface but effectively cleanable with the help of ‘on load soot blowers and also can be easily inspected. Direction of Gas Flow Direction of Gas Flow |i mcs me inal a Inline Arrangement Staggered Arrangement ‘TUBE FORMATIONS IN ECONOMISER BANK Fig.3. 1. a | 3.42222. FIN- TUBE ECONOMISER Welding of fins to the economiser tubes greatly increases the heating surfaces per unit HH length of the tube (factor of 2 to 8 according to design) In comparison with plain tube cconomiser, steel finned economiser occupy less space for the sams thermal performance and draught loss. ‘The reduction in tube length for similes ps Giameters and pitches is usually j ‘round 4 to 1. ‘This results in smaller casing, less stracsaral stee! work to support the reducedeight, fewer bends and fewer welds, giving a saving in overall cost. A typical fin-tube economiser is shown in Fig.3.2.. se e Fig.3.2 In line arrangement is favoured in this type for easy cleaning and inspection. The fins welded to the tubes may be either continuous fin type or spiral fin types. 25 LOCATION AND ARRANGEMENT Location of economiser will vary with the overall design of the boiler. It is usual to locate the economiser ahead of air heaters and following the primary super heater or reheater in the convective pass of the gas stream. In some cases where very low exit gas temperature and hhigh air temperatures are desired it may be necessary to divide the economiser and the air heater and place the cooler section of the economiser between the air heater sections. Generally economisers are arranged for downward flow of gas and upward flow of water. This counter flow arrangement keeps the heating surface requirement and the draught loss minimum for the same temperature drop in the flue gas. The upward flow of water helps steam if any formed during the heat transfer to move along with water and prevent the lock up of steam, which will cause overheating, and failure of tubes. Economiser coils are designed for horizontal placement, which facilitate the draining of coils. The location and arrangement of ‘economisers in different boilers are shown in Fig.3.3-LOCATION OF ECONOMISER IN TWO PASS BOILER Fig.3.3. Economiser tubes are supported in such a manner that sagging, undue deflection and expansion prevention will not occur at any condition of operation. A typical support system for economiser coils with pantos is shown in Fig.3.4. Fig. 3.4 ‘An ash hopper is provided below the economiser if the flue gas duct is taking a turn from vertical to collect the fly ash separated from the gas stream.2.6 TUBE SIZE AND SPACING The overall heat transfer area required at economisgr primarily depends on i) _ feed water inlet temperature ii) Saturation temperature corresponding to operating pressure } Feed water flow rate iv) Gas temperature requirement at Air heater inlet. On the basis of heat transfer area required the tube diameter, length, spacing etc. are decided to ensure. ~ “ i) Water flow is uniformly distributed between tubes and resistance to flow must be as low as possible; a low flow through given tube or element could cause local steam formation, which could result in tube failure. ii) ~ The economiser fit in with the design of the preceding section of the boiler, usually the re-heater or low temperature super heater. ifi) The gas side draught loss is kept minimum iv) Making provision for on load cleaning equipment. The tubes can be continuous from inlet to outlet headers with terminals rolled or welded. The tubes can be made any length and diameter with 38mm to 52mm OD. The side spacing and back spacing can be arranged for good external cleaning, absorption of heat and less draught Joss. Clear lanes of 25mm and less should be used only for clean fuels. Lanes of 38mm to 50mm will be required for fuels liable to cause gas side deposits. 2.7 ECONOMISER FAILURE The economiser tubes get punctured due to number of reasons. An economiser tube puncture calls for a Boiler shut down and so reduces the plant availability. Hence greater care will be required in design, operation and maintenance stages to avoid the economiser failures. The major causes of economiser failures are i) Over heating ii Corrosion iii) Erosion 2.7.1 OVER HEATING As the economiser tubes are generally made of carbon steel any sustained metal temperature above 400°C will be leading to the tube failure. Starvation, that is loss of water inside the tubes or scaling inside the tubes will be the root cause for overheating. 312.7.1.1, STARVATION Though the possibility of starvation of eqgnomiser tubes during normal operation of the boiler is remote, starvation may occur during the start-up of the boiler from cold condition. There will not be any flow through the economiser tubes till substantial amount of continuous steam. generation starts in the boiler. This leads to the water in economiser tubes get evaporated and move out of tubes thereby resulting in starvation. To prevent this, the boilers will have a economiser re-circulation system. In this a tapping from the down comer with a NRV and isolating valve will be connected to economiser inlet. Keeping this line open during light up ensures circulation of water through the economiser thereby avoiding starvation. This re- circulation jjue must be closed once normalfeeding to economiser is started otherwise the feed water will by pass the economiser and flow directly to down comer through re-circulation line resulting starvation of economiser. 2.7.1.2, SCALING Deposit of salts from feed water on the inner surface of the tubes reduces the heat transfer across the tubes. The chances of scaling in economiser tubes are high with a steaming economiser using poor quality water. The possibility of economiser scaling is remote when De- mineralised water is used in non-steaming economiser. 2.7.2 CORROSION The economiser tubes can be thinned out due to chemical reaction both from inside as well from outside 2.7.2.1 EXTERNAL CORROSION External corrosion of economiser may occur when the water vapour in the flue gas condenses on the surface of the tubes, and corrosion is accelerated when this happens in the presence of products of combustion of sulphur. The rate of corrosion is increased when the metal temperature is reduced. As the amount of sulphur in the fuel increases, the dew point increases and so does the potential rate of corrosion. In boilers having both air heater and economiser, and also having regenerative feed heaters normally the economiser is not subjected to external corrosion. 2.7.2.2, INTERNAL CORROSION Economisers are subject to internal corrosion from dissolved oxygen and low hydroxyl ion concentration (a low pH). Oxygen corrosion can be eliminated by de-aeration to zero Oxygen. Steel in economiser is attacked fasier by pure water (GH-T) than by water, which has higher hydroxyl ion concentration. It is therefore necessary to maintain a pH value of between 8 and 9 for water passing through the economiser. 322.7.3. EROSION In pulverised coal-fired boilers, the economiser tubes are more prone to failure due to sesion than any other above cited reasons. Especially this problem is aggravated when high ‘sbrasive ash — coals are used. In a two pass boiler when'the economiser is located at the bottom ‘of the second pass the impact of the ash over tubes is increasing. To minimise the adverse _ the concentration of boiler water solids - the available pressure drop for drum internal design a. is a considerable difference between the density of water and steam at low pressures but difference decreases as pressure increases towards critical point, This relationship is shownin Fig.1.5. The density of water at 84 kg/cm? is approximately 16 times that of steam whereas at about 196 kg/cm? it is only 3 times that of steam. Thus as pressure increases, separating water from steam will become more difficult. e. : Based on the above factors the steam separation in boiler drum can be carried out adopting one of the following three methods. a) Simple gravity separation b) _ Gravity separation with baffles to supplement gravity separation c) Centrifugal and gravity separation 3.1.1.1 SIMPLE GRAVITY SEPARATION... ‘STEAM OUTLET: NORMAL Tr FALSE ‘WATER WATER-LEVEL WATER RISERS fe) LOW STEAMING RATE {b) HIGH STEAMING RATE GRAVITY SEPARATION Fig.3.5. Fig.3.5. shows the steam separation by gravity only in the drum. For a low rate.of steam generation (up to about | m/s velocity of steam leaving the water surface ) there is sufficient time for the light dense steam bubbles to separate from mixture by gravity without being drawn into the down comers and without carrying entrained water droplets into the steam outlet (Fig.a.). However for this same arrangement at a higher rate of steam generation (Fig.b.) the time is insufficient to attain either of these desirable results leading to carry over of water with steam. Hence steam separation by gravity alone is possible if the velocity of either the mixture or the steam bubbles within the mixture is low and the steam generated per unit length of the drum must be kept low. This will be uneconomical except for small low-duty Boiler. 343.1.1.2 GRAVITY SEPARATION USING BAFFLES. [BAFFLE PLATES IN A STEAM DRUM. Fig.3.6. * Fig.3.7. = Baffle plates are generally used to change or reverse a flow pattern to assist gravity " s=eezstion in the open drawn space. Fig.3.6. illustrates example of simple baffle arrangement. plates change flow direction of water and'steam and act as impact plates. Water separating © en such plates normally will drain off through or adjacent to steam flow and a controlling factor en and operation is the steam flow velocity through such drainage. Areas under and around [must be sufficient to prevent excessive-re-entrainment of spray. Limited in their impact capacity, the chief purpose of plate baffles is direct flow to make maximum use of the separating capacity available from any low-velocity steam space in the drum. __ Reversing hoods, shown in Fig.3.7. combine the desirable features of baffle and change principles. Steam and water from the active generating tubes are directed behind a into the slotted reversing hoods. ‘These separators are simply an arrangement of baffle to guide water and steam in a manner to give maximum utilisation of gravity separation in = space. By accelerating the gravity flow of water and by reversing the flow of steam, ‘gravity potential is increased and separation enhanced. ‘CENTRIFUGAL AND GRAVITY SEPARATION __ At higher pressures water and steam are separated most efficiently in a drum internal centrifugal force/radial acceleration to disengage the entrained particle. Vertical ‘or turbo separators with corrugated plate assembly at the outlet are installed either in a row or double rows internally along the length of the drum.CYCLONE SEPARATORS FOR STEAM SEPARATION Fig.3.8. With cyclone separators provided in the drum the steam water mixture from riser tubes is admitted tangentially to the cylindrical section of the cyclones. ‘The resulting centrifugal force Gue to such admission causes the higher density water form a layer against the cylinder walls and the steam moves to the core of the cylinder and then upward. (Fig.3. 8). The water flows downward in the cylinder and discharged through an annulus at the bottom below the drum water level, ‘The steam moving upward from the cylinder passes through a small corrugated scrubber at the top of the cyclone for additional separation. 36TURBO SEPARATORS Fig.3.9. In the turbo separator arrangement (Fig.3.9) the steam water mixture coming through the ‘siser tubes is first admitted into a chamber formed between the drum-wall and a baffle. The ‘sexture sweeps the drum shell on its path to the bottom and enters the turbo separators arranged ‘lees the length of the drum... Spinner blades or vanes inside the separator spins the mixture as it upward through the separator and thus create separating force. The concentrated,layer of ‘ezter flowing upward along the surface of the primary tube is skimmed off and directed ‘Sewnward through an outer concentric tube for discharge below the water line with minimum ‘scurbance to water level. The steam and the remaining entrained water continue upward ough a steam collector nozzle and turn horizontally into the separator section formed by ‘corrugated plates. The velocity at this point is low and the water cannot be re-entrained from ‘eetied surfaces and runs off the plates. Leaving the separator the steam flows upward. 3114 DRYING ‘Though the separators discussed above effectively separate the steam, still the steam may ‘centain some residual moisture or the steam may pick up moisture from the drum due to the ceadition of water and boiler operating factors. To arrest this residual moisture before the steam Ss allowed to leave the drum, the dryers will be provided at the top of the drum. The dryers are _ éesigned to have a large surface area on which moisture can deposit and from which it can run ‘Gack into the drum by gravity. Closely spaced corrugated or bent plates, screens or mats of ‘woven wire mesh can be used as dryer surface materials. The screen type dryers are commonly __wsed. (Fig.3.10.)SCREEN DRIER Fig.3.10. op across a dryer is normally low because of low flow velocities and Pr water involved. Dryers operate on a low-velocity deposition ple. Formation of insoluble residues on the dryer filming action by foaming boiler water decreases The pressure dr relatively small amount principle and not on a velocity separation prine from the boiler water entrained with steam or the free area, increases the local velocity and promotes carry over. 3.1.2. BLOWDOWNS The removal of a portion of water from the boiler drum is termed as blow down. Two types of blow downs are adopted from the boiler drum. a. Continuous blow down b. Emergency blow down 3.1.2.1 .CONTINUOUS BLOW DOWN Staged evaporation of water in the boiler tubes of re circulation "PX boiler results, in the increase in concentration of impurities in the boiler water over @ period of time, To keep this sevicentration within limits so that no scaling occurs in the boiler tubes, it is necessary to drain a portion of this water from drum continuously and compensate the same with fresh make up water Prhich is having low amount of impurities. This process is called continuous blow down. The ‘mount of water drained through C.B.D. depends on the total dissolved solids permitted in the 38total dissolved solids in makeup water and the percentage of make up. A typical .determine the CBD amount is TDS in make up water in PPM. ipa —g———* Yomake up TDS allowed in boiler water in PPM. in high-pressure utility boilers, the % of CBD will be a maximum of 1% of ion. ENCY BLOW DOWN rating gonditions may cause the waterJevel in the drum to,raise. A high level of the normal level may lead to the carry over of water by steam and at times the ‘may be submerged in water. In such a situation to bring the water level to normal, own provision is made in the drum. Once the water level reaches a preset high level through the emergency blow down line, the boiler water will be drained till the level normal. SMICAL TREATMENT OF BOILER WATER the boiler is fed with high quality treated water, still it is essential to have a fine of boiler water by dozing certain chemicals to the water in the boiler drum. This is Any scale forming salt in the boiler water is converted into sludge facilitating its removal through low point drains. The pH value of the boiler water is maintained at the desired level to,prevent corrosion as well to avoid silica carry over by steam. Though various solid alkalis can be used, the common practice in our country is dozing dium phosphate in drum water. ‘Trisodium phosphate does two functions. It reacts with scale forming salts like calcium calcium sulphate etc. if any present in boiler water and convert them into sludge. 3CaCh +2 Na; PO, — + = Cas (P0,)2 + 6 NaCl The resultant products are in the form of sludge, which are collected in the bottom header where they can be removed through low point drains periodically. ‘This process is called odical blow down. In modern boiler with the use of highly conditioned water there is no d of carrying out the periodical blow down. Any sludge collected in the bottom headers will very negligible and it is sufficient that they can be removed during the boiler shutdowns/ Further in high-pressure boilers there is a danger of loss of water in the drum during‘Trisodium phosphate dozing improves the pH value of boiler water as Trisodium phosphate reacts with water and produce sodium hydroxide > Nas Pos +Hs0 ——» NaQH +Ng: HPOs By judicial dozing of Nay Pos the boiler water can be maintained at the desired pH level. {As operating pressure increases the steam phase exhibits greater solvent capabilities for the salts that may be present in the water phase. This phenomenon is known as vaporous carry over and silica exhibit significant vaporous carry over. When more than 0.02 PPM of silica is carried over by steam, it results in silica deposits in turbine blades that are difficult to be removed apd it has to be avoided. ee The vaporous carry over of silica depends i) silica in boiler water: increase in silica level increase the opportunity of carry over ii) operating pressure: higher operating pressure will increase the vaporisation of silica iii) pH value of boiler water : higher the pH value lower the silica carryover [BOILER WATER SILICA ppm p36 os 0 30 60 90 120 150 160 210 [OPERATING PRESSURE RECOMMENDED MAXIMUM SILICA (CONCENTRATION IN BOILER WATER AT ! ‘VARIOUS pH TO LIMIT SILICA IN ‘012 ppm Fig.3.11. 40Fig. 3.11. indicates the relation between operating pressure and silica in boiler water at Apr > SP3 STACK EFFECT Fig4.1 Stack effect is also defined as the pressure difference between two points in a boiler due to elevation difference. The stack effect as such either aids the flow of the hot fluid or resists the flow depending upon the direction of flow in the boiler setting and will be prefixed with a negative or positive sign respectively. 1.4 DRAUGHT DIFFERENCE g This is the pressure difference between two points in the boiler setting resulting from the combination of draught loss and stack effect or the sum of draught loss and stack effect. For the flow of air and gas through the boiler the draught differential between air inlet point to the boiler and the chimney outlet is to be duly compensated by imparting energy suitably to air, gas or to both. 2.0 DRAUGHT TYPES The flow of gases through a boiler can be achieved by creating draught in the following two methods. a) * Natural Draught b) Mechanized Draught 21. NATURAL DRAUGHT ‘When the required flow of air and flue gas through a boiler can be obtained by the stack (Chimney) alone the system is called Natural Draught System. When the gas within the stack is hot, its specific weight will be less than that of the cool air outside the stack. ‘Therefore the unit pressure at the base of the stack resulting from the weight of the column of hot gas within the stack will be less than that of the column of external cool air. This difference in pressure willcause a flow of gas through an opening in the base of the stack. In boiler applications the cool air on its way to the stack must pass through the furnace of the boiler connected to the stack. In the process of combustion the air is converted into heated flue gas. This heated gas will be displaced-by more incoming cool air. The action becomes conginuous and flow is established. The natufal draught system is shown in Fig.4,2 Thus in natural draught, the draught loss is compensated by the stack effect produced by the stack alone. eS Though even to-day smaller boilers may use natural draught, for larger boilers equipped | mith superheaters, economisers and air heaters where the total draught loss is necessarily large, it % not practical or economical to obtain the draught by a stack alone as the height of the stack required in such cases will be impractical to construct. 22 MECHANISED DRAUGHT In boilers where the draught loss is high and so natural draught is not possible mechanically driven fans are used to produce the necessary draught. Three types of mechanised raught systems can be adopted in boilers. a) Forced draught system b) Induced draught system 87» ©) Balanced draught system In the boilers where mechanised draught system is adopted, the stack serves only an aid to the fans and to disburse the. hot particulate matter laden gases into the atmosphere at sufficiently high level to cause least amount of pollution. 2.2.1 FORCED DRAUGHT SYSTEM In this system a fan called forced draught fan is installed at the inlet of the boiler. This fan forces the atmospheric air through the boiler furnace and pushes out the hot gases from the furnace through super heaters, re heaters, economisers, air heaters etc, to the stack. In this system the boiler is under a positive pressure. Utmost case is necessary to seal all the openings of the boiler (like peephole doors, soot blower openings etc. tightly so that the hot gases inside the boiles:do not leak out. This system is shown in Fig.4.3. The oil/gas fired boilers are some times provided with the forced draught system to minimise the possibilities of implosion in case of flame collapse. FORCED DRAUGHT SYSTEM Fig.43. 2.2.2 INDUCED DRAUGHT SYSTEM Here a fan called induced draught fan is provided at the outlet of the boiler that is just before the Chimney. This fan sucks the hot gases from the furnace through the superheaters, re heaters, economiser, air heaters etc. and discharges the gases into the Chimney. This results in a furnace pressure lower than atmosphere and effects the flow of air from outside to the furnace. In induced draught system the entire boiler is at a pressure below atmosphere. Due to this air can be drawn into the boiler setting through any opening in the boiler setting. This leakage of air into the boiler is known as air ingress. The induced draught system is shown in Fig.4.4.w t <= ATMOSPHERIC AIR INDUCED DRAUGHT-SYSTEM Fig.44 2.2.3 BALANCED DRAUGHT SYSTEM Both forced draught and induced draught when exclusively adopted in boilers have their own demerits. With the forced draught the possibility of flame/hot gases coming out of the boiler persists and due to heavy air ingress in induced draught system, it is difficult to maintain the optimum airflow for combustion. The balanced draught system overcomes these difficulties. In this system both forced draught fan and induced draught fan are used. The forced draught fan is utilised to draw the controlled quantity of air from atmosphere and force the same into the furnace. The induced draught fan sucks the products of combustion from the furnace and discharges into the Chimney. The point where the draught is zero, is known as the balancing point. This balancing point is normally maintained at the tip of the bumners/nozzles where the air ~ enters the furnace. Thereby a very small negative pressure is maintained at the furnace and other down stream paths of the boiler to prevent the hot flame/gas coming out of the boiler. A typical balanced draught system is shown in Fig.4.5.<= ATMOSPHERIC AIR (a FORCED DRAUGHT FAN BALANCED DRAUGHT SYSTEM Fig.4.5. Most of the power boilers especially coal fired boilers adopt Balanced draught system. 2.3. COMPONENTS OF BOILER DRAUGHT SYSTEM ‘The draught system in a boiler essentially consists of the following components. i) Fans ii) Air heaters iii) Ducts & Flues iv) Stack/ChimneyThe schematic flow diagram of the draught system in a typical 210MW boiler is shown in Fig.4.6 2 CHIMNEY SCHEMATIC FLOW DIAGRAM OF DRAUGHT SYSTEM Fig.4.6. 30 FANS Fans are among the most important auxiliaries in a boiler system. Regardless of fuel and Sethod of firing, all boilers for power generation use mechanical draught fans. They supply the Pamary air for the pulverization and transport of coal to the furnace. They also supply the Stary air and the secondary air to the windboxes for complete combustion, Fans also remove “Se products of combustion from the furnace and move the gases through heat transfer Sguipment. Sometimes gas recirculation fans control steam temperature. Numerous small fans == used for sealing of mills and cooling of ignitors, scanners and other equipments. om Fay3.1. HOW FANS WORK ‘A fan is a volumetric machine, which moves quantities of air or gas from one place to another. ‘The fan imparts to the medium enough energy to set it into motion and to overcome all resistance to flow in its path. % ‘A fan essentially consists of a bladed rotor or impeller, which does the work, and a housing, which collects and directs the medium discharged by the impeller. The energy requirement of the fan depends on the volume of gas moved, resistance against which the fan works and the machine efficiency. 3.2 SPECIFYING FAN OPERATING CONDITIONS Far jhe fan to deliver the desired flow and pressure the fan and the system should correctly match. Once the fan is installed, it is difficult to increase its capacity significantly because of physical limitations such as motor and impeller size. To select an appropriate fan for a given application, the density, flow and pressure requirements of the system at various points of operation and whether there are any fan speed limitations must be known. If any of these variables change it can affect the fan selection. 3.2.1 FLOW ‘The flow of medium through fan is usually expressed as a volumetric flow rate It is necessary to determine the flow rate in m'/min at the inlet to fan from the mass flow rate(Kg./Hr.). Proper corrections for plant elevation and actual conditions of local pressure at fan inlets must be made to the calculated volume. 3.2.2. PRESSURE ‘The pressure or the head developed by the fan is usually expressed in mmwe. (Millimeters of water column). The required static head for the fan will depend upon the system, where the fan is used. 3.2.3. DENSITY Since the pressure and temperature of the air or gas affect gas density, they also influence power output and efficiency. A change in density changes total and static pressure and their subsequent compression into mm of we. The head and power varies directly as fluid density and inversely as absolute fluid temperature. Adjustments must be made for pressure and temperature variations while selecting a fan for a particular application. 3.2.4 SPECIFIED CONDITIONS The volume, flow and static pressure calculated give the actual required fan capacity under ideal operating conditions. Besides the requirement at full load, the performance requirements at several other partial load points are to be calculated to evaluate power consumption, select the control equipment and assure a fan that will operate at maximum efficiency, at the desired output of the steam generating unit. It must also be ensured that the fan will operate over the entire range of system resistance from the point of view of stability, sound and efficiency. 9233 FAN APPLICATIONS In the boilers, number of fans are required for different functions. Fig.4.6 indicates location of various fans in a typical coal fired boiler. 33.1 .RORCED DRAUGHT FAN = Forced draught fans supply air necessary for fuel combustion and must be sized to handle the stoichiometric air plus the excess air needed for proper burning of the specific fuel. In addition, they provide air to make up for air heater leakage and for some sealing air _ fequirements. FD fans supply the total airflow except when an atmospheric suction primary air fan is used. In the balanced draught units, the required static head for the FD'is the sum of all the Ssries resistance in the secondary air system including cold air duct, steam coil aif pre heater, air ing device, hot air duct, wind box and dampers. For pressurized units additional loss from furnace to the stack outlet must also be included. FD fans operate in the cleanest environment associated with a boiler and are generally the Guietist and most efficient fans in the power plant. ‘They are particularly well suited for high- speed operation. Radial aerofoil or variable pitch axial fans are preferred for FD service. 33.2. PRIMARY AIR FAN These are the large high-pressure fans which supply the air needed to dry and transport seal either directly from the coal mills to the furnace or to the intermediate bunker. ‘These fans may be located before or after the milling equipment. The most common applications are cold Primary air fans, hot primary air fans and pulverizer exhauster fans. The cold primary air fan is located before the air heater and draws air from the mosphere and supplies the energy required to force air through air heater, ducts, mills and fuel Siping. With a cold air system like this, the FD fan may be made smaller as P.A fans supply part ‘ef the combustion air. These fans are usually of the radial aerofoil type. Hot primary air fans boost the air pressure from air-heaters for drying and transporting ‘coal from pulverisers. In these systems the total air has to be handled by the FD fans and each ‘all will be provided with a primary air fan at the mill inlet side. ‘The primary fan in this case ‘Gas to handle hot air probably with some amount of fly ash carried from the air pre-heater. The mill exhauster fan draws hot air from hot secondary air duct and through the palveriser. The coal /air mixture from the pulveriser then passes through the fan and discharges ‘ato the fuel pipes which carry the mixture to the furnace for ignition. Here also the total air for ‘Se boiler has to be handled by the FD fan and each mill will be provided with one exhauster fan, Ta this case the exhauster fan must develop sufficient pressure at maximum airflow to overcome be resistance of the air ducts, dampers, the pulveriser and the fuel pipe to the furnace. 33.3 INDUCED DRAUGHT FANS Induced draught fans evacuate combustion products from the boiler furnace by creating Ssfficient negative pressure to establish a slight suction in the furnace (usually 5 to 10mm of ®e).As such these fans must have enough capacity to accommodate any infiltration caused by 93the negative pressure in the equipment down stream of the furnace and by any seal leakage in air heaters. As ID fans are now typically located downstream of any particulate removal system they are a relatively clean service fan. Since ID fans pave to compensate for the heavy pressure drop of the flue gas across the boiler contour, the power requirement is very high and it is the boiler auxiliary, which consumes maximum power. As such high efficiency fans are demanded for this application. The airfoil radial fans, which have efficiencies of more, then 88% and can, have capacities greater than 1.6 lakh m’/ minute. The airfoil blade shape minimizes turbulence and noise. The blades and center plates may also be fitted with wear plates and replaceable nose section for greater wear life. Since great wear resistance is required because of dust burden, a modified forward curved, batKWard inclined designs are also used. Without undaly sacrificing efficiency these blade shapes minimize dust build up and reduce downtime for cleaning. 3.3.4 GAS RECIRCULATION FANS, G.R.fans draw gas from a point between economiser outlet and air heater and discharge it into the bottom of the furnace. The recirculation will be required either for controlling steam. temperature on coal fired units or in a coal fired unit for emergency oil firing. In the first case generally a mechanical dust collector will be provided ahead of the fan. Gas recirculation duty provides the most severe test of a power plant fan. The combination of heavy dust load and rapid temperature changes demands the utmost in rugged, reliable fan design. Particularly important is how the fan hub is mated with the shaft. Conventional shrunk fit may not be adequate. To cope up with the temperature excursions fans with an integral hub are preferable. Straight or forward curved radial fans meet these needs the best. Normally turning gears are provided for these fans to prevent thermal distortion of the rotor under cool down conditions. 3.3.5 OTHERS The other applications of fans in a boiler are cooling air fans for flame scanners, ignitors and seal air fans for the pressurized mills. These fans are generally booster fans. Generally, the scanner air fans take suction from FD discharge and the seal air fan from primary air fan discharge. Compared to FD, PA.ID and G.R-fans, these fans handle very less quantity of air. Seal air fans taking suction from atmosphere develop the highest differential head. 34 TYPES OF FANS From the point of view of fluid mechanics, fans represent a class of turbo machines designed to move fluids such as air, gases and vapour against low pressure. From the point of mechanical design’ fans have a very light casing because generally inlet pressures are atmospheric or lower. Simplified hydraulic forms and welded steel plates are generally encountered in fans.Fans are broadly classified as either radial or axial according to the flow direction. The radial fan moves air perpendicular to the rotational axis of the impeller (Fig.4.7.) the axial flow fan moyes air parallel to the rotational axis of the impeller (Fig.4.8.) Se a 2 DIRECTION OF FLOW IN FANS = NT z N % = wt RADIAL AXIAL _ Fig.4.7. Fig.48. 3.5 RADIAL FANS (Fig.4.9.) Radial fans use blades mounted on an impeller sandwiched between two circular plates. The rotor (impeller mounted on shaft) rotates within a spiral or volute casing.3.5.1 WORKING PRINCIPLE The medium handled is drawn into the eye of the impeller and the centrifugal force of the impeller throws-out the medium radially. The blades impart kinetic energy to the medium. When the medium flows through the spiral casing this kinetic energy is converted into potential energy. 3.5.2 RADIAL FAN BLADE TYPES * There are there basic blade types in radial fans. The angle between the blade tip and direction of rotation is known as blade angle. When this angle is less than 90°, it is forward curved, when it is 90° it is straight radial and when it is greater then 90" it is backward curved. (Fig.4.10.) ; = =o / > 90° ; FORWARD CURVED BACKWARD CURVED Fig.4.10. 3.5.2.1 RELATION BETWEEN SPEED AND BLADE TYPE ‘The blade type of a fan limits the speed. The velocity vector diagram shown in Fig.4.11. indicates that backward curved blades produce low velocities for a given tip or peripheral speed and the forward curved blades .give high velocity. Straight blades lie between these two extremes. The backward curved blade type therefore operates at greater motor speeds than the other types for a given duty and is well adapted to direct drive with motor or steam turbines. 963.5.3 CLASSIFICATION AND CONSTRUCTION DETAILS The radial fans are further classified as simply supported and overhang types according to their construction. In the simply supported fan, the impeller is supported on both sides by bearings whereas in overhang the bearing is provided only on one side of the impeller. Further the simply supported fans are classified as single suction and double suction depending on whether the suction is only on one side of the impeller or on both sides. 3.5.3.1 CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF RADIAL SIMPLY SUPPORTED FANS (Fig.12) The major sub-assemblies of the fan are as follows: 1. Impeller with Shaft Assembly 2. Bearings and Thermometers 3. Suction Chamber and Spiral Casing 4, Flow Regulating Devices 5. Shaft Seals 6. Couplings.Fig.4.12. 983.5.3.1.1 IMPELLER WITH SHAFT ASSEMBLY « The impeller is a completely welded structure and is made ©) from high tensile steel with backward“curved plate blades. The impeller consists of centerplate, blade, coverplate and impeller ring. The blades are welded between centerplate and coverplate with proper welding sequence to avoid distortion. The impeller ring is welded at the inlet diameter of coverplate.The centerplate and shaft flange has a machined groove which ensures correct location of the wheel relative to the shaft during operation (running fit) There is no hub arrangement in this case to fit the impeller to the shaft. For specific applications like Hot PAAID/GR faii8, the impeller blades are provided with replaceable wear liners. The shaft is a hollow tube with two forged solid endpins shrunk fit at either end of the shaft and welded. Torque is transmitted through the fit and the weld is only for securing purpose. The shaft is made from steel and machined to a high degree of surface finish for location of impeller, bearings, coupling half etc. The critical speed of the shaft is well above the operating speed (minimum25%). 3.5,3.1.2. BEARINGS AND THERMOMETERS 3.5.3.1.2 The fan rotor is supported in between a fixed bearing (near coupling end) and a free“bearing. The fixed bearing is always on the coupling side. The fans are provided with either antifriction or sleeve bearings. Bearings are selected to take care of both radial and axial thrust loads. Bearings are provided with either stand oil or forced oil lubrication systems depending upon the requirements. RADIAL FAN IMPELLER Bearing housings are provided with temperature gauges for local indication of bearing temperature. Platinum resistance thermometers (RTD) are provided for remote indication (control room) of bearing temperatures with alarm and trip connections. 3.5.3.1.3 SUCTION CHAMBER AND SPIRAL CASING Suction chamber and spiral casing are a fully welded structure and are fabricated from sheet steel with adequate stiffeners. The spiral casing consists of two parallel sidewalls, spiral plate and inlet cone alongwith suction chamber. These are split suitably to facilitate easy handling and maintenance of rotor, etc. The inlet cone, which forms the entrance to the spiral casing, helps in accelerating the flow. The inlet cone and suction chamber are welded to the sidewall of spiral casing. The lower part of fan casing rests on the supporting brackets on the foundation. Manholes and inspection doors are provided for maintenance personnel to enter the fan for inspection. A drain valve is provided at the lower most part of the spiral casing depending on the fan disposition. For specific applications like hot PA/ID/GR fans, replaceable wear liners are provided inside the spiral scroll.3.5.3.1.4 FLOW REGULATING DEVICES The various control devices for the gegulation of the flow through the fan are given below and discussed in detail later in this chapter. a) Damper Assembly/ Inlet Guide Vanes b) Hydraulic Coupling c) Variable Frequency Drive 3.5.3.1.5 SHAFT SEALS Seals for the shaft are provided to arrest the leakage through the gaps where the shaft passes through the spiral casing and suction chamber. It consists of a labyrinth section for axial sealing and an asbestos/ 3-ply rubber strip for radial sealing. The labyrinth seal is centrally located and mounted on bearing pedestals by means of screws, which help in precisely controlling the labyrinth passage. During hot conditions, the asbestos strip ensures that the movement of the spiral casing relative to the shaft does not affect the fan function. 3.5.3.1.6 COUPLINGS ‘The fan and the drive motor are normally coupled by pin type flexible couplings. Depending upon the design or user requirements hydraulic couplings may be provided for startup/ control purposes. Special couplings are provided for fans with VFD drive. 3.5.3.1.7 SILENCERS Depending upon requirements, fans with atmospheric suction are provided with suction silencers to attenuate air borne noise. The silencer consists baffles fabricated from perforated steel sheets with sound absorbing wool held in wire mesh inside the baffles. The baffles form the structure of the silencer. Air passes through the passages formed by the baffles before entering the suction chamber of the fan. The silencer is supported on boiler columns itself and isolated from fan parts by means of expansion joints. External acoustic insulation is provided for the fan casing and ducting depending upon the requirements to attenuate duct borne noise also. Rain hood with inlet screen is provided at the inlet of the silencer to protect from rain and entry of birds, etc. In double suction fans, both the suction chambers are connected to the common silencer through suitable Y-ducts anc straight ducts.3.5.3.2 CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF OVERHANG FANS (Fig.4.13.) The major sub-assemblies of the fan are as follows: 1 Impeller Shaft with bearing assembly Spiral Casing Flow Regulating Device Shaft Seals “Couplings aereN re cell tmpelicr ao es Deo => - Perey | RADIAL OVERHANG FAN Fig.4.13. : 3.5.3.2.1 IMPELLER The impeller is similar to the one for Simply Supported Fans with the following difference: In place of centre plate, a back plate fixes the impeller to.a proper hub. ‘The hub has a tapered bore for hydraulic mounting of the impeller onto the shaft. For FD&PA application, the design will be taper mounted and for ID&GR application, it will be flange-mounted design because of its operating temperature. 3.5.3.2.2. SHAFT WITH BEARING ASSEMBLY a) SHAFT Itis a solid shaft dynamically balanced whose critical speed is well above the operating speed (minimum 25%). One end of the shaft is having a taper on which the impeller is mounted hydraulically and the other end is having provision for taking one coupling half through key. 101Torque is transmitted through the keyed joint on the coupling side and by the taper fit to the impeller. Shaft is provided with oil holes and grooves for hydraulic mounting and dismounting. b) BEARING ASSEMBLY « Bearings for this type of fans are monoblock design with two cylindrical roller bearings and one angular contact ball bearing kept in the same housing. ‘The shaft is made from steel and machined to a high degree of surface finish for location of bearings, coupling half etc. Bearing housings are provided with mercury-in-steel thermometer and resistance thermometer for local/ remote indication of, bearing temperatures. Alarm-and trip contacts are availed from mercury-in-steel thermometers. 3.5.3.2.3 SPIRAL CASING The casing in this type of fans is also similar to the simply supported fans with the difference for mounting the inlet guide vane for flow regulation. On to the inlet side flange of the inlet cone the inlet guide vane unit is mounted. 3.5.3.2.4 OTHER COMPONENTS The other components such as shaft seals, couplings, silencers etc, are similar to the ones discussed for simply supported fans. 3.6 AXIAL FANS ‘The axial fans basically consist of an impeller on the periphery of which the blades are mounted. The impeller draws the medium from a suction chamber, imparts energy and discharges the medium into a diffuser. At the outlet of the diffuser the necessary head is obtained. 3.6.1 AXIAL FAN TYPES The axial fans are classified as axial reaction and axial impulse fans based on how the energy is imparted to the medium when it flow across the fan. In the Fig.4.14. Hi indicates the pressure difference between two sides of the impeller which is known as the “head Developed across the impeller”. Hr indicates the pressure difference between the outlet of the fan diffuser and suction chamber, which is the “head Development across the fan”. The ratio of Head Developed across the impeller to the Head Developed across the fan is known as “Degree of Reaction”. 102DEGREE OF REACTION IN AXIAL FANS Fig.4.14. Degree of Reaction R= In case of impulse fan the degree of reaction (Ri) will be less than 0.2 whereas in reaction fans this (Rr) will be around 0.8. This variation is due to the blade configuration in the different type of fans. The reaction fans are provided with profile blades wherein the blade cross section varies continuously from root to tip. ‘The impulse fans have non-profile blades wherein the blade cross section is uniform. As such the axial reaction fans are called as Axial profile bladed fans (APfans) and impulse fans as Axial non- profile bladed fans (AN fans). 36.2 AXIAL REACTION FANS (A P FANS) These fans are further classified as single stage (AP!) and two stage (AP2) fans. This fan possesses a fairly high degree of reaction whereby major portion of the static pressure rise takes place in the impeller itself and the rest in the diffuser. The aerofoil bladed impeller draws the fluid through a suction chamber, imparts pressure and velocity energy to the fluid and drives the fluid through the outlet guide vanes to the diffuser where the kinetic energy is converted into potential energy. Regulation of fan load in performed in these types of fans generally by changing the pitch angle of blade profile on all blades simultaneously during operation. 3.6.2.1 CONSTRUCTION FEATURES The major sub-assemblies of the fan are as follows: 1 Stator Parts 2.. Rotor Assembly 3. Rotor Bearings 4. Rigiflex Coupling with Intermediate Shaft 5. Oil Supply Unit 103 ai i peFig.4.15 3.6.2.1.1 STATOR PARTS a) SUCTION CHAMBER The suction chamber is a fabricated structure made out of low carbon steel plates and adequately stiffened to minimise vibrations and improve mechanical strength. The suction chamber houses a plate fabricated bullet shaped core, inside of which the main bearing housing is mounted. The bullet further serves the purpose of guiding the fluid into the impeller. The shaft protecting tube is also located inside the suction chamber. b) IMPELLER HOUSING The impeller housing is bolted to the suction chamber flange. The inside diameter of the housing is machined to maintain proper and uniform clearance between impeller blades and housing. An inspection door is provided on the housing to facilitate assembly and dismantling of the blades without removing the impeller housing from the suction chamber. In 2-stage rotors, the housing includes the outlet guide vanes for the first stage impeller. ©) _ DIFFUSER The diffuser is fabricated from low carbon steel plate and houses inner cylindrical core and outlet guide vanes. The core is supported on one side by outlet guide vanes and on the other side by struts. Three eye shaped openings are provided between the core and diffuser to accommodate the servomechanism linkage and oil pipelines carrying control oil. The medium handled by the fan either air or gas flows in the annular space between the core and diffuser. ‘A manhole is provided at the outlet end of diffuser core for attending to the assembly and maintenance of servomechanism. The diffuser is connected by means of an expansion joint to the impeller casing and is mounted on the concrete pedestal.The above stator parts are reinforced by flanges and external ribs. They are foot mounted on the foundation. The fan and guide vane housings (2-stage rotor) are horizontally spilt for ease of maintenance. 4) “EXPANSION JOINTS : * The suction chamber and diffuser are connected to the fan ducting by expansion joints which ensures that no external forces/movements and vibrations are transmitted from ducts to fan and vice versa. 3.6.2.1.2 ROTOR ASSEMBLY The rotor assembly consists of one or two impellers, shaft and hydraulic servomotor. a) IMPELLER ASSEMBLY The impellers of AP fans are overhung. The impeller assembly shown in Fig.4.16. comprises of: a support body housing the blade shafts & blade bearings ahub aerofoil blades hydraulic servomotor Fig.4.16. ‘The impeller hub is a fabricated welded structure and houses the supporting body. ‘The hub and the supporting body are assembled and machined together for perfect alignment of blade shafts. The support body houses the blade shafts, blade bearings, etc. Special thrust and radial bearings accommodate the high centrifugal forces acting on the blade shafts during operation. One end of blade shaft is screwed to the blade and on the other end blade levers are assembled and connected to adjusting disk of servomotor to convert the reciprocating motion of servomotor into rotary motion of blade shafts and blades. The blades are individually sorted according to weight and moment, and can be easily replaced without the hub body having to be re balanced.b) SHAFT Shaft is made from forged steel and fully machined. In single stage fans one end of shaft is connected with the impeller and other end to the regiflex coupling which in turn connected to the motor shaft. In the case of 2-stage AP fans, imPellers are mounted on either end of the shaft. The shaft is dynamically balanced. The critical speed of the shaft is well above the operating speed (minimum 25%) ° HYDRAULIC SERVOMOTOR The main components of hydraulic servomotor as shown in Fig.4.17. are the cylinder, double-acting hydraulic piston, adjusting disc and control slide. The control slide has ports for admission of control oil into the cylinder.The control slide is a stationary member in the assembly and is held centrally in the piston. The free end of the control slide has provision for admission and return of the control oil from the servomotor cylinder. The adjusting disc is Positively attached to the piston and is displaced axially by an external actuator. Any change in plant load is converted into a mechanical output on the adjusting linkage, which moves the control slide axially to the left or the right. Control oil is admitted to the respective side of the piston, which results in an axial movement of the adjusting disc in the same direction. The reciprocating motion of the adjusting disc is converted into rotary motion of blade shaft through the slide pads and levers. The actuating forces and oil pressure act intrinsically within the closer impeller/servomotor system. Consequently, there are no external reaction forces. The bearing supports and alignment the rotor are not affected. 3.6.2.1.3 ROTOR BEARINGS The rotor is supported in antifriction bearings, which are mounted in a compact bearing housing. A steady supply of lubricating oil ensures that the bearings are lubricated and cooled. A thrust bearing is provided to absorb axial loads. Rotor and bearing housing are centrally mounted with the main fan housing. The bearing housing is hooted to the bearing supports of the bullet provided in the suction chamber of the fan. Mercury-in-steel thermometers and platinum resistance thermometers (RTD) are provided for indicating/monitoring the bearing temperatures. Provision is made on the bearing housing for fixing the vibration pickup for continuous monitoring of bearing vibrations.@ow TOYLNOD 20179 TOYLNOD AT@WISSY NOLSId OUND HOI 3avT@ wos woLOMOMES INVA CN oe KZ R Ss avd 701719 SASSSS GH YIITIA WI SSS LIVHE Nod asia YNILENLTY WHAIT LIVHS FOv7e AQv7@ BITTIdwi Fig.4.17 107* 3.6.2.1.4 RIGIFLIX COUPLING WITH INTERMEDIATE SHAFT ‘The fan shaft is connected to the motor shaft by means of Rigiflex coupling with intermediate shaft. It is maintenance-free steel membrane-type coupling for the transmission of the torque from the drive motor to the fan. ‘The axial freedom for the coupling must be such that the anticipated thermal expansion of the complete shaft system can be accommodated and that unacceptable high thrust load is not transmitted to the motor and rotor bearings. 3.6.2.1.5 ODL SUPPLY UNIT: AP fans are provided with forced oil circulation system. It consists of two motor driven pumps, two oil filters, two heat exchangers, etc. The main oil feeds lubricating oil to the rotor bearings and control oil to the servomotor from a common oil reservoir. Lubricating oil, control oil and leakage oil are circulated, cooled, filtered and returned back into the oil reservoir. A standby oil pump cuts in automatically on failure of the main oil pump. The system is equipped with necessary instruments and interlocks for local and remote indications. 3.6.2.2 SPECIAL FEATURES OF AP FAN The AP fans have an edge over other types of fans as enumerated below: a) For the same volume and pressure maximum efficiency (89%) can be attained with AP Fans compared to other fans. b) The major axis iso-efficiency ellipses are almost parallel to system resistance curve and hence a high & almost constant efficiency is achieved at all loads. c) Due to its inherent character it is possible to design this fan with comparatively high efficiency at MCR condition than at design condition. 4) Due to high efficiency at all load the power loss at low loads are minimum and hence better economy on power consumption is achieved. e) _- Weight of rotor parts is low and consequently the GD-I square value is low. f) High efficiency and low GD-square value of this fan enables the selection of a low capacity and lesser weight motor. 2) The total weight of fan being less compared to other fans, it calls for less amount of foundation material and the foundation structure is simple. h) _ The unstable region of this fan is less compared to axial impulse fan, The fan can safely be operated at low loads without stalling problem, thus enabling it suitable for parallel operation. i) Pitch control is quite sensitive with minimum hysterisis and the load charge can be felt immediately. It possesses a good and wide regulation characteristics from no load to full load. j) The regulation losses in pitch control are low compared to IGV or damper controls.3.6.3 AXIAL IMPULSE FANS (AN FANS) The ratio of hub to the tip diameter in the AN fan impeller is maintained as constant at around*0.71. These fans will have a large diffuser compared to reaction fan. This type of fan operates according to impulse principle. The major part of energy transferred to the fluid is of Kinetic,energy after the impeller. This kinetic energy is converted into pressure energy by the diffuser. This type of fans is driven at constant speed and the flow is controlled by changing the direction of gas entry and inlet area to the impeller blades. For this purpose, adjustable guide vanes are used before the impeller. 3.6.3.1 CONSTRUCTION FEATURES The major sub-assemblies of the fan are as follows: (Fig.4.18.) Stator parts Impeller with shaft assembly Bearings and Thermometers Flow Regulating Device Couplings ae. 3.6.3.1.1 STATOR PARTS a) SUCTION CHAMBER The suction chamber is of welded plate construction and is split horizontally for easy assembly and dismantling. The suction chamber is provided with manhole for checking the inlet of fan and removal of shaft. The suction chamber can be Positioned at any inclination along its axis to suit the layout.b) °) 4a) SHAFT PROTECTING TUBE AND CORE OF INLET GUIDE VANE Shaft protecting tube and core of IGV are of welded sheet construction and are split for easy assembly and dismantling. One end towards impeller side is supported concentrically by means of three tie gods and the other end is flanged with slope wall of the suction chamber. This split should be placed along the flow for both hot medium dust laden gases and cold medium fans. This arrangement is provided to maintain a stream flow of atmospheric air in order to cool the shaft and at the same time to protect the shaft from hot medium of flow. Impeller housing is fabricated from sheet metal and is of undivided construction. A peephole is provided in the housing for checking the wear on the impeller. A conical piece is provided in the housing that is supported by a set of outlet guide blades. The conical piece supports the inner bearing assembly. These blades are designed for the energy conversion from kinetic energy to static energy and to serve as support for the inner bearing. For fans handling cold medium, the blades are fixed type and welded with housing and core of housing. For fans handling dust laden hot gases, these blades are removable type in order to replace the eroded blades during operation. During operation these blades can be replaced one at a time. IMPELLER HOUSING WITH PERMANENT SUPPORT Generally the erosion pattern of outlet blades shows that the erosion is severe near the root of the blade towards the outer casing. If the erosion is severe, the outlet blades in total may be separated and thereby loss of support for inner bearing leading to dislocation of inner bearing and major damage to the fan. In view of the loss of support due to erosion on outlet blades, a modification with three permanent supports were introduced by removing six number of outlet blades. It is expected that even with the loss of support of outlet blades, the permanent supports will take the bearing load. Even after the provision of these supports, the checks and replacement of outlet blades should be done for proper aerodynamic performance of the fan, DIFFUSER Diffuser is of welded sheet metal construction with a core inside. The core of the diffuser is flanged with core of the impeller housing on one end and supported by struts on the other end. A diffuser wedge is provided with two openings in between core and case of diffuser. One opening as manhole to inspect the inner bearing and other one for grease lubricating pipe assembly for inner bearing. For fans handling hot gases the diffuser core and diffuser wedge are insulated inside. Also a cooling pipe is provided from the outside of diffuser upto the inner bearing through the diffuser wedge to have natural cooling or forced cooling. The grease lubricating pipe as well as thermometer leads of the inner bearing are brought outside through cooling pipe or diffuser core and diffuser wedge for 110easy access. The core is provided with a monorail and two travelling trolleys to hold the shaft during the removal of the impeller. ©) ‘SFREE/SLIDEABLE SUPPORTS * Free or slideable supports are provided under diffuser and suction chamber. These "supports are provided to accommodate the thermal expansion of suction chamber/diffuser during operation. If the supports are not provided properly or not working properly, the thermal expansion of suction chamber or diffuser may affect the fan, Any disturbance on impeller housing can overload the bearings, the result of which is high vibration, rise of temperature, damage of bearings, loosening of fasteners, etc. The holes of base platé’of suction chamber/diffuser and inner portion of the bush are fo be filled with grease to prevent ash accumulation and corrosion. f) STABILSER (KSE) FOR FD FANS Stabiliser is a set of stationary blades. It is located in front of the impeller. At low loads there is a circulation of low media between the impeller and the stabliser. This maintains the flow in the impeller in optimum so that stalling does not occur while delivering the required quantity of air. It can be used only for media without dust. This can be provided for FD fan application only. 3.6.3.1.2 IMPELLER WITH SHAFT ASSEMBLY The impeller hub is of welded sheet metal construction on which the non-profiled solid twisted blades are welded with proper welding sequence to avoid distortion. The impeller hub iis strengthened by front disc and a cover plate. The impeller is stress relieved upon completion of all welding operation and is dynamically balanced to the required quality level after final machining. The impeller design has been improved by providing stiffeners at the blade root on the convex side of the blade. It is designed to increase the natural frequency of the individual blades and also to avoid the resonance with harmonics at operating speed. The shaft is a hollow tube with two solid forged endpins shrunk fit ab both ends of the shaft. A flange is welded to the shaft to fix the impeller by means of screw ring. The shaft is made from steel and machined to a high degree of finish for location of bearings. coupling half etc. The completed shaft is dynamically balanced. The critical speed of the shaft is kept well above the operating speed (minimum 25%). 3.6.3.1.3 BEARINGS AND THERMOMETERS The fan rotor is supported in between a fixed bearing (flange bearing) near the impeller side and a free bearing (outer bearing) near the coupling end. AN fans are provided with antifriction bearings with grease lubrication. A grease quantity control ring is provided on each bearing assembly to discharge surplus amount of grease. The bearings are selected to take care of both radial and thrust loads. ‘The m1bearings are self-aligning type. The free bearing is designed with sufficient axial gap to accommodate the thermal expansion of the shaft during operation. Bearing housings are provided with temperature gauges and platinum resistance thermometers (RTD) for local/remote indication of bearing temperatures with contact for alarm and trip connections. 3.6.3.1.4 COUPLINGS ‘AN fans are driven by constant speed motor. The fan is connected to the motor by means of the pin type flexible coupling. The distance between the two halves of the coupling is to be maintained such that the expansion of the shaft will also be considered. 3.6.3.2 SPECIAL FEATURES OF AN FAN a) Mechanically simple construction and hence easy to maintain b) Provided with an Inlet Guide Vane control with a positive and precise link mechanism. c) Even with the advanced rate of erosion of the blades, the performance characteristic of the fan is not appreciably affected. Therefore, this fan is utilized in dust laden gas applications. d) Rebuilding of the impeller is possible to the maximum of four times. e) For given duty conditions the fan is much economical. 3.7 CHARACTERISTIC CURVES ‘These are the curves drawn indicating the head developed, power required and efficiency for different volumetric flow across the fan when the fan runs at constant speed as shown in Fig.4.19.Every fan is restricted to the performance defined by its characteristic curve. The fan always operate at a point that lies some where on the characteristic plot. For example, if the head required for a given volume is less than that specified by the curves, additional resistance must be placed in the system; otherwise the fan will put out more capacity until it reaches a point ‘on the characteristic curve at which the head matches system resistance. However, the characteristics of a fan can be changedHEAD, POWER. FLOW VOLUME FAN BASIC CHARACTERISTIC CURVES Fig.4.19. by varying either the speed or inlet flow conditions; the fan has no choice: it must operate at a point on the curve at a specific speed or inlet condition where head, capacity and system resistance balance. 3.7.1 DEVELOPMENT OF CHARACTERISTIC CURVES These curves are normally developed from base test curves, which in turn are developed from test data recorded under controlled laboratory conditions. For uniformity as well as for ease of understanding and ready comparison, test data are corrected or adjusted to what is known * as standard conditions. Standard conditions for fan design work denote that all flow, pressure and power values are at 21°C and sea level with air density 1.2 kg per cubic meter. 3.7.2 -APPLICATION OF CHARACTERISTIC CURVES Fig.4.20.illustrates the application of typical centrifugal — fan characteristic curves to a fan problem in which points A.B.and C are calculated requirements at four load points on a given boiler. The line through them defines the system resistance. The point where this line intersect the static pressure characteristics of any fan, at any given speed, determines the point on the characteristic at which the fan will operate, if both curves are plotted for the same density. However, the fan can operate only on its characteristic curve. If any error has been made in calculating point D-in volume or pressure, or iemperature-that point will not fall on the 113characteristic curve and the fan may not meet the requirements when operating at the particular speed. For example, if 10 % more volume is needed at the same pressure, point D will be displaced to the right, but the available pressure at the fan head at the same time drops 14 percent and the fan cannot satisfy the requirements. Similarly, if the volume is correct but 10 percent more pressure is needed, the volume that the fan would deliver at the greater pressure would be only about 90 percent of the requirements, because the fan can ‘operate only on its characteristic curve for a given speed and density APPLICATION OF CHARACTERISTIC CURVES condition. Fig.4.20 To provide excess capacity it is customary to specify the volume and pressure in excess of the actual calculated requirements and thereby obtain a larger fan. Suppose a portion of the pressure characteristic of this larger fan, operating at the same speed and density, is represented by line FG in Fig.4.20.then it is apparent that this size fan would be selected by the manufacturer if the purchaser specified 24 percent excess volume. At the same time the fan would satisfy the requirement of point E, which requires 8-percent excess volume and 17-percent excess pressure. The only advantage in attempting to define point E on the extrapolated system resistance curve, instead of point F or G, is that the power requirement given by the manufacturer will then represent a closer estimate of the larger fan under actual operating conditions than if point F or point G had been defined for fan selection. ‘The fan finally chosen can, however, satisfy the requirements of all three points, if sufficient power is available from the drive. 14} Further the characteristic curves also help to compare the performance of difference types of fans to select the optimum fan. In Fig.4.21. the characteristic curves of Radial flay forward and backward curved blades fans are superimposed, This indicates that at 50% mass flow conditions, the backward curved bladed fan develops maximum head, the power and efficiency lies between flat and forward curved bladed fans. However at higher mass flow rates the backward curved bladed fans have higher efficiency and draws less power. Depending on the requirement an optimum type of fan can be selected. , - Centrifugal fan Characteristic Curves Fig.4.21 38 FANCONTROL Fans cannot be operated in system continuously at same pressure and volume. These Tequirements vary due to the changes in the system for example the Boiler load variations. As seen earlier a fan can operate only on its characteristic curves. If no other means are adopted, only by adding or removing additional resistance to the system resistance the flow variations can be achieved. This additional resistance will be added by having suitable dampers on the discharge side of the fan. However this is an uneconomical approach as the energy imparted to the medium is unnecessarily throttled in the dampers. Apart from the damper control, the fan capacity control can be efficiently achieved in two ways. > i) Controlling the aero dynamic flow into or within the fan, ii) Controlling the speed of the fan. In the first method the fan is provided with either inlet guide vanes or fan blade pitch control mechanism. The second method refers to any speed changing device such as a turbine, fluid drive, electronically adjustable motor drive etc. connected to the fan. 3.8.1 INLET GUIDE VANES The inlet guide vane unit (IGV Unit) is a single piece housing flanged at both sides one connected to the inlet cone flange and the other to the flange of the inlet bell. The vanes are of 115thin aerofoil sheets fixed onto the individual shafts by rivets. All the IGV shafts are connected to a common regulating ring through angular joints and levers. This gives a positive and precise link mechanism. The regulating ring is guided to rotating mechanism by set of rollers and spring assemblies called suspension assemblies. A pneumatic power cylinder or an electric servomotor externally actuates the ring. A graduated plate indicates the position of the IGV. The inlet guide vane assembly is split to facilitate easy assembling and dismantling. For hot medium fans, the rollers of suspension assembly should have a radial gap in cold condition with outer surface of IGV casing in order to accommodate the expansion of casing during operation. For cold medium fans, the rollers should have contact with IGV outer surface casing before operation and during operation. . The medium enters the impeller through the vanes. The vanes are adjustable during operation of the fan. These vanes provide swirl to the medium, the magnitude of which depends on the position of the vanes as shown in Fig.4.22. As such the inlet Guide Vanes tends to alter the inlet velocity of the medium. INLET GUIDE VANES: Fig.4.22 Since the mass flow is proportional to the speed of the impeller; varying the portion of Inlet Guide Vanes varies the flow through the fan. Typical characteristic curves of axial and radial fans using Inlet Guide Vanes are illustrated in Fig.4.23. and 4.24. 116In these curves the same efficiency points at different fam operating conditions are connected. These are called iso efficiency lines. Pi aw eanc oe nmimi eestor Fig.4.24, 3.8.2. BLADE PITCH CONTROL This type of control is used only in Axial reaction fans. The flow is controlled by varying the blade angle of the fan. The effect is to create a unique aerodynamic configuration for the fan at each point of operation so that the fan is operating at maximum possible efficiency. As the blade 17is adjusted from minimum to maximum position the flow change is nearly linear. Further the response is very quick. The blades can be moved from the maximum open to fully closed position in 30 seconds. This means the fan can respond from maximum continuous condition to &_ zer10 flow in approximately 20 seconds. a ‘VOLUME Views) not © pare nmess oan) ——Pencancy cairo © oe pol base oe ng saa re 2 9a CHARACTERISTIC CURVES OF AXIAL REACTION FAN Fig 4.25. Fig.4.25 illustrates the typical characteristic curves of an axial reaction fan with blade pitch control. 3.8.3 SPEED CONTROL This is the most efficient form of fan capacity control. By varying the speed of the fan the characteristic of the fan itself is changed, as the flow is directly proportional to speed, head to the square of the speed and power to the cube of speed. Also fan speed control, reduces erosion to the fan, mechanical shock at start up, fan system oriented problems and electrical power surge on motor start up. This is also an energy saving device. The disadvantages are its cost and additional components to the drive train, which needs more attention. 118,The characteristics of a typical radial fan at different speeds are illustrated in Fig.4.26. CHARACTERISTIC CURVES FOR SPEED CONTROL Fig.4.26 The different methods adopted for varying the speed are i Two speed drive motor with Inlet Guide Vanes ii) Variable speed hydraulic coupling iii) Variable speed drives either with ‘stepped variation or step less variation. 3.9 SURGE OR STALL LIMIT The surge limit of a centrifugal fan is that point near the peak of the pressure curve corresponding to the minimum flow rate at which the fan can be Operated without instability. The stall limit of an axial fan is that point near the peak of the pressure curve at a particular blade angle corresponding to the minimum flow rate at which the fan may be operated without Separation air flow over the blades. A fan must not be operated in the surge or stall region, otherwise serious damage can occur to the fan, An aerodynamic characteristic of all axial fans ( just as with and airplane), stall is understood by few. A stall occurs when the angle of attack of the fan blade (or airplane wing) exceeds a certain value in relationship to air velocity. When this angle of attack value is exceeded, airflow becomes separated from the convex side of the blade. Centrifugal force then throw air trapped in this separated portion in a radial direction, to the outer tip of the blade. At this point, pressure builds up until itis relieved through the blade tip clearance. This process creates a very unstable and oscillating pressure force on the blade, and can cause very severe vibrations throughout the 119entire fan. In Fig.4.25. the flow separation points occur at the upper end of the several blade- pitch lines, with the dotted lines extending downward and left to the recovery point, where another reversal takes place. At low blade angle, the fan tends to get noisy and somewhat unstable but it no longer is subject to stalling. 3.10 FAN SELECTION Though any type of fan can be selected for a particular application, there are number of factors to be considered to get an optimum fan. Stability at low load conditions, whether to handle clean or dust laden, hot or cold medium, maximum efficiency at all operating ranges, low power input, longer life of all the components, resistance to erosion and corrosion, heat withstanding capacity and economics are some of the factors based on which a particular type of fan is selected for a particular application. Comparing the iso efficiency curves of axial fans and radial fans it can be noticed that the iso efficiency curves of axial reaction fan is almost parallel to the system resistance curve where as it is perpendicular in radial fan. Because of this the axial fans will run at higher efficiency at lower load compared to radial fans. However the radial fans have the advantage of longer life compared to axial fans especially in dust laden gas applications. In radial fans itself the straight bladed fan has self cleaning capacity makes it more suitable for dirty gas applications but it has low efficiency. The following table indicates the effect of blade type on erosion resistance and efficiency in radial fans’ 1 Straight 70 High p Forward curved 80 Medium to High 3. Backward curved 85 Medium 4. Aerofoil 90 Low Generally fan selections are made for different applications in large capacity boilers as follows. Application Type 1 Forced Draught a) Axial Reaction with blade pitch control b) Axial impulse with Inlet Guide Vanes i Induced Draught a) Radial with variable speed control b) Axial impulse with Inlet Guide Vanes 3, Primary a) Radial with Inlet Guide Vanes c) Axial reaction with blade pitch control.4.0 AIRHEATERS 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 cgmbustion air. In an utility Boiler the flué gas leaves the economiser at a temperature of around 380°C. As every 55°C drop in flue gas temperature improves the Boiler efficiency by about 2.5%, having an air heater in the downstieam of economiser the Boiler efficiency is considerably improved. Further the air heater may also be used for heating the air to dry the coal in the pulverizing plant. 4.1 | 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 give the following advantages. a) The Boiler efficiency is increased b) More stable combustion in furnace ©) The combustion is intensified with the use of hot air 4) Lower grades of coals can be burnt efficiently with hot air ©) 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 pulverisation and combustion. 42. 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 heating 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 forms of tubes/plates. In the regenerative type the gas flows through a closely packed matrix or heat transfer elements giving up heat to the air heater elements and so raising the temperature of the matrix, Air is then passed through and recovers the heat. Either the matrix or the hoods may be rotated to achieve this heat transfer as a continuous process. 4.2.1 RECUPERATIVE TYPE AIR HEATER Tubular air heaters and plate type air heaters are coming under this category. ‘The Plate type air heaters are not generally used in the large capacity Boilers. 12142.1.1 TUBULAR AIR HEATER TUBULAR AIR HEATER Fig.4.27. ‘This usually consists of large number of steel tubes of 40 to 65 mm diameter either welded or expanded into the tube plates at the end. The tube bank is placed in a shell. Baffles gre generally provided between the tube plates ie guide the airflow across the entire surface of ire bes, Generally the Gas flows through the tubes, hheating the tube surface and the air flows over the tube surface picking the heat. When abes are arranged horizontally air is passed through the tubes. In Boilers when this tyPe ig used 2 to 3 stages of air heaters will be provided. ‘The portion of air heater at low temperature 70ne is designed normally with a shorter tube length so as to facilitate maintenance of surfaces due to corrosion and fouling. 42.1.2 PLATE TYPE 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. 1224.2.1.3 ADVANTAGES 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. 4.2.1.4 * 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 4) 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 8) 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 pulverisers. 4.2.2 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 Ljungstrom air heaters are mostly used in Indian Power Stations. 4.2.2.1 LJUNGSTROM AIR HEATER 3 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 trisector. In trisector 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.4.2.2.1.1 CONSTRUCTION DETAILS This air heater as shown in Fig.4.28. consists of the following major components. Rotor Bearing = Housing Connecting Plates Sealing arrangement Drive Units “Cleaning Devices, , A Safety Devices 124.a) ROTOR This is the heart of the equipment resembling a solid cylinder with the extended shafts containigg the heating elements. In the conventional air heaters te rotor will have a hub ot rotor post at the centre 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 by division plates, ‘The heating clement 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 modules filled with heat transfer profiles inside them and pin rack ~ segments fixed on the peripheral are suitably assembled to the rotor post to form the rotor. b) ROTOR POST This is a cylindrical shell with two end plates welded to it, At both ends trunnions will be connected to serve the purpose 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 high-tension pins. The bottom header will support the modules through the horizontal locating pins. ©) MODULES Modules as in Fig.4.29. are nothing but cylindrical segments made out of two diaphragm plates and one shell 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 the modules assembled to the rotor post to form a Totor. Modular design is a new concept and has its own advantages. . This reduces the erection time — considerably and improves the quality AIRFEATES MODULES, of erection besides avoiding the transit damages. Further it also reduces the storage Fig.4.29. spaces and makes them easier to get stored. Also, the module erection does not call for any welding work and it is just enough if we assemble them with the fasteners. 125d) HEATING ELEMENTS The heating elements, packed in reversible containers called baskets, are placed in the rotor in 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.4.30. They are made of carbon steel. The cold end heating elements are made of corten steel, which has resistance to corrosion. The undulations in the heating elements cause turbulence to the gas and air for efficient heat transfer. The notches are for maintaining the spacing between the elements and minimising the pressure drop across the air heater. e) BEARINGS Both the extended ends of the rotor post are 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 sump inside. To dissipate then and there the heat generated in the bearing assembly lubricating oil circulation units with the necessary heat exchangers, oil filters and oil pumps are provided separately for each bearing. f) HOUSING The housing is made of a number of panels and is assembled at site to form the housing to accommodate the rotor inside. The panels 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 on their expansion due to temperature gradient. These pedestals are load-carrying members and they transmit entire weight of air heater to the structural members. 126g) CONNECTING PLATES AIR HEATER BYPASS AIR IN . | Hor air > > pro FURNACE AIR HEATER BY PASS SYSTEM Fig.4. 33 43.3 SCAPH A Steam Coil air pre heater will be provided between the F.D. fan and air heater. The SCAPH consists of a shell housing number of tube coils. Low-pressure steam is circulated through these tubes through a regulating valve. When the air from F.D. fan pass through the shell it picks up heat from the steam coils. The steam flow through the tubes can be controlled to obtain the desired air temperature at the outlet of SCAPH. Thus maintaining a high air inlet temperature to air heater the cold end corrosion can be effectively prevented. Steam for the SCAPH is obtained from PRDS station or package boiler. 44 DUCTS AND FLUES Duets and flues are lines through which air and flue gases are moved respectively. They normally account for upto 8% of the capital cost of the boiler. Further the pressure drop of air/flue gas and thereby the power consumption in fans is considerably affected by the design and layout of ducts and flues. ‘The shape and cross section area of the ducts and flues are determined by the restricted space through which they have to pass, rather than on an ideal layout requiring the least number of bends and changes of sections. 132Generally rectangular cross sections of welded fabrications are used with stiffening on the outside and internal bracing. As vortices wasting fan power, will be generated in gas flows in circular sections, the flues are not generally of circular section. However because of the follotying advantages of circular sections, in some boilers cigcular ducts are used for airflow in small quantities «i) ii) iii) iv) y) No internal struts are required thus reducing the power and friction losses in he duct The curved plates reduce the vibration modes of duct walls reducing noise levels The sound radiating surface is reduced There is significant reduction in weight both of the duct and supporting steel work ‘There is reduction of insulating costs. Some of the important criteria in ducts and flues design are i) ii) iii) iv) vy) vi) Wherever the flue gas is carrying a heavy dust burden, particularly in the flue between the air heater gas outlet and precipitator inlet, a higher than normal gas velocity is ensured to prevent the entrained dust falls out and collects in the flue at part loads. Flues liable to dust buildup are designed to withstand a depth of dust equal to 10% of the duct height and in few vulnerable areas 25%. Changes in cross sectional area of ducts/flues should be gradual in order to reduce frictional losses. Gas velocity and temperature distribution must be uniform at the entry to heat exchangers and dust collectors. Non-uniform distribution results in low efficiency, aggravated fouling, erosion and corrosion. As the major losses in flues and ducts arise from the bends, attention is to be given on the following aspects to keep the losses minimum. a) __ the flow into the bend should be even b) the inner radius of the bend should be as large as the layout permits. ©) Flow splitters should be provided It is to be ensured that the flues are as gas tight as possible, Since the flues are under negative pressure generated by the LD. fan and any leakage of air into the flue will have the following effects. a) It will reduce the temperature of the metal round the leak, leading to corrosion. b) As the gas stream temperature reduces, both the gas density and gas weight passing through the fan increase with inevitable increase in fan power consumption and decrease in draught available from Chimney. 133~ DUCTS INA BOILER Fig.4.34, A typical duct system in the boiler is shown in Fig.4.34. A duct or flue will have normally the following components. i) ii) Dampers ‘Expansion joints 45 DAMPERS ‘The dampers are provided in a duct or flue either to isolate or control the flow. The following two types of dampers are generally used. i) Multi blade or Loure type dampers ii) Guillotine dampers45.1 MULTI BLADE DAMPER Fig.4.35.shows this type of damper. Here blades or loures mounted on individual spindles are fixed inside a framework. The blade shafts are connected by link mechanism to an operating lever. The frame is flanged to the ductwork. ugh an actuator attached to the opefating lever the blades can be tilted inside the ductwork’ for opening, closing or controlling purposes. *"Though these type of dampers can be used for both regulating and isolating purposes, as the blade edges and seals deteriorate in service, especially in dusty conditions a gas tight seal after a period of operation cannot be expected. As dampers remain in one position for months at a time while the boiler is steaming it is essential to ensure that the blade spindles do not seize in the bearings and the blade linkage is strong enough to take the thrust from the actuator if the bearings are stiff from lack of use. 3.3.1.2, GUILLOTINE DAMPER These dampers are used for only isolation purpose to provide an effective isolation when closed. This damper has one sliding blade which seals into the frame in the duct as shown in Fig.4.36.The blade can enter the duct/flue from the top, bottom or side but generally from top. - The seals are made from stainless or other higher alloy steels. Sometimes pressurised ambient air is fed into the seal to prevent gas seeping through the slight inaccuracies in the seal constrution. The aperture in thr duct/flue through which the blade enters is sealed by a hinged cover which can be opened and closed either manually or electrically. Fig.4. 35. 135 # is yj F ANS46 EXPANSION JOINTS Expansion joints are flexible bellows inserted at strategic positions in the flues and ducts. They are provided to take up the thermal movement of the flues and ducts and ensures that this movement is not transmitted to the casings of fans, precipitators, air heaters etc. The anchor points are designed in such a way to transmit all Toads and thrusts to the supporting steelwork or foundations. $ The expansion joints can be either metallic or non-metallic fabrics both are shown in Fig.4.37. Fabric expansion joints are used where the relative movements of ducts and plant make metallic joints impractical or expensive. Fig.4. 37 47 CHIMNEYS Though in natural circulation boilers, the Chimney creates the draught in the boiler, in large boilers where mechanised draught system is adopted the function of a Chimney is largely limited to discharge flue gases to the atmosphere at such height and velocity that the 136concentration of pollutants such as particulate matter, sulphur-di-oxide ete. is kept within acceptable limits at ground level. The pollutants existing from the Chimney must first clear the area of turbulent air created by the wind around the Chimney top. To ensure this the height of the Chimney is sufficiently high above the boiler house or nearby buildings and the gases are emittéd with sufficient upward velocity. Generally the heighf of the chimney is decided based on the concentration of pollutants in the flue gas, emission standards, wind velocity, location of the plant etc. The Chimneys upto a height of 60 Metre can be a brick work structure but beyond that height to withstand the increased wind load the chimneys are built as reinforced concrete shell. To protect the concrete shaft internally from heat and acid attack of flue gas, lining will be provided on the inner walls of chimney. The lining is normally in the form of acid resisting brickwork. The column of hot gases rising inside a chimney continue to rise as a plume without appreciable dispersion for some height after leaving the top of the chimney and so increases the effective height of the emission. ‘The plume rise largely depends on the heat content of plume. With the increase in effective height of emission, the concentration of pollutants at ground level reduces. Therefore for a power station with several boilers, the plume rise can be maximised by either connecting all the flues to a common chimney or to a multi flue chimney. Connecting all flues to a common chimney will have practical and operation difficulties. Especially there will be reduced velocity when all boilers are not in service. Hence this method is not preferred. Many power stations with number of boilers are provided with multi flue chimney. In a multi flue Chimney several flues are enclosed within a circular reinforced concrete windshield. ‘A multiflue chimney can be one with independent concrete shafts with linings for each boiler enclosed within a concrete windshield as in the Fig.4.38.Floors are provided in the inter-space between the chimneys and the windshield at intervals for access. In another type of multiflue chimney a reinforced concrete windshield encloses flues formed only of lining brickwork. ‘The sections of flue brickwork are carried on a series of floors at about 10-metre interval and beams support these load-bearing floors. To reduce the span of these beams, a central column is normally provided which also can serve as an access shaft. This type of multiflue chimney is shown in Fig.4.39. 137 E‘CONCRETE anarr rors es ectesruoons ar eee tents Feet Ganiies On Sear Soren es MULTI FLUE CHIMNEY WITH FREE STANDING FLUES Fig.4. 38. 138MULTI FLUE CHIMNEY WITH FLUES SUPPORTED ON WINDSHIELD 39. Fig.4. 39. 139CHAPTER 5 * SOOT BLOWERS 1.0 SOOT DEPOSIT Whenever fossil fuels are burnt they Jeave a combustion residue broadly known as ash. {As the flue gas comes out of the boiler furnace, it brings along with it a major portion of this ash. ‘As the gas moves over the heat transfer areas of the boiler, the ‘ash deposits on the heating surfaces. This is known as soot deposit. 1.1. TYPES OF SOOT DEPOSIT The soot deposits are broadly classified as - Fused slag deposits - High Temperature bonded deposit - Low Temperature deposits. 1.1.1 FUSED SLAG DEPOSIT ‘They are formed on furnace walls and other surfaces exposed to predominantly radiant heat 4 1.1.2. HIGH TEMPERATURE BONDED DEPOSIT This type of deposit occurs on convection heating surfaces, which are not exposed to radiant heat from the furnace, mainly on convective supetheaters and re-heaters. 1.1.3 LOW TEMPERATURE DEPOSITS Formation of deposits in the low temperature zones such as the economisers and air heater is usually associated with condensation of acid or water vapour on cooled surfaces. 1.2 EFFECT OF SOOT DEPOSITS ‘The ash deposits if allowed to build on the heat recovery surfaces of the boilers, they have detrimental effects on the boiler performance as follows. - As the deposits are poor conductor of heat, there will be reduction in heat transfer ultimately resulting in increase of flue gas temperature leaving the boiler and hence reducing boiler efficiency cd Deposit accumulation block flue gas path thereby increasing draught losses and so high ID fan power. : emi —=OCt«C<“C*‘“‘~*“C:*‘S weight. - The deposits bonded to the tubes also lead to corrosion.2.0. ON LOAD CLEANING <>. _ Itis obvious from the above that it would: be unedbnomical to run the boiler without Cleaning the heat recovery surfaces, Frequent shut down of boilers would reduce considerably the. boiler availability and hence it is essential to go for cleaning the heating surfaces of the boiler under the working condition. This is known as on load cleaning. 2.1 TYPES OF ONLOAD CLEANING SYSTEM Many methods are available to clean the heating surfaces of the boiler on load. Some of them are - Hand lancing - Water lancing - Shot cleaning - Vibration method - Soot blowing Any one of the above methods or combination can be used based on the type of deposits and frequency of cleaning required, However soot blowing the most commonly used method of on load cleaning. 3.0 SOOT BLOWING In soot blowing the soot blowing medium is injected on the heating surface at high velocity by a device called soot blower for a short time, The blowing medium strikes the deposit and dislodges it from the heating surface, The soot-blowing medium can be steam, ‘water or compressed air. Though all the three can effectively clean the deposits they have their own merits and demerits based on their system requirement in a particular installation, More commonly steam is used as blowing medium in Indian boilers though water and air are also used in some installations. 4.0 SOOT BLOWERS Soot blowers are the devices, which admit the blowing medium over the heating surfaces. Soot blowers are made according to the surface they have to clean. The soot blowers for water walls are called wall blowers or deslaggers. Long Retracts and half retracts are used for super heaters, Re heaters and economisers. Rotary air heaters are provided swivel blowers. The exact mechanism of a blower depends on the manufacturer. The working of some typical blowers are explained below. 4.1 WALL BLOWER ‘The wall blower consists of a stationary body and rack housing, and a travelling gearbox to which the swivel tube is attached. The swivel tube is supported by sleeve type bearings at each end of the body casting. The horizontal guide rods are used to assure proper alignment of the travelling gearbox 141(A stationary electric motor is situated on the right side of the blower. This motor through a gearbox operates a pinion, which drives a horizontal rack, the outer end of which is fastened to the travelling gearbox. When the travelling gear box approaches the fully extended position, a ramp attached to the free end of the rack contacts a bearing surface which is an integral part of the valve head operating lever. When the blower is started, the rack pinion moves the rack and rotary gearbox toward the boiler. Operation of the travelling gear causes rotation of a shaft extending WALL BLOWER Fig. ‘out from the rack gear housing into a switch enclosure. Located in this enclosure are two cam actuated limit switches. One cam holds limits switch (LS;) in the open position when the blower is fully retracted. Extending of the blower then is under its own control. Near the fully extended position, the rack strikes the cam, operating the lever that opens the valve head. The second limit switch cam strikes LS,, which opens the circuit to the traversing motor and closes the circuit to the rotary motor. 142The rotary motor is attached to the rotary gearbox. When LS» closes, the motor rotates “the swivel tube through a gear train. % : . ‘When the blowing sweep is finished the cam on the swivel tube contacts and rotates the arm on the limit switch LS3. The traversing motor begins to retract the blower. Near the fully retracted position the cam again opens the switch LS; to halt the blower. ‘The travel is only 12”. The swivel tube will go into the wall for 1 4” and the nozzle attached to the swivel tube cleans the surface. 4.2 LONG RETRACTBLE SOOT BLOWER These soot blowers are normally employed, for cleaning the super heater, re heater zones of the boiler, where the flue gas temperature would be ntore than 980°C. The complete assembly of the soot blower is enclosed in the supporting case. ‘The main parts enclosed are power packs, travelling carriage assembly, valve head and its controlling linkage. ‘The supporting case itself forms the base of the blower. It is connected with the wall box through a lance and yoke bearing assembly. ‘The lance is attached to a travelling carriage, which runs on tracks inside the blower housing. The carriage and lance are moved by means of a traversing chain operated by an electric power pack. Rotary motion is applied to the lance through the travelling carriage by a second chain driven by a separate electric power pack. Control of movement is by a stop and reverse limit switches fixed on extreme ends. The lance is flanged to the carriage and supported on the boiler end by a roller bearing. The wheels on the travelling carriage run on tracks fastened to the inside of blower housing, side ways motion is limited by a roller on each side of the carriage which use the housing sides as guides, The ends of the traversing chain are connected to each end of the carriage. The rotating chain is continuous. It passes over sprockets on the carriage, and causes rotation through a worm and gear train, A valve head mounted at the rear of the blower controls flow of medium through the lance. The feed pipe is attached to the outlet of the valve head, This feed pipe passes through the packing gland in the travelling carriage and lies inside the lance tube, extending almost the entire length of the blower. The electric power packs are mounted on the top or bottom of the blower. Motion is transmitted from the power packs to adjustable jackshafts on each side of the blower. ‘Tension on the internal chains is adjusted by moving the slotted blocks, which hold the inner sprockets on the out board or in board cnd of the unit. The adjustable bar on the travelling carriage strikes a ‘V’ shaped lever to cause the flow of blowing medium. The ‘V’ ever is connected by a turn buckle type trip rod to the DVT head linkage. 143Fig.5.2. Blowing pressures can be adjusted by positioning the screw attached to the DVT head. In normal operations, as the start button is pressed the lance tube begins to extended and rotate. ‘There is a time lag between the start of the lance tube travel and admission of steam for blowing. This is termed as dead feed. As the nozzles clear the boiler wall, the carriage strikes the ‘V’ shaped lever, opening the valve head and blowing commences. At the fully extended position the travelling carriage strikes the reverse limit switch, which closes momentarily to reverse the lance tbe. As the carriage retracts it again strikes the “V’ shaped lever closing the D.V-T. head. The travelling carriage continues its rear ward travel until the cleaning nozzle is retracted into the protection of the wall box at which time the stop limit switch is actuated to stop the unit. 43 SOOT BLOWER FOR ROTARY AIR HEATER This is a single motor non-rotating retractable soot blower patterned after the long © retractable soot blower. The soot blower lance nonmally is equipped with three nozzles extended two thirds of the air heater basket radius. The soot blower is located on the gas outlet side of the air heater. ‘When started the blowing medium valve is opened and the soot blower remains stationary until the basket makes at least one revolution. The lance is then indexed approximately 4” and remains in the second position until the basket makes another revolution and so on until the lance has traveled the remaining one third of the basket radius. When the full extended position is reached, the traversing motor is reversed and the soot blower lance is retracted to its normal “at rest” position without indexing. 144CHAPTER 6 PULVERISER PLANT 1.0 INTRODUCTION Of the three commercial fuels — coal, petroleum and natural gas, coal is the basic fuel used in boilers for power generation due to its distribution and availability. Though coal can be ‘burnt in a boiler in many ways such as hand firing, stoker firing, pulverised coal firing, cyclone fumace etc., pulverised coal firing is favoured over other methods of burning coal because of many advantages.” About 80% of the coal for the generation of electricity are bumt in the pulverised form. In this method of coal firing, the coal is pulverised into a fine powder of size around 80 microns in a pulveriser and this coal powder is then injected into the boiler furnace either directly or through a bunker. On injection into the furnace and ignited the coal powder burns in suspension. This method of coal firing calls for a pulveriser plant attached to the boiler. 2.0 ADVANTAGES Adopting pulverised coal firing in boilers derives many advantages, Important advantages of them are: i) Pulverised coal burns like gas and therefore fires are easily lighted and controlled ii) _ Pulverised coal furnaces can be readily adopted to burn other fuels that burn like gas ‘Cheaper low grade fuels can be burnt more efficiently iv) Flexibility in firing with ability to meet fluctuating loads v) Ability to design and build high unit capacity steam generators vi) Better reaction to automatic control vii) High availability viii) High combustion efficiency Still this type of firing may not be economical for boilers with low steam generating capacity (eg.100 T/HR) because of the costs involved in investment and running the pulverised plant, 3.0 FUNDAMENTAL REQUIREMENTS OF A PULVERISER PLANTi) Raw coal feeding it) Drying ® iii) Grinding and circulating, iv) Classifying y) Transporting 3.1 RAW COAL FEEDING ‘The system needs an arrangement for feeding the raw coal from a” bunker to the pulveriser at controlled rates. The rate of feeding depends on the boiler Joad, quality of coal, puiveriser condition etc. A Raw Coal feeder carries out the raw coal feeding. 3.2. DRYING Drying of col is essential for effective grinding ofthe coal. Otherwise the wet coal will stick on the surface of grinding elements. Further drying is required to provide proper ait-coal mixture temperature to the burner for ignition without coking.In a pulveriser plant coal is dried in the pulveriser either using hot air or hot flue gas. 33 GRINDING AND CIRCULATING 4 ‘The most important requirement fot the pulversed coal fring is pulversing the cod 10 the desired fineness and a pulveriser or coal mill does this. ‘The pulveriser must have the ability to grind the coal without the production of super fines and reject foreign matter that enters with the feed. coe ficient circtaton of coal within the pulverisr is to be effected to dry the coal, remove it from the grinding zone and deliver it to the classifier. ‘unnecessary super fines. 3.5 TRANSPORTING 7 ‘The system must have an arrangement to move the coal powder from the pulveriser othe boiler furnace without any-fall out of coal in the pipelines. ‘This is achieved by using hot air or hot flue gas under pressure or suction created by fans. ‘A typical pulveriser plant with all the above provisions is shown in Fig, 6.1.PULVERISER PLANT 7 j Fig.l. 4 RAW COAL FEEDERS ‘A raw coal feeder is a device that supplies the pulveriser with an uninterrupted flow of raw coal from the bunker to meet system requirements. The feeders have'to regulate the rate of ' coal flow corresponding to boiler load, calorific value of coal etc. as shown in Fig.6.2. LOWRRCY,/ NORMALCY. ‘ con. ee. HIGHER GY. — _— LOAD t/t. COAL REQUIREMENT ACCORDING TO BOILER LOAD AND CV. Fig 6.2. ‘There are several types of coal feeders in use. The raw coal feeders are classified according to the method by which the rate of coal flow is determined as 147i) Volumetric feeder ii) Gravimetric feeder a 41 VOLUMETRIC COAL FEEDER Ina volumetric coal feeder the rate of coal flow through the feeder is derived as R =, QXBXN ‘When R= _ Rate of coal flow in Kg/s Q = __ Volume of coal delivered by the feeder per rotation in m’/Rotation B = _ Bulk density of coal in m “Akg N = _ Speed of feeder Rotation per second Keeping the volume of coal moved per rotation and bulk density of coal as constants, by varying the speed of the feeder alone, the desired rate of coal flow is achieved. 42 GRAVIMETRIC FEEDER In a volumetric feeder if there is any variation in bulk density of coal or the volume moved per rotation, the actual mass rate of coal flow for a given speed will be.varied. As such there will be errors in computing the rate of coal flow for various purposes such as excess air control, performance calculations etc. ‘The Gravimetric feeders are used to provide an accurate rate of coal flow. Here the rate of coal flow is obtained as R = MXN Where R = _ Rate of coal flow in ke/s M_— = _ Mass of coal on unit length of feeder belt in kg/m N = _ Speed of feeder belt in m/s 43. RAWCOAL FEEDERS -CONSTRUCTION Many designs of raw coal feeders are available for the use in Power Plants. Some of the raw coal feeders more commonly found in Indian Thermal Power Stations are i) Scrapper or Drag link feeder ii) Belt feeder iii) Rotary volumetric feeder iv) Gravimetric feeders43.1 SCRAPPER FEEDER 5 This feeder shown in Fig.6.3. is also known as Drag. Link feeder or chain feeder. It Consists of a rectangular steel casing. The casing acconimodate a steel plate called discharge table or top plate. Inside the casing, two endless chain assemblies with sprockets and shafts are located. The shaft of one set of sprockets is driven by an electric motor through a speed reducer and speed variator. ‘The two chains are cross-linked by scrapers The coal from the bottom of the bunker through the hopper connected to the top of the feeder casing falls on the feeder top plate. The coal is dragged along the feeder top plate by the upper strand of the chain. ‘The coal falls from the end of the top plate between strands of the chain, on to the bottom casing where it is pushed in the opposite direction by the return strands of the chain into the mill inlet chute which is connected to the bottom of the feeder casing. For delivering constant volume per rotation the depth of coal on the top plate is controlled by a height-regulating gate. The feed rate of coal is controlled by varying the speed of the chain. Provided the chain scraper bars are spaced at not less than approximately 300 mm, difficult coals can generally be handled. 432 BELT FEEDER ‘The belt feeders are similar in design to the belt conveyors for fuel and to those used in material handling and in construction. The conveying element is constituted by a endless rubber 149belt of 400 to 800 mm wide running over rollers. The belt is tensioned on two drums, the front one driven by an electric motor through speed geducer and speed variator while the other one is provided with a screw type take up device. All the moving parts of the feeder are accommodated in a steel casing which is connected at the top to the raw coal bunker and at the bottom to the pulveriser through chutes. At the flow of the feeder casing a suitable devise mostly in the form of a chain scrapper feeder is provided to push the spilled coal from the belt to the feeder outlet. Any accumulation of coal below the belt may Jead to tearing of the belt or fire in the feeder. The belt feeder will be suitable for systems where the pulveriser is located-away from the Raw Coalbunker. 433 ROTARY VOLUMETRIC FEEDER Fig.64.shows this type of feeder. ‘These feeders are more commonly found in Indian ‘Thermal Power Stations, In this type of feeder, a spider wheel is keyed to the centre of a feed toll shaft. This shaft extends through a cylindrical core, which forms the base of the feed roll. The core is made in two halves, which are bolted to opposite sides of the feeder body, and the spider wheel is placed in between these two halves. Number of plates are bolted to the spider wheel along its periphery, thereby making number of pockets. When the feed roll shaft rotates, the plates bolted to the spider revolve around the split stationary cylindrical core. This feeder is connected at the top to the Raw Coalbunker and at the bottom to the pulveriser through coal pipes. When the feeder runs, the coal is received by the pockets formed by the plates and emptied into the pulveriser at a rate, which depends on the speed of the feeder. A liinged leveling gate held in place by spring pressure limits the amount of coal-entering each pocket but allows passage of foreign material, which might otherwise cause damage to the feeder.ROTARY VOLUMETRIC FEEDER INTERNALS Fig.6.4 Positively Infinite Variable (PIV) speed drive is employed for driving this feeder, which is connected to a speed reducer gearbox. A chain connects the sprocket on gearbox unit and a sprocket on feed roll shaft mounted on a clutch assembly. Clamps are provided for disconnecting the links from the clutches so that the feed roll shaft may be revolved backward by the hand wheel for removal of obstructions in the feeder. Control of the speed of the feed roll shaft is obtained by the operation of lever on the PIV drive automatically. 4.34 GRAVIMETRIC FEEDERS “The Gravimetric feeder resembles a belt feeder in the coal conveying aspect but provided with a precise weighing system to measure the mass of coal per unit length of 151belt which is multiplied by the speed of belt to determine the rate, of coal flew as shown in Fig 6.5.The weighing can be done either by mechanical scales or electronic strain gauges. ‘The electronic Gravimetric feeders are more precise. A typical electronic weighing Gravimetric feeder is shown in Fig.6.6. An endless synthetic rubber belt moves over three pulleys inside the feeder body. The fabricated feeder body is having the inlet chute connected to the bunker atthe top at one end and outlet opening at the bottom of the other end. The pulley near the outlet opening known as head pulley is connected to a variable speed drive and transmits the motion to the belt. ‘The pulley at the inlet Side, called as take-up pulley can be adjusted for belt tension and tracking with the help of take up screws. Another tension pulley is placed in between to keep the belt in constant tension, The bet has kerf atthe ends and projection on the inside to track the belt correctly over the pulleys to minimise spillage of coal. ‘Three precisely made stainless stcel rollers are mounted in feeder body exactly at the same level. The two end rollers are called weigh span rollers and their centre to centre distance is weigh span. The centre roller known as weighing roller is pivoted on tothe feeder body on either side and two load cells are connected in between the weighing roller and top of the body on either side. These load cells are strain gauge type. The load cell weighs the coal on half the weigh span and gives a milli volt output corresponding to the load. The ‘speed of the belt is measured on the head pulley by means of a high-resolution optical encoder in the form of frequency. The output of load cell and optical encoder are transmitted to the feeder electronics for processing and correcting the speed to meet the demand. After weighed coal is delivered to the outlet a few pieces may continue to stick on the belt due to wetness etc. To clean the belt from these sticking pieces and to ensure greater accuracy, a dead weight type belt scraper is provided immediately below the delivery point of the belt. The scraper is made of soft rubber so that it will not damage the felt. A clean out conveyor assembly is placed below the belt to clear the area below the belt from the spill over coal of the belt as any accumulation of spill over below belt may lead to fire and damage to belt. The clean out conveyor assembly has a drive shaft and a take up shaft and two chains meshing with sprockets over the shafts are running between these two shafts. The chains are fitted with a flight of scrapers at regular intervals to sweep the coal and deliver to the feeder outlet opening. The clean out conveyor is provided with a separate drive motor. “aaa iil wi 5.0 PULVERISERS * To effect the coal particle size reduction, needed for pulverised coal firing, machines known as pulverisers or mills are used to grind or comminute the coal. The pulverisers are generally based on rock and mineral-ore grinding machinery. The coal mills uses one, two or all three of the basic principles of particle size reduction namely impact, attrition and crushing. The principal type of coal pulverisers are classified according to their operating speed as Slow, Medium and High speed mills. Five major types of coal mills used are tabulated below according to their speed. Speed category Speed Range Mill Slow speed Below 50 rpm. Ball/Tube/Drum Mill : (Normal range 20-35 rpm) Medium speed 50-100 rpm 1) Bow! Mill 2) Ball and race mill High speed above 225 rpm 1) Impact or Hammer mill 2) Beater wheel mill es Of the above medium speed bowl-mills are more commonly deployed in Indian Power Stations followed by Ball mills and Ball and Race mills. High-speed mills are rarely used and generally limited to pulverising lignite only. 5.1 BALL MILL This mill is also called as Tube mill or Drum mill. A typical ball mill is shown in Fig.6.7.[t consists of a large heavy rolled plate shell having dished ends or heads, with trunnions. The shell and heads are lined inside with armored steel plates of thickness about 40 mm. These liners are sufficiently hard to last several years. ‘The shell is resting on two bearings one at each end by means of trunnions. At one end of the shell a gear wheel is embedded on the shell. This gear wheel is meshing with a pinion rotated by a motor through a gearbox. With such an arrangement the entire shell can be rotated at a speed of 20 to 25 rpm. Grease or drip oil from a lubricating oil system lubricates the meshing point of gear wheel and pinion. ‘The inside of the shell is filled to a little less than half with forged steel or cast alloy balls varying from 40 to 60 mm in diameter. In this mill the coal and hot air called primary air or hot flue gas can be admitted and pulverised coal is taken out at both ends. Otherwise at one end the raw coal is admitted with hot 154air / hot gas and the pulverised coal is taken out at the other end. Large capacity mills that are from 50 T/Hr. t0 100 T/Hr adopt the first method. * The hollow trunnions at the end of the shell have a central tube rotated by cross members fixed to the liners on the inside and supported by roller bearings on the outside. Through these tubes hot primary airfhot gas can be admitted to the mill. A screw conveyor or ribbon conveyor is fixed outside this central tube by means of protected chains providing certain degree of flexibility to the screw. ‘When the drum is rotating the raw coal from the feeder falls on the screw conveyor of the trunnion. The screw conveyor pushes the coal inside the mill by its rotational movement and the coal intermingles with the ball charge inside the mill. Pulverisation of coal is accomplished ‘through continued cascading of the mixtures, result from a) Impact of the falling balls on the coal, b) attrition as particles slide over each other as well as over the liners and c) crushing as balls roll over each other and over the liners with coal particles between them. Larger pieces of coal are broken by impact and the fine grinding is done by attrition and cnishing as the balls rolls and slide within the charge. ‘The hot primary ait/gas introduced into the mill through the central tubes of the trunnions completes the coal drying and carries the pulverised coal out of the mill via the trunnion annulus ‘around the central tube, counter to the raw coal feeding the mill. Any bigger size particle is pushed back into the drum by the movement of thé screw conveyor for further grinding. The pulverised coal and the air enter the classifier installed above the mills.Fig.6.7.The double cone type classifier as in Fig.6.8. is fitted with adjustable vanes to regulate the pulverised coal particle size to the required value. When the pulverised coal and air mixture enters the classifier, the vanes impart swirling to the, mixture as it travels towards the outlet. The swirling depends .on the position of vanes and separates the bigger coal particles by centrifugal force. These bigger particles fall back by gravity to the trunnion inlet where they mix with the raw coal and re pulverised. The finely pulverised coal suspended in the primary air is ‘transported from the classifier outlet to the bumers, where itis injected into the furnace and burned. In these mills operating under pressure there is a ‘special joint in the trunnion between the fixed Part and the rotating part to prevent coal dust leaking out on to the atmosphere. The joint consists of a lip of synthetic material rubbing on a smooth part. Counter pressure provided by a seal air fan prevents any leakage to the outside. 3 These mills also will have a provision 10 ¢agger introduce balls to the drum without siopping the mill for aR ‘metal lost in the grinding process. RETURN ‘The major advantages of their mill are High availability Low maintenance Fig.68 Constant capacity and fineness Hard and abrasive fuels grind efficiently Large reserve capacity Increased fineness at low loads Fast response over wide load range Pulverise wide range of coals Unaffected by foreign material This mill is having following disadvantages also which influence the decision of choosing this mill for a given application High power consumption. kW per unit of coal pulverised is very high particularly at part leads Larger in size requiring more mill bay area Chance of mill fire when the mill is idle Very noisy requiring special insulation for noise attenuationa w a y - High moisture coals produce a large reduction in mill capacity. = High capital cost due tothe size and weight 5.2 BOWL MILL Bowl mill is a vertical spindle medium speed mill. In a bowl mill the coal is pulverised between a disc called bowl rotated by the drive assembly and rollers kept above the disc loaded by springs or pneumatic or hydraulic loading devices, Many variants of bowl mill are available with certain changes in the construction. Some of the typical bow! mills are. ~~ Lopulco Mill - Bera mill - Raymond mill (Deep and shallow bowls) - HP mill (Developed version of Raymond mill) The shallow: bowl Raymond mills working under pressure called XRP series are used Indian Thermal Power Stations in great numbers than any other. A typical Raymond Bowl mill (XRP 803) is shown in Fig.6.9.Vertically this mill is divided into four major sections. > Mill base or Gear box - Mill side Assembly - Separator body = Separator body top The vertical drive shaft is accommodated in the mill base with a worm wheel keyed to it. ‘The worm wheel is meshing with a worm shaft coupled to the motor. The speed reduction is only between worm shaft and worm wheel. One thrust bearing below the worm wheel and two radial bearings one above and one below worm wheel support the vertical shaft. ‘The worm wheel, worm shaft, worm shaft bearing, vertical shaft thrust bearing and lower radial bearing, all housed in the mill base, are flood lubricated by the oil filled in the mill base up to the worm wheel. The upper radial bearing is lubricated by the oil pumped by a gear pump attached to the vertical shaft through the bore drilled in the vertical shaft. This oil from the bearing drains back to the sump through the oil cooler placed in the mill base. A view port with a sight glass is provided on the oil return line to monitor the oil flow. A bowl assembly with scrappers is mounted on the top of the vertical shaft. The top surface of the bowl is lined with bullring segments made of wear resistant material such as NIHARD, HICHROME etc. As the mill works under pressure, to prevent the entry of dust laden air to the gearbox a sealing arrangement is provided as shown in Fig.6.10.A dust guard with a seal runner is flanged at the bottom of the bowl hub. A bronze seal is mounted on the air seal housing fixed to the top of the upper bearing housing. When the bowl rotates, the seal runner moves over the bronze seal making a metal to metal contact.159@ ‘The air seal housing is admitted with clean, cold seal air at a pressure higher than mill pressure. With such:an arrangement through the interface clearance between rotating and stationary parts only the seal air can pass. : (eNOS) Fig.6.10 Mill side housing enclosés the shaft extending from gear box and bowl assembly with scrappers. Hot high-pressure air called primary air is admitted to the mill sitle assembly below the bowl. The mill side consists of insulation to prevent excessive conducting.of heat from mill side to mill base. It also has bottom liners to provide an enclosure for the scrapers of the bowl assembly. The scrappers scrap the pyrites and rejects falling from the bowl on this zone into the pyrite hopper through the tramp iron spout opening in mill base. The pyrite hopper will have an inlet gate and an outlet gate. The inlet gate will normally be kept opened. The outlet gate will be opened only for emptying the pyrite hopper after closing the inlet gate. The mill has three grinding roll assemblies called roller journal assemblies as in Fig. 6.11.Jn each assembly a grinding roll is suspended on a journal shaft which is fixed to the journal head. Tapered roller bearings are provided inside the housings of journal shaft, Oil is filled in the housings to lubricate the bearings. The rollers are centrifugally casted with the outer surface made of material same as that of bull ring segments such as NIHARD, HICHROME etc. A trunnion shaft is inserted through the journal head for placing the roller journal assembly inside the mill through the journal opening cover. The entire roller journal assembly can swing over the trunnion shaft. The roller journal assemblies are mounted in such a manner that the roll face is approximately parallel to and is in close proximity with the inside surface of the grinding bowl. Stop bolts are provided to support the journal head at the bottom. ‘Through these stop bolts the clearance between roller and bowl can be adjusted. Pressure for grinding is applied through compression springs mounted from above the roller journal assembly. The tip of the spring will be just in contact with the journal head. The separator body encloses the roller journal assemblies and springs. The separator body has liners at the bottom, which deflect the primary air entering the mill from the mill side. 160\ Jouinal Stop Bolt Grinding Holl ROLLER JOURNAL INTERNALS Fig.6.11 The separator body is covered with separator body top. An integral multivaned classifier, connected to the mill outlet is located at the bottom of the separator body top. The classifier 161vanes are externally adjustable. A venturi is provided at the classifier outlet. This eliminates the spin, which is induced as the coal air mixture is entering the classifier. Coal from the raw coal feeder is fed af the centre of the bowl through a raw coal inlet chute inserted at the centre of separator body top. Due to centrifugal force the coal moves towards the periphery. The three rolls exert the required grinding pressure through the springs. ‘The primary air supplied to the mill side moves up through the vanes around the bowl, By the deflector liners the air is directed towards the centre of the mill which cause the re circulation of the coal through the grinding area. The air moving upwards picks the fine coal and enters the classifier through the vanes. The vanes introduce spin and as a result coursé particles get separated from the stream and return through the annulus between the centre feed pipe and classifier cone to the bowl for further grinding. Fine coal moves out with air through the multiport assembly at the outlet of the classifier. Any hard foreign material (Pyrites) entering the mill with coal cannot be pulverised. Such particles when move on the bow! lift the roller journal assembly compressing the spring and increase the gap between roller and the bowl. Once such particles clear the bowl the spring brings back the roller journal assembly to the initial position. ‘The Pyrites fall down from the bowl into the mill side assembly where they are sweeped by the scrapers and discharged into the pyrite hopper through the tramp iron spout. Periodically the rejects are removed from the Pyrite hopper by first closing the inlet gate and then opening outlet gate. The major advantages of this mill are ~ Low Power consumption - Reliability : . : Minimum maintenance - Wide capacity - Quiet and vibration less operation - Ability to handle wide range of coals. ‘The demerits of this mill are - Need for removal of mill rejects - Foreign materials in coal mill cause damage to rollers. - Outage required for replacement of worn-out bull ring segments and rollers. 162 - ~ i Ais Mis ( Piece tine, 1 as Ds ee53 BALL AND RACE MILL ‘The construction and working of this mill is more or less similar to bowl mill. The major difference is instead of bowl and rollers this mill has a lower grinding ring connected to the drive assembly and a stationary upper grinding ring applied with pressure from pneumatic loading cylinders containing pressurised inert gas. Hollow steel balls are carried between these twe Tings. This mill is shown in Fig.6.12.The bottom ring receiving the raw coal at the centre rotates and in turn rotates the balls. In this process the coal trapped in between the grinding elements 82% pulverised and moves toward the outer edge of the lower grinding ring. This pulverised fuel is then entrained in the high velocity flow of primary air, which enters the mill through the air Ports between the throat ring and the lower grinding ring. The coal air mixture is carried upto the classifier, where the coarser particles are returned for further grinding and the finer ones go Sp Se mill outlet pipes for distribution to burmers.54 HAMMER MILL Fig.6.13.shows a hammer mill. It consists of a thick casing with sufficient stiffeners. ‘The inside of the casing is fully lined with armored steel plates. The mill shaft supported on two bearings run through the centre of the casing, Discs, which carry the arms and hammer tips, are mounted on to the shaft. The hammer tips are made from manganese steel to take up greater ‘wear during impact and shock. The shaft is deep drilled for the circulation of cooling water for cooling the shaft, which comes in contact with hot air or hot gas as well as the inner race of both bearings. The motor shaft and mill shaft are directly coupled, so the mill runs at motor speed. ‘The coal fed to the mill is crushed by the impact against the armor plai¢s and attrition due to the movement of hammers. The hot air/hot gas supplied dries the coal in the mill and transports the coal to the classifier. The coarser particles are returned by classifier for further grinding. $5 BEATER WHEEL MILL : ‘The construction and working of a beater wheel mill is similar is many ways to a radial fan. A typical beater wheel mill is shown in Fig.6.14.The mill consists of a spiral pth eh Dh Pape. fad ed qQ ~ (i | Bs Be hs a! a er yphousing fully lined inside with lateral and circumfrential armors (wear plates). ‘The beater wheel mounted on an overhung shaft revolves within the housing. Sets of heavy beater plates are fitted ~ to the beater wheel supported by webs. The beater wheel shaft is supported on one side by two self-aligning coller bearings, which are lubricated by an oil pump. The mill shaft is coupled to the motor by a PULVIS coupling. The housing is having an inlet duct through which a mixture of coal and hot gas can be fed to the centre of the beater wheel. A conical dipper flange at the inlet ensures a uniform distribution of raw coal to the beater wheel and protects the whee! hub disc from wear, During operation the beater wheel rotates at a speed of 420 rpm. ‘The beater wheel mill functioning like a fan creates vacuum in its suction (inlet) side and sucks the drying fluid, mostly the hot flue gas from the furnace upper section through a duct. ‘The fuel is also fed into this duct by the raw coal feeder. Thus the fuel on its travel downward to mill pre dried due to its exposure to hot gases. The fuel and hot gas mixture then enters the beater wheel and flow radially inside the beater wheel. Grinding takes place by the impact of the coal against the beater plates. Further grinding effects due to the impact when the material is discharged by the wheel at high velocity over the armored liners of the housing. The ventilating action created by the rotation of the beater wheel lifts the pulverised fuel and gas mixture and discharges it through the classifier to the burners. Like other mills, the classifier separates coarser particles and retums to the mill through the grit return line. These mills are excellent dryers and so they are mainly used for lignite and peat only. The high-speed mills are not generally preferred for pulverising the coals with low grindability index due to the high wear rate, There use is mainly limited to lignite. 5.6 FACTORS AFFECTING MILL PERFORMANCE The performance of the mill plant especially the pulveriser output is affected by a number of factors mainly associated with the properties of coal being ground. Important of these factors is - Grindability index of coal - Fineness of milled product. - Moisture content = Size of raw coal - Mill wear 5.6.1 GRINDABILITY INDEX It is a measure of the ease with which coal can be pulverised. One of the methods of measuring Grindability Index of coal is Hard Grove Grindability Index Number (HG1). Higher this number easier the coal Pulverisation. Normal HGI values of Indian bituminous coals vary from 45 to 60. Lignite has high HGI upto 120. Thus a mill designed to handle a coal having a particular HGI will have a greater output with grinding coal more than that value and conversely 2 reduced output if low HGI coals are handled. This relation is shown in Fig.6.15:Though the 165ny va, wit rill output increases with high grindability index coal, it can be realised only if the system is designed for it. ‘80 70 ; { 40 50 i) 70 20 0 109 116 MILL OUTPUT VARIATION WITH GRINDABLITY AND FINENESS: Fig6.15. 5.6.2 MOISTURE CONTENT The total moisture content of the raw coal is made of inherent and free or surface moisture. In any coal milling system drying of coal is adopted by using hot flue gas or hot air. This drying removes entire free and part of inherent moisture. However this drying capacity of the mill decreases with moisture content in coal higher than the design value. Insufficient drying produces agglomeration of fines in the pulverising zone and difficulty to remove the fines efficiently and as quickly as they are produced. This limits the output capacity of the mill when high moisture coal is used. Mill capacity variation due to moisture variation is shown in Fig6.16.It can be seen that the tube/ball mill capacity reduces at a faster rate when the coal moisture increases due to the availability of more surface area for the wet coal to stick. “iJ ses sad Buc faust Dosa Huis us Bs Bal es s/s a es ee oe ee)CAPACITY FACTOR + CAPACITY FACTOR % MGISTURE INRAW COAL —--% MOISTURE IN RAW COAL VERTICAL SPINDLE MILL BALL MILL Fig.6.16 5.6.3 FINENESS OF MILLED PRODUCT Normally for bituminous coals to give optimum combustion efficiency a fineness of 70% through 200 mesh will be desired.The mill and classifier will be designed to produce this fineness. Any increase in fineness will waste mill power. Mill output arfd fineness are inter dependant. Variation in mill output with fineness is shown in Fig.6.15.Reducing the fineness can increase Mill output but it is permissible only if the coarser fuel provide satisfactory combustion. 5.64 SIZE OF RAW COAL Larger the size of raw coal fed to the mill amount of work per unit mass is increased to get fine coal of same fineness. Hence the mill capacity varies inversely with size of raw coal as shown in Fig.6.17.Generally the mills will be supplied by a uniform size of raw coal prepared in the coal crushers. CAPACITY FACTOR RAW COAL SIZE VARIATION IN MILL OUTPUT WITH RAW COAL SIZE Fig.6.17 167iit ye ty il Q 5465 MILL WEAR Ss Due to the grinding action and abrasiyg nature of coal, mill and exhauster parts wear 4. which depends on the period of service, type of coal, wearing properly of the material etc. Mill ~ ‘output will reduce as wear increases and this is because of loss of contact surfaces. This aspect ™ wail be taken care of during mill design as such the mill. can deliver near full capacity till ‘considerable wear takes place but after that the output rapidly falls calling for replacement of * worn out parts. “This necessitates provision of spare capacity in each mill as well standby mills. = > 6.0. COAL DRYING i ‘As indicated earlier, the-coal needs to be dried to facilitate pulverisation as well rapid ¥ ignition. ‘n.a mill plant the coal is dried either by hot air drawn from the air heater ofthe boiler = or the flue gas tapped from the boiler. Both have their own merits and demerits. Drying snedium for a particular application is chosen based on the moisture content in the coal, type of . mill and the system adopted. = Using flue gas for coal drying has following advantages « _ Flue gas can be obtained from boiler at high temperatures for effective drying of high moisture coal. = _ With its high specific heat, the quantity required will be less, so reduction in size < of the plant. - ~ _Astthe gas is inert no risk of fire in mill x i But the major disadvantage with flue gas drying is it is drawn from thé'boiler along with ¥ fly ash, which also enters the mill with coal. This abrasive ash hastens the wear rate of the mill = parts. ‘As with hot air drying, since the air is clean, it does not cause the mill wear. However with air drying precautions will be required to prevent pre ignition of coal in the mill. : In India generally hot air drying is adopted for coal fired boilers and flue gas drying for lignite fired boilers. However there are some exceptions. 6.1 TEMPERING ‘The hot air or hot flue gas admitted to the mill along with the coal mixes with the coal, dries the coal and leaves the mill with the pulverised coal. The mixture leaving the mill has to be maintained at a suitable temperature normally around 80°C for bituminous coas. Any increase in the mill outlet temperature leads to de-volatalsation of coal in fuel pipes. This causes fuel pipe choking and fire in fuel pipes. Many times the same drying fluid is used for transporting coal from the pulveriser. As such a minimum air/gas flow will be required. With the variation in” coal-moisuure but with a constant ai/g2s flow the mill outlet temperature will be affected. To = have a constant mill outlet temperature, the milling system will be provided with an arrangement . af proportionally mixing the drying medium with a cooling medium to control the mill outlet ~ temperature. This is called tempering. For hot air drying, cold air will be used for tempering. In « b - im:case of flue gas drying either hot air at a comparatively low temperature or cold gas is used as tempering medium a 7.0 DIFFERENT PULVERISING SYSTEMS Many methods are adopted for drying and supplying pulverised coal to the furnace some of the commonly adopted systems in Indian Thermal Power Stations are described below: 7.1 DIRECT FIRING SYSTEM In these systems after the pulverisation the coal is fed directly from the mill to the furnace. Hence the operation of the mill is directly related to the boiler operation and the mill loading has to be proportional to the boiler loading. The coal can be dried either by hot air or flue gas and the mill can operate either at pressure or suction. 71.1, PRESSURISED SYSTEM In these system the motive power, to over come system resistance and to move the pulverised coal to the furnace, is given ahead of the mill. With hot air drying the following two methods are used. E Cold Primary Air System - Hot Primary Air System _ 7.1.1.1 COLD PRIMARY AIR SYSTEM In this system, common primary air fans are provided for all mills. These fans take suction from atmosphere and develop a head sufficient enough (around 800 - 1000 MMWC) to transport the coal from mill to furnace. Occasionally these primary air fans take suction from FD fan discharge also but again in the cold condition. ‘The air delivered by the P.A. fans is heated in the air heater and this hot primary air is received in a common duct called hot primary air bus, A part of the primary air before air heater is sent to another common duct called cold primary air bus. For each mill one tapping is taken from hot primary air bus and cold primary air bus, Afier suitably mixing the hot and cold air, the primary air is sent to the mill for coal drying and transporting to the furnace. A typical such system is shown in Fig.6.18 Many Indian Power ‘Stations use this system. ‘The main advantage of this system is the primary air fan handles cold air. This brings down fan power and maintenance. The fans can be smaller, and with common fans the space requirement for the pulverisation can be reduced. ‘The cold primary air system requires either independent air heaters or trisector Ljungstrom air heaters for primary sir heating. One disadvantage of this system is sudden tripping of one P.A. fan may stop few of the mills and sometimes the disturbance will stop all the mills in service.aha qo SNYd UIV Twas 4138 rm uv | Fig.6.18. - 8 & ") My @ 1707.1.1.2 HOT PRIMARY AIR SYSTEM Fig6.19. 7.113 FLUE GAS SYSTEM 2 Typical hot primary air system is shown in Fig.6.19. Here F:D. fans draw the total air for the boiler. After heating in ‘the air heater the air is divided into primary and secondary air streams. The secondary air goes directly to furnace. Each mill is provided with an independent primary air fan, The primary air from air heater is pressurised in this fan and delivered to the pulveriser. Cold air drawn from the F.D. discharge is mixed with hot air before primary air fan for temperature control. Here any problem with a primary air fan affects the corresponding mill only. But as the fan is required to handle high temperature air, the fan requires more power and special materials. Rarely flue gas drying under pressurised system is used. One such system is shown in Fig.6.20.Here a beater wheel mill is used. It draws the flue gas from the boiler | 171and pressurses it while pulverising the coal atthe same time. The pressurised flue gas carries the pullverised fuel to a set of burners Hot air from airpeater is mixed with flue gas before the mill for temperature control. No separate primary air fans are used in this system. This system’s use is limited to lignite. 71.2 SUCTION SYSTEM In this system the mill operates under negative pressure. Suction being created by generally placing a fan after the pulveriser. This fan is called mill exhauster. The main favantage of this system is the area around the pulveriser can be kept clean easily. The disadvantage is that the high-speed exhauster has to handle coal air mixtures at elevated temperature and tends to wear more. Here again either hot air or flue gas can be used for drying. 7.1.2.1. SUCTION SYSTEM WITH AIR DRYING AIR PREHEATER, HOT AIR This system is similar to hot primary air system with the only difference that each mill is provided with a mill exhauster atthe mill discharge instead of a primary air fan. A distributor a the exhauster discharges the coal air mixture to number of fuel pipes. This system is shown in Fig.6.21.7.1.2.2. SUCTION SYSTEM WITH FLUE GAS DRYING & Whenever flue gas is used for drying in a direct figing system it is advantages to go for a suction system as a fan placed ahead of the mill has to suck high temperature gas compared the fan placed after the mill. With these systems the exhauster not only creates suction in the mill ‘but also draws the flue gas from the boiler. FLUEGAS FEEDER EJECTION — FURNACE BURNER = lai FLUEGAS DRYING SUCTION SYSTEM - Fig.6.22. One suction system with flue gas drying using hammer mill is shown in Fig.6.22. This system is used in a lignite-fired boiler and the uniqueness of this system is it is not having any fan. The mill discharge is connected to the ejection type burner at the furnace. The flow of secondary air through this burner creates vacuum at the throat of the burner. This low pressure sucks the products from the mill as well the flue gas from the boiler. 72 INDIRECT FIRING SYSTEM. This system is also called as bin system. Here after the pulverisation the pulverised coal is stored in a pulverised coalbunker (bin) from where it is taken to furnace as per the boiler demand. A cyclone separator separates the air or flue gas used for drying, classifying and conveying the coal from the pulveriser before the pulverised coal is conveyed to the bunkers Mechanical, controllable feeders at the pulverised coal bunker outlets deliver the required quantity of pulverised coal to the fuel lines. At or near these feeders, the coal is re entrained in primary air in proper proportions for transport to the burners. 173‘es A typical indirect firing system with ball mill and flue gas drying is shown in Fig 6.23. Raw coal from the bunker is transported to the mill by the raw coal feeder and afier getting pulverised in the mill it is carried to the externafclassifier for separating courser particles, which are returned to pulveriser through classifier return line. To act as drying and transporting medium, hot flue gases drawn from the boiler is used. The classified pulverised coal is then separated by means of the cyclone separators and is transported down by a rotary valve. ‘The pulverised coal is then distributed by screw conveyors and is then stored in a pulverised coalbunker. The pulverised fuel is then tapped off by a separate hot primary air system to feed to the boiler burners. For transporting the flue gas through the pulverising systém, a fan called vapour fan or vent fan is used which is located after the cyclone separator and thus having the whole of the pulverising system under suction, ‘The unseparated superfine coal and flue gas mixture handled by this fan, is bifurcated on the fan delivery side, one branch is re circulated for temperature control purpose and the remaining is fed into the boiler for burning. Similar system using hot air from air heater instead of flue gas for drying is also used. In such cases the discharge of the vent fan on its way to the furnace will transport the pulverised coal delivered from pulverised coalbunker by the feeders into the fuel lines. ‘The indirect firing system to certain extent is ensuring a continuous supply of pulverised coal to the boiler for uninterrupted operations, flexibility and consistent performance. However there are inherent disadvantages in this system. Storage of pulverised coal for any length of time involves fire hazard from spontaneous combustion and sometimes explosion risks. As the freshly pulverised coal is hygroscope, it will pack and hang in the corners of bunkers resulting choking. This system also calls for increased pipelines, cyclone separators etc. which increases the initial cost as well maintenance cost. Modern Power Stations are employing only direct firing systems, which are more reliable. 174}10 FURNACE, FLUE GAS FROM BOILER: . INDIRECT FIRING SYSTEM WITH FLUE GAS DRYING Fig.6.23. 175CHAPTER 7 FUEL FIRING SYSTEM 1.0 INTRODUCTION The fuel firing system of the boiler provide controlled, efficient conversion of the chemical energy of the fuel into heat energy which in turn is transferred to heat absorbing surfaces. Any fuel burning system must introduce the fuel and air for combustion, mix these reactants, ignite the combustible mixture and distribute the flame envelope and products of combustion. “2.0 CHARACTERISTICS OF IDEAL FIRING SYSTEM ‘An ideal fuel firing system fulfilling the above functions will have the following characteristics = Noexcess oxygen or unburned combustibles in the end products of combustion - A low rate of auxiliary ignition energy input to initiate combustion. - _Aneconomic reaction rate between fuel and oxygen compatible with, acceptable NO, & SO, formation. > - _ Ameffective method of handling and disposing of the solid impurities introduced with the fuel. - Uniform distribution of product weight and temperature in relation to the parallel circuits of heat absorbing surface. - Aide and stable firing range. - Fast responses to changes in firing rate. - High equipment availability with low maintenance. In actual practice, compromises must be made to achieve balance between combustion efficiency and cost. For example with stoichiometric air infinite residence time will be required at temperature above ignition temperature for complete combustion and so excess air is used resulting in unconsumed oxygen in the product gas. 3.0 COMBUSTION REACTION Combustion is the chemical reaction between the combustibles in a fuel and oxygen of air. These are termed as the reactants. The reaction takes place only when there is physical contact between the reacting molecules. The rate and degree of completion of combustion reaction is mainly influenced by 176 2DOOne 7m ODM tan i Bi Biel Bil Beal hee bol bbe CR Ob Cb Ch OB Ch“eS “Ube SS *“& £& © Sx - temperature, concentration, preparation and distribution of the reactants mechanical turbulence a which increase contact between molecules of the reactants The above fundamental factors are considered in the design of any fuel firing system 3.1 TEMPERATURE, Increase in temperature of the flammable mixture, increases the velocity of molecules movement permitting more frequent contact between molecules. This is called thermal diffusion. Hence higher temperature greatly increases reaction rate. However in a boiler the temperature is limited due to following reasons. 5 heat absorbed by combustion chamber enclosure - heat absorbed by combustion reactants in bringing them to ignition temperature - heat absorbed by nitrogen in the air used for combustion 3.2 CONCENTRATION AND DISTRIBUTION The opportunity for contact between the interacting molecules is influenced by concentration and distribution of the reactants in a given volume. For increasing the concentration to certain extent excess air is supplied. The opportunity for contact nears zero when the reaction near completion because of the dilution of the reactants by the inert products of combustion. 3.3 MECHANICAL TURBULENCE It is the agitation and mixing created in the boiler furnace mechanically to achieve full molecular contact between the reactants as complete molecular contact can not be achieved by thermal diffusion alone. The agitation permits greater opportunity for molecular contact and it is having greater significance at the last stages of combustion when the relative concentration of reactants is appearing zero.Any firing system should induce adequate turbulence for combustion. 4.0 FIRING SYSTEM CONCEPTS Successful molecular contact of reactants of combustion through turbulence can be achieved by producing two methods of flow pattern in the furnace. In the first concept, the fuel and air are divided and distributed into many similar streams. Each stream is treated independently to provide multiple flame envelopes called multi flame envelope concept. 177i \ ow In the second concept a single flame envelope is produced, by providing interaction between all streams of air and fuel introduced into the furnace. This is called single flame ‘envelope concept. 2 , 4.1 COMPARISON OF SINGLE AND MULTIFLAME CONCEPT The single flame envelope provides interaction between all streams of fuel and air introduced into the furnace and so precise subdivision of fuel and air at each point of admission is not required. Allows more time for contact between all fuel and air molecules and mechanical turbulence is sustained throughout the furnace. The multi flame envelope requires accurate subdivision fuel and air supplied to the furnace. This concept limits the opportunity for sustained mechanical turbulence particularly in the early stages of combustion. 4.3 TYPES OF FIRING SYSTEM Applying the above concepts three major types of firing systems are adopted in boilers to produce the turbulence a. Horizontally fired system or i Multi flame envelope concept Wall fired System b. _Tangentially fired system or - Single flame envelope concept Comer fired System ® c. Vertical firing system or - Combination of both concepts Down shot firing system 43.1 HORIZONTALLY FIRED SYSTEM In horizontally fired systems the fuel is mixed with combustion air in individual burner registers. The bumers are located in rows through a wind box receiving hot secondary air either on the front wall only or on both front and rear walls. A typical burner is shown in Fig.7.1. &7.1A ‘The coal and primary air are introduced tangentially to the coal nozzle, thus imparting strong rotation within the nozzle. Secondary air from the windbox is admitted to the burner through adjustable radial or axial in flow swirl vanes called air registers. These vanies impart rotation to the secondary air. The degree of air swirl, coupled with the flow-shaping contour of the burner throat, establishes a re-circulation pattern extending several throat diameters into the furnace. Once the coal is ignited hot products of combustion are directed back towards the nozzle to provide the ignition energy necessary for stable combustion. ry ey ey ed Ws dd ed Wd td Wed Ped etd ed od ed etd dd td td td cd td gd ed ed ed ee2 Conk ferimary, : seconders abr ow indeh BURNER FOR WALL FIRING Fig.7.18 This type of coal burners is fitted with an oil burner mounted in a central support tube for coal bumer ignition Because the major portion of the combustion process must take place within the re- circulation zone, it is imperative that the air fuel ratio to each bumer is within close tolerances. The rate of combustion drops of rapidly as the reactants leave the re-circulation zone and 179interaction between flames occurs only after that point. ‘The degree of jnteraction depends on burner and furnace configurations. * 43.2 TANGENTIALLY FIRED SYSTEM ‘The tangentially fired system is based on the concept of a single flame envelope. Both fuel and combustion air are projected from the comers of the furnace along a line tangent toa small circle lying in a horizontal plane at the centre of the furnace. Intensive mixing occurs where these streams meet. A rotative motion similar to that of a cyclone is imparted to the flame body, which spreads out and fills the furnace area. In this system at each comer of the furnace d wind box assembly is installed. Fig.72shows a typical wind box. The wind box is vertically divided into number of compartments. Each compartment receives hot secondary air from the secondary air duct through a damper called secondary air damper. ANINDBOX ASSEMBLY FOR, TANGENTIAL FIRING (Way ay ay yy y= f 1.90 1%. VE Oh fae Ok Ch Oe OD OED SYSTEM < Fig7.2. : Alternate compartents of the wind box are provided with coal nozzles through which = the pulverised coal from the mill is delivered to the fur mace. Four corner nozzles of one « elevation are generally connected to one mill, In these compartments secondary air is admitted to the furnace surrounding the coal and the secondary air dampers ofthese compartments are termed fuel air dampers. nozzles. These compartments are called fuel compartments ~ 5The other compartments are known as Auxiliary air compartments. Each auxiliary air corhpartment between two fuel compartments is provided with oil gun for firing the oil. The secondary air dampers of the auxiliary air compartments are called auxiliary air dampers. With this arrangement the fuel and air are admitted to the furnace from comers in vertical layers. ‘The secondary air dampers control the air to each compartment, making it possible to vary the distribution of air over the height of the wind box, the velocities of the air stream, change the mixing rate of fuel and air and control the distance from the nozzle at which the coal ignites. It is cusiémary that the auxiliary air dampers are set to modulate to maintain a fixed wind box to furnace differential pressure to have sufficient air stream velocity to achieve sustained turbulence in the furnace. The fuel air dampers are set to modulate according to the speed of the raw coal feeder corresponding to that elevation. This ensures the distribution of secondary air in the furnace in accordance to the elevation loading. In this arrangement, there will be a facility for tilting the fuel and air nozzles of the wind box compartments. All these nozzles (Elevations and corners) tilt in unison to raise and lower the flame in the furnace to control furnace heat absorption and thus heat absorption in the super heater and reheater sections. Boilers in many of the Indian Thermal Power Stations especially supplied by BHEL adopt this tangentially fired system. 4.3.3. VERTICALLY FIRED SYSTEMS Vertically fired systems are used only to fire solid fuels that are difficult to ignite such as coals with moisture ash free volatile matter less than 13 percent. They require less supplementary fuel than the horizontal or tangentially fired system but have more complex firing equipment and therefore more complex operating characteristics. The firing concept and the arrangement of the bumers in this system are shown in Fig.7.3. _ Pulverised coal is discharged through the nozzles in the furnace arch. A portion of the heated combustion air is introduced around the fuel nozzles and though adjacent auxiliary parts. High-pressure air jets are used to avoid short-circuiting of fuel-air streams to the furnace discharge. Tertiary air ports are located in a row along the front and rear walls of the lower furnace. frac cre ow SOT VERTICAL FRING SYSTEM Fig.7.3.‘This firing system produces a long looping flame in the lower furnace, with the hot gases discharging up the centre. A portion of the total combustion air is with held from the fuel stream until it projects well down into'the furnace. This arrangement has the advantage of heating the fuel stream separately from-a significant portion of its combustion air to provide ‘200d ignition stability. The delayed introduction of tertiary air provides needed turbulence at a point in the flame where partial dilution from the products of combustion has occurred. The fumace flow pattern passes the hot product gases immediately in front of the fuel nozzles to provide a ready source of inherent ignition energy, which raises the primary fuel stream to ignition temperature. The flow pattern ‘also ensures that the largest entrained solid fuel particles with the lowest surface area to weight ratio, have the largest residence time in the combustion chamber : : 50 COMPONENTS OF FUEL FIRING SYSTEM ‘The essential components for a pulverised coal fired boiler-firing system are - Ignition system - Gil guns and atomisers - Flame scanner a 5.1 IGNITION SYSTEM ‘Any boiler firing system needs a suitable ignition system to provide ignition energy to the flammable mixture of fuel and air introduced to the furnace. Combustion reaction starts only when the flammable mixture is heated to its ignition temperature. To initiate combustion of any fuel and to keep the flame stable, continuous supply of ignition energy is required which is supplied in the form of heat. This ignition energy can be called as the total ignition energy. This total ignition energy can be derived from the fuel itself ‘when it is burning in stable condition called as inherent ignition energy, supplied by external sources as auxiliary ignition energy or combination of both. Hence Total ignition Energy = Inherent Ignition Energy + Auxiliary Ignition Energy When a fuel is to be lighted up, the inhereat ignition energy available from it is at zero level so the entire amount of ignition energy required has to be obtained from auxiliary ignition energy sources only. Also, immediately aficr light up of the fuel the heat available from combustion may not be equivalent to the Total ignition energy. Hence under low firing rates still the auxiliary ignition energy will be required. When the firing becomes stable and heat available from the combustion of main fuel is greater than total ignition energy no more auxiliary ignition energy will be required. This condition will be stated as self-sustaination. ‘The ignition energy required at any given instant depend on many factors such as Location 182 oe ae ee a- Fuel quality - Fuel parameters - Combustion air parameter - Fuel air distribution . Total fuel air ratio = Mass burner flow rate Tra coated boiler, the auxiliary ignition energy for coal firing is provided by suitably located oi] burners. For igniting the oil while starting the oil burners, ignitors are used in the firing system. 5.1.1 REQUIREMENTS OF AN AUXILIARY IGNITION SYSTEM An auxiliary ignition system provided for igniting the oil bumer of a boiler should meet the following criteria. It should be one capable of measuring the ignition energy required and supplied. Ignition energy should be located very close relative to main fuel admission so as to readily ignite main fuel as it enters the furnace. Ignition energy equipment should contain a fuel quantity control arrangement, with a self-resetting or zero run back of the scanning or proving loop. The quantitative and qualitative feed back of the scanning or proving loop should totalize both flame presence and actual heat input. Interlocking with main fuel admission should be used. An ignition system, which meets these design criteria also, has the inherent capability of being used as a flame proven for its associated main fuel bumer. When the ignition system is proven in service, fuel supply through the main oil burners can safely be made. 5.1.2 IGNITOR TYPES The ignitors that are available now can use any of the load carrying fuels available to the boiler. Such fuels include natural gas, all grades of fuel oil etc; however the application of the various ignitor types is largely a function of user preference, ignitor fuel availability and ignitor fuel economics. Some of the oil ignitors used in Indian Thermal Power Stations especially with comer firing system are - Eddy plate ignitor - Ton Flame Monitoring Ignitor (FM) 183Hiigh Energy Arc Ignitor (HEA) it diesel oil and produce a ‘The first of the above two use a ignition: fuel normally lig ty electric arc pilot flame for igniting the main oil burner. ‘The third one uses only a high intensit for ignition. Fig.7.4. 5.1.2.1 EDDY PLATE IGNITOR ‘This ignitor consists of an oil alomiser and a spark rod mounted through an eddy plate in the ignitor hom. The oil atomiser receives light oil and compressed air for atomisation through a shut off valve located in the control cabinet. The spark rod is connected by cables to a transformer in the control cabinet. ‘The eddy plate ignitor utilises a metered, controlled flow of combustion air directed through the ignition chamber or horn to create eddy currents about the down-stream face of the eddy plate. Static pressure measurements are monitored at the face of the eddy plate and at the nozzle discharge. The flow of combustion air through the nozzle with ‘no fire’ gives a static pressure differential in which the furnace tap is higher than the eddy plate tap. When the ignitor is ‘fired’ the energy conversion and combustion reaction (with the considerable gaseous expansion due to both the temperature rise and energy release) creates backpressure on the eddy plate pressure tap. This results in a positive reversal of differential ‘measurement between the two taps, ‘The differential is rather significant and can be easily measured with relatively simple diaphragm meters. At low inputs, below 2 million Btu per hour, the ignitor differential switch can be set up to be quantitative in determination of the quantity of ignition energy and therefore, the ignitor is both quantitative, indicating the flame, and quantitative, indicating the level of igniting energy. ‘When the device is used for quantities 2 million Btu. and above an independent flow measurement is made of the actual fuel flow through the ignition system. ‘This is accomplished through @ unitized flow controller with a flow switch, which maintains a constant differential across an orifice. This differential is continuously monitored and is a permissive in the logic ofthe ignitor. To release the external interlocks both flame indication and quantitative fuel flow must be proven. 184 Geer heanhyepy & Pep oO - oOoThe eddy plate ignitor has been proven to be an exceptionally stable and reliable device, The eddy plate gas ignitor has been used even as a maingmonitoring device without any optical scanners for the main fuel burner because of its thorough reliability. 5.12.2 IFMIGNITOR The Ionic flame monitoring side ignitor (IFM) can spark ignite high calorific value gases or distillate oils.This is having a similar arrangement like eddy plate ignitor with an exception for proving ignition ‘The IFM design follows the traditional philosophy of providing an ignitor with both qualitative and quantitative indications of flame. The system incorporates the principle of flame ionisation, which is present in all turbulent hydrocarbon flames, to deduct the presence of combustion. In the burning process energy is liberated by the combination of two or more reactants to form a product with lower energy level. During this burning process many ions (charged particles) are liberated taking the form of electrons and charged nuclei. When a DC. potential is placed across the flame a varying current is generated due to the variable resistance the flame presents to the rod. ‘The system operates by imposing a DC potential on the rod that is in contact with the flame. The DC voltage is modulated plus or minus around the imposed level by the flame and the imposed signal is then filtered out. The variance is then amplified, changed to a pulse shape and used to drive a flame indication relay. ‘The circuit is designed to be fail-safe. If there is a component failure, a short circuit in the flame rod or lead wire or a direct AC interference, a “no flame indication” will occur.5.1.2.3 HIGH ENERGY ELECTRIC ARC (HEA) IGNITORS The High Energy Electric Arc Ignitor is*teveloped to off set the decreasing availability and rising cost of ignition fuels such an natural gas, HSD and LDO. The HEA ignitor effectively eliminates dependence on these fuels by igniting Heavy Oil and L.SH.S. directly. The HEA ignitor is used with a discriminating scanner, which proves the operation of the main burner. The HEA ignition system consists of - ~ Ahigh energy arc ignitor - Anoil compartment capable of producing a stable flame at all loads. - A flame detecting system sensitive only to its associated oil guns. A A control system to co-ordinate all the components and provide for unit safety. The HEA ignitor can ignite fuel oils ranging from distillate to Heavy oils and crude oils. The ignitor is a self-contained electrical discharge device for producing a high intensity spark. Use of high resistance transformer to produce a full wave charging circuit and to control spark rate enables the sealed power supply unit to store maximum energy and to deliver a greater Percentage of this energy through insulated cables to the ignitor tip on a very short time, in germs of micro seconds. A high spark energy also eliminates coking of the ignitor tip. The high-energy arc ignitor consists of four basic components, the exciter, flexible cable, spark tube and guide pipe and retractor assembly (Fig.7.6.) i - come <= ADVANCE aD 42 RETRACT Pee FLEXIBLE SPARK\ SPARK TIP pee ROD 5 CEXCHER ni H.E.A.IGNITOR 7 Fig.7.6. (mii te cid 7 Pa ok Ip -___ A key to the successful application of spark ignition is the presence of a strong re circulation pattern in the primary combustion zone as shown ii Fig.7.7.by proper selection of ‘Stabiliser and docation of HEA. The re circulation provides the source of energy required to ‘vapourise the oil and to heat the vapour to its ignition point, thus maintaining stable ignition after the spark thas been deactivated. ‘The discriminating scanners are UV Scanners with a reduced sensitivity, which permits each scanner to sce only the flame from the associated oil gun and not the flame of the adjacent oil guns. 5.2 OIL GUNS AND ATOMISERS Fuel oils like light diesel oil, (LDO), heavy fuel oil (HFO) or low sulphur heavy stock (LSHS) are used in boilers either as main fuel or supplement fuel. In coal fired boilers fuel oils are used to ignite the coal as well as to supplement the coal firing under various exigencies. ‘These fuel oils are burnt by spray combustion method wherein the oil is split into fine droplets (atomised) and distributed into the furnace in a spray form in a controlled manner. Oil guns either concentric tubes or parallel tubes as shown in Fig.7.8. installed through the furnace walls or windbox with atomiser mounted at their tips provide this oil spray to the furnace. The oil guns at their rear end are connected through flexible hoses to the fuel oil pipe and atomising agent (either steam or compressed air)PARALLEL OIL Fig 78. pipelines. For each oil gun, in the fuel oil and atomising medium pipelines slow opening and quick shut off valves are provided. The oil guns may be provided with a pneumatic gun advance and retract mechanism. With this the oil gun can be retracted in its housing: when it is not in service. By this the atomiser will be kept at a safe distance from the furnace heat radiation thereby ensuring long life and reliability of the atomiser. . As this oil gun advance-retract mechanism is more expensive, cumbersome and prone for increased maintenance many boilers use air-cooled oil guns. These guns are always stationed at their service position. Itis cooled by a low-pressure stream of air passing through a specially designed gun cap with finned surfaces as shown in Fig. The low pressure air passing around the atomiser shields and reduce the furnace radiation falling on atomiser parts by extracting heat through the finned surfaces. The air fan gun cooling is obtained from the discharge of the F.D. fans. 5.2.1. ATOMISATION ‘The exact mechanism of atomisation (splitting the liquid into fine droplets) depends on the type of atomiser used and the nature of liquid being atomised but the basic mechanism involves the formation of unstable columns of liquid which breakdown into tows of droplets DO Oe Oe Oe Oe ie ee Oh The process of atomisation can be accomplished in a number of ways in practice, which are usually grouped according to the source of energy used. In boilers fuel oils are atomised ~ mainly by adopting any one of the following two methods. Bb i) “By forcing the oil at high pressure through an orifice. This is called mechanical atomisation or pressure atomisation. a ii) im twin fluid atomisation (Steam or Air atomisation) a stream of gas at high = velocity is passed over the liguid surface so that waves are generated which | become extended into thin films. 188 wal Rise! Bae5.2.1.1, MECHANICAL/PRESSURE ATOMISATION = In a typical pressure atomiser as shown in Fig.29.0il at a high pressure flows in the ~ Genie tube and is discharged through tangential slots in the sprayer plate swt ing chamber Where the oil rotate at high speed. ‘The swirling oil then passes with undiminished energy through he sprayer plate orifice and escapes as a spray. In this case the hollow conical sheet that is produced emerges from the orifice with a tangential velocity which is sufficiently high to Cause an air core throughout the nozzle so produce a hollow cone spray. The advantage of Pressure atomisation is it does hot require any atomising medium. Hence it may be suitable for lighting up cold boilers. However this atomisers need oil pressure at a range of 40 to 70 kg/em? and so need suitable oil Pumps. The turn down ratio (the ratio of maximum to minimum fuel flow rate required to produce a stable self sustained flame) of these atomisers is less compared to other type of atomiser. In power Plants these atomisers are used for light oil start up burners 2 in only. Ye | ( | | | LLL LLL & 5.2.1.2 TWIN FLUID ATOMISER In this type of atomisers, the atomisation consists of the following stages i) Formation of thin liquid sheets along the inner walls of an internal mixed atomiser or of free sheets. ii) Disintegration of these sheets by aerodynamic forces to form ligaments and large droplets to form spray. Either compressed air or superheated steam will be used as atomising medium to apply erodynamic force on the oil sheet. 189‘Two types of these atomisers, a) intemal mixing b) extemal mixing are shown in Fig7.10. and 7.11. ‘The atomiser is screwed to a concentric tube oil gun. With an internal mixing atomiser oil flow through the inner tube and atomising medium through outer type. lh internal mixing atomiser, the oil and atomising medium impinge within the atomiser and comes ut as a spray. Atomisation is accomplished by projecting atomising medium tangentially across the jets of oil and results in the formation of conical spray of finely divided oil after the mixture has left the orifice plate. Here a constant differential presstire is to be maintained between oil and atomising medium. In external mixing atomisers the oil is released into the gas stream at the outlet from the atomiser. A constant pressure of atomising medium is to be maintained for the proper operation of external mixing type atomiser. In Indian power stations normally compressed air is used for atomising light oil and steam is used for atomising heavy oil. h (PR hitb /h eA (bh (bh Cb Chis if () h @ (Ohh Le oD Did Bie Bis) Base! Bie! Be A hd fhe he A5.3 FLAME SCANNERS. In any boiler, a large quantity of fuel is being admitted to the furnace, the flammable = mixture formed in the furnace must be converted into igert at the earliest available time before + any appreciable quantity builds up in the furnace. This needs a sustained healthy intensified _flame in the furnace. Admission of fuel without flame in furnace leads to furnace explosions. * Hence detection of absence of flame is required for any control action to prevent furnace explosion. Firing systems of modern boilers incorporate flame sensing scanners to detect the flame in the furnace and in the loss of flame to initiate control actions to prevent furnace explosions. 5.3.1 FUNDAMENTAL REQUIREMENTS OF A FLAME DETECTING SYSTEM Any flame detection system provided in the boiler must meet the following requirements. - Must be reliable - Sensible to discern the minimum flame envelope = Fail safe characteristic to avoid frequent trips. = Reaction time must be minimum 5.3.2 FLAME SCANNER TYPES The burning process exhibits many characteristics, which can be sensed as indicators of existing flame. In large furnace installations like power boiler furnace, the most practical characteristic to sense the proof of flame is the light emitted by the burning process. The light emission covers a broad spectrum as shown in Fig.7.12.including infrared, visible and ultraviolet spectrums. Sensing any one of these spectrums can be used for flame proving. WAVE LENGTH IN METRES ANBSTROM UNITS X- UNITS 19 10 01 019 ot 0000 1000100 10 1.0 01 190001009509 19 19040 1 te 4 + tf Ray COSMIC RAY snicxo eel ‘costa 008 a a aoa? ant {RADIATION FREQUENCY IN CYCLES PER SECOND soa rr me prec ecs 10510" ‘Eph ELECTRON VOLTS PER PHOTON, TOTAL ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION SPECTRUM (LOGRITHEMIC SCALES) Fig.7.12 191~ Accordingly three basic types of flame Scanners are used. 1 ‘Ultraviolet scanners 2.° Visible light scanners Be Infra red scanners. Further these scanners also utilise the fluctuating intensity (frequency) character of the furnace flames to prove the flame. 5.3.2.1 ULTRA VIOLET SCANNERS In this type, the scanner head located near the burner consists of ultraviolet tube. The special glass envelope has a low attenuation for ultra violet rays. The tube is filled up with helium gas at low pressure. Pure tungsten electrodes are placed inside the tube. When ultraviolet rays emitted by the flame strike these electrodes, they emit electrons proportionate to the ultraviolet radiation. ‘The electron flow through the helium gas is utilised by the scanner electronics to prove the flame. Each scanner tube is provided with a shutter mechanism, which close the tube at periodical intervals. When the shutter closes the ultraviolet rays are not passed to the tube and so the scanner should sense no flame. This is used for self-testing of the healthiness of the scanner. ei - As ultraviolet radiation which is abundant in fossil flames is not emitted in significant {quantities from other hot bodies of the furnace such as hot refractory, hot metal and hot gases at the temperatures encountered in boiler furnaces, ultraviolet detection will not cause any false detection of flame. However one problem with ultraviolet detection in coal fired boilers is a considerable portion of ultraviolet radiation is absorbed by intervening coal dust before it can reach the scanner. This may result in a false indication of no flame. 5.3.2.2. VISIBLE LIGHT SCANNERS. This flame scanner is an optical scanner utilising a fibre optic light guide. It recognises particular characteristics of visible light radiated from the furnace flames. Visible light is directly related to the buming process. It is given off in substantial quantities so that a stable flame cannot be masked by unbumt coal. ‘The scanner head with a fibre optic light guide is mounted in the windbox. Visible light from the area of combustion as monitored is transmitted through this fibre optic light guide to the electronics system kept outside the boiler. A photodiode in this system converts the light to an electric signal. A blue enhanced silicon photodiode with an integral optical LR. filter is used as the primary sensor. This boiler mounted components integrated with a remote signal processing card form the flame detection system. ‘They recognise the frequency and intensity levels of the visible light emitted by the furnace flame along with a self-diagnosing no fault in the system to prove the furnace flame53.23 INFRA RED SCANNERS These flame scanners are working on the princifile of sensing infrared rays. The flame controller in conjunction with the flame detector monitors coal, oil and gas flames selectively in the near infrared spectral range. The flame monitoring circuit is sensitive only to the evaluation of the flicker frequency and not to the steady infrared radiation from the combustion chamber and glowing boiler wall refractory. It is insensitive to daylight, the system consists of an infra red light receiver located near the burner and a control unit. Infra red scanners are rarely used in coal fired boilers. ‘ $3.3. SCANNER AIR In any type of scanner, the scanner head is located through the wind box and is viewing the furnace, but the components of the scanner head are temperature sensitive and fail normally if this temperature increase above 1500C. Hence to keep the scanner head at a low temperature cold air supplied by scanner air fan will be continuously passed through the scanner guide pipe. 6.0 FURNACE In a boiler heat energy is released from the fuel by the combustion reaction. The furnace provides the enclosure for combustion confining and isolating it so that combustion is a controlled activity. The furnace is designed for efficient and complete combustion. Though the furnace enclosure can be built in many ways in large capacity power boilers the furnace enclosure is formed by water wall system which has many advantages over the other arrangements. 6.1 FURNACE DESIGN “The furnace design is influenced by the following factors: i) Fuel ii) Allowable heat loading a) Surface (EPRS) b) Plan area c) Volumetric iii) Burner clearance 6.1.1. EFFECT OF FUELS ON FURNACE DESIGN The major fuels used in the steam generators are coal, oil and gas. The furnace designed for firing puiverised fuels are basically sized to ensure complete combustion with minimum formation of objectionable slag deposits. For coal fired boilers this requirement generally results in a relatively low furnaces wall absorption rates with safe metal temperatures. 193~ In the oil-fired boilers, the combustion can be achieved in a much smaller volume of furnace than a coal fired unit. However this intense combustion process results in very high- localised heat absorption rate within the active burning zone of the furnace. In order to avoid these high heat absorption rates, the furnaces selected for oil firing are increased in size above the minimum required to complete combustion only, to a size that will produce safe furnace wall temperatures. ‘The combustion characteristics of gas produce a more uniform heat release pattern within the furnace. This allows the use of even smaller furnaces than for oil. . ‘The Fig.7.13.iHlustrates the relative size of units designed for these three fuels at high sub critical pressure levels, All coals have certain characteristics (Table 1) which may be used on a relative basis 10 ‘compare their effect on furnace sizing. TABLE 1: COAL CHARACTERISTICS Total moisture : 15 Ash : 30 : Sulphur 1+ 05 HEV kcal/Kg > 4500 Ash softening temperature : 1250°C(at reducing atmosphere) Sodium content in ash as Na;0 01 Ppp? DP OQPtartiaRtrt orga abe? a (2 ~ a UD| cals ai 2 = ; i aA T reso | (COMPARISON OF FURNACES FOR DIFFERENT FUELS Fig.7.13. ‘The moisture content in coal affects the design of the boiler in many ways such as combustion gas weight, flue-gas velocities, boiler efficiency, heat transfer rates and low temperature corrosion. The ash quality and quantity can affect the furnace slagging rate, fouling of super ‘beater, re heater and air heater surfaces, the unburnt carbon loss, the amount of Particulate ‘=sission discharged to the atmosphere and the capacity of ash handling system. 195\ 6.1.2 ALLOWABLE HEAT LOADING s , ‘The furnace heat loading is a characteristic requirement for each fuel. Normally three basic heat loadings are considered for furnace designs. The EPRS (Effective Projected Radiant Surface) heat loading can be related to the gas temperature leaving the fumace. This gas temperature is very much significant in the case of coal fired boilers. This value-should be considerably lower than the initial ash deformation temperature to protect superheaters and re heaters from fouling due to ash deposition. In the case of oil and gas fired boilers this loading willbe high, however taking cae ofthe metal temperatures in the water wall and maintaining an optimum gas temperature for the heat transfer in super heater/re heater. This value change from 200,000, to 325,000 K.Cal/hr/m? for coal fired boilers and a maximum of 550,000 K.Cal/hr/m? for oil and gas fired boilers. ‘The plan area heat loading can be correlated to the maximum localised heat absorption rate and maximum temperature of products of combustion. In other words, a very high plan trea loading may tend the furnace to slag in the case of coal fired boilers and increase the furnace wall temperature in the case of oil and gas fired boilers. ‘The normal value for coal ranges from 3 to 4 million K.Cal/hr/m? and for oil and gas a maximum value of 5 million K.Cal/hr/m? shall be used. The volumetric heat loading is an important criterion especially for fuels critical about stabilisation for combustion and low heating value gases. A low value of volumetric heat oading signifies an increased residence time in the fumace for the combustion to complete. ‘The values used forthe normal fuels range from 130t0 300x 10° keal/ha/m’. 6.1.3 BURNER CLEARANCE Sufficient height between the top row of fuel nozzles and the furnace outlet must be provided especially in the case of coal fired boilers to obtain proper fumace retention time. ‘This value ranges from 15 to 20 meters for large utility Boiler. In the case of horizontal firing, which is adopted mostly for industrial boilers, the clearances between the bumers, between the side walls and bumer nose portions should all be properly sized to avoid flame impingement on the walls and also flame embracing which is not desirable from the combustion and heat absorption point of view. - 4 Bend ed bet iCHAPTER 8 * BURNER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 1.0 FURNACE EXPLOSION ‘The flammable fuel-air mixture admitted to a boiler furnace is immediately ignited, burnt and converted into inert. The Product gases formed are evacuated by the draught system $0 that under normal: operating conditions, the furmace pressure remains very close to atmospheric pressure. Hence the furnace enclosure walls are generally designed to with stand a Pressure slightly above atmospheric pressure, that is a maximum of +700 mmwe even in case of pressurised. furnaces. If the ignition of the flammable mixture is delayed it leads to the accumulation of the same in the furnace. When the accumulated mass in the furnace is ignited Tater, the rate of energy release can be tremendously high which the walls of the furnace may not be in a position to contain due their low strength. This results in furnace explosion. Thus the furnace explosions result from rapid rate of volume increase of gaseous combustion products when too great a quantity of fuel and air reacts almost simultaneously in an enclosure with a limited volume and strength, Any boiler furnace is susceptible to explosion. Furnace explosion especially in large boilers result in severe plant damage and possible personnel causalities. Repair of plant damage takes considerable time and consequent generation losses. 1.1 CAUSES FOR FURNACE EXPLOSIONS Many of the furnace explosions occurred through a) Ignition of an accumulation of combustible gas in a boiler out of service. b) Operating for a long period of time with a deficiency of air and then suddenly bringing about proper air-fuel ratio. The three basic operating procedures causing accumulation of an explosive mixture that will be leading to furnace explosion are. = Improper sequence of operation of firing system components. - Insufficient ignition energy supplied relative to actual requirements. - Firing with improper air fuel ratio. It is to be noted that a fuel flow interruption is also a potential hazard From a study made on furnace explosion it was found that most of the explosions occurred during Start up of the boiler that too mainly because of improper ignition. 197~ 1.2. METHODS TO PREVENT EXCESSIVE FLAMMABLE ACCUMULATIONS Fumace explosion prevention should be aimed at limiting the quantity of diffused flammable fuel-air mixture that can be accommodated iri a furnace in proportion to the total ‘Volume and the mechanical strength of the furnace. While fuel and air are being admitted to a furnace the excessive flammable diffused accumulation can be prevented by a) igniting all flammable mixtures as they are’ formed, prior to their excessive accumulation. b) Diffusing all flammable mixtures with sufficient additional air, prior to ignition, to a point beyond the diffused flammable mixture ratio and accomplishing this with sufficient degree of diffusion before a critical percentage of the furnace volume is occupied by the flammable mixture. 2.0 NEED FOR BURNER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ‘The firing system of a boiler contains so many components distributed over a large physical area and multiplicity of operating steps are required for admission of fuel into the viace ina safe manner. Hence there is a considerable latitude for error if the operating steps are completely lft to operator's judgement. Further adequacy of ignition energy should not be Jefe to operator’s interpretation as many furnace explosions result from inadequacy of ignition energy. ‘To prevent damage to the boiler and the firing system equipments, simultaneous, continuous ‘monitoring of substantial parameters and at times instantanc&Xs reaction to hazardous situation are required. As such action by the operator in timely manner is not possible. Since major furnace explosions result from the ignition of unburnt in first one or two seconds, human reaction time will be very much inadequate. For preventing furnace explosion by performing the above tasks adequately a dedicated protection system is required. Such a protection system is called Burner management system (BMS) or Fuel Firing Safety System. Many boilers in Indian Power Stations supplied by BHEL are provided with such a protection system called Furnace Safeguard Supervisory System (FSSS). 2.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF BMS. ‘The Burner Management System of a boiler is a distinct system more closely allied to the firing system digital actions (open-close, Start-Stop) than to the process controls. It is not an auxiliary function of the steam generator process control system. Burner Management System for a boiler has to be tailored specifically to the requirements and operating characteristics of its firing system. 198 VV 2A Va leat 7 ad ~ ih ob Ch ah2.2. ROLE OF BURNER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM IN STEAM GENERATING PROCESS. When provided the B.M.S. supervise, control afid monitors the preparation, distribution and admission of fuel and air into the furnace. It will be executing and enforcing pre- ~ established safe operating procedures for the firing system components. Thereby BMS. can effectively prevent the formation of an explosive mixture of fuel and air in any portion of the steam generator during any phase of operation including start up and shut-down. It will not be the responsibility of BIM.S. to regulate the air and fuel flow quantities or to initiate start up or normal shut down of firing system components. But B.M.S. exercises authority over both operator and process controls through its safety interlocking features. ‘The interlocking features included in the system depends on a) Physical characteristics of the firing system. b) Type of fuel fired 2.3 BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF BURNER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ‘A Bumer Management System provided in a boiler must meet the following requirements. a It should offer maximum protection - _ Itshould not cause any nuisance boiler trips - Itis components should consume less power - The components of B.M.S. must be reliable and have long life. 2.4 OPERATIONAL FUNCTIONS OF BURNER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM The BMS. of a boiler will enforce and execute safety interlocking features on the operation of following components and system of the boiler i) Boiler Purge ii) Secondary air damper modulation and on/off control and supervision in comer fired boilers. Ignitors on/off control and supervision Light oil (Warm up oil) on/off control and supervision Heavy oil on/off control and supervision Pulverisers and feeders on/off control and supervision Flame scanners intelligence and checking Overall flame failure protection ix) Boiler protection 3.0 ORGANISATION OF BURNER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ‘As mentioned earlier the Burner Management System for a boiler is tailor made to suit the specific characteristics of the firing system of that boiler. A typical system known as ESS‘ provided for comer firing boilers works through logic functions. The logics is divided into three groups as 199= UnitLogic - Elevation Logic = Comer Logic ‘The unit logic has the supervision of overall furnace conditions. It monitors all critical parameters of the fuel firing system, supervises furnace purge, and examines all pertinent conditions required for a safe warm-up before allowing main fuel to be admitted. During steam generator operation, the unit logic continuously monitors critical feed backs to insure maximum safety and will trip all fuel within a present time limit if dangerous conditions cannot be tliminated: In response to a load demand signal, the unit logic can automatically initiate sddition or removal of elevations of fuel in a programmed manner. If by decreasing fuel demand the firing conditions approach the point of instability, additional ignition support energy can be automatically initiated. The unit logic also provides intelligence to the operator on overall status of furnace operation and initiates alarms when manual corrective steps must be taken. ‘The elevation logic can be termed an intermediate logic which depends on the operator or the unit logic for initiation of start or stop actions. In addition, it also provides essential permissive and trip commands to the comer logic. The elevation logic is designed to suit the type of fuel it controls. For instance, in case of pulverized coal, no comer logic other than ignition is required since the firing is done on a pulverizer-clevation basis, in case of oil or gas firing, comer sequencing is performed by the elevation logic. In general, the elevation logic receives commands from the unit logic or the operator on when to start, shutdown, or trip the Clevation, Under the normal operating conditions, the elevation logic assumes supervision of its elevation and will not start, or if in service, will shut the elevation down when proper firing conditions cannot be maintained. The unit logic is informed of what ever actions are taken by the elevation logic. z ‘The comet logic of oil or gas firing depends on elevation logic commands for initiating an action. During normal operation, the corner logic computes its own permissives based on ignition energy availability, status of various comer devices, and other factors for sequencing of individual fuel, air, or steam valve operations. In the case of oil firing, the logic performs an oil scavenge cycle before the gun is allowed to retract. However, emergency trip signals originating in unit logic and transmitted via elevation logic will bypass the comer permissive logic and cause immediate closure of all valves. 3.1 ARRANGEMENT OF SYSTEM The system above basically consists of the following major parts. - Logic Cabinet = Console insert - Secondary air damper control panel - Mill panel - Field equipmentsORGANISATION OF PSSS: Fig.8.1. 3.1.1. LOGIC CABINET This is the heart of the system containing the logic hardware which may be either conventional relays, solid state relays or microprocessors. This receives the incoming commands from the console insert and feed back signals from field mounted devices. All these signals are processed and outputs are generated to operate the field devices. . 3.1.2 CONSOLE INSERT ‘The console insert contains all the command devices (switches and/or push buttons) the ‘operator requires to manipulate the firing system equipment and all the feed back devices (status lights) required to monitor the status of the equipment. The console insert or connected to the logic cabinet through cables. 3.13 SECONDARY AIR DAMPER CONTROL PANEL In acomer fired boiler, the secondary air from the comer wind boxes is distributed in to the furnace through secondary air dampers designated as Auxiliary air dampers and fuel air dampers as already explained under Tangential firing System. These dampers are required to modulate as a function of process variables such as the auxiliary air dampers are modulated to maintain wind box to furnace differential pressure and fuel air dampers modulated proportional to the raw coal feeder speed. Besides the above analogue controls, certain digital controls are transmitted from the logic cabinet to the S.A.D.C. panel to command a group of dampers or all the dampers, to fully open or fully close or open partly, depending on the conditions prevailing at that time. The ‘command signal from the logic cabinet will over ride the analogue control signals to secondary air dampers.‘The S.A. D.C. panel contain all the controllers, digital analogue transfer components etc to position the secondary air dampers through electro pneumatic converters. * 34.4 MILL PANEL With a pressurised milling system using hot air for drying it is necessary to monitor the flow or lack of flow of coal to the mill as well as loading of the mill. This monitoring is essential for mill interlock systems provided to prevent a mill explosion or mill fire. For this ‘monitoring purpose coal flow alarm, high current relay and low current relay for all the mills of the boiler are mounted in the mill panel. 3.15 FIELD EQUIPMENTS The field equipments of the B.M.S. consists of both shut off devices to cut the fuel supply to furnace and signal transmitters to convey the status of firing system to the logic cabinet, The field equipments are a) Nozzle valves b) Header trip valves . 9 Gun Advance retract mechanism echt 4) Local gun maintenance switch box ) — Ignitor cabinet f) Pulveriser discharge valves 2) Pulveriser hot air gale h) Secondary air damper drive a i) Flame Scanner head assembly j) Signal initiating devices * 3.1.5.1 NOZZLE VALVES These valves are the isolating valves placed in the oil and atomising medium lines connected to each oil gun just before the gun, For each oil gun there will be one more nozzle valve in the interconnecting line of oil and atomising medium for scavenging purpose. All these nozzle valves will have a slow opening and quick closing characteristics. ‘There will be limit switches to give signed for full opening or close of these nozzle valves. 3.15.2 HEADER TRIP VALVE In each fuel oil line to the boiler (ignitor oil, light oil, heavy oil) there will be a isolating valve at the header closure of which will cut off that oil supply to all the oil guns. These valves are called trip valves which are also provided with limit switches for their position indication. 3.1.5.2 GUN ADVANCE - RETRACT MECHANISM In some boilers the oil guns are provided with 2 pneumatic gun advance-retract mechanism. The gun will be moved by 2 piston working in a air cylinder. Forward and backward control of the guns is achieved by means of two three way solenoid valves. There will be limit switches for indicating advance retract positions. Air cooled oil guns do not have this mechanism.3.1.5.3 LOCAL GUN MAINTENANCE SWITCH BOX The oil guns of an elevation are group operated from the console insert. To facilitate » the operator to select any particular gun «lone for removal when others are operating, a maintenance switch box is provided near each oil gun. A three position selector switch with the REMOTE, SCAVENGE and OFF positions is provided. 3.1.5.4 IGNITOR CABINET For each ignitor one ignitor cabinet is provided. The contents of ignitor cabinet depends on the type of ignitors. An eddy plate ignitor cabinet will have the spark transformer, flame proving differential switch or flame relay, ignitor oil/air shut off valve, oil flow control valve and indicating lights. The HEA ignitor cabinet will have ignition exciter comprising of transformer, capacitor, discharge tube etc. 3.1.5.5 PULVERISER DISCHARGE VALVE. The pulveriser discharge valve consists of four open-close type butterfly or flap dampers. The four dampers are located at the four discharge pipes of the coal mill. These dampers are pneumatically operated from a common air supply so that all four dampers are simultaneously either opened or closed. These dampers are also provided with open and close limit switches 3.1.5.6 PULVERISER HOT AIR GATE The hot air gate is an open-close shut off gate located in the hot primary air duct to individual pulveriser. This is also operated pneumatically and provided with open-close limit switches. 3.1.5.7 SECONDARY AIR DAMPER DRIVE For modulating the secondary air dampers of the wind box as per the signal received from the SADC panel each damper is provided with’a pneumatic power cylinder and a position indicator. The damper mechanism keeps the damper fully open in case of control signal failure for fail safe arrangement. 3.1.5.8 FLAME SCANNER HEAD ASSEMBLY These assemblies are mounted in the fumace corners for monitoring the furnace flame. They consist of detector head housed inside a guide pipe with necessary cubling. ‘The detector head contains the scanner parts, The scanner guide pipe is supplied with cold air for cooling the scanner heat. 3.1.5.9 SIGNAL INITIATING DEVICES A number of pressure, temperature differential pressure and flow switches are connected to the logic cabinet. They provide necessary feed back to the logics regarding the status of the fluids to the furnace. They are generally direct acting type. 203e CHAPTER-9 _ EMISSION CONTROL SYSTEMS 1 BOILER EMISSIONS : ya From the air quality standards, three classes of emissions from the boiler are significant. ‘They are particulate matter, sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides. Historically particulate matter > also popularly called fly ash has received the greatest attention because it is easily seen and often labeled public nuisance. The concem.about the sulphur oxide comes from its possible health — effects and from its potential to damage vegetation. Oxides of nitrogen are also significant — because they participate in complex chemical reactions that lead to formation of photoctien aaa smog in the atmosphere and depletion of ozone layer. ~ As the boiler emissions have many ill effects on the environment as a whole, there is a~ need to control the emissions to a level acceptable to the environment. This calls for a number of equipments to be connected to the boiler; each one separately deals one of the emissions. In Indian power station boilers till now provisions are made only for the removal of particulate matter from the flue gas. iy 2 PARTICULATE EMISSION CONTROL : q Particulate emission control deals with methods of removing particles dispersed in the > effluent gases. In a boiler it specifically applies tothe removal of fly ash fro the flue gas Many methods are available for this purpose. Some of them are a a) Mechanical Cyclone Collectors b) Venturi Scrubber = °) Fabric Filters di d) Electrostatic Precipitators a - Of the above Electrostatic Precipitator is the most common method used by Indian Power Stations for the removal of fly ash due to its higher extraction efficiency. ¢ 2.1 ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATORS = 2.1.1 WORKING PRINCIPLE The principles upon which an electrostatic precipitator operates are that the dust ladens gases pass into a chamber where the individual particles of dust are given an electric charge by » absorption of free ions from a high voltage D.C. ionising field. Electric forces cause a stream of = ions to pass from the discharge electrodes to the collecting electrodes and the particles of dust, entrained in the gas are deflecied out of the gas stream into the collected surfaces where they are retained, either by electrical or molecular attraction (See Fig 9.1.). «They are removed by an intermittent blow usually referred as rapping. This causes the dust » particles to drop into dust hoppers situated below the collgcting electrodes. TYPICAL ARRANGEMENT OF PRECIPITATOR ELECTRODES Fig 9.1. There are four different steps in the process of precipitation: i) Tonisation of gases and charging of dust particles. ii) Migration of the particle to the collector. iii) Deposition of charged particles on the collecting surface iv) Dislodging of particles from the collecting surface. 2.1.2 DESCRIPTION The electrostatic precipitator essentially consists of two sets of electrodes, one in the form of thin wires called discharge or emitting electrodes and other set called collecting electrodes in the form of pipes or plates. The emitting electrodes are placed in the centre of pipes or midway between two plates and are connected usually to negative polarity of high voltage D.C. source of the order of 25-100kV. The collecting electrodes are connected to the positive of the source and grounded. Fig.9.2.shows the details of a typical precipitator used for collection of fly ash. 243 TYPES ‘The precipitator can be basically classified into the following types: i) Dry or wet (irrigated) ii) Horizontal or vertical flow iii) Plate type or tubular type For recovery of valuable material, dry type precipitator is normally chosen. 2052.14 CONSTRUCTION DETAILS & The major fundamental parts of the electrostatic precipitator consist of the following: i) Casing ii) Hoppers iii) Gas distributor screen iv) Collecting system v) Emitting system ~vi) Rapping mechanism for collecting system vii) Rapping mechanism for emitting system viii) Insulator housing 2.1.4.1 CASING The precipitator casing is designed for horizontal gas flow. It is an all-welded steel construction, assembled from prefabricated wall and roof panels using panel construction: The main part of the fabrication is done in the workshop. ‘The gas pressure and temperature and the wind load will cause the casing structure to flex. Problem free precipitator operation requires that the electrode contained in and supported by the casing remain perfectly aligned. Therefore excessive flexing of the casing must be avoided. a 2.1.4.2 HOPPERS The hoppers are of pyramidal type (Fig.9.2.). Also rough type and flat-bottom precipitators with scraper conveyors are available for some applications. The valley angle of the hoppers (angle between hopper comer and horizontal) is never less then 55° and offer more to ensure easy dust flow down to the feed out flange. Ail hoppers have gas baffles. To ensure free flow of ash into the disposal system lower portions of the hoppers are provided with electrical heaters with thermostatic control. 2.143 GAS DISTRIBUTION SCREEN The gas velocity in the precipitator is approximately 1/10" of the velocity in the ducting before the precipitator. It is therefore essential that the precipitator have arrangements to give an even distribution over its entire cross sectional area. Special gas distribution screens are therefore located at the inlet of the precipitator. The screens are of modular design and hang within a framework in the precipitator-casing inlet. During the final checking of the gas flow pattern additional deflector plates are added on to the screens, if necessary. teh Ob oo OO OR ie Bie Bos Bae! De! Di ' Ba!‘e'bI4 YO.LV.LdIoFud DLLW1SOULITE 4O INSWBONY IY WtaNao Waisas 304VHOSIO wos INVHOAW ONIdd yy2.1.4.4 COLLECTING SYSTEM a : _ The ‘G’ profiled collecting electrode is based on the concept of dimensional stability. The upper edge of the collecting plates are provided with hooks, which are hung from support angles welded to the roof structure (Fig.9.3.) The lower edge of each plate has a shock receiving plate, which is securely guided by the shock bar arrangement. This results in a stable collecting system similar to the emitting system. - ‘The collecting plates are made of 1.6-mm steel plate and shaped in one piece by roll forming. Rigidity is the main purpose for the special design of the collecting plate edges. in order to assure the most rigid construction, taller-collecting plates (10m) are connected to one another by transverse guides, thereby preventing any swinging tendencies. 2.145 EMITTING SYSTEM ‘The emitting system is an important part of the precipitator. The emitting framework is thoroughly braced and forms a rigid box-like structure (Fig.9.4). The frame is assembled, adjusted and welded to its final position inside the casing, which makes it possible to obtain and maintain highly accurate electrode spacing. . ‘The framework has a four-point suspension effectively taking care of the expansion when hhot gas is entering. All sharp edges and ‘ends of frame parts are rounded to avoid excessive flashover. . Wire type electrodes give the best current distribution. Therefore they are the ones best suited for difficult dusts with high electric resistivity. » 2.146 RAPPING MECHANISM FOR COLLECTING SYSTEM (Fig.9.3) Each collecting plate has a shock receiving plate at its lower end. ‘The plates in one row of each field are interfaced to ‘one another by these shock receiving irons resting in slots in the shock bar thus maintaining the required spacing. The shock bars are kept in alignment with suides located at the front and rear of each shock bar. Each collecting plate is hung on an It is of prime importance in any rapping system to avoid excessive re-entrainment of the dust into the gas steam durine the rapping procedure. With the tumbling hammer rapping mechanism the pes agen an scslron, which causes he olected fa nea from the collecting plates and fall down in large agglomerates. ‘These large agglomerates, which result from a single shock shearing action greatly, reduce the possiblity of dust re-entrainment during rapping. : / te oe Re BE ‘hut (ho Rh eR ok (fod ad es et sg bare De Be Re Pe Be PPOSHOCK BAR SHIM COLLECTING RAPPING DRIVE‘The rapping frequency should be as lowas possible in order to minimize dust losses from rapping. The frequency of each rapping system is adjustable within a wide range. There is one set of rapping equipment provided for each bus section so that the tae can be suited to the conditions in that individual area. 2.1.4.7 RAPPING SYSTEM FOR EMITTING ELECTRODES During electrostatic precipitation, a fraction of the dust will be collected on the emitting electrodes and the corona will gradually be suppressed as the dust layer grows. It is therefore necessary to rap the emitting electrodes occasionally. This rapping is done with a rapping system employing ‘Tumbling Hammers’, which are mounted on a horizontal shaft in a staggered fashion (Fig.9.4.). These hammers hit specially designed shock beams to which the intermediate part of the emitting frame of each duct is attached. In this manner the shock energy generated by ‘the hammer is transmitted to the emitting electrodes. One rapping mechanism is provided per electrical bus section. ‘The driving arrangement for the rapping mechanism is located either on the roof or on the sidewall of the precipitator. ‘The operation of the gear motor for the rapping mechanism is ‘controlled by a program relay, which is adjusted to optimum conditions at the time of commissioning. Subsequent adjustments can -easily be carried out during operation, should operating conditions vary. x8 5 3 s 5 & & 2 2112.1.4.8 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM * ss ~ For optimum functional efficiency of the precipitator, the supply voltage should be maintained near about the flash over level between the precipitator electrodes. This can be achieved by an electronic control system, which raises the output voltage to flash over level and reduces it automatically by a small amount in the event of a flash over. An additional increase in voltage beyond the normal operating zone produces @ increase in current accompanied by heavy sparking and a rapid reduction in dust es efficiency. Experience has shown that the maximum dust collecting efficiency is related to the amount of minor sparking that occurs on the electrodes. Thus the function of effective control system is: a) b) Co) a) e) To operate the precipitator by a current and voltage that will vary according to the conditions in the precipitator, maintaining a high efficiency by controlling the spark rate. To provide an inherent arc suppression by arranging for the power supply output to reduce practically to zero for the duration of an arc. To provide back up protection against sustained power arc or persistent low voltage conditions by means of an under voltage alarm circuit. To indicate when the power supply is inadequate or a power arc is sustained due to fault condition by means of visual and audio aiarms. Provision of manual and automatic circuits. 4 ‘The rectifier-control provides all the modern controls and has a spark rate controller unit which controls spark rate of 5 to 10 sparks per minute to maintain optimum dust collection efficiency. The rectifier system provides a smoother control of output current from 10% to 100% of the rated value and also maintains the constant current output. ~ ~ = = S > = > « e — Ss = = 3 = — S > | al = ~ > - ~ : = < = 2 ~ « ~ia REFERENCES * Steam — its generation and use Combustion — Fossil Power Systems Modern Power Station Practice Boiler and Auxiliaries . Steam Plant Operation Fans, Airheaters, Mills and Gravimetric Feeders Axial Fans Power Station Engineering & Economy ‘Thermal Power Plant Familiarisation — Fans & Air Heaters Power Station Plant — Course Reference Notes O&M — Manuals of TS-I and TS-II Mills and Feeders Slide Package on Boilers Special Report on Boiler and Auxiliary Equipment by The Babcock and Wilcox Company by Joseph G. Singer ‘Combustion Engineering Inc. by British Electricity International Pergamon Press by Bharat Heavy Blectricals Limited by Everett B. Woodruff, Herbert B. Lammiers and Thomas F. Lammers Mc Graw - Hill BHEL Publications by KKK - Germany by Bemhardt G.A. Skrotzki and William A. Vopat Vol.ll NPTI—Course Material NPTI - Course Material by National Technical Training Centre, CEGB-UK. ‘Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd. Course Material of NPTI (SR), Neyveli by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. Power magazine