Thermal Power Plant Boiler Drum Level Control

A Course on Thermal Power Plant…
Prof. P. K. Das
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
IIT Kharagpur
Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum
Boiler Drum – a standard feature of water tube boilers
Function of a Boiler Drum
i. Stores water and steam to meet varying load requirement

ii. Part of a circulation loop
iii. Separates of steam and water (three internals and free surface)
iv. Separates of sludge & floating impurities
v. Maintains the ppm of dissolved solids by blow down and
phosphate dosing
Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 2

Boiler Drum as Steam Steam,

an input – output outlet water
system droplet
Feed water
Riser Water + chemical
Boiler Drum as
Water, steam,
an Input-
foam, sludge, Output System
floating
impurities
Blow down water

Down Comer Dissolved solids
Water steam impurities Precipitates
Schematic of a boiler
drum – relative positions
of different components

500 MW Boiler Drum Inside of a boiler drum – tube holes

and baffles


Typical drum internals
1- Drum;
2- Evaporating tubes;
3- Box;
4- Cyclone;
5- Drainage box;
6- Cover;
7- Steam-washing perforated plate;
8- Perforated steam baffle;
9- Feed water distribution box;
10- Steam circulating tubes;
11- Feed water in;
12- Hole in a partition;
13- Downtake tubes;
14- Emergency water drainage.

Two unique features of drum type boilers

• Carry under – entrainment of steam bubbles in the
water stream of downcomer, reduces the circulation,
increases the pressure drop in the down comer
•Carry over – entrainment of water droplets in the steam
leaving the boiler drum , dissolved solid gets deposited
in super heater and other downstream components,
creates the problem of over heating and failure.
• Carry over is a general term,
associated phenomena are known as priming and
foaming

Priming is the sudden gust of liquid slugs in the steam flow due to rapid
change in steaming rate, increase in liquid level, improper circulation etc.
It not only makes the steam dirty but can also create problems like flow
fluctuation, water hammer, thermal stress.
Foamnig occurs due to the saponification in presence of oil, grease,
floating impurities. It restricts the release of the bubbles as the liquid has
a high surface tension. During bubble rapture droplets are formed which
are also carried away by steam
Apart from mechanical cleaning of steam chemical correction is also
applied.
Tri-sodium phosphate or tannin is injected to induce precipitation of the
dissolved salts in the form of sludge.

Mechanism of carry over
Normal bubble Carry over bubble
Liquid excursion by
vapor drag

ABMA Standard Boiler Water Concentrations for Minimizing Carryover


Carry Over from Boiler Drum
Carry over effect from drum can

be up to LP turbine blades
Mechanical Vapor out
Drum Drum Spray High salt content in

Foaming
Internal level water boiler water
Very high High

Alignments Alkalinity Volatility different for
levels
each salt
Oil in
Faulty water
screen Different SO3 has Other salts in
drier quantum of high vapor carry
High TDS in vapor carry volatility over rare
boiler water over
Gets Goes up
deposited in above 200
LP turbine kg/cm2
Operation done on steam in a steam drum: Separation,

Washing and
Drying
Gravity Separation of Steam

and Water:
1. Needs large free surface
2. Suitable for low pressure

boilers (< 20bar)
3. Low cost

Gravity separation assisted by

internals like baffles and screens
• Baffles are the first level
separator- Impact separations or
separation due to change of
momentum
• Screen (wiremesh) are
secondary separators- intersects
fine droplets
Baffles and screens

At high pressure density

difference between water and
screen diminishes
• Cyclone utilize centrifugal forces
•Scrubbers are corrugated plate-
helps to remove the last stresses
of moisture
•Finally perforated plates or
screens are used at the drum exit
Cyclone and scrubbers

Steam washing – impurities

are removed
• Steam is made to pass
through a rain of
Relatively pure incoming feed
water.

Saturated steam drier

1 & 5 - Constant- velocity
Channels;
2 & 6 - Perforated plates;
3 - Horizontal chute;
4 - Drainage pipes;
7 - Corrugated plates;
8 - Moisture- trapping pocket


Typical external cyclone separator
1- Header;
2- Steam-water mixture in;
3- Whirler;
4- Perforated plate;
5- Steam outlet pipe;
6- Air vent;
7- Blow-down;
8- Downtake tubes;
9- Water from drum;
10- Cross-piece
Sometimes steams of high purity is required

Separation inside the steam drum is not adequate
External separators are used


Guide lines to avoid carry over:
 Drum level to be within +/- 50 mm
 Maintain silica below recommended value for the pressure
 Drum internal alignment to be maintained
 FW to be 0.2 to 0.3 μmho s/cm
 Boiler water solids to be in recommended level
 Measure & maintain steam purity within limits
 FW conductivity to be on line
 Boiler water salt control
 Dosing of solid salts to be after spray water tap off
Turbine Deposits Guide:
 Soft & friable, pinkish white, 1st stage blades- easy to remove by
air/water
 Sparkling silver, silver gray mainly in 4th and 5th stage blades-
Hard to remove by air/water.

Test Facility

Collection of carry over

Blow Down : Intentional drainage of water from the boiler drum to

control the level of dissolved solid
Surface Blow down Bottom Blow down

Removes dissolved solids, Removes sludge and
foam, floating impurities – precipitates –mostly
often continuous manual
Inadequate blow down - the problem of deposition
Excessive blow down – wastage of water, chemical and energy

Impurities in = impurities out
 fw * ppm fw  BD ppmdrum  1  x s  ppmcarryover
 fw  rate of feed water entering the drum kg S 

BD  rate of blowdown necessary kg S 
s  rate of steam flow from the drum kg S 
x  quality of steam leaving the drum

Scheme for
automatic surface
blow down
Possibility of
heat recovery
from surface
blow down
stream

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Drum Level Control
Drum Level Control :
• Steam supply for variable demands changes the water level in the
boiler drum
• Drum level control is important for both plant protection and
equipment safety
• Excessive low level uncover boiler tubes leads to overheating. It
also affects the circulation
• Very high level interferes with the process of steam water
separation, leads to loss of boiler efficiency, priming and carry
over. Excessive carry over may lead to surge or even water
hammer
• Unique phenomena like shrink and swell are also associated.
Desirable
In case of a large change in the level, bring the drum up to the
level at boiler start up and maintain the level at that condition
Example
 Boiler specifications:-
 367.7 kW(500 bhp), 7840.9 kg/h (17,250 PPH)
 Operating pressure 1.55 Mpa (225 PSIG)
 Boiler Water temperature 476K (397 F)
 Boiler is operated with 75% firing rate with 80% efficiency i.e. 5863.6 kg/h
(12,900 PPH) with 4 597.3 kWh (1,56,86,720 Btu) heat input.
 Using ON/OFF feed water system (recovery volume of 3% low water capacity
(235 kg) + 2% over capacity(157 kg) = 5% water recovery capacity (392 kg) )
 Feed water cycle = 392/5863 hr = 4.01 min
 Feed water is supplied at 355.2 K with 261.4 kg/min.

Resultant impact
Total feed water delivery time = 392/ 261.4=1.5 min, temperature rise= 120 K
1.Sub-cooling of water occurs due to mixing of drum water with feed water.
95% of water at 476 K + 5% of water at 355.2 K= 469.7 K of boiler water

i.e. 6.3 K of sub-cooling
2.Steaming pressure falls from 1.55 Mpa (@ 476 K) to 1.34 Mpa (@ 469.7 K) i.e.
13% drop in steaming pressure
3.Steaming pressure falls specific volume changes steam

nozzle discharge velocity increases from 20.6 m/s to 23.5 m/s.
2.03 m/s is critical velocity for carry over.
Priming most likely to occur.

4. To recover steaming pressure, firing rate should be increased by 1640.8 kWh

i.e. 26.76% of total firing rate in 1.5 min.
So boiler would have to fire 75 + 26.76 =101.76 % to recover
5. Steaming Pr. decreases drum water level rises 1.77 to 2.54 cm

wrong signal send to feed water controller shut the
feed 1.77 cm early.
6. Operating steaming pressure reached water level shrinks.

Drum level control

•Level measurement
•Level control
On-off control
Modulating Control

Conductivity
probe for level
measurement
Possible actions:
•Start or stop a valve
•Open or close a valve Two point
•Sound an alarm conductivit
•Open or close a relay y probe

Capacitance method of
level measurement

Float type level indicator
Can be conveniently
used for on-off control


Differential Pressure cell
Suitable for high pressure

clean water system with a
low conductivity
Diaphragm type sensing

element

Desirable features of a good drum level control

•Operator adjustment of the set point for drum level
•Compensation for the shrink & swell effects
•Automatic control of drum level
•Manual control of the feed water valve
•Bump-less transfer between auto and manual modes
•Indication of correct drum level and steam flow
•Indication of feed water valve position and feed water flow
•Absolute/deviation alarms for drum level
Additionally a good controller should take care of

•Blow down variations due to changes in dissolved solids
•Variations in feed water supply pressure
•Leaks in the steam circuits.

Options for drum level control
•Manual control
•Single element control
•Two element control
•Three element control
•Only one analogue input and one analogue output required

•Suitable for single boiler / single feed pump configurations
•Suitable for stable loads since there is no relationship between drum level
and steam- or feed water flow
•Possible inadequate control option because of the swell effect
Limitation of single level control:
• Increase of demand decreases steam pressure

• Gives rise to expansion of bubbles and drum level swell
• Feed water flow rate decreases while an increase of flow rate is
needed to maintain mass balance
• Sudden or large load changes gives rise to phasing of shrink and swell
• Water level controller looses control
• Nuisance of low water trips or water priming and carry over

•Suitable for moderate load

swing
•Any size of boiler
•Uses steam flow and drum
level
•As steam flow is very
dynamic load change can be
sensed before any change of
drum level
•Steam flow is a large variable
can over ride the trim effect of
the drum level change

Limitations of two element control
• Can not adjust pressure or load disturbance of the feed water flow
• Can not eliminate the phasing interaction between the feed water
flow and drum level as only a slow process of drum level is
controlled
• The second issue can lead to a high subcooling of the drum water
on a large increase of steam demand due to excessive feed water
entry

Three element controller:
•Basic two element controller is cascaded to the
feed water flow controller to act as a remote set
point
•Feed water controller (first controller) uses feed
water flow as the process variable and steam flow
as the set point
•The set point of the two element controller at just
itself
•Minor losses like blow down can be taken care
off
•Independent tuning of each controller
•Can handle large and rapid load change
•Suitable for any boiler size
•Must for multiple boilers with a common feed
water heater
•No trim correction stroke supervision needed

Thermal Power Plant Boiler Drum Level Control

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A Course on Thermal Power Plant…

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Boiler Drum – a standard feature of water tube boilers

Function of a Boiler Drum

i. Stores water and steam to meet varying load requirement

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 2

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Boiler Drum as Steam Steam,

Blow down water

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 4

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

500 MW Boiler Drum Inside of a boiler drum – tube holes

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 5

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Two unique features of drum type boilers

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 7

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Mechanism of carry over

Normal bubble Carry over bubble

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 9

ABMA Standard Boiler Water Concentrations for Minimizing Carryover

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Carry over effect from drum can

Mechanical Vapor out

Drum Drum Spray High salt content in

Very high High

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Operation done on steam in a steam drum: Separation,

Gravity Separation of Steam

1. Needs large free surface

2. Suitable for low pressure

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 12

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Gravity separation assisted by

Baffles and screens

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 13

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

At high pressure density

Cyclone and scrubbers

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 14

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Steam washing – impurities

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 15

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Saturated steam drier

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Sometimes steams of high purity is required

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur 18

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur

Collection of carry over

Prof. P. K. Das; Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; IIT Kharagpur

Boiler Drum and Drum Level Control – Boiler Drum