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2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

Section D

Lab session # 01 To determine the Condenser heat exchange rate Theory Condenser
It is an apparatus used to exchange heat between exhaust of turbine and the fluid which is at low temperature as compared to the exhaust of gas turbine. Condensers are typically heat exchangers which have various designs and come in many sizes ranging from rather small (hand-held) to very large industrial-scale units used in plant processes. Condensers are used in air conditioning, industrial chemical processes such as distillation, steam power plants and other heat-exchange systems. Use of cooling water or surrounding air as the coolant is common in many condensers. In this power plant lab we use shell and tube type condenser. Two fluids, of different starting temperatures, flow through the heat exchanger. One flows through the tubes (the tube side) and the other flows outside the tubes but inside the shell (the shell side). Heat is transferred from one fluid to the other through the tube walls, either from tube side to shell side or vice versa. The fluids can be either liquids or gases on either the shell or the tube side. In order to transfer heat efficiently, a large heat transfer area should be used, leading to the use of many tubes. In this way, waste heat can be put to use. This is an efficient way to conserve energy. Heat exchange rate of condenser is found simply by noting down the temperature difference at inlet and outlet points of working fluid i.e. water. Thus Q=[ ] Q= Heat Exchange rate,

= mass flow rate of water, = Temperature difference

C= Specific heat capacity of water= 4.18 kJ per kg

2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

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Lab session # 02 Performance test of Steam Turbine Theory Steam Turbine


A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. It has almost completely replaced the reciprocating piston steam engine primarily because of its greater thermal efficiency and higher power-to-weight ratio. Because the turbine generates rotary motion, it is particularly suited to be used to drive an electrical generator. About 80% of all electricity generation in the world is by use of steam turbines. The steam turbine is a form of heat engine that derives much of its improvement in thermodynamic efficiency through the use of multiple stages in the expansion of the steam, which results in a closer approach to the ideal reversible process.

Principle of Operation
An ideal steam turbine is considered to be an isentropic process, or constant entropy process, in which the entropy of the steam entering the turbine is equal to the entropy of the steam leaving the turbine. No steam turbine is truly isentropic, however, with typical isentropic efficiencies ranging from 20%-90% based on the application of the turbine. The interior of a turbine comprises several sets of blades, or buckets as they are more commonly referred to. One set of stationary blades is connected to the casing and one set of rotating blades is connected to the shaft. The sets intermesh with certain minimum clearances, with the size and configuration of sets varying to efficiently exploit the expansion of steam at each stage.

Thermodynamics of steam turbines


The steam turbine operates on basic principles of thermodynamics using a part of the Rankine cycle. Superheated vapor (or dry saturated vapor, depending on application) enters the turbine, after it exited the boiler, at high temperature and high pressure. The high heat/pressure steam is converted into kinetic energy using a nozzle. A force is created on the blades due to the pressure of the vapor on the blades causing them to move. A generator or other such device can be placed on the shaft, and the energy that was in the vapor can now be stored and used. The gas exits the turbine as a saturated vapor (or liquid-vapor mix depending on application) at a lower temperature and pressure than it entered with and is sent to the condenser to be cooled. If we look at the first law we can find an equation comparing the rate at which work is developed per unit mass.

2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

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Assuming there is no heat transfer to the surrounding environment and that the change in kinetic and potential energy is negligible when compared to the change in specific entropy we come up with the following equation

t is the rate at which work is developed per unit time is the rate of mass flow through the turbine

Isentropic Steam Turbine efficiency


To measure how well a turbine is performing we can look at the isentropic efficiency. Isentropic efficiencies involve a comparison between the actual performance of a device and the performance that would be achieved under idealized circumstances. When calculating the isentropic efficiency, heat to the surroundings is assumed to be zero. The starting pressure and temperature is the same for both the isentropic and actual efficiency. The specific entropy for the isentropic process is greater than the specific entropy for the actual process due to irreversibility in the process. The specific entropy is evaluated at the same pressure for the actual and isentropic processes in order to give a good comparison between the two. The isentropic efficiency is given to us as the actual work divided by the maximum work that could be achieved if there were no irreversibly in the process.

h1 is the specific enthalpy at inlet to steam turbine h2 is the specific enthalpy at exit to steam turbine for an actual process h2s is the specific enthalpy at exit to steam turbine for an isentropic process

The efficiency of the steam turbine can be calculated by using the Kelvin statement of the Second law of Thermodynamics.

Wcycle is the Work done during one cycle QH is the Heat transfer received from the heat source

2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

Section D

Lab session # 03 To determine Boiler efficiency, Equivalent evaporation & evaporating rate Theory
Boiler Efficiency may be indicated by

Combustion Efficiency - indicates a burners ability to burn fuel measured by unburned fuel and excess air in the exhaust Thermal Efficiency - indicates the heat exchangers effectiveness to transfer heat from the combustion process to the water or steam in the boiler, exclusive radiation and convection losses Fuel to Fluid Efficiency - indicates the overall efficiency of the boiler inclusive thermal efficiency of the heat exchanger, radiation and convection losses - output divided by input.

Boiler Efficiency is in general indicated by either Thermal Efficiency or Fuel to Fluid efficiency depending on the context.

Boiler Efficiency
Boiler Efficiency related to the boilers energy output to the boilers energy input can be expressed as: Boiler efficiency (%) = heat exported by the fluid (water or steam) / heat provided by the fuel x 100

boiler =

( )
LCV= Lower Calorific value=43000 kJ/kgk

= Steam mass flow rate = Fuel flow rate =


Fuel used is kerosene oil and value of its density is 820 kg/m3.

= Enthalpy value at pressure and temperature value at outlet = Enthalpy value at pressure and temperature value at inlet

2007-MECH-130

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Evaporating Rate
It is defined as The amount of steam generated per specific area of boiler. It is denoted by . = Where;

A= area = 3.06 m

Equivalent Evaporation
It is the quantity of water evaporates from and at 100'C to produce dry saturated steam at 100C by absorbing the same amount of heat as used in the boiler under actual operating conditions.

2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

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Lab session # 04 To determine Super heater Efficiency Theory Super Heater


Super heater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into dry steam used for power generation or processes. There are three types of super heaters namely: Radiant Convection Separately fired

A super heater can vary in size from a few tens of feet to several hundred feet (a few meters or some hundred meters). Radiant super heater is placed directly in the combustion chamber. Convection super heater is located in the path of the hot gases. Separately fired super heater, as its name implies, is totally separated from the boiler. Super heaters are heat exchangers placed in the path of hot gases. They are generally located in any suitable free space in the neighborhood of the boiler tubes. They receive the saturated or slightly wet steam coming from the boiler drum and deliver it in a superheated state the general steam main of the factory. They are generally formed of tubes of small diameter, all of the same shape with several bends, interposed between two. The transfer of heat from the gases to the steam is predominantly by convection; figure shows a super heater of such type.

Super Heater Efficiency

(sh) =

( )

The efficiency of super heater tells us about the performance of it, means that how efficiently heat is being transferred from one fluid to another fluid.

2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

Section D

2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

Section D

Lab session # 05 To determine Feed water pump work input Theory


In order to calculate feed pump work we first assume steady flow and steady flow conditions. Thus, dQ + dW = dh + d K.E + dP.E dQ = dU - dW Tds = dU - dp = Specific Volume = 1/
. . =

( )

Where . = Work required for running the feed pump . = Feed water mass flow rate = Boiler inlet pressure = Atmospheric pressure In practical operation of plant, the work required to run the feed pump is calculated and is subtracted from the turbine output work to calculate the net work produced by the plant.

2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

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Lab session # 06 Determine for a Steam power plant (a) Net work output (b) Work ratio (c) Overall Efficiency (d) Specific Steam Consumption (SSC) Theory Net Work Done
It is defined as the difference of total work done by the steam turbine and work done on the feed pump. Net work done gives us the value of total work that can be produced from a plant setup.

= = . Work Ratio
It is defined as the ratio of net work done by the plant to the Gross work done by the turbine.

. = Overall Efficiency

It is defined as the ratio of net work done to the total heat supplied to the fluid.

= Specific Steam Consumption (SSC)

(.

+ . )

It is define as the amount of steam consumed per unit time per kilo watt of power output. It is mathematically written as follows;

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Power Plant Lab Report

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Lab session # 07 To determine the Pressure difference across an orifice using orifice meter Theory Orifice Meter
An orifice meter is a device used for measuring the volumetric flow rate. It uses the same principle as a Venturi nozzle, namely Bernoulli's principle which states that there is a relationship between the pressure of the fluid and the velocity of the fluid. When the velocity increases, the pressure decreases and vice versa.

As long as the fluid speed is sufficiently subsonic (V < mach 0.3), the incompressible Bernoulli's equation describes the flow reasonably well. Applying this equation to a streamline traveling down the axis of the horizontal tube gives,

Where, location 1 is upstream of the orifice, and location 2 is slightly behind the orifice. It is recommended that location 1 be positioned one pipe diameter upstream of the orifice, and location 2 be positioned one-half pipe diameter downstream of the orifice. Since, pressure at 1 is higher than pressure at 2 (for fluid moving from 1 to 2), the pressure difference as defined will be a positive quantity. From continuity, the velocities can be replaced by cross-sectional areas of the flow and the volumetric flow rate Q, 11

2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

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Solving for the volumetric flow rate Q gives,

The above equation applies only to perfectly laminar, in-viscid flows. For real flows (such as water or air), viscosity and turbulence are present and act to convert kinetic flow energy into heat. To account for this effect, a discharge coefficient Cd is introduced into the above equation to marginally reduce the flow rate Q,

Since the actual flow profile at location 2 downstream of the orifice is quite complex, thereby making the effective value of A2 uncertain, the following substitution introducing a flow coefficient Cf is made,

Where, Ao is the area of the orifice. As a result, the volumetric flow rate Q for real flows is given by the equation,

The flow coefficient Cf is found from experiments and is tabulated in reference books; it ranges from 0.6 to 0.9 for most orifices. Since it depends on the orifice and pipe diameters (as well as the Reynolds Number), one will often find Cf tabulated versus the ratio of orifice diameter to inlet diameter, sometimes defined as ,

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2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

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The mass flow rate can be found by multiplying Q with the fluid density,

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2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

Section D

Lab session # 08 Determine the Dryness Fraction of steam generated in the Boiler Theory Dryness Fraction
Dryness fraction or Quality is denoted by x and it is the ratio of mass of vapors to the total mass of the mixture. X= Where

mtotal = mliquid + mvapors = mf + mg

The measurement of dryness fraction is very important to further analyze the steam. Dryness fraction is usually determined by following few methods; Throttling Calorimeter Mechanical Calorimeter Electrical Calorimeter

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2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

Section D

Calorimeter
It is a device used for calorimetry, the science of measuring the heat of chemical reactions, physical changes as well as heat capacity.

Throttling Calorimeter
An instrument utilizing the principle of constant enthalpy expansion for the measurement of the moisture content of steam; steam drawn from a steam pipe through sampling nozzles enters the calorimeter through a throttling orifice and moves into a wellinsulated expansion chamber in which its temperature is measured. It is also known as steam calorimeter.

Mechanical Calorimeter
It consists of two concentric chambers, the inner chamber and the outer chamber, which communicates with each other through an opening at the top. As the steam discharges through the metal basket, which has a large number of holes, the water particles due to their heavier momentum get separated
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from the steam and collect in the chamber.

Electrical Calorimeter
The quality of wet steam can also be measured by an electric Calorimeter. The sample of steam is passed in steady flow through an electric heater, as shown. The electrical energy input Q should be sufficient to take the steam to the superheated region where pressure P2 and temperature T2 are measured. If I is the current flowing through the heater in amperes and V is the voltage across the coil, then at steady state Q = VI x 10-3 kW. If m is the mass of steam taken in t seconds under steady flow condition, then the steady flow energy equation for the heater (as control volume) gives w1 h1 +Q = w1h2 Where, w1 = steam flow rate in kg/s Therefore, h1+Q/w1 =h2 h1 = hfp1+x1hfgp1, hence x1 can be calculated

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2007-MECH-130

Power Plant Lab Report

Section D

Lab session # 09 Study of Steam Generating Unit Theory Boiler


It is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.

Classification of Boilers
Boilers are classified on different basis. By Application (Utility boiler, Marine boiler, Industrial Boiler) By Pressure (Low to medium pressure for process industry, High pressure, Super-critical for power generation) By Construction (Field erected, Shop assembled or Package boilers) By location of water and hot gases (Water Tube boiler, Fire tube boiler) By Fuel used (Coal, Gas, Waste heat) By Firing method (Burners, Stokers, Fluidized bed) By Circulation (Natural circulation due to density difference, Forced or pump circulation)

Fire Tube Boiler


In fire tube boiler, hot gases pass through the tubes and boiler feed water in the shell side is converted into steam. Fire tube boilers are generally used for relatively small steam capacities and low to medium steam pressures. As a guideline, fire tube boilers are competitive for steam rates up to 12,000 kg/hour and pressures up to 18 kg/cm2. Fire tube boilers are available for operation with oil, gas or solid fuels. For economic reasons, most fire tube boilers are nowadays of packaged construction (i.e. manufacturers shop erected) for all fuels.

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Advantages Relatively inexpensive Easy to clean Compact in size Available in sizes from 600,000 btu/hr to 50,000,000 btu/hr Easy to replace tubes Well suited for space heating and industrial process applications Disadvantages of Fire tube Boilers include Not suitable for high pressure applications 250 psig and above Limitation for high capacity steam generation

Water Tube Boiler


In water tube boiler, boiler feed water flows through the tubes and enters the boiler drum. The circulated water is heated by the combustion gases and converted into steam at the vapor space in the drum. These boilers are selected when the steam demand as well as steam pressure requirements are high as in the case of process cum power boiler / power boilers. Most modern water boiler tube designs are within the capacity range 4,500 120,000 kg/hour of steam, at very high pressures. Many water tube boilers nowadays are of packaged construction if oil and /or gas are to be used as fuel. Solid fuel fired water tube designs are available but packaged designs are less common. The features of water tube boilers are:

Forced, induced and balanced draft provisions help to improve combustion efficiency. Less tolerance for water quality calls for water treatment plant. Higher thermal efficiency levels are possible

Advantages Available in sizes that are far greater than the fire tube design. Up to several million pounds per hour of steam. Able to handle higher pressures up to 5,000 psig Recover faster than their fire tube cousin Have the ability to reach very high temperatures Disadvantages of the Water tube design include High initial capital cost Cleaning is more difficult due to the design 18

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No commonality between tubes Physical size may be an issue

Packaged Boiler
The packaged boiler is so called because it comes as a complete package. Once delivered to site, it requires only the steam, water pipe work, fuel supply and electrical connections to be made for it to become operational. Package boilers are generally of shell type with fire tube design so as to achieve high heat transfer rates by both radiation and convection. The features of package boilers are:

Small combustion space and high heat release rate resulting in faster evaporation. Large number of small diameter tubes leading to good convective heat transfer. Forced or induced draft systems resulting in good combustion efficiency. Number of passes resulting in better overall heat transfer. Higher thermal efficiency levels compared with other boilers.

These boilers are classified based on the number of passes - the number of times the hot combustion gases pass through the boiler. The combustion chamber is taken, as the first pass after which there may be one, two or three sets of fire-tubes. The most common boiler of this class is a three-pass unit with two sets of fire-tubes and with the exhaust gases exiting through the rear of the boiler.

Steam Drum
A steam drum is a standard feature of a water-tube boiler. It is a reservoir of water/steam at the top end of the water tubes. The drum stores the steam generated in the water tubes and acts as a phase-separator for the steam/water mixture. The difference in densities between hot and cold water helps in the accumulation of the "hotter"-water/and saturated-steam into the steam-drum.

Construction
Made from high Carbon Steel with high tensile strength and its working involves temperatures around 390oC and pressures well above 350 psi(2.4MPa). The separated steam is

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drawn out from the top section of the drum and distributed for process. Further heating of the saturated steam will make superheated steam normally used to drive a steam turbine. Saturated steam is drawn off the top of the drum and re-enters the furnace in through a super heater. The steam and water mixture enters the steam drum through riser tube; drum internals consisting of demister separate the water droplets from the steam producing dry steam. The saturated water at the bottom of the steam drum flows down through the down comer pipe, normally unheated, to headers and water drum. Its accessories include a safety valve, water-level indicator and level controller. Feed-water of boiler is also fed to the steam drum through a feed pipe extending inside the drum, along the length of the steam drum. A steam drum is used without or in the company of a mud-drum/feed water drum which is located at a lower level. A boiler with both steam drum and mud/water drum is called a bi-drum boiler and a boiler with only a steam drum is called a mono-drum boiler. The bi-drum boiler construction is normally intended for low pressure-rating boiler while the mono-drum is mostly designed for higher pressure-rating

Attemperators
Attemperator sprays are used to control steam temperature on the main steam and the hot reheat steam ahead of the turbine to prevent damage that could result at uncontrolled higher temperatures. Attemperator spray control valves, maintain steam temperatures against fluctuations induced by changes in steam flow, burner tilts and temperature spikes. These control valves operate continuously, modulating close to the seat and erode the seat and plug causing constant leakage when in the closed position. For this reason block valves are installed in series with the control valve to ensure tight shut off. Even small leaks in the block valves will cause a significant reduction in plant operation and heat rate efficiency. The major attemperator block valve problem relates to reheat sprays. High differential back pressure can occur and cause excessive seat leakage that, along with inaccurate control, results in a reduction in heat rate, temperature control problems and overall megawatt loss. Specifying the correct block valve for attemperator spray units is critical to operating a plant efficiently and prolonging the life of the attemperator control valves. The main steam attemperator control valves are used primarily during startup, once the turbine reaches full load the main steam temperature can be controlled by the boiler control system. The hot reheat attemperator control valves will need to react to the changing hot reheat temperature. The reheater is outside the boiler furnace and is heated by hot exit gases. This temperature is not easily controlled and the attemperator control valve is needed for this purpose. 20

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Economizers
Economizers are mechanical devices intended to reduce energy consumption, or to perform another useful function like preheating a fluid. Modern-day boilers, such as those in coal-fired power stations, are still fitted with economizers which are descendants of Green's original design. In this context they are often referred to as feed water heaters and heat the condensate from turbines before it is pumped to the boilers. Economizers are commonly used as part of a heat recovery steam generator in a combined cycle power plant. In an HRSG, water passes through an economizer, then a boiler and then a super heater. The economizer also prevents flooding of the boiler with liquid water that is too cold to be boiled given the flow rates and design of the boiler. A common application of economizers in steam power plants is to capture the waste heat from boiler stack gases (flue gas) and transfer it to the boiler feed water. This raises the temperature of the boiler feed water thus lowering the needed energy input, in turn reducing the firing rates to accomplish the rated boiler output. Economizers lower stack temperatures which may cause condensation of acidic combustion gases and serious equipment corrosion damage if care is not taken in their design and material selection.

Air pre-heater
An air pre-heater (APH) is a general term to describe any device designed to heat air before another process (for example, combustion in a boiler) with the primary objective of increasing the thermal efficiency of the process. They may be used alone or to replace a recuperative heat system or to replace a steam coil.

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The purpose of the air pre-heater is to recover the heat from the boiler flue gas which increases the thermal efficiency of the boiler by reducing the useful heat lost in the flue gas. As a consequence, the flue gases are also sent to the flue gas stack (or chimney) at a lower temperature, allowing simplified design of the ducting and the flue gas stack. It also allows control over the temperature of gases leaving the stack to meet emissions regulations. There are two types of pre-heater are used; Recuperative Type or tubular type Regenerative Type Regenerative Type The rotating-plate design (RAPH) consists of a central rotating-plate element installed within a casing that is divided into two (bi-sector type), three (tri-sector type) or four (quad-sector type) sectors containing seals around the element. The seals allow the element to rotate through all the sectors, but keep gas leakage between sectors to a minimum while providing separate gas air and flue gas paths through each sector. Flue gases and air flow through different pipe lines.

Recuperative Type or tubular type It is a special purpose counter-flow energy recovery heat exchanger positioned within the supply and exhaust air streams of an air handling system, or in the exhaust gases of an industrial process, in order to recover the waste heat. Normally the heat transfer between airstreams provided by the device is termed as 'sensible', which is the exchange of energy, or enthalpy, resulting in a change in temperature of the medium (air in this case), but with no change in moisture content. However, if moisture or

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relative humidity levels in the return air stream are high enough to allow condensation to take place in the device, then this will cause 'latent' heat to be released and the heat transfer material will be covered with a film of water. Despite a corresponding absorption of latent heat, as some of the water film is evaporated in the opposite airstream, the water will reduce the thermal resistance of the boundary layer of the heat exchanger material and thus improve the heat transfer coefficient of the device, and hence increase efficiency. The energy exchange of such devices now comprises both sensible and latent heat transfer; in addition to a change in temperature, there is also a change in moisture content of the exhaust air stream.

Flow Regimes
Two kinds of flow regimes are used; Pool boiling Flow boiling Pool boiling Pool boiling is the process in which the heating surface is submerged in a large body of stagnant liquid. The relative motion of the vapor produced and the surrounding liquid near the heating surface is due primarily to the buoyancy effect of the vapor. Nevertheless, the body of the liquid as a whole is essentially at rest. Pool boiling consists of following few steps during boiling; a) Natural Convection boiling b) Nucleate boiling c) Transitional boiling d) Film boiling

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Flow boiling Relative to pool boiling, heat transfer is enhanced when there is a forced relative motion between the heater and the fluid, more pronounced in the homogeneous convection zone than in peak values (e.g. the peak heat flux measured in water increasing from 1.3 MW/m2 to a maximum of 35 MW/m2). Internal flow boiling presents more variations, since it is a complicated two-phase flow. The most-important configurations of flow boiling are: the vertical pipe, the horizontal pipe, and the micro-channels (e.g. for plate heat exchangers). In the former and commonest case, a liquid is slowly forced upwards (say at several centimeters per second, since the phase change multiplies the speed 100 to 1000 times, and chocking must be prevented), inside a pipe (of internal diameter in the range 5..50 mm) with a hot wall surface at Ts>Tsat(p), and the transition from liquid to vapor develops along several intermediate stages of two-phase-flow, from singlephase liquid to single-phase vapor. Flow regime also consists of following phases; a) b) c) d) e) Bubble flow regime Vapor slug regime Annular flow regime Transitional flow regime Mist flow regime

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HRSG systems
Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSGs) are typically used in combined cycle electric power generation. Waste heat from gas turbine exhaust is used to generate steam. The low temperature of the exhaust gases compared to direct fired units puts less stress on the boiler tubes. These units are typically constructed of lighter grade materials. One common design is a three-drum configuration. The low pressure (LP) drum is used as a deaerating feed water heater. The intermediate pressure (IP) drum is used to generate steam for injection into the gas turbine. The high pressure (HP) drum is used to generate turbine steam for electrical power generation. Some units are configuration with duct burners to produce additional power. This can result in higher heat transfer and boiler system problems. HRSGs require high-purity water because of the use of the IP drum steam for turbine injection. Dissolved solids must be kept to a bare minimum in these units. Because many units are in a cycling mode, start-up, shutdown and lay-up procedures are even more important in these systems. In a typical HRSG unit, the LP drum is treated with amines and oxygen scavengers, the HP drum is treated with a coordinated phosphate programme, and the IP drum uses blow down from the HP drum for some of the feed water. HRSG systems are available in various configurations and in different sizes to perform different operation along with waste heat recovery. These configurations are as follows; Vertical HRSGs Once through HRSGs Water tube HRSGs Horizontal tube HRSGs

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Blow Down heat recovery


Steam boilers operate under pressure to produce 1,000s of pounds of steam per hour. To prevent scale formation on the heating surfaces, which would decrease fuel to steam efficiency, a volume of the boiler water must be removed on a regular basis. This process of removing boiler water from the boiler is called blow down. Regulations specify that for blow down to go to sewer, it must first be depressurized and then cooled to prevent overheating drains/sewers. A blow down tank or blow-off vessel is typically installed between the boiler and the drain to accomplish this task and to mix cool city/well water with the blow down water to cool it.

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