STEAM GENERATORS(BOILERS),
CONDENSERS,EVAPORATORS
AND TURBINES
STEAM GENERATORS
➢Steam generator is a closed vessel that is used to
generate steam at constant pressure as per the
process requirement. The steam generated may be
wet, dry saturated or superheated in state.
➢The steam generator consists of source of
heat(furnace) and water containment.
➢ In a steam generator or boiler, constant pressure is
maintained by balancing the rate of steam generated
with the rate of steam consumed.
STEAM GENERATORS.....
• In a thermal power station, coal is the main
source of combustion-nuclear reactors are also
used. The heat generated by burning coal or by
controlled nuclear chain reaction is utilized to
generate steam, which in turn runs the turbo-
generator.
• Steam generator and Boiler are used
interchangeably but steam generator is more
general.
STEAM GENERATORS/boilers classification
CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS
A. Based on the contents of the tubular heating
surface, boilers are primarily classified as fire tube
boilers and water tube boilers.
1. Fire tube boilers
Fire tube boilers are those in which the products of
combustion pass through the tubes and water lies
around the outside of tubes as shown in Figure S4
CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS....
• Examples include Cochran Lancashire, Cornish,
locomotive and scotch marine boilers.
Comparison of Fire Tubes and Water Tubes: (a) Fire Tube
Boiler Tubes; (b) Water Tube Boiler Tubes
CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS....
2. Water tube boilers
Water tube boilers are those in which the products of
combustion (hot flue gases) surround the water tubes from
outside. Cold water enters the tubes and leaves hot as
shown in figure S7. Water tube boilers operate at very high
pressures and are used for power generation.
Examples: Babcock–Wilcox boiler and Sterling boiler
CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS....
Figure S7: Principle of Operation of Fire Tube and Water Tube Boilers:
(a) Principle of Fire Tube Boiler;(b) Principle of Water Tube Boiler
CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS....
B. Stationary and mobile boilers
If the boilers are used at one place only they are termed
stationary boilers.
C. Internally fired and externally fired boilers
If the furnace is placed in the region of boiling water, then
the boiler is termed internally fired boiler.
Example: Lancashire boiler
If the furnace is placed outside the boiling water region,
then the boiler is known as externally fired boiler.
Example: Babcock–Wilcox boiler
CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS....
D. Horizontal, vertical and inclined tube boilers
➢If the heating tubes are horizontal, then the boilers
are called horizontal tube boilers.
Example: Lancashire boiler
➢If the heating tubes are vertical, the boilers are
known as vertical tube boilers.
Example: Cochran boiler
➢If the heating tubes are inclined to the horizontal, the
boilers are known as inclined tube boilers.
Example: Babcock–Wilcox boiler
CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS....
E. BASED ON HEAT SOURCES
Boilers may be classified based on the fuel used for
combustion or heat generation source. Various heat
sources used may be the following:
(I) Heat generated by the combustion of fuel in solid,
liquid or gaseous forms
(II) Heat generated by hot waste gases as byproducts of
other chemical processes
(IV) Heat generated by nuclear energy
CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS....
Comparison of water tube boilers and fire tube boilers
MODERN STEAM GENERATOR
Figure S12:Schematic of a modern steam generator .
MODERN STEAM GENERATOR
Components of modern steam generators
Modern steam generators are composed of all or some of
the following components:
Water-steam side which have
-The boiler tube banks (usually in industrial steam
generators),
-waterwalls, steam drum, superheater, reheater,
economizer, and steam control equipment.
Components of modern steam generators
- Combustion side components
Which has.
- Furnace
- Fuel handling system
- Fuel preparation feeding system
- Ash handling system
Components of modern steam generators
1. Waterwall tubes
➢In modern utility steam generators, waterwall tubes
form the entire walls, roof, and bottom of the steam
generator, and no other physical structure is needed to
contain combustion gases in the furnace and other
components
➢They provide sufficient heat-transfer surface area for
the evaporation process, and no dedicated evaporator
is needed
Components of modern steam generators
• Waterwall tubes may be arranged in several
configurations, including bare tubes, embedded in
the refractory, studded tubes, or membrane design.
See Figure S16.
Figure S16: Different types of waterwall tubes: (a) bare tubes, (b) embedded
in the refractory, (c) studded tubes, (d) membrane design.
Components of modern steam generators
2. DRUM
The drum provides saturated water that is recirculated
through downcomers to waterwall tubes. then, the drum
receives the mixture of water and steam back. See Figure
S17
Figure S17:Schematic of a steam drum (internal components are not shown)
Components of modern steam generators
Steam separation
The presence of water droplets in saturated water leaving
a drum toward superheaters is undesirable or even
dangerous for the performance and durability of steam
generator components as is the presence of steam in
water outlet from the drum to waterwall tubes. See
figure S18
Figure S18:Schematic of a primary separator (deflector baffles) and secondary
separator.
Steam separation.....
➢The simplest form of these separators is deflector
baffles which separate steam from water by
changing the direction of the flow (Figure S18).
other primary separators utilize corrugated plates,
screens (wire meshes), or cyclone steam separators.
➢The secondary separation process is to remove
small water droplets that escape the primary
separator and remove vaporized or solid
contaminations that may be carried by
saturated steam.
Components of modern steam generators
Circulation of water
Feedwater pump is used to circulate water through
the boiler system. Some boiler has natural
circulation. See Figure S21
Figure S21: Schematics of (a) natural circulation and (b) forced-circulation steam generators.
Components of modern steam generators
3. Superheaters and reheaters
Superheaters receive saturated steam from the drum and
send superheated steam to the high pressure section of
the turbine. The function of reheaters is to re-superheat
the partly expanded steam from the turbine so that the
steam remains dry as far as possible through the last
stage of the turbine.
Figure S21: Schematics of superheater and reheater support systems (a)
pendant (b) inverted (c) horizontal.
Components of modern steam generators
Air preheater
➢The function of the air heater is to recover the heat of a
portion of exhaust flue gases before the flue gases enter
the chimney.
➢It is placed along the passage of the exhaust flue gases in
between the economizer and the chimney
➢Air is preheated to increase the boiler’s combustion
efficiency.
Components of modern steam generators
4. Economizers
The function of the economizer is to recover a portion of
heat of the exhaust gases before the flue gases enter the
chimney and discharged to the atmosphere. This reduces the
thermal load of the evaporator.
Superheated Steam Temperature Control
The most common method used for steam temperature
control in the majority of utility steam generators, both in
drum-type and once-through steam generators, is the direct
contact method, commonly known as attemperator or
desuperheater.
Superheated Steam Temperature Control...
In this approach, the temperature of the outlet
superheated steam from superheaters and reheaters is
controlled by spraying water or injecting low-
temperature steam into the superheated steam flow.
spray attemperators are the most common type.
Figure S23.
Figure S23: Schematic of an attemperator
BOILER MOUNTINGS
Boiler mountings are the external fittings that are required
to ensure safe operation of the boiler.
These are:-
1. Water-level indicators (Two numbers)
2. Pressure gauge
3. Steam stop valve or junction valve
4. Feed check valve
5. Blow-down valve or blow-off cock
6. Fusible plug
7. Safety valves (two numbers)
BOILER PERFORMANCE
➢The performance of the boiler is measured by efficiency.
‘Boiler efficiency’ is the ratio of heat actually utilised
ingeneration of steam to the heat supplied by the fuel in the
same period.
➢It depends on its design and other variable factors such as:-
(i) Actual firing rate.
(ii) Fuel condition as it is fired.
(iii) Environmental factors (humidity, air fluctuation and
draught)
.
BOILER PERFORMANCE
Boiler efficiency
Based on the energy consumption of auxiliaries and
the type of the fuel chosen, boiler efficiency can be
expressed as follows:
1. Gross-on-gross eficiency
Gross-on-gross efficiency is based on the gross
calorific value or GCV (higher calorific value, HCV)
of the fuel and the gross heat supplied to the working
fluid.
Boiler efficiency.....
2. Net on gross eficiency
Net on gross efficiency calculation is based on the
gcv of the fuel and the net supplied to the working
fluid after excluding heat equivalent energy
consumption from boiler auxiliaries.
3. Gross on net efficiency
Gross on net efficiency calculation is based on net
calorific value of the fuel (LCV) and gross heat
supplied to the working fluid
Boiler efficiency.....
4. Net-on-net eficiency
Net-on-net efficiency calculations are based on the net
calorific value (LCV) of the fuel and the net heat
supplied to the fuel.
Two different method are used for computing the boiler
efficiency.
These are as follows:
(i) Direct method
(ii) Indirect or losses method
Boiler efficiency.....
(i) Direct method
In direct method, efficiency is calculated for a non-
reheat (NRH) unit as follows:
Direct method......
Where
Ms = Steam flow rate
Cps Specific heat of steam
T1= Superheat steam temperature
Ts= Saturation steam temperature
Hfg Latent heat of vapourization
Tw= Inlet temperature of feed water
Mf = Mass of fuel burnt
CVF = Calorific value of fuel, kJ/kg
Direct method......
OR
Boiler efficiency.....
(II) Indirect or losses method
In the indirect method, by knowing the losses, one can
estimate the efficiency.
Thus
Efficiency = 100% – LOSSES
The advantage of this method is that even if some errors
are present in measurement, it will not alter the efficiency
drastically
Boiler efficiency.....
Heat Losses in a Boiler Plant
The following heat losses occur in a boiler plant :
1. Heat lost to flue gases.
2. Heat lost due to incomplete combustion.
3. Heat lost due to unburnt fuel.
4. Convection and radiation losses.
EVAPORATORS
These are used to make pure make-up water for boiler’s
feed.
➢Raw water is evaporated by using extracted steam and
then condensed; distilled and pure feed water for the
boiler is obtained.
Two main classes of evaporators are :
1. The film type evaporators. In this type water is sprayed
on the surface of tubes through which steam is passed.
➢ As the water falls on the surface of heated tubes it
evaporate
EVAPORATORS…
2. The submerged type evaporators. In this case the bundle
of tubes is submerged in water.
➢Vapor formed in the shell pass out of the shell through a
moisture separator and enter a feed water condenser or
water heater where these condense and mix with feed
water.
EVAPORATORS…
CONDENSERS
A condenser restores exhaust steam from the turbine
back to liquid state. There are two objects of using a
condenser in a steam plant:
1. To reduce the turbine exhaust pressure so as to
increase the specific output of the turbine.
2. To recover high quality feedwater in the form of
condensate and feed it back to the steam
generator without any further treatment
As a result, only the makeup water to replenish the
water losses in the cyclic plant needs be treated.
CONDENSERS
Types of condensers
There are two broad classes of condensers:
(a) Direct contact type condensers, where the condensate
and cooling water directly mix and come out as a single
stream.
(b) Surface condensers, which are shell-and-tube heat
exchangers where the two fluids do not come in direct
contact and the heat released by the condensation of steam
is transferred through the walls of the tubes into the
cooling water continuously circulating inside them.
Direct contact condensers...
Direct contact condensers
These can be of three types:
(A) Spray condenser
(B) Barometric condenser
(C) Jet condenser
Direct contact condensers...
Spray type
➢In a spray condenser, the cooling water is sprayed
into the steam.
➢Steam by mixing directly with cold water gets
condensed.
➢The exhaust steam from the turbine at state 2 mixes
with cooling water at state 5 to produce saturated
water at state 3, which is pumped to state 4. See figure
s37.
Direct contact condensers...
Figure s37 :Schematic flow diagram of a direct-contact spray
condenser
Direct contact condensers...
• Barometric condenser
➢In a barometric condenser (Figure S40 a) the cooling
water is made to fall in a series of baffles to expose
large surface area for the steam fed from below to
come in direct contact.
➢ The steam condenses and the mixture falls in a tail
pipe to the hot well below. By virtue of its static head,
the tail pipe compresses the mixture to atmospheric
pressure. Thus
Direct contact condensers...
Jet condenser
In the jet condenser (Figure S40 b) the height of the tail
pipe is reduced by replacing it with a diffusor. The
diffusor helps raising the pressure in a short distance
than a tail pipe.
Direct contact condensers...
Schematics of direct-contact condensers:
(a) barometric, (b) diffuser or jet
Surface condensers
Surface condensers are mostly used in power plants.
They are essentially, shell-and-tube heat exchangers.
For the convenience of cleaning and maintenance,
cooling water flows through the tubes and steam
condenses outside the tubes.
Figure S42 shows a surface condenser with two passes
on the water side.
Surface condensers...
Schematics of a two-pass surface condenser
Surface condensers...
• In a single pass condenser (fig ,s43), cooling water
flows through the tubes once from one end to the
other.
Figure s43: Single-pass condenser with divided water boxes
TURBINES
A Turbine is a rotary mechanical device that
extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into
useful work.
• The work produced can be used for generating
electrical power when combined with a generator.
A turbine is a turbomachine with at least one
moving part called a rotor assembly, which is a
shaft or drum with blades attached.
• Moving fluid acts on the blades so that they move
and impart rotational energy to the rotor. early
turbine examples are windmills and waterwheels.
TURBINES
Types of turbines
1. Steam turbines are used to drive electrical
generators in thermal power plants which use coal,
fuel oil or nuclear fuel.
A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal
energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do
mechanical work on a rotating output shaft
TURBINES
Types of turbines
1. A gas turbine or gas turbine engine, by its old
name internal combustion turbine, is a type of
continuous flow internal combustion engine.
The main parts common to all gas turbine engines
form the power-producing part (known as the gas
generator or core) and are, in the direction of flow:
▪ a rotating gas compressor
▪ a combustor/Combustion chamber
▪ a compressor-driving turbine.
A gas turbine ....
1-Turbo jet engine-used in commercial
aircrafts (replaced by turbo fans)
2-Turbo propeller engine-used in small
and military transport aircrafts
3-Turbo jet with Electrical generator-for
electricity production
4-High bypass Turbo fan engine- used in
commercial aircrafts
5- Low bypass Turbo jet engine with
afterbunner-Used in supersonic aircrafts.
Turbine types...
3. A water turbine is a rotary machine that converts
kinetic energy and potential energy of water into
mechanical work. Now, they are mostly used for
electric power generation. Water turbines are mostly
found in dams to generate electric power from water
potential energy.
Water turbines types..
Reaction turbines
• Reaction turbines are acted on by water, which
changes pressure as it moves through the turbine and
gives up its energy. They must be encased to contain
the water pressure (or suction), or they must be fully
submerged in the water flow.
Various types of water turbine runners. From left to right: Pelton wheel,
two types of Francis turbine and Kaplan turbine.
Water turbines types..
Impulse turbines
• Impulse turbines change the velocity of a water jet. The jet
pushes on the turbine's curved blades which changes the
direction of the flow.
• The resulting change in momentum (impulse) causes a
force on the turbine blades. Since the turbine is spinning,
the force acts through a distance (work) and the diverted
water flow is left with diminished energy.
• An impulse turbine is one in which the pressure of the fluid
flowing over the rotor blades is constant and all the work
output is due to the change in kinetic energy of the fluid.
Impulse turbine types..
Francis turbines
THERMAL POWER PLANT
