0

Chapter-2

Introduction

A steam generator or a boiler is defined as a closed vessel in which water is converted into
steam by burning of fuel in presence of air at desired temperature, pressure and at desired mass flow
rate.

According to American society of Mechanical Engineers (A.S.M.E.), a steam generator or a

boiler is defined as "a combination of apparatus for producing, finishing or recovering heat together
with the apparatus for transferring the heat so made available to the fluid being heated and vaporized.

Boiler or a steam generator is example of heat exchanger. (Heat exchangers are defined as a
mechanical device for exchanging heat between hot fluid and cold fluid with maximum rate, with
minimum investment and with minimum running cost).

Principle: In case of boiler, any type of fuel burn in presence of air and form flue gases which
are at very high temperature (hot fluid). The feed water at atmospheric pressure and temperature
enters the system from other side (cold fluid). Because of exchange of heat between hot and cold
fluid, the cold fluid (water) temperature raises and it form steam. The flue gases (hot fluid)
temperature decreases and at lower temperature hot fluid is thrown into the atmosphere via
stack/chimney.

The function of boiler is to facilitate the generation of steam by providing the necessary heat
transfer surfaces, space for storage of water and steam, furnace for burning the fuel and necessary
equipments for control of safe operation The large variety of available boilers have cylindrical drum
or shell and tubes except for the once through boilers in which drum is not used.

Function of a boiler

The steam generated is employed for the following purposes

 Used in steam turbines to develop electrical energy

 Used to run steam engines

 In the textile industries, sugar mills or in chemical industries as a cogeneration plant

 Heating the buildings in cold weather

 Producing hot water for hot water supply

.
Classification of Boilers

The different ways to classify the boilers are as follows

1. According to location of boiler shell axis

 Horizontal

 vertical

 Inclined boilers.

When the axis of the boiler shell is horizontal the boiler is called horizontal boiler. If the axis is
vertical, the boiler is called vertical boiler and if the axis of the boiler is inclined it is known as
inclined boiler.
 Examples

Horizontal boiler: Lancashire boiler, Locomotive boiler, Babcock and Wilcox boiler etc.
Vertical boiler: Cochran boiler, vertical boiler etc.
2. According to the flow medium inside the tubes

 Fire tube

 Water tube boilers.

1
 The boiler in which hot flue gases are inside the tubes and water is surrounding the tubes is
called fire tube boiler. When water is inside the tubes and the hot gases are outside, the boiler is called
water tube boiler.

Examples

Fire tube boilers: Lancashire, locomotive. Cochran and Cornish boiler

Water tube boiler: Simple vertical boiler, Babcock and Wilcox boiler.
3. According to Boiler Pressure

According to pressure of the steam raised the boilers are classified as follows

 Low pressure (3.5 - 10 bar)

 Medium pressure (10-25 bar)

 High pressure boilers (> 25 bar)

Examples

Low pressure: Cochran and Cornish boiler

Medium pressure: Lancashire and Locomotive boiler

High pressure: Babcock and Wilcox boiler.
4. According to the draft used

 Natural draft

 Artificial draft boilers

Boilers need supply of air for combustion of fuel. If the circulation of air is provided with

the help of a chimney, the boiler is known as natural draft boiler. When either a forced draft fan or an
induced draft fan or both are used to provide the flow of air the boiler is called artificial draft boiler.
Examples

Natural draft boiler: Simple vertical boiler, Lancashire boiler. Artificial

draft boiler: Babcock and Wilcox boiler, Locomotive boiler.
5. According to Method of water circulation

 Natural circulation

 Forced circulation

If the circulation of water takes place due to difference in density caused by temperature of
water, the boiler is called natural circulation boiler. When the circulation is done with the help of a
pump the boiler is known as forced circulation boiler.

Examples

Natural circulation: Babcock & Wilcox boiler, Lancashire boiler

Forced circulation: Velox boiler, Lamont boiler, Loffler boiler
6. According to Furnace position

 Internally fired

 Externally fired boilers

When the furnace of the boiler is inside its drum or shell, the boiler is called internally fired
boiler. If the furnace is outside the drum the boiler is called externally fire boiler.
 Examples

Internally fired boiler: Simple vertical boiler Lancashire boiler, Cochran boiler
Externally fired boiler: Babcock and Wilcox boiler
7. According to type of fuel used

 Solid

 Liquid

 Gaseous

 Electrical

 Nuclear energy fuel boilers

The boiler in which heat energy is obtained by the combustion of solid fuel like coal or lignite
is known as solid fuel boiler. A boiler using liquid or gaseous fuel for burning is known as liquid or
gaseous fuel boiler. Boilers in which electrical or nuclear energy is used for generation of heat are
respectively called as electrical energy headed boilers and nuclear energy heated boiler.

8. According to number of Tubes

 Single-tube

 Multi-tube boiler
 A boiler having only one fire tube or water tube is called a single, tube boiler. The boiler
having two or more, fire or water tubes is called multi tube boiler.

Examples

Single tube boiler: Cornish boiler, Vertical boiler.

Multi-tube boiler: Lancashire boiler, Locomotive boiler, Babcock and Wilcox boiler.

9. According to Boiler Mobility

 Stationary

 Portable

 Marine boilers

When the boiler is fixed at one location and cannot be transported easily it is known as
stationary boiler. If the boiler can be moved from one location to another it is known as stationary
boiler. If the boiler can be moved from one location to another it is known as a portable boiler. The
boilers which can work on the surface of water are called marine boilers.

Examples

Stationary: Lancashire, Babcock and Wilcox boiler, vertical boiler

Portable: Locomotive boiler
Marine: Marine boilers

Factors affecting the selection of a boiler

One has to send the technical details to the manufacturer to purchase a boiler.

The technical details that are used to give information about a particular boiler include the
following things

 Size of drum (Diameter and length)

 Rate of steam generation(kg/hr)

 Heating surface (Square meters)

 Working pressure (bar)

 No. of tubes / drum

 Type of boiler

 Manufacturer of boiler

 Initial cost

 Quality of steam

 Repair and inspection facility

Detailed specifications of each boiler can be obtained from manufacturer's catalogue.

Comparison between water-tube and fire tube boilers

Water Tube boiler Fire Tube boiler

 Water is inside the tube and flue gases  Flue gases inside the tube and water

surrounded to it. surrounded to it.

 Operating pressure is up to 170-180 bar  Operating pressure is up to 25 bar (low

(high pressure boilers). and medium pressure boilers).

 Steam generation rate is very high (more  Less steam generation rate.
than 3000 kg/hr)

 Suitable for power plants.  Suitable for small industries.

 Chance of explosion is more due to high  Chance of explosion is less due to low

steam pressure. steam pressure.

Provide steam in power plants to develop Provide steam in chemical and

electrical energy. pharmaceutical industries.

Small chance of scale formation due to More chance of scale formation

flue gases are in shell

Example: Bobcock and Wilcox boiler Example: Vertical boiler, locomotive

boiler, Lancashire boiler.

Simple Vertical Boiler

Classification of boiler

Vertical, natural circulation, natural draft, single tubular, stationary, medium pressure, solid fuel
fired, fired tube boiler with internally located furnace.
 Construction and working:

Figure: Simple Vertical boiler

Figure depicts a typical water tube boiler of early period. It has a cylindrical fire box surrounded by a
cylindrical water shell connected by one inclined cross tube for improved water circulation. It is
provided with standard safety control and inspection mountings.

Boiler drum is filled with water, the flue gas from the furnace rise in the tube. The exchange of
heat takes place between water and flue gases. The water temperature raises and it converts into
steam. The flue gases temperature drops and low temperature flue gases enters into environment via
chimney. Due to provision of cross tube, the total heat transfer area increases and more amount of
steam is available with the same amount of flue gases. They can built for small capacity and occupy
small space. The boiler is fitted with all the mountings as per IBR.

Cochran Boiler
Classification of boiler

Vertical drum axis, natural circulation, natural draft, multi tubular, low pressure, solid fuel fired
fire tube boiler with internally located furnace.

Construction and working of boiler

Figure: Cochran Boiler:

 Figure depicts a Cochran boiler. It is a modified form of simple vertical boiler. It has a
hemispherical crown to given maximum space for steam and very high strength to withstand high
steam pressure.

Generated flue gas from the furnace pass through large number of smaller diameter tubes
located horizontally in the boiler drum. The large heat transfer area is available for exchange of heat
between water and flue gases. The water is converted into steam from the steam space it is supplied to
the plant where the steam is required. Low temperature flue gases enter the environment via chimney.
All the necessary mountings as per IBR is attached with above boiler.

The advantages of this boiler are its low chimney height, portability, high beaming rate and
burning of clay kind of solid as well as liquid fuel. But it has poor efficiency for smaller unit, high
head space, difficult to inspect and uneconomical in operation .

Locomotive boiler

Classification of boiler

Horizontal drum axis, natural circulation, artificial draft, multi-tubular, medium pressure,
mobile, solid fuel fired, fired tube boiler with furnace located in tubes.

Construction and working

Figure: Locomotive boiler

It is multi-tubular boiler used in railway engines. It is a mobile boiler and steam generation
rate is higher.

The boiler consists of large number of smaller diameter tubes located in a cylindrical shell
along with a rectangular fire box at one end and a smoke box at the other end. Fuel burn on the
inclined grate and flue gases enter into the tubes because of fire bridge arch.

The flue gases pass through number of tubes. Water is surrounded to the tubes. There is an
exchange of heat between water and flue gases. The water convert into steam and the flue gases at
lower temperature enter into chimney. The steam enters the super heater and the superheated steam is
supplied to the steam engine via steam stop valve. The draft created in above case is of artificial type.

The chimney of this boiler is very short. As such enough draft cannot be created by chimney.
The draft is obtained by passing the steam exhausted from the engine through a blast -pipe located in
the smoke box. The steam passing through the nozzle above the blast pipe creates enough suction to
draw in the air through the tubes. A circular door is provided at the end of smoke box for inspection
and cleaning.

The rate of steam generation accelerated due to vibrations caused by the movement of the
boiler. The boiler has a very low efficiency and cannot carry high overloads without suffering heavy
damage due to overheating.

Babcock and wilcox boiler

Classification of boiler

Horizontal drum axis, natural circulation, natural draft, multitubular, high pressure, stationary,
solid fuel fired, water tube boiler with furnace located externally.

Construction and working

Figure depicts Bobcock and Wilcox boiler. This is high pressure boiler used in power plants. It
consists horizontal boiler drum connected by uptake header and down take header which in turn are
connected by number of inclined tubes of water. The flue gases are exchange the heat with the water.
The position of baffles cause the gas to move in zigzag way and more heat transfer is possible. A
counter flow heating is used. The draft is regulated by dempers. The water enters the tube through
down take header. Due to inclined tubes, the entire tube is not filled with the water. Due to exchange
of heat, the steam is separated from the water and through uptake header, it enter the steam space
inside the boiler drum. Anti priming pipe is provided to ensure that only the dry saturated steam enter
the super heater via steam stop valve.

It can be built for any width and height because of sectional construction, good circulation,
rapid steaming,, safe and free from explosion, fast response to overloads, ease of repair, maintenance
and cleaning. It is costlier and fluctuation in water level.

Figure: Babcock and Wilcox boiler

Lancashire Boiler

Classification of boiler

Horizontal drum axis, natural circulation, natural draft, two-tubular, medium pressure,
stationary, fire tube boiler with furnace located internally.
 Construction and working

Figure shows the constructional details of Lancashire boiler along with different boiler
mountings, brick work, path of flue gases, furnace etc. Fuel is burnt on the grate and the flue gases can
flow from one furnace end to other end of tubes (i.e. from front side to back side of furnace). This is
first pass of flue gas through the boiler tubes. The water is surrounded to the tube. The heat between
the water in the boiler drum and the flue gases inside the tube. So the steam is formed. Flue gases
available at the backside of the furnace can be diverted in the downward direction due to presence of
brick work.
6

(Brick is a very poor conductor of heat energy and can works as insulating material for a given
system). So the flue gases can flow from the bottom part of the boiler drum and exchange the
heat with water. This is second pass of flue gases outside the tube. So the flue gases are available at
front side. From front, because of brick work, they are divided into two side flues and once again flow
backward from the sides of boiler drum and finally are expelled out to stack chimney through main
flue. Dampers are provided at the end of side flues to regulate the flow of flue gases.

Figure: Lancashire boiler

The disadvantages of the boiler include more floor space, leakage problems through brick-
settings, more steaming time, sluggish water circulation, limitation of high pressure of steam and
limited space for grate area of furnace.

The advantage of Lancashire boiler large steam space, load fluctuations can easily be met,
easy to clean and inspect, reliable, easy to operate and maintain.

Benson Boiler -
Benson Boiler is a high pressure, drum less, supercritical, water tube steam boiler with forced
circulation. This boiler was invented in the year 1922 by Mark Benson. This boiler is a super critical
boiler in which the feed water is compressed to a supercritical pressure and this prevents the formation
of bubbles in the water tube surface. The bubbles do not form because at supercritical pressure the
density of water and steam becomes same. It was Mark Benson who first proposed the idea to
compress the water at supercritical pressure before heating into boiler and due to this the latent heat of
water reduces to zero. As the latent heat of water reduces to zero the water directly changes into steam
without the formation of bubbles.

wb

Construction

Working Principle
It works on the principle that the pressure of the water is increased to the supercritical pressure (i.e.
above critical pressure of 225 bar). When the pressure of water is increased to the super critical level,
the latent heat of water becomes Zero and due to this, it directly changes into steam without boiling.
And this prevents the formation of bubbles at tube surface.

Working
In Benson Boiler, the feed pump increases the pressure of the water to the supercritical pressure and
then it enters into the economiser. From economiser, the water the water passes to the radiant heater.
Here the water receives the heat through radiation and partly gets converted into steam. The
temperature raises almost to the supercritical temperature. After that mixture of steam and water enters
into convective evaporator where it is completely converted into steam and may superheated to some
degree. Finally it is passed through the superheater to obtained the desired superheated steam. This
superheated steam is then used by turbines or engine to produce the electricity.

Application
This supercritical boiler is used in different industries to generate steam for the production of
electricity or mechanical power. The average operating pressure, temperature and capacity of benson
boiler is 650 degree Celsius, 250 bar and 135 tonnes/h.

Steam boiler mountains

In accordance with the Indian boiler regulations the following mountings should be fitted to
boilers.
 Safety valves: The function of the valve is to blow off the steam when the pressure of the steam
in the boiler exceeds the working pressure
 Water level Indicator: Its function is to indicate level of water, its upper and open in steam space
and lower and opens to water space
 Pressure gauge: It is for indicating the pressure of steam in a boiler

 Steam stop valve: It stops or allows the flow of steam from the boiler to the steam pipe.

 Feed check valve: It allows or stops the supply of water to the boiler

 Blow off cock: It is for removal of sediment periodically collected at the bottom of the boiler

 Man hole: It is provided in opening from which a man can enter in a boiler for cleaning

 Fusible plug: Its function is to extinguish fire in the furnace of a boiler when the water level

in the boiler fails to an unsafe extent thereby preventing the explosion which may takes place
furnace plate

Boiler accessories

 Economizers

 Air pre-heaters

 Super heaters

 Feed pump

 Injectors

Economizers

Using economizer some of the heat recovered and sent back to the boilers in the feed water if
an economizer is placed between the boiler and chimney.
The waste fire gases flow outside the economizer tubes and heat is transferred to the fuel water
which flows upward inside the tubes. The external surfaces of the tubes are kept free from soft by
scrapers which travels slowly and continuously up and down the tubes.

Advantages

 Fuel economy

 Long life of the boiler

Air pre-heaters- Air pre-heaters is installed between the economizer and the chimney and it abstracts
heat from the five gases and transfers to air a portion of the heat that otherwise could pass up the
chimney to waste.

Super heaters- Steam consumption is reduced with the use of superheated super heater heats the
steam produced also production in condensation losses takes place.

Feed pumps - It is used to pump the water from storage to boiler.

Injectors - It is also used to pump the water with for to the boiler