UNIT II

THERMAL AND NUCLEAR

POWER PLANT
Energy Systems II
UNIT II Thermal and Nuclear Power Plants: 17 hours

Overview and layout of thermal and nuclear power plants. Boilers: types of boilers, high
pressure and supercritical boilers, mountings and accessories, packaged boiler. Steam
Nozzles: Types, continuity and SFE equations, concept of critical pressure, effect of
variation of back pressure. Steam Turbines: Principle of operation, types, compounding,
flow of steam through impulse blading, flow of steam through reaction blading.
Condensers: principles of operation and construction, estimation of vacuum efficiency, air
leakage, air and water handling capacity determination. Cooling towers. Boiler feed pump.
Draught: estimation of height of chimney and condition of maximum discharge, induced,
forced and balanced draught systems. Nuclear reactors: construction and working.
Pollution issues related to power plant and its control.
HIGH PRESSURE BOILERS WITH
MOUNTINGS AND
ACCESSORIES
Prof. Anand Bhatt
 INTRODUCTION
• Boiler or steam generator can be defined as a pressure vessel which
facilitates the generation of the steam at desired pressure and
temperature by combustion of the fuel.
• A steam generator is a complex integration of evaporator, economiser,
air preheater and super heater along with various auxiliaries and
mountings.
• Actually boiler is that part of a steam generator where boiling
(Evaporation) takes place. But traditionally steam generator can also
be termed as boiler.
• Thermodynamic process in an evaporator is ideally constant pressure
and temperature.
• A steam generator is in connection with various auxiliaries like
pulveriser, burners, fans, stokers, dust collector, ash handling
equipment's, and chimney
 REQUIREMENTS OF A GOOD BOILER
• Should be absolutely reliable, capable of producing maximum
steam at required pressure for minimum of fuel consumption,
with minimum attention and minimum initial cost and
operating cost.
• Simple constructions
• Quick starting from cold
• Strong enough against temp. stresses & strains
• Well design combustion chamber
• Less floor area, space & light weight
• Provided with sufficient gauges, safety valves and other
mountings
• Easily accessible for inspection, cleaning and repairs
 CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS
• Vertical or Horizontal
• Stationary-Power Plant, industrial, central heating and combined
power and heating boilers or Portable-Locomotive or Marine
• Internally Fired or Externally Fired (Lancashire and Locomotive
Boilers)
• Solid, Liquid or Gas Fired
• Fire Tube: Water is outside the tubes while the hot gases are inside
the tubes (e.g.. Vertical, Cochran, Lancashire, Cornish, Locomotives
etc.) or Water Tube: Contain a large number of small tubes through
which water circulates the fire and hot gases being outside of the
tubes (e.g.. Babcock and Wilcox, Sterling and High pressure Boilers
etc.)
• Sub critical or Supercritical
• Natural circulation or Forced circulation
MEDIUM PRESSURE BOILERS
Babcock & Wilcox boiler
• Its overall efficiency is higher than
a fire tube boiler.
• The defective tubes can be replaced
easily.
• All the components are accessible
for inspection even during the
operation.
• The draught loss is minimum
compared with other boiler.
• Steam generation capacity and
operating pressure are high
compared with other boilers.
• The boiler rests over a steel
structure independent of brick
work so that the boiler may expand
or contract freely.
• The water tubes are kept inclined
at an angle of 10 to 15 degree to
promote water circulation.
 MEDIUM PRESSURE BOILERS
Babcock & Wilcox boiler
• Advantages
Steam can be generated at very high pressures up to 50 bar.
• Heating surface is more in comparison with the space occupied, in the case
of water tube boilers.
• Steam can be raised more quickly than is possible with a fire tube boiler of
large water capacity. Hence, it can be more easily used for variation of load.
• The hot gases flow almost at right angles to the direction of water flow.
Hence maximum amount of heat is transferred to water.
• A good and rapid circulation of water can be made.
• Bursting of one or two tubes does not affect the boiler very much with
regard to its working. Hence water tube boilers are sometimes called as
safety boilers.
• The different parts of a water tube boiler can be separated. Hence it is
easier to transport.
• It is suitable for use in steam power plants (because of the various
advantages listed above).
 MEDIUM PRESSURE BOILERS
Babcock & Wilcox boiler
Disadvantages
• It is less suitable for impure and
sedimentary water, as a small deposit
of scale may cause the overheating
and bursting of tubes. Hence, water
treatment is very essential for water
tube boilers.
• Maintenance cost is high.
• Failure in feed water supply even for
a short period is liable to make the
boiler overheated. Hence the water
level must be watched very carefully
during operation of a water tube
boiler.
BOILER WORKING ANIMATION
 HIGH PRESSURE BOILERS

• High Pressure Boilers used in Industries and

Power plants:

(1) La-Mont Boiler

(2) Loeffler Boiler
(3) Benson Boiler
(4) Velox Boiler
(5) Schmidt Hartmann Boiler
 HIGH PRESSURE BOILERS
• Important characteristics of High pressure boilers:
(1) Method of water circulation
(2) More number of water tubes
(3) Heating above critical point
(4) Mixing of Steam with water
(5) Radiation heat transfer advantages
(6) Higher water and flue gas velocities
 LAMONT BOILER
• Features of Lamont boiler :

• Forced circulation of water

• Maximum steam generation rate is 45 to 50 tons/hr in superheated
condition.
• Highest steam pressure is up to 120 bar
• Highest steam temperature up to 500 C
0
 BENSON BOILER
• Features of Benson boiler :
• Can be operated above critical point so efficiency is high due to no latent
heat addition.
• Max pressure obtained so far by Benson boiler is 500 bar
• Steam generating capacity is 150 tons/ hr.
• Weight is less for the same pressure and steam generating capacity as there
is no drum.
 LOEFFLER BOILER
• Features of Loeffler boiler
• This boiler can carry high salt concentration which is better for sea
transport power generation.
• Steam generation capacity is 100 tonnes/hr
• Operating pressure is up to 140 bar.
 VELOX BOILER
• Features of Velox boiler:
• Supersonic flow of flue gases, causes very high heat transfer rates.
• Approximately 35 to 45 million KJ per cubic meter heat transfer rates
are possible.
• Steam generating capacity is maximum 100 tons per hr.
• For high capacity, compressor power is very high.
• It is very compact steam generating unit with greater flexibility and
efficiency.
 SCHMIDT-HARTMANN BOILER
• Features of Schmidt-Hartmann boiler:
• Primary circuit produces steam at 100 bar from distilled water for
transferring heat to secondary circuit water.
• In secondary circuit steam is generated at 60 bar.
• Impure water can be used for steam generation.
• Salt deposition in evaporating drum can be cleaned easily.
• No issue of salt deposition in primary circuit as distilled water remains
in closed circuit.
PACKAGE BOILERS
• It is a complete factory assembled package with
all the mountings and accessories and control
instruments.
• Once delivered to site, only connections are
required.
• They are used in process industries, sugar
industries, textile industries for process steam.
• Package boilers are generally of a shell type
internally fired furnace with fire tube design so
as to achieve high heat transfer rates from both
radiation heating surface and convection heating
surface.
• Forced or induced draft systems are installed on
this boiler to achieve good boiler combustion
efficiency about 80%.
• Not suitable for very large amount of steam
production. 45 ton/hr steam production is the
limit for a package boiler. Mostly natural
circulation is used.
 BOILER ACCESSORIES

The devices which are installed

in the boiler for its efficient
operation and smooth
working are called Boiler
Accessories.
 BOILER ACCESSORIES

• Air-Preheater
• The function of the air
pre-heater is to increase
the temperature of air
before it enters the
furnace. It is generally
placed after the
economizer.
 BOILER ACCESSORIES

• Economizer:
An economizer is a device in
which the waste heat of the
flue gases is utilized for
heating the feed water
 BOILER ACCESSORIES
• Super Heater:
• It is used for converting
the saturated steam
into superheated steam.
 BOILER ACCESSORIES
• Feed Injector :
• The function of an
injector is to feed
water into the
boiler. It is also used
where the space is
not available for the
installation of a feed
pump
 BOILER MOUNTINGS

The necessary devices installed or

mounted for the safety of boiler and
its control are called boiler
mountings.
 BOILER MOUNTINGS

• Fusible Plug:

During overheating of
boiler, fusible plug provides
the safety against accidents
by melting the fusible metal
and allowing the plug to fall
on combustion area so that
water rushes to combustion
chamber and lowers the
combustion rate
 BOILER MOUNTINGS

• Water Level
Indicator:

It indicates the level

of water in the boiler
drum.
WATER LEVEL INDICATOR-VIDEO
 BOILER MOUNTINGS
• Pressure Gauge:
• Bourdon Tube Gauge:
a) Records gauge pressure

b) Elliptical spring tube is also called

Bourdon tube and is made up of
special quality Bronze or copper.

c) Plug (P) is provided for cleaning the

siphon tube.

d) Siphon is filled with cold water to

prevent the hot steam entering into
the bourdon tube and spring tube
remains comparatively cool.
 BOILER MOUNTINGS
• Dead Weight safety valve • Lever Safety Valve:
 BOILER MOUNTINGS

• SPRING LOADED SAFETY VALVE

 BOILER MOUNTINGS
• Feed Check Valve:

1. Feed check valve works

as NRV (Non- return
valve).
2. Prevents the back flow
of water from the boiler
when the feed water
pump is either not
working or in case of
its failure.
 BOILER MOUNTINGS
• Blow off cock:
It is used for drainage of
water from boiler drum
during boiler maintenance.