CHAPTER 6 } STEAM GENERATORS 1. General. The term steam generator has come into acceptance to replace the rather loose term boiler and indicates the furnace, boiler, raterwalls, water floor, water screen, superheater, reheater, economizer, air preheater, and fuel-burning equipment. ‘The definition of a steam generator, according to the ASME codes, is a “combination of apparatus for producing, furnishing, or recovering heat, together with apparatus for transferring to a working fuid the heat thus made available.” However, the term boiler has been used for such a long period of time that the two terms are used interchangeably. Energy input to the power-plant eycle is from the combustion of a fuel in the steam generator. Some of the energy derived from the combustion is transferred to the water in the furnace through the heating surfaces provided. If there are superheaters, economizers, or air preheaters in the installation, they will also receive energy from the gases. Large single-unit installations, composed of one boiler serving one tur Dine, are common because of the saving in piping and because of operat- ing advantages. Units having capacities of 3,750,000 Ib per hr are being + built. With present economic conditions, flexibility of fuel-buming and heat-absorbing equipment is stressed. Many public utilities have added oil burners to their boilers or made other provisions for the use of an alternate fuel. Many modern plants ean now bun several grades of coal. Liberal furnace volumes are an aid in meeting changing coal conditions. Gas is a popular fuel in the Southwest and where economic considerations make its use possible. Increasing fuel costs have caused more attention to be paid to the effi- ciency of the steam generator. High feedwater temperatures, cleaner heat-transfer surfaces, and air preheaters capable of operating at low flue- as temperatures without undue corrosion are some of the improvements 6-2. Fire-Tube Boilers. Of the many ways of classifying boifers, the distinction based on the fluid inside the tubes is one of the most impor- tant. Fire-tube boilers are those having the hot gases of combustion inside the tubes. Their opposite are water-tube boilers. Fire-tube units are usu- ally limited to steam pressures of about 250-psig working pressure because of the thickness of the large diameter shell for higher pressures. A design ch. 61 STEAM GENERATORS 20 reasure of 150 psig is very common for these units and capacities range Up to 181000 Ib per br of seam. ‘Their principl use today in the sata ary field is for very small industrial plants or for heating systems. Rail- roads still use the fire-tube units for their steam engines. oe Fig. 6-1 shows one of the more popular types of fire-tube boilers —the horizontal-return tubular (HRT) boiler. Coal is fired into the boiler saserevare Fro, 6-1. Sectional sketch of a horizontal-eturn tubular boiler. (Babeork & Wile cox Co) ro in the front and is burned on the grate, Produets of, coubtoton tunel uprard over the brick bri wall that uprotthe rear of the grate and pass to the rear of the unit, ‘The direction of the gus stream is then reversed so that it passes through the tubes of the shell and leaves at the front of the boiler. The fie tubes are rolled into the ‘tube sheets at each end of the drum and are submerged in the water con- tained in the shell. Heat transfer through the tubes evaporates the water. : The al ic supported from overhead beams and has a manhole in the top. Cleanout doors are provided in the front and back of the setting for soot removal. Ashes are removed from the ash-pit door direetly below e fire door. i bale ele prineiple to the HRT boiler is shown in Fig, 6-2. While the HRT unit has a so-called external furnace, an internal-furnace unit has the fire box inside the shell. No brick setting is required for this boiler as is necessary with the HRT type. Stays for the support of the shell heads may be seen in both pictures.210 POWER PLANT THEORY AND DESIGN [on 16-2, Internal-furnace,fire-tube boiler. (Combustion Engineering Co.) ‘The internal-furnace boiler was used for many years in marine service and was known as the Scotch marine boiler. It differed from the boiler shown in Fig. 6-2 only in that the refractory at the back was replaced with a water jacket. Notice that the furnace tube for the unit of Fig, 6-2 is corrugated; it is known as the Morrison furnace. A furnace tube with straight walls is called an Adamson furnace. Both types are used, but the corrugated walls are eaid to make better provision for relative expan- sion and to shed soot deposits as the walls expand and contract, With increased steam pressures and capacities, the Seotch marine boiler has not been used for marine applications for many years. Re- cently, however, this style of boiler has been converted to the use of light and heavy oil and gas fuels, and with the addition of automatic controls, is known as a packaged fire-tube boiler, Fig. 6-3. It has found wide ‘acceptance for both heating and process steam applications. Riveted con- -struetion has been replaced by welding. When delivered to the plant site, a packaged boiler needs only a conerete slab on which to rest, and fuel, electrical, breeching, wteatti, and safety valve connections. Fuel oil pump or gas regulator, forced-draft blower, and all controls are a part of the boiler. The controls will follow ‘pre-arranged sequence of starting and purging, will automatically adjust the fuel during operation, and will shut the unit down on low steam demand, low water level, low voltage, flame failure, ete. ‘The boiler shown in Fig. 6-3 is arranged with four passes and can bum either oil or gas, The furnace tube is the first pass; the tubes on each side of the furnace tube constitute the second pass; the tubes imme- o.8) STEAM GENERATORSPOWER PLANT THEORY AND DESIGN - (Ch.6 diately above the furnace tube form the third pass; and the top row of ‘tubes compose the fourth pass. The number of tubes in each pass is selected to give similar velocities in each pass. Because of the forced- draft fan, the boiler is pressurized, and there may be a slight positive Pressure at the flue gas outlet. ‘This also permits higher gas velocities in the unit. Temperatures of the products of combustion leaving the fur- hace range from 1800 F to 2000 F, and the gas pressure drop ranges from 34 to 1 in, of water per'pass. Packaged fire-tube boilers are cheaper, in first cost, than water-tube oilers until the eapacity exceeds some 15,000 to 18,000 Ib per hr of steam (packaged water-tube boilers cost 25 to 30% more than packaged fire- tube boilers). At maximum load, these units should attain better than 80% ‘efficiency with about 13.5% CO, in the fiue gas when using oil, will have a heat release of about 100,000 Btu per (hr) (sq ft), and will have a heat- {ng surface of 5 sq {t per boiler horsepower (see Art. 6-11 for definition of boiler horsepower) An advantage of the fire-tube boiler is its ability to meet wide and sudden load fluctuations with only slight pressure changes because of the large volume of water stored in the shell. 6-3. Water-Tube Boilers—Circulation. Demands for increased eapac- ity and pressure over that economically obtained from the fire-tube unit Ted to the development of the water-tube unit. Although available for smaller capacities, the field of the water-tube boiler begins at about: 15,000 Ib per hr of steam. Water-tube steam generators may be classified in several ways: ac- cording to the shape of the tubes (straight or bent), drum position (longi- tudinal or eross), method of water circulation (forced or natural), number of drums, service (marine or stationary), capacity, and the thermal con- ditions, Foreed-cireulation boilers are such a special case that this article ‘will deal with natural-cireulation units only. Girculation of the feedwater within the tubes is one of the most impor- tant problems of natural-circulation boiler design. An elementary boiler is shown in Fig. 6-4, in which we shall assume that all the heat transfer from the gases to the water takes place in the riser. Water at essentially saturated conditions will flow into the downcomer from the drum. Since the water flows through the riser on its return to the drum, heat transfer will eause part of the water to evaporate into steam, with the fesult that the fluid in the riser will be composed of a mixture of water and steam, ‘The density of the mixture in the riser will then be less than the density of the water in the downcomer. This difference in density in the U-tube Provides the pressure to overcome the friction loss occurring in the system, errant es Ch, 61 Header o Lower rum. Fio, 64, An elementary water-tube boiler ‘Thus, when the system is in equilibrium, i 1 Ap = App + APs = 34g (60 ~ Pm) (4) pressure differential due to differences in density, psi pressure loss in the downcomers, psi pressure loss in the risers, psi stern height ft dee of mee jin the downcomers, usually saturated, Ib per cuit mean density of water-steam mixture in the risers, Ib per cu ft where Ap Pp Py z PD nn mixture of steam and water leaves the risers and enters the drum. see tenn drynas faction retest te amount of eam Sn the mintre ‘of steam and water and may be expressed as a fraction by volume or by reehe When dynes ration i expres ae ght ai ee Tents the quality of the mixture. ‘Pop dryness fraction applen to the mix ing the tubes : "sna denny (oq) of he miata in he ing ston ofthe te inay be found by integration of the mixture density with respect to eleva-me POWER PLANT THEORY AND DESIGN Ich, tion above the initial point of steaming. For a constant heat transfer | throughout the length of the tube, this relationship * is In fe be Pw Pe (6-2) fey ” ‘mean density, Ib per cu ft density of saturated water, Ib per eu ft density at top dryness fraction, Ib per eu ft The top dryness fraction (TDF) is an extremely important design factor because the inside surface of the tubes must be wet at all times to ensure satisfactory heat transfer. Ifa tube surface should become dry, the cooficiot of eat transfer wll deerease and the tube wall wll overheat, ister, and rupture. Approximate maximum permissible top dryness frac. tions by volume range from 80% at a boiler operating pressure of 250 psia to 60% at 2500 pxia in almost straight-line relationship. An equal for this relationship would be TDF, = 0.80 — 0.000133(p — 250) (6-3) ais pe *) (IDF,) (v,,) ie be (6-6) where TDF, =top dryness fraction by volume, eu ft steam per ou ft mixture ‘TDE,, = top dryness fraction by weight, Ib steam per Ib mixture 5 P= steam generator operating, pressure, psia and v, vj», and v, are as given in the steam tables, +The basic equation is by taking a f a aie «Ten Bei In these equstions, Zin the total vertical h so 8 total vertiol height of the tubes in tu is the densi ot the mstre i per cues Hight, Ss the enn genet fe per hee the total low of mixture in Ib per hr, and K = &* ‘ated steam in Tb per eu ft. Other symbole are <1, where py is the density of eatu- mn Eq. (6-2) 0) STEAM GENERATORS ‘The circulation ratio represents the water flow through the down- ‘comers for each pound of steam generated in the tubes. Exantpie 6-1, How many pounds of water must enter the downeomers of & boiler operating at 1000 pria to produce 1 Ib of steam leaving the risers? Sovwmon. From Eq. (6-3), ‘TDF, = 0.80 — 0.000133(1000 — 250) = 0.70 From the steam tables, vp = 0.0216, vyy = 04240, and v, = 0.4456 cu ft per Ib, ‘and from Eq. 6-4, 070 x 0.021 poe 5 = 070(0AzHD) = 01018 From Eq. (6-5) 2 1 Circulation ratio= ghyg = 9.83 Ib water per Th steam Pressure losses in the downcomers consist of losses at entrance and exit (14 and 1 elbow equivalent, respectively), loss due to changes in tube flow area (4 to % equivalent elbow), loss due to bends (% equivalent elbow if 90-deg bend), and the loss due to straight tube. Hquivalent lengths may be determined from Fig. 2-22 and the pressure drop in pounds per square inch may be determined from Eq. (2-16). The friction factor to be used in this equation should be determined from Reynolds’ number and Fig, 2-19. However, a friction factor of 0.02 will give sufficiently accurate results for many purposes. Resistances in the risers will include all those listed for the downcomers; in addition there will be a loss through the steam separator in the drum. (see Art. 6-5). For problem solution, this loss ean be taken as 1 psi, which is a realistic value for a large steam generator. Tis very common to have two or more riser circuits of a modern boiler fed by one set of downcomers. This represents a problem in flow through parallel circuits, Exancrie 6-2, In x 1000-peia boiler, one set of 50 risers is to be served by. ‘two dovncomers, Each riser will be 60 ft long, have a'differenee in elevation of 40 ft, have two 90-deg bends, be 3-in. OD and 256 in. ID, and have a heat transfer rate of 50,000 Btu per (hr) (sq ft of projected surface). Water entering the downcomers is saturated. Determine the size of the two downcomers if they ‘are to have 50 ft of length and 3 bends. Souvrion. In Example 6-1 it was determined that the circulation ratio should be 9.83 Ib of water per Ib of steam at a TDF,. of 0.1018. ‘The steam evaporated in the risers will be determined from the rate of heat transfer times the projected tube area and divided by the enthalpy of evapora tion, The projected tube area = aft tube width x 40 ft length x 80 tubes = 500 a ft, Therefore, the steam evaporated = 50,000 Bru per hr x 500 sq ft + 6494216 POWER PLANT THEORY AND DESIGN Buu per Ib = 88,500 Ib per hr. Total ciroulation ratio, or 38,500 x 9.83 = 378,000 Ib per hr, with the flow per tube 50 x 60= 126 tb per min, and the flow per downcomer being being. 378,000 378,000 + 2 x 60 = 3150 1b per min, ‘The equivalent length of the risers, at 7 ft per elbow, will be 60-+7(0.5 + 142075) =81 ft for the straight pipe, the entrance, the exit, and the two =453 Ib per cu ft and AE attows. From the steam table, 96 == pong 2%, = 0.4456 Ib per cu ft. Substituting in Eq, (6-6), 070 " = 755 (o.1018) = 1949 Ib per eu fe Use Eq. (6-2) to obtain the mean density, ite ] 1548 ws | ee 154s ~ 4 Substitute into Eq, (2-16) and add the loss through the separator to obtain the loss in the riser circuit, 4 1b per eu ft 01214 x 0.03 x 81(126)8 | B5A(256)8 coe ape From Eq, (6-1), the allowable pressite drop in the downeomers ean be Mae 4p = 74 (463 — 254) — 1.41 =47 psi ‘The size of downcomer tubes to give “*is pressure loss ean be determined by trial and error. Try two Sein. OD tubes with 0:340-in, wall thickness for an ID of 482 in. ‘The equivalent length of an elbow will be 12 ft, and the equivalent Jength of each downcomer will be 50+ 12(0.5 + 0-48 x 0.75) =05 ft. The frie- tion loss will be o.o1214 x 0.02 6314 This is as near to a balanco as ean be obtained with eon Using these downcomers would mean that the TDF would ‘mum pormissible, rial sizes of tubing. be less than the maxi 6-4, Water-Tube Boilers—Descriptions. Water-tube boilers were developed to permit increases in boiler pressure and capacity with reason- able metal stresses. ‘The first designs employed straight tubes rolled into headers at each end, Fig. 6-5. In the longitudinal-drum design, the water leaves the ‘drum at the rear of the boiler and flows to the sinuous rear headers. ‘The tubes are inclined upward at an angle of 15 deg, or slightly more, to the horizontal. The mixture of steam and water leaves the tubes at the front of the boiler and returns to the drum by way of the front headers. In some designs the drum is incliried at the same angle as the ‘tubes. At the bottom of the rear headers is a square (sometimes round) Fie, 6-5. Longitudinal-drum boiler. (Babcock & Wileox Co.) horizontal header that is known ss a mud drum, Solids in the boiler water wea tigate ae discharged to waste through the blowof} “orate that the water cieulation path forins a U-tube. Hot gases gen erated in the furnace traverse the tube bank in three passes and are di- rected by vertical baffles to give cross-flow of the gases. In some units the baffles are slightly inclined; in other units they are horizontal Because the number of tubes that can be accommodated by a single, longitudinal drum are limited, even when two or three drums are used, the oross-drum boiler was developed, Fig. 6-6. The drum of the eross- drum boiler has a more uniform temperature then the longitudinal-drumPor ebe me Bi eee Fra, 6-6. Cromdrum boiler. (Babeock é Wilcox Co.) Baile While longitudinal-drum bole havea expat range of 000 ,000 Ib per hr of steam, the eross-drum ea j Ba eek ross-drum style has been built: up to Sinuous headers, Fig, 6-7, permit , Fig, 6-7, permit staggered tubes and osimens é ss and are the same fo bot sts bandoleiprovided opposite each ae end fepisaate roling the tube. Also, the gus and water flows are the same LheLa™ drat om and simple eld erstion methods ane advantages of units, However, they have a serious disadvantage in that they ajc to aly svt at ih capac when acre ra ei ines y roe dys, water may fo ne Blam pat ft tbe and seam ma x part. This may cause corrosion elon he waterline or blistering and rapture ofthe wper pat of jess ongtadinal dram boilers are seldom if ever, insalod Ad new eros fysimer s | urenicaTen: i fr D TJecconoany : Suremrearon wer | os 2 [ lass CLONES, OP reSeciiannc Iran eee ay pet era i Fic. 6-18. Steam generator with eyclone burner for 850,000 lb per hr at 1485 psig sand 1000F and 1000¥ reheat, (Babcock & Wilcox Co.) mt Fic. 614. ‘Three-drum steam generator: 1,000,000 Ib per hr, 1625 psig, 925° (Combustion Engineering Co) 2POWER PLANT THEORY AND DESIGN (ch.6 cil II Fic, 6415. Steam generator: i aE eam gener: 1050000 Ib per he, 2900 psig, 1080 F, 1000F reheat. h.61 STEAM GENERATORS at Notice that there is a large header or small drum at the bottom of the boiler that is served by external downcomers. This style of unit may be ‘ealled an open-pass boiler because of the large middle pass that is unob- structed with tubes. ‘The only true boiler tubes in this unit are a few rows ft the bottom of the last pass. A different arrangement of this two-drum design is shown in Fig, 6-13, where cyclone burners have been installed (cyclone burners will be dis- ‘essed in Chap. 7) ‘wo large steam generators that evaporate nearly all the water in the radiant furnace are shown in Figs. 6-14 and 6-15. The first of these two nits is a three-drum style with a small amount of boiler tube surface. Observe that the downcomers are largely outside the casing. ‘The second of these two units is a two-drum style wherein the lower drum is a header rather than a drum, Othe# features of both these units, such as super eaters, reheaters; economizers, air preheaters, ete, will be discussed later Observe that the gases leaving the furnaees of these steam generators pass through a few (frequently only two) rows of tubes. ‘These tubes are known as the slag screen. It is the purpose of this screen to reduce the gases to such a sufficiently low temperature that there will not be excessive flag accumulations on the following tubes. Slag-sereen tubes are spaced so that there will be 9 to 12 in. of clear space between the tubes; thus, any ‘lag accumulations on the sereen cannot bridge-over and close the gas passage. Slag-screen tubes may be either staggered or in-line, ‘The maxi- mum permissible gas temperature leaving the slag screen will depend upon the ash-softening temperature, Observe that there are two types of furnace bottoms illustrated; the furnace of Fig. 6-14 has a floor that 1s nearly horizontal, while the fur- haces of Figs. 6-15 and 6-28 have hopper bottoms. ‘These latter units are called dry-bottom furnaces because all the ash falling to the bottom of the furnace has been cooled to a solid state and is not fluid. Gas tempera- tures in a dry-bottom furnace must be below the ash-softening tem- perature at the’ point in the furnace where the ash is deposited. ‘This ans that the heat release within the furnace must be conservative, Furnace heat release should be calculated as follows: Heat release = [ HEV +0247 (tu ~ = 1040(9H,) ~ 14,000(0 — 4) ye jigher heating value of the fuel, Btu per Ib .ctual air, Ib per Ib fuel jemperature of air surrounding the boiler, F = temperature of the air leaving the air heater or enteringPOWER PLANT THEORY AND DESIGN [cn gy H, = hydrogen in the fuel (including the hydrogen in the mois- ture in the fuel) from the ultimate analysis, Ib per Ib of fuel C= carbon in the fuel from the ultimate analysis, Ib per Ib of fuel ight of fuel burned, Ib per hr V = furnace volume, cu ft Observe that the hydrogen term in this equation includes the hydrogen in the moisture in the fuel and would be the value listed in Table -1 if the fuel were coal, The constant of 1040 is the assumed value of hy, for the water. The term (C — C,,) represents the unburned carbon, A fist, nearly horizontal furnace floor may be used for oil or gas fir- ‘ng, or as in Fig. 6-14, the unit discharges liquid or molten ash when buming pulverized coal. In the latter event, the furnace is known as a slag-tap or wet-bottom furnace. The molten slag may be removed con- tinuously or intermittently; when removed intermittently, the slag may be collected for periods as long as 8 to 12 hr. Slag-tap furnaces are not considered suitable for coals having an ash fluid temperature in excess of 2600 F or an ash viseosity of more than 250 poises at the fluid tempera- ture; usually they are used only on coals having a much lower fiuid temperature, Wet-bottom furnaces must be designed for a high temperature at the Point of ash deposit. This can be accomplished by high furnace-heat release values and by having the flames near to the furnace floor. .Fre- quently it is difficult to maintain the ash in a molten state at less than one-half to one-third load. Molten slag will dissolve refractory and attack metal tubes, Therefore, the furnace floor tubes must be covered with a protective layer that may consist of tight cast-iron blocks over the tubes; these blocks in turn are covered with plastic chrome ore, : Dry-bottom furnaces have increased in popularity over wet-bottom furnaces (exclusive of eyclone furnaces) because the troublesome pool of molten slag in the furnace bottom necessitates an extremely tight furnace floor. Also, the dry-bottom furnace, if properly designed with a low heat release, can burn a wide variety of coals with ease, Heat release rates at maximum load of about 21,000 Btu per (ir) (cu ft) ‘are suitable for slag-tap furnaces, while for dry-bottom furnaces the rates vary from 15,000 to 21,000 Btu per (ht) (cu ft), depending on the ash. fusion temperature. A boiler setting is construe! to mean the enclosure that surrounds the Pressure parts and the furnace, Originally this term applied to the brick. on) Ik ind the boiler. Brick settings are now used only for pe el walling and erosion of refractories in furnaces wer intered_ Jt ary dye of pulvean oa fring de fo he Hah ea lee 1 \aheond rick materal eal fo th frac fan oo sre tam gear forte col envetion zones of «ake ot Ba ried coal unit is shown in Fig. 6-16. The tubes may pal STEAM GENERATORS ‘ia Fie, 6-18. Construction of a tube-and-brick waterwall. (Babcock & Wilcox Co) i y Jsual tube spacing allows 3 to 8 in. imbelded in the refractory file. tne 9 8 er tae Thelen nation fase ee xp that eld a place y expe metal lath, Nest are sve of pai lton eine by galvanic chien wire at pt Of uaeral ran outer cont of sealing compound, Note thatthe insulation ie held in place by studs welded to the tbe, : ‘ht sured tah ten ay re sown in i 1, TH contrat my be nl for ppt aac a extremely high-temperature portions of wel-botomn furstuds are welded lso reduces the heat re. The chrome ore is we studs. The backing ‘upported by the (ot Bas temperatur the tubes is the same as for is also cooled by th, he tangent tubes, Fic, 618, Flatstud and tanger Waterwall. (Babeock & Wileox Co.) Notice in Figs. €-16 through 6-19 that the tubes are tied together by fiat, horizontal tiebars that are welded to the tubes and that are at tubs temperature to prevent any temperature differential. In addition, hori. zontal buckstays are fastened to the tiebars. ‘The buckstays move up ‘and down with the wall as the wall expands and contracts. ‘The buckstays Aare of sulicent strength to limit deflection of the furnace wall due to the differential pressure across the wall. In some of the preceding pictures of wall construction, a section is shown with a welded or bolted steel outer easing, Metal casings repre- sent the best construction and are mandatory for large outdoor eteam generators Some recent large steam generators have been installed with forced- Graft blowers and no induced-draft fans. ‘This places the furnace under22 POWER PLANT THEORY AND DESIGN 10.6 Fic. 619, Partial and full stud tube wall, (Babcock é Wileox Co.) & pressure of some 10 in, of water (rather than the conventional slight Yacuum) and gives rise to the term pressurized boiler. A pressure setting ‘must have an all-steel, welded inner easing fastened to the tubes, Fig 6-20, to prevent gas leakage from the furnace to the boiler room, Such Jeakage would not only be noxious to the plant personnel but would also overheat the setting, Advantages of a pressurized unit are: (1) reduced fan power due to Pumping cold rather than hot air or gas, (2) reduced maintenance because of elimination of the induced-draft fan, (3) improved boiler efficiency because of a tighter casing and no air infiltration. ‘The boiler’shown in Fig. 6-13 is pressurized. Insulation thicknesses for the setting should be determined by the desired outside casing-wall temperature to give an installation that will a TRAM GENFRATORA wa a ‘Fie. 6-20, Tangent-tube wall with steel inner casing. (Babcock & Wileox Co.) not be so hot as to be dangerous and also to give a wall Lene i will not cause too hot a boiler room. Such a casing temperature ie Trl blower a rol te termined ary by homies oe problem. Outside-casing temperatures of 125F to 135 F ay ee tend we I60P wos to maximum. Formally for ooo station the abet temperature and he ai welosy ve Ee cag will not materially affect heat loss through the casing. wving the drum of a modern boiler 5. The Steam Drum. Steam leaving the d : a soisie purest substances produced commercially. If moisture leavesey POWER PLANT THEORY AND DESIGN (ch. the drum with the steam, the moisture will contain impurities that are particularly troublesome in the turbine by causing turbine blade deposits, Some of the impute inthe seam may be vaporized ie. 3 impurities in the water and steam are measured in parts per mill Game Metin ales ester ntctraion teccrioended bye American Boiler Manufacturers’ Association varies with pressure. ‘The ‘values range from # maximum of 3500 ppm for boiler pressures up to 300 Psi o 100 ppm for pressure of 100 to 160 pi resent standards of boiler operation require steam purity of abo I pom for cetts-otstin anita I balesraler conoetation of 1000 ppm is assumed, then for a steam impurity of 1 ppm the moisture in the steam should be (1 100) /1000 = 0.1%, Reduction of hoiler-water concentration can be accomplished by blowing down the boiler. During this operation, boiler water fom a low point in the boiler is discharged to atmosphere and wasted, ‘The blowdown lost is replaced by feedwater of a higher purity, and the boiler eoneentration is redueed. Blowdown may be either continuous or intermittent, depending largely on the rate of in- crease in boiler water contamination, In order to save some of the energy in the blowdown water, it may be partially flashed to vapor at atmos- pherie pressure and the vapor returned to the system, or the energy may be saved by using a blowdown heat exchanger. : __ Moisture traveling with the steam is known as carry-over when due to imperfect drying of the steam. An excessive quantity of moisture duc to surging of the water level in the drum or due to high water level is referred to as priming. One other phenomenon encountered in the deliv- ery of impure steam from the drum is foaming. ‘This eondition is char. acterized by the formation of bubbles on the water surface, io, water ‘Alms surrounding the steam, and is caused by grease, oil, certain dissolved tals and high alkalinity, Frequently m surface blowdorn or continvout Blowdown connection slr on the drum at about the nomal water Jevl to allow some of the fnm to be drawn off the water surface and Some present-day small boilers and most old boilers were provided wi dry pipe in the bier dram to asin the removal of motu rom the steam. A dry pipe is a pipe connected to the steam outlet nozale, which extends about one-third or one-half the length of the drum and is per- forated with many small holes. Steam entering the pipe through, the holes must make a 90-deg turn, and the centrifugal action causes some of the aistare to mpnge onthe pipe wall. ‘The moisture can be drained back te the drum trom the dey pipe while relatively cry steam eaves the Such methods seldom provide a steam quality of better't ‘alg tat aolerabl a high prowure pack Foe Ligirsoous Revie cn. 8} STEAM GENERATORS a8 modern separators use three steps. initial separation, washing, and drying. ‘Apparatus to perform all these steps must be located above the water level. Sometimes the drum becomes s0 crowded that the second step may be omitted. We have previously noted that a mixture of water and steam enters the drum from the risers. This mixture may contain 1 part of steam with 5 to 15 parts of water by weight. The frst operation in purifying the steam is to inerease the steam quality by removing the major portion of the water, Initial separation is often accomplished by bringing the risers into the drum behind a baffle plate and forcing the steam through a restricted opening in the baffle plate to increase its velocity. By proper arrangement of baffles, the steam is then reversed in direction. Centrifugal action causes separation of the heavier water from the lighter steam particles ‘When washing is included in the purifying process, it consists of replacing the concentrated boiler water in the moist steam with relatively pure incoming feedwater. Passing the steam through rain of feedwater will accomplish this phase. ‘The final phase of purifieation should remove the Inst fraction of water that may be in the form of a bulk liquid, atomized spray, or foam bubble films. Passing the steam through narrow lanes formed by corrugated plates or screens provides a centrifugal action to assist in the water removal and provides 2 surface to collect the water. Drum size may well be determined largely by the space requirements {or all the internals to perform the steps of purification. The pressure drop of steam flowing through a separator is from 0.5 to 2 psi One design of separator is shown in Fig, 6-21. Steam and water from the risers enter the drum behind the baffle shown. The mixture is then guided in a vortex path through the primary separators consisting of cylinders. Water is forced to the cylinder walls and returns to the water space through the annulus at the bottom of each cylinder. Steam leaves each cylinder through the corrugated scrubber section at the top. For further purifying, more corrugated scrubbers are located at the top of the drum as a means of secondary separation or drying. Feedwater is introduced into the drum of Fig. 6-21 by a distributor at the bottom of the drum. Incoming feedwater must be distributed along the drum to prevent the cold water from coming into contact with the drum shall or the tube ends. Observe that downcomers leave the drum through tubes between the two baffled riser sections. 6-6. Superheaters and Reheaters. Superheating the steam supplied to prime movers increases efficiency of a plant both because it increaees the oycle efficiency and because it increases the efficiency of the steam engines or turbines, Each 100 F inerease in steam superheat temperature