Faculty of Engineering and Technology

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Chapter -4-

Steam Generator (Boiler)

Target Group: Fifth Year Mechanical Engineering Students

Serious Prepared By:-Yohannes Feyissa

November, 2016

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 Chapter -4-
4. Boiler
4.1 Historical Development of Boilers
 1720 Haycock : Shell-type boiler made of copper plates.

 1730 James Allen: Internal flue furnace; use of bellow for combustion air

 1766 William Blakey: Patent on water in turbe and fire outside.

 1803 John Stevens: A pseudo-water-tube design used in a steamboat.

 1804 Richard Trevithick” First high pressure boiler with cast iron cylindrical
shell.

 1822 Jacob Perkins: Once-through boiler using cast iron bars.

 1856 Stephen Wilcox: Inclined tube boiler with water-cooled enclosures.

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 Cont...
 1880 Allan Stirling: Bent tube connecting drums.

 1920: Pulverized Coal fired boiler.

 1957: Super critical boiler.

 1970: Fluidized bed boiler.

4.1 The Theory of Producing Steam

 Water and steam are typically used as heat carriers in heating systems. It is well
known that water boils and evaporates at 100°C under atmospheric pressure.
 By higher pressure, water evaporates at higher temperature - e.g. a pressure of
10 bar equals an evaporation temperature of 184°C.
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 Cont...
 During the evaporation process, pressure and temperature are constant, and a
substantial amount of heat are use for bringing the water from liquid to vapour
phase.

 When all the water is evaporated, the steam is called dry saturated.

 In this condition the steam contains a large amount of latent heat.

 This latent heat in the dry saturated steam can efficiently be utilized to different
processes requiring heat.

 The steam boiler or steam generator is connected to the consumers through the
steam and condensate piping.

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 Cont...
 When the steam is provided to the consumers, it condensate.

 It can then be returned to the feed water tank.

4.2 Water Tube Boilers: The Steam Generators

 As industry developed during 19th century, so the use of boilers for raising steam
became widespread.

 Disastrous explosions sometimes occurred.

 Boilers of that period consisted of heated pressure vessels of large diameter.

 These are subject to internal pressure which is tensile stresses in the walls of the
enclosure.

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 4.2.1 Steam generator versus steam boiler
 Opposite the principle of the steam boilers, the water in the steam generators
evaporates inside the tube winded up into serial connected tube coils.
 The feed water is heated up to the evaporation temperature and then evaporated.
 The intensity of the heat, the feed water flow and the size/length of the tube are
adapted, so that the water is exactly fully evaporated at the exit of the tube.
 This ensures a very small water and steam volume (content of the pressure
vessel).
 Thus there are no buffer in a steam generator, and is it temporary overloaded.
 The advantages using a steam generator compare to conventional steam boilers:
 Easy to operate - normally no requirement for boiler authorization
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Cont...
 Rapid start-up and establishing full steam pressure Compact and easy to
adapt in the existing machinery arrangement
 Price attractive - especially at low steam rates.
4.2.2 The water tube boiler
As you can see, the Water Tube Boiler (below) looks
very complicated.
 Thousands of tubes are placed in strategic location
to optimize the exchange of energy from the heat to the
water in the tubes.
 These types of boilers are most common because of
their ability to deliver large quantities of steam.
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Cont...
 The large tube like structure at the top of the boiler is called the steam drum.
 The hundreds of tube start and eventually end up at the steam drum

4.3 Steam Theory

Within the boiler, fuel and air are force into the furnace by the burner. There, it
burns to produce heat.
 From there, the heat (flue gases) travel throughout the boiler.
 The water absorbs the heat, and eventually absorb enough to change into a
gaseous state - steam.

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Cont...
 To the left is the basic theoretical
design of a modern boiler.
Boiler makers have developed
various designs to squeeze the most
energy out of fuel and to maximized its
transfer to the water.

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 4.3 Working Principle of Steam Theory
 Water enters the boiler, preheated, at the top.
 The hot water naturally circulates through the tubes down to the lower area where it
is hot.
 The water heats up and flows back to the steam drum where the steam collects.
 Not all the water gets turn to steam, so the process starts again.
 Water keeps on circulating until it becomes steam.
 Meanwhile, the control system is taking the temperature of the steam drum, along
with numerous other readings, to determine if it should keep the burner burning, or
shut it down.

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 Cont...
As well, sensors control the amount of water entering the boiler, this water is know
as feedwater.
 Feedwater is not your regular drinking water.
 It is treated with chemicals to neutralize various minerals in the water, which
untreated, would cling to the tubes clogging or worst, rusting them.
 This would make the boiler expensive to operate because it would not be very
efficient.
 On the fire side of the boiler, carbon deposit resulting from improper combustion or
impurities in the fuel can accumulate on the outer surface of the water tube.

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Cont...
This creates an insulation which quickly decrease the energy transfer from the
heat to the water.
To remedy this problem the engineer will carry out soot blowing. At a specified
time the engineer uses a long tool and insert it into the fire side of the boiler.
This device, which looks like a lance, has a tip at the end which "blows" steam.
This blowing action of the steam "scrubs" the outside of the water tubes, cleaning
the carbon build up.
Water tube boilers can have pressures from 7 bar to as high as 250 bar.
 The steam temperature's can vary between saturated steam, 100 degrees
Celsius steam with particle of water, or be as high as 600 - 650 degrees Celsius,
know as superheated steam or dry steam 12
4.5 Water Tube Boiler
A. Smoke uptake
B. Economizer
A heat exchanger that transfers heat
from Boiler Flue Gases to Boiler
Feedwater.
C. Steam Outlet
Saturated steam from the Steam Drum to the
Super heater
A. Cyclone
A device inside the drum that is used to
prevent water and solids from passing
over with the steam outlet.
B. Stay tube
Help for super heater

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Cont.
F. Superheated steam outlet

G. Super heater
A bank of tubes, in the exhaust gas duct after the boiler, used to heat the steam
above the saturation temperature.

H. Super heater Headers

Distribution and collecting boxes for the super heater tubes.

I. Water Drum

J. Water wall Header

Distribution box for water wall and down comers.

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Cont.

F. Burner
G. Footing
H. Water wall
Tubes welded together to form a wall.
I. Water wall Header
Distribution box for water wall and down comers.

O. Back side water wall

P. Boiler hood
Q. Water wall Header
Collecting box for water wall and risers.
R. Riser
Tubes in which steam is generated due to high convection or radiant heat. The water-steam
emulsion rises in these tubes toward the steam drum. 15
Cont.
O. Down comer
A tube through which water flows downward. These tubes are normally not
heated, and the boiler water flows through them to supply the generating
tubes.
P. Steam Drum
Separates the steam from the water.
Q. Economizer Header
Distribution box for the economizer tubes.

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 4.5.1 Water and Steam Flow Diagram

Blue: the down comers lead the water from

the steam drum to the water drum and the
water walls headers.
 Red and blue: the evaporation tubes and the
water walls lead the water and steam emulsion
back to the steam drum.
 Red: the steam passes through the super
heater before it leaves the boiler for the
consumers.

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 4.5.2 Eckrohr Steam Boilers

 Eckrohr-Boiler (Corner Tube Boiler) is a boiler for all kinds of fuel.

 Originally it got its name because it has down comers in the four corners.
 It is a natural water circulation single drum boiler and it needs no circulation
pump.
 Down comers, headers and water walls are welded together to a gas-tight tube
cage.
 The Eck-rohr-Boiler is self-supporting and needs no supporting structure.
 It stands on its own down comers.

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Cont.

 Due to the cage structure with down

comers, headers and overhead pipes the
Eckrohr-Boiler is earthquake safe (more
than 550 boilers installed in Japan, many of
them for municipal waste).

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 4.5.3 Eckrohr Boilers water and steam flow diagram
1. Unheated return tubes
2. Header
3. Mixture tubes
4. Riser tubes (evaporator)
5. Overflow tubes
6. Unheated steam drum
7. Unheated down comers
• The water-steam mixture flows upwards through the riser tubes (4).
• In the upper mixture tube (3) steam is already separated from water and a part of
the water flows through unheated return tubes (1) to the header (2).
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Cont..
 The separated steam flows through the
overflow tube (5) to the steam space of
the drum (6).
 The remaining mixture runs through
mixture tube (3) into the drum.
 The final separation of water and steam
takes place in the drum, the water
flows through the down comers (7) to
the headers (2).

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 4.5.3 Composite steam boiler

 Composite boilers that mixes the diesel

engines exhaust gases and the flue gases
from the fuel oil burner have existed, and
may still exist.
 Using the diesel engines exhaust gases as
combustion air for the fuel oil burner is quite
economically although it makes a rather
complicated unit.

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 4.5.4 Classification of Boilers

 Packaged Boilers : Small in capacity.

Preassembled units.
Shell type or water tube
 Shell type: Domestic hot water boilers are most common example.
Low Thermal efficiency 50 - 65%.
 Water-tube Type: Packaged water-tube boilers are built incapacity up to 25 kg/s
Pressure up to 73 bar and temperature up to 440 C.
furnace operates under positive pressure.
Designed for compactness.
Operated with a very high volumetric heat release rate.

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Cont..
 Marine or Naval Boilers : Extremely compact.
 Built to maximize the power-to-weight and power-to-volume ratio.
 High heat release rates: up to 10 MW per cubic meter in Naval vessels and up to
1 Mw per cubic meter in merchant vessels.
 Generally oil fired.
 Modern ships using diesel engine or gas turbine power use a waste heat
recovery boiler or auxiliary pakage boiler.
Power Generation Boilers
Pulverised coal combustion.
Fluidized Bed Combustion.
Nuclear Steam Generators.
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Cont..
 Solid Waste Fired Boilers
 Biomass Fired Boilers
 Waste Heat Recovery Boilers.
 Forced circulation and natural circulation
 High pressure and low pressure
 Stationary and portable
 Single tube and multi tube

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 4.5.5 Fire tube and Water Tube
 If hot gases are inside the tube and water is outside the tube, it is called fire-tube
boiler.
Examples: Cochran, Lancashire and
locomotive boilers
 If water is inside the tube and hot gases are outside the tube, it is called water-
tube boiler.
Examples: Babcock and Wilcox, Stirling,
Yarrow boiler etc

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 4.5.6 Externally fired and Internally Fired

 The boiler is known as externally fired if the fire is outside the shell.
Examples: Babcock and Wilcox, Stirling
 The boiler is known as internally fired if the furnace is located inside the boiler
shell.
Examples: Cochran, Lancashire
4.5.7 High pressure and low pressure

 The boilers which produce steam at pressures of 80 bar and above are called high
pressure boilers
Examples: Babcock and Wilcox, Velox, Lamont, Benson boilers

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Cont..

The boilers which produce steam at pressure below 80 bar are called low
pressure boilers
Examples: Cochran, Cornish, Lancashire and locomotive boilers

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 4.5.7 Comparison of fire tube and Water Tube Boilers
Particulars Fire-tube boilers Water-tube boilers
Position of water and hot gases Hot gases inside the tubes and Water inside the tubes and hot
water outside the tubes gases outside the tubes

Mode of firing Generally internally fired Externally fired

Operation pressure Limited to 16 bar Can go up to 100 bar
Rate of steam production Lower Higher
Suitability Not suitable for large power Suitable for large power plants
plants
Risk on bursting Involves lesser risk of More risk on bursting due to
explosion due to lower high pressure
pressure
Floor area For a given power it occupies For a given power it occupies
more floor area less floor area
Construction Difficult Simple

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Questions
Comment
Suggestion ???

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