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Repair Tube Boilers
Repair Tube Boilers
Repair Tube Boilers
To cite this article: D. Gandy, G. Frederick & K. Coleman (2006) Repair welding technologies
for heat recovery steam generator tubing, Energy Materials, 1:2, 127-135, DOI:
10.1179/174892306X99714
Article views: 3
Download by: [Florida Atlantic University] Date: 16 April 2016, At: 05:02
Repair welding technologies for heat recovery
steam generator tubing
D. Gandy*, G. Frederick and K. Coleman
A number of premature failures have been observed in heat recovery steam generators, both
along the length of finned tubes and at attachment locations where tubes are joined to the upper
or lower header. Such failures are expensive to correct; furthermore, poor welding access and
repair practices often result in recurrence of the failures with existing welding technology. Two
separate welding technologies under development to address tube failures are described. In the
first, for failures along the length of the tube, damaged sections are severed from the existing tube
and replaced via gas metal arc welding from the inside of the tube. A welding head has been
specifically designed to perform this inside out ‘window weld’ repair. The second technology
Downloaded by [Florida Atlantic University] at 05:02 16 April 2016
addresses tube to header attachment damage via removal of the existing stub from the inside of a
header and its replacement with a slightly oversized and tapered tube. The two technologies
identified have the potential to give significant improvements in repair of heat recovery steam
generator tube failures by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and repair organisations.
Keywords: Repair welding, Finned tubes, Heat recovery steam generators, Heat exchanger tubing
HRSG repairs
Concurrent with the development of the prototype 2 Single piece ID tube welder inserted into tube for
welding device, EPRI began to develop material welding
selection and repair guidelines for HRSGs.2 Tubing
repair was identified as an area requiring better welding was believed the window welding device could, with a
equipment to improve the quality of installation and few modifications, be employed for HRSG tube to tube
repair. (replacement of a tube section) welding applications.
Two types of tube repairs were identified. First, During the first half of 2004, improvements in the
repairs on tubing away from the upper or lower headers window welding device and conversion into a single
require welders either to cut their way in and weld their piece welder suitable for use in HRSG tubing and boiler
way out or to plug and abandon the tube. The result is water wall applications were undertaken.
often poor quality tube welds owing to access limitations In April 2004, conceptual work began on a method
on the rear side of each tube. Mirror welding is for repair of tubing to header attachments. A repair
commonly used on the back side of each tube; however, approach was identified and a welding equipment
this repair technique requires a highly skilled welder and vendor (Encompass Machines Inc.) selected to develop
still often results in poor quality. Replacement sections, a second welding device, which was made available in
in which at least two OD welds are required, are early 2006. The repair approach for header to stubtube
commonly used. Second, repairs at tubing to header damage repair is described below.
attachments require a similar approach in cutting in and
welding back out. Another approach often used is to
plug the tube from the inside of the header. This
ID tube welder
approach, however, reduces plant efficiency because the The redesign of the ID tube welder retained the
plugged tube is essentially removed from service. prefabricated replacement tube (including the preplaced
Improved means of addressing these forms of repair window, see Fig. 1), along with the GMAW process.
were investigated. For the tube welding application, it The weld was completed from the inside diameter of the
tube (welds at top and bottom). By reconfiguring the adjustments can be made to ¡0.375 in (9.5 mm) for
welding head to a single piece design, the prefabricated multipass welding applications. Gas coverage is pro-
replacement tube length could be reduced to 12–14 in vided for high alloy welding applications via the collet
(300–360 mm). As before, an inverted (inside out) weld just below the weld head. Gas coverage can be
prep was employed. maintained from prepurge to post-purge and through-
The single piece welding device shown in Figs. 2 and 3 out the welding process. Rice paper can be placed within
makes use of alignment collars that are secured within the existing tube to provide a boundary outboard of the
the replacement tube both above and below the window. weld region.
These collars can be sized for 1 in (25 mm) i.d. to 3 in Easy use of the ID device issue was actively promoted
(75 mm) o.d. tubes, thus offering a wide range of in several ways, including minimising the weight,
capabilities regardless of HRSG or water wall tube size. prefabricating the tubes with standardised windows
Once inserted into the tube window, a novel handle and keeping the operation requirements simple.4 The
design enables the bottom collar to be centred and lighter weight enabled the welder to carry the system
secured (or retracted) in a single motion. The handle is directly to the repair location. The weight of the overall
spring loaded for easy insertion or retraction. This system was minimised by using a lightweight GMAW
feature allows a reduced working envelope and enabled power supply that could be placed within 10 ft (3 m) of
the device to be reduced to a single piece design. the weld region, a push wire feeder, a compact pendant
Another feature is height adjustment. A height board and a lightweight, aluminium based ID weld
indicator enables the user to determine vertical position head.
of the weld head, thus allowing incremental changes The use of the GMAW process and prefabricated
when necessary to better position the weld torch. Height tubes with standardised windows enables the welder to
Examples of each of these weld designs are provided in in Fig. 7. The base plate is mounted 180u away and
Fig. 6 and the advantages and disadvantages of each centred axially along the header from the damaged tube
form of repair have been discussed elsewhere.5 An location.
approach applicable to all four designs was eventually Once the base plate is in place, the EDM assembly is
developed. mounted to it. An EDM electrode, fabricated to match
The methodology involves a more pragmatic the contour and diameter of the header, is inserted into
approach to HRSG header to tube damage than is the EDM assembly and a small plug is removed 180u
currently used by industry. Repair vendors and OEMs from the damaged tube location to provide access to the
currently address tube attachment damage from the inside of the tube. The diameter of the EDM hole is
outside of the header. This requires cutting past a ,0.25 in (0.64 cm) greater than the stub tube diameter
number of tubes in a tube bundle, performing the weld and ,0.5 in (1.3 cm) greater than the damaged tube (see
repair from the outside of the tube (often requiring step 5).
partial tube replacement) and rewelding all the tubes cut Step 2: align base plate
to gain access. This approach is not only time
Once the access hole has been fabricated and the EDM
consuming and costly but also often results in poor
assembly removed, the next step in the process is to
weld quality owing to the limited access. It also requires
release the base plate straps and recentre the base plate.
cutting and rewelding multiple tubes that otherwise have
no damage.
The new approach sought to address header to tube
damage from the inside of the header, which involves a
number of steps as follows.
Step 6: preheating 10 Stub tube shown in final position after press fitted
into place
At this point in the process, all machining operations
have been completed and the stub tube is in place to
begin the preheating, welding and post weld heat requirements. The welding device must be capable of
treatment (PWHT) operations. Note that the entire both attaching directly to the base plate and extending
repair process involves P/T91 header, tubing and a stub down into the header to address contour type welds.
tube. P/T91 is a material that must be handled with Figure 11 demonstrates the actual welding in process
utmost care to avoid future damage. from the inside diameter of a header.
Before beginning welding operations, P91 materials
will require preheating to 204uC (400uF). A preheating Step 8: tube to tube welding
methodology was identified in early 2006 and demon- The tube to tube weld is next performed. As described
strated via an HRSG mockup. above, the new stub tube is configured to slide over the
outer diameter of the existing tube, to prevent the tube
Step 7: welding header to stub tube from swinging or moving, before and during the welding
Two welds must be performed to install the stub tube: to process, and to provide backing so that an open root
secure the stub tube to the header and (in step 8) to the type weld will not be required.
existing finned tube. As discussed in step 5, the new stub The present configuration makes use of a consumable
tube is press fitted, resulting in a tight fit with the header, insert that is tacked inside the stub tube and slid over the
and is also pressed into place so that it fits over the existing tube. A completed weld that has been cross-
existing stub tube to keep it from moving. The stub tube sectioned and polished is shown in Fig. 12.
itself is contoured and prepared for welding before its
insertion into the header. Step 9: closure weld (replace access hole)
Header to stubtube (HST) welding makes use of a gas Before completing the final, PWHT of the previous two
tungsten arc profile weld head that has been specially welds (steps 7 and 8), it is necessary to complete the
designed for this welding operation. Profile welding of closure weld that replaces the access hole generated in
abnormal geometries (such as saddle welds and elbows) step 1 of the repair process. The closure weld will also
is difficult and is normally conducted using manual require PWHT, so all three welds should be heat treated
welding processes. Though manual welding was con- concurrently.
sidered for the HST weld, the repair team believed the The closure weld employs the plug that was removed
process must be automated owing to the limited space to generate the access hole during the EDM process
methodologies would benefit power plant personnel, Equipment for their input, insight and development
repair vendors, installers and OEMs. Equipment design capabilities in bringing the tube to tube welder to
and development during 2004 and 2005 has achieved market. Thanks are also expressed to members of the
significant progress towards this objective: EPRI Boiler Life & Availability program (P63), and to
1. A patented ID tube welder has been prototyped, R. Tilley who manages this programme for funding and
developed and commercialised for performing both water pursuing advanced welding technologies for water wall
wall window welds and HRSG tube to tube weld repairs. applications that eventually led to the development of
2. The ID Tube Welder significantly reduces the time the ID tube welder. The authors would also like to thank
required to perform window welds or HRSG tube to K. Spencer, P. Nusbaum and K. Brazzell of Encompass
tube welds compared with conventional SMAW type Machines for their assistance in bringing the HST repair
repairs. Furthermore, it provides power plants with a device to market. The collaboration of Specialty
consistent, rapidly deployable method to perform Welding and Machine as the primary contractor in
repairs and minimise welder error. development of the boiler water wall window welding
3. A tube to header attachment repair methodology device and of Mannings USA in development of PWHT
has been identified to address all four attachments now methodologies for finned tube repair is gratefully
offered by OEMs. Equipment development has been acknowledged.
completed for all machining steps involved in the repair
process (EDM and plunge type cutting). Development References
has also been completed for the two welding steps where
1. EPRI: ‘Boiler life and availability improvement’, Program 63, Palo
a new stub tube is attached to the header and a tube to Alto, CA, USA, available at: www.epri.com/portfolio.
tube weld is completed between the existing tube and the 2. ‘HRSG material selection and repair guidelines’, Report 1004875,
new stub tube. The new repair technology for attach- EPRI, Palo Alto, CA, 2004.
Downloaded by [Florida Atlantic University] at 05:02 16 April 2016
ment welds was made available in February 2006. 3. ‘Method and apparatus and prefabricated replacement tube for
localized waterwall repair’, US Patent 6,596,957 B2, EPRI, Palo
Alto, CA, 2003.
Acknowledgements 4. Aggressive Equipment, Inc. web site photographs, available at:
http://www.aggressive-equipment.com/new/idtubeweld.html.
The authors thank R. Bryant, R. Phillips, L. Tellone and 5. ‘Delivering high reliability heat recovery steam generators’, Report
D. Thorton from Carolina Energy Solutions/Aggressive 1004240, EPRI, Palo Alto, CA, 2003.