ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

Lecture: 4
Steam Generator

Md. Ashiqur Rahman

Assistant Professor, ME, BUET
1
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

IN THE LAST CLASS…

o Steam Generation Fundamentals
o Steam Properties
o Classification of Boilers

2
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

TODAY’S LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 Properties of a Good Boiler

 Fire Tube Boiler

 Simple Vertical Boiler
 Cochran Boiler

 Water Tube Boiler

 Babcock and Wilcox Boiler

3
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

PROPERTIES OF A GOOD BOILER

1. The boiler should be capable of generating steam at the required
pressure and of the required quality quickly and with minimum
fuel consumption.

2. The initial cost, installation cost and the maintenance cost of the
boiler should not be too high.

3. The boiler should be light in weight, should need the least amount
of brick work construction and should occupy small floor area.

4. The boiler should meet the fluctuating demands or steam supply

without being overheated

5. The different parts of the boiler should be easily approachable for

inspection and repairs.
4
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

PROPERTIES OF A GOOD BOILER

6. The boiler should offer the ease of dismantling the parts and
erection at site within reasonable time and labor.

7. There should be no deposition of mud and other foreign particles

on the heated surfaces

8. In Bangladesh, the boiler should conform to the safety regulations

as laid down in the “The Boilers Act, 1923” and “Bangladesh
National Building Code, 2006”

5
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

FIRE TUBE BOILER

There are mainly five types of Fire Tube Boilers:

1) Simple Vertical Boilers

2) Cochran Boilers
3) Cornish Boilers
4) Lancashire Boiler
5) Locomotive Boilers

6
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

SIMPLE VERTICAL BOILER

7
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering 8

Cochran Boiler
It is a multi-tubular, vertical, fire tube, natural circulation
boiler having a number of horizontal fire-tubes.
Features:

 Improvement over simple vertical boiler

 One of the best among the vertical boilers

 Heating surface is much higher than the simple vertical

boiler because of the multiple number of fire tubes

 Efficiency is around 70-75%

 Working pressure and steam capacity are usually low

ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering 9

Cochran Boiler
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

Cochran Boiler

10
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

Cochran Boiler
Working Principle:
Consists of an external cylindrical shell
Fuel is burnt in the grate and hot gases go to the combustion
chamber through a short flue tube
The fire tubes are immersed in water inside the boiler.
Hot gases pass through fire tubes and heat the surrounding water
and convert it into steam
Since the steam is lighter, it goes up the steam space as crown of
the boiler is hemispherical in shape

Hemispherical shape of the crown gives the boiler good

strength to withstand pressure of steam inside the boiler
11
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

Cochran Boiler
Working Principle:
This steam is then taken out from the steam outlet for
utilizing for required purpose.

Waste gases enter the smoke box and are released through
the chimney

o In a fire tube boiler, the main boiler vessel is under

pressure, so if this vessel is burst there will be a possibility
of major accident due to this explosion.

12
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

WATER TUBE BOILER

Features:
o Opposite of fire tube boiler!
o It consists of drums and tubes. Tubes are always external
to the drums and serve to interconnect them through
headers.

o The drums are used for storage of

water and steam.
o The water circulates in many parallel-
connected tubes which are situated in
the flue gas channel. The flue gasses
are led from the furnace through the
flue gas passage.

13
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

WATER TUBE BOILER

Features:

o As they are not required to contain the tubes (heating

surfaces), they can be much smaller in diameter than the
fire tube shell and can be built to resist high pressure.
o Generation of steam is quicker as water is subdivided
into small volume.

o Requires pure water

o Used for high steam demand and high pressure ranges

o Steam generation capacity and operating pressure is high

o Suitable for steam power plant

14
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering 15

Babcock and Wilcox Boiler

Horizontal, externally fired, water tube, natural circulation type
boiler

15
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

Babcock and Wilcox Boiler

16
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering 17

Babcock and Wilcox Boiler

Construction and Working Principle:
o It consists of a welded steel high pressure drum mounted at the
top.
o One half of the drum, which is horizontal, is filled up with
water and steam remains on the other half.

o From each end of the drum connections are made with the
uptake header (by short tubes) and down-take header (by long
tubes)

o The headers are joined to each other by a large number of water

tubes which are kept inclined at an angle of about 10º-15º to the
horizontal
o Promotes natural circulation of water

17
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering 18

Babcock and Wilcox Boiler

Construction and Working Principle:

o The water tubes are straight/bent, solid steel tubes, about 10

cm in diameter

o The heating surface of the unit consists of the outer surface of

the tubes and half of the cylindrical surface of the water drum
which is exposed to flue gases.

o The furnace is arranged below the uptake header

o Baffles are provided across the water tubes to act as

deflectors to the flue gases
o Mud drum/box is provided at the bottom end of the down-
take header. The mud or sediments in the water gets collected
in mud drum

18
ME 101: Introduction to Mechanical Engineering

Babcock And Wilcox Boiler

Construction and Working Principle:
o The circulation of water is maintained by convective
current and is known as “natural circulation”.
Maintenance is easier as the defective tubes can be
replaced easily.

Its overall efficiency is higher than a fire tube boiler.

19