ANALYSIS OF FAILURE IN

BOILER INDUSTRY
A case study

BY
R.BALAJI
INTRODUCTION
Apart from main equipments boiler
consists of some auxiliary equipment .
Equipments for fuel supply , air supply , ash
removal are pulverizing mills , conveyors,
induction fans,etc .
Pulverization mill is one which convert raw
lignite to fine powder
IMPORTANCE OF PULVERIZING MILL
Pulverization is done in order to
improve the utilization of the fuel
efficiently
reducing the unburnt fuel in the
boilers
PULVERISING MILL
Construction Details of Pulverizing Mills
The mill consists of a hollow shaft on which discs with
suspended hammers are provided
The hammers are made of high wear resisting material
such as 13% of manganese steel.
The side walls of housing are provided access for replacing
the worn out hammer and holders
The mill rotor is mounted on the double row self adjusting
roller bearings
Each mill is provided with emergency button nearby for
stopping the mill in case of emergency.
IDENTIFIED FAILURES
 Hammer throw off.
Bearing Failure.
Rotor shaft failure.
Wear plate failure.
Shield plate failure.
Over loading of mills.
 Knocking of bearings.
SUGGESTIONS
 Magnetic separators must be installed at intake side of the mill
to avoid the entry of foreign particles into the mills. This
reduces the problem of hammer throw off.
The conveyor belt speed must be reduced from 9.3m/sec to an
optimum speed of 4.2m/sec in order to separate foreign
materials from lignite. Because slower speed increases the
contact of lignite with magnetic separator.
Width of the belt over the conveyor should be increased from
900mm to 15600mm as increased width of the belt ensures
greater contact of lignite with magnetic separator.
 Inspection of bearings must be done at regular intervals to
avoid bearing knocking at free and coupling end of the mill.
Also proper lubrication must be done to avoid damages due
to friction.
The cooling water line must be coated with paint to avoid the
corrosion of the pipe lines. Also the replacement of cooling
pipe lines at regular intervals of time must be carried out.
The shaft material must be surface hardened to increase the
fatigue strength. This must be done to avoid the fatigue
failure.
The shaft key material must be replaced with C55
Mn75 whose tensile strength is 700-850
N/[m.sup.2], where as the existing one is made of
C50 and its tensile strength is 650 N/[mm.sup.2].
 Preventive maintenance schedule is to be
modified and its frequency must be increased.
 The hollow shaft must be replaced with splined
shaft to avoid shaft puncture.
Severity Ranking.
EFFECT RANKING

Hazardous with & without warming 10,9

Very high 8
High 7
Moderate 6
Low 5,4
Minor 3
Very minor 2
None 1
Occurrence Ranking.
 
EFFECT RANKING

Very high: Persistent Failures 10,9

High: Frequent failures 8,7
Moderate: Occasional Failures 6,5,4
Low: Relatively few failures 3,2
Remote: Failure is unlikely 1
Detection Ranking.
 
EFFECT RANKING 
Almost impossible 10
Very remote 9
Remote 8
Very low 7
Low 6
Moderate 5
Moderately high 4
High 3
Very High 2
Very High 1
Author:Danalakshmi, C. Sowmya; Mohankumar,
G.Article 
Type:Report
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:Jul 1, 2009
Words:2780
 Publication:International Journal of Applied
Engineering Research I
Thank you