Department of Energy & Environment

3rd Year, 6th Semester

Thermal power system
Assignment 1

Q1) Boiler draught and its types

Q2) Problem
Q3) Vapor cycle

Submitted to: Engr. Mohammed Irfan

Prepared by: Hamza Mohamed
Roll No: D-17-EE-72
1. Boiler draught and its types

Boiler draught is defined as the small difference between the pressure of outside cold
atmospheric air and that of gases within a furnace or chimney.

Draught is broadly classified into 2-types:

1. Natural or Chimney Draught:

In this case the amount of draught directly depends upon the height of chimney. It is produced
due to the difference in densities between the column of hot gases in the chimney and a similar
column of cold air outside the chimney.

2. Artificial Draught:

Far producing much draught, the chimney height has to be increased considerably, which is
neither convenient nor economical. Also, since the draught depends upon the climatic conditions,
some mechanical equipment’s are used for producing the required draught and the draught so
produced is called as the artificial draught.

i. Forced Draught:

In a Forced draught system, a Fan or Blower is provided is shown in figure which forces the air
in the combustion chamber. In the combustion chamber combustion of air and fuel takes place
and hot gases generated. These gases are forced to pass through the flues, economizer, air pre-
heater and then they are exhausted after recovering heat of flue gases. This draught system is
known positive draught system, since the pressure of gases throughout the system is above
atmospheric pressure.

It is to be noted that, the function of chimney use is to discharge the gases high in the atmosphere
to reduce air pollution and it is not much significant for producing draught.

ii. Induced Draught:

In this system, the Blower or Induced Draught fan is located near the base of chimney. The air is
sucked in the system, by reducing the pressure through the system below atmosphere. The flue
gases, generated after combustion are drawn through the system and after recovering heat in the
economizer, air-preheater, they are exhausted through the chimney to the atmosphere.

Here it is to be noted that the draught produced is independent of the temperature of hot gases, so
the gases may be discharged as cold as possible after recovering as much heat as possible.

iii. Balanced Draught:

It is always preferable to use combinations of I.D. and F.D. instead of Forced or Induced draught
alone.
3. Vapor Power Cycles

Vapor power cycles, as the name suggests, use vapor in one phase of the cycle for power
generation or for moving the prime mover in steam power plants or in steam powered ships.
Water is used as a working fluid in steam power plants because of its abundant supply, very low
cost, and suitability. In this article we discuss the various types of cycles that have been used in
steam power plants over the years and their modifications.

In countries where there are vast reserves of coal and oil, steam power plants are very popular
because they can be set up and started in a very short time as compared with other alternatives,
like nuclear power plants and hydro-electric plants.
The various vapor power cycles are the Rankine Cycle, the Regenerative Cycle, the Reheat
Cycle, and the Carnot Cycle among others. The Carnot cycle is the most efficient cycle
theoretically, but practically, the Rankine Cycle is best suited and more popular.

Popular Cycles

There are different types of vapor power cycles, most of them adapted from the Rankine cycle,
which is the theoretical cycle for a steam power plant. The Carnot cycle, being the most efficient
cycle and defining the Carnot limit, is not the theoretical cycle for the steam power plant because
of the following reasons:

1. Steam is not fully condensed to water in the condenser, but to a water and steam mixture.
2. It is very difficult to manufacture and maintain a pump that can handle both steam and
water and to convert it to water at the outlet.
3. Super heating is problematic in the Carnot cycle and in practical working, some degree of
super heating is required to protect the turbine.
The Rankine Cycle and its adaptations is very popular and is the theoretical cycle for the steam
power plants as the condensation of steam is complete and to water, which can be handled by the
pumping system and is easier to maintain.

Rankine Cycle and Carnot Cycle

Regenerative Feed Heating Cycles

The efficiency of the Rankine cycle is less than that of the Carnot cycle because irreversible
mixing of cold condensate with hot water reduces thermal efficiency. To cater to this,
regenerative heating is used in which the expanding steam from the turbine is used to heat the
feed water. In the regenerative feed heating cycle, the objective is to heat the feed water with the
steam expanding in the turbine so that the feed water is supplied to the boiler at a higher
temperature than that of the condenser.

This system is also advantageous as the cold water entry into the boiler caused thermal shocks
and damages. Thus regenerative feed heating cycle is a safer and more efficient cycle.

However, the ideal regenerative feed heating cycle is not practically achievable because of the
following reasons:

1. Water cannot be passed through the turbine casing because of the risk of thermal shocks.
2. If feed water for heating is passed through the turbine casing then it would reduce the
super heating of the steam and may cause the steam to become unsaturated and carrying
water drops which is mechanically not safe for the turbine.
Thus, in the practical regenerative cycle, the steam is taken out from a few points and fed to the
heaters to heat the feed water.

Reheat Cycle

When the steam is expanded in the turbine, it becomes unsaturated and if the water content
exceeds above 10%, it can cause extreme damage to the turbines. This presence of water can
cause corrosion and erosion problems and lead to mechanical damages. Needless to say, the
nozzle efficiency, blade efficiency, and the thermal efficiency also suffers.

Thus, to resolve all these problems, the steam is reheated and the thermal efficiency of the plant
is increased. In the reheat cycle, a part or whole of the steam is reheated using superheated steam
until it is near its initial temperature and then the steam is re-entered into the turbine and then
expanded to the condenser pressure to do work. Generally, this cycle is a combination of the
reheating and the regeneration.

The other types of cycles which are in use are the Binary Vapor cycle, Nuclear Power cycle, etc