Steam Generators (boilers)

Basic definitions:

INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Water evaporates at 100 C° under 1 atm pressure, and increases its
Lecture 5
volume.

Saturated steam is in equilibrium with heated water at the same

pressure.

Assoc. Prof. Dr.Yüksel HACIOĞLU In case of temperature reduction, the saturated steam condenses to
produce water.

If heating of the saturated steam continues then evaporation will

continue until there is no water particles remained. Then the steam
obtained will be called as dry steam.

Types of boilers
The temperature remains constant until all saturated steam turns into The most common classification is based on the heat transmission
dry steam. between the water and combustion gases.

If dry steam is continued to be heated then temperature and volume increase There are two types of boilers: fire-tube (or combustion gas-tube) and
and superheated steam is obtained. water-tube boilers.

Solid (coal), liquid (petroleum) and gas (natural gas) fuels are used in In fire-tube boilers the flame or combustion gases passes through tubes
boilers to evaporate water. surrounded by water to produce steam.

As a result of burning process the chemical energy of the fuel is converted In water-tube boilers water passes through tubes surrounded by the
to heat energy and this energy rises the temperature of the water in the tank combustion gases.
of the boiler.

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 Steam
Technical evaluation of the boilers is made according to steam generation
outlet
capacity, active area, efficiency, etc.

Water Steam generation capacity and active area are mostly used for technical
inlet
evaluation.

Steam generation capacity is the steam generated per one hour in kg/h.
This value depends on pressure and temperature therefore must be
Air flue
and accompanied by those values.
fuel
inlet Active area is area that heat is transferred to the water, and it is given in m².
Fire-tube boiler
Combustion Water
chamber tubes

Water-tube boiler
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Steam
Water circulation in water-tube The volumes of fire-tube boilers are large, their heating time is long,
outlet
steam boilers may be natural or and cover large place.
artificial.
Water The diameters of the tubes in fire-tube boilers are large and there are one
inlet
Natural circulation is based on or two tubes.
the density difference of cold
and hot water. Due to their large volumes they are not affected by load changes
immediately.
Air flue
Artificial circulation is provided and
by the use of a pump. fuel They can be cleaned easily and therefore low-quality water may be used.
inlet

Combustion Water
chamber tubes

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 Heat exchangers
The heating time of the water-tube boilers is shorter if compared with Heat exchangers allow the heat transfer between two fluids separated by
fire-tube boilers, and for the same boiler power they occupy smaller area a wall and where a temperature difference is present between those fluids.
than the fire-tube boilers. Therefore, it cools the high temperature fluid, and heats the low
temperature fluid. Heat exchanger with flow
in opposite direction
Therefore, they are preferred in industry for large amounts of steam
generation. Thus they are used for heating
and cooling applications.
On the other hand, the water-tube boilers are more sensitive to load
changes since they have small volumes. One of the fluid may be liquid and
Heat exchanger with flow
the other one may be gas, or both in same direction
Cleaning of the tubes is not easy, therefore high-quality water is used. of them may be gas or liquid.

The flow may be in the same or

opposite direction.

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For high pressure and temperature applications heat exchangers are

constructed with alloy steels, and for normal operating conditions
copper or brass is preferred since they have high heat conduction
coefficient.

The corrosion and calcification of tubes are the main problems faced
in heat exchangers.

There are mainly two types of heat exchangers namely, tubular and
plate heat exchangers.

Tubular heat exchanger Plate heat exchanger

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 A heating system composed of a boiler and radiators Ideal vapor compression
Heated environment
cooling cycle:
QH
Radiator Radiator 1→2 : isentropic (adiabatic and
reversible) compression 3 Condenser 2

Cold water line 2→3 : condensation Wg

pump 3→4 : expansion Compressor

Radiator
Expansion
Radiator

Boiler 4→1 : evaporation valve

Hot water line QL : The heat coming from 4 1

Evaporator
cooled environment
Radiator QH : The heat given to the QL
heated environment
Cooled environment
Wg : Given work

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Pumps
Pumps converts mechanical
refrigerator Heated environment
energy to hydraulic energy in Force rod
the form of pressure. Piston rod
QH
Water outlet
Cylinder
Condenser 3 Condenser 2 Using this energy, the liquid Piston
Check valve
Wg from a low-level tank may be Sealing O-ring
Evaporator
transferred to water tank Check valve
Expansion Compressor
valve at a higher level. Water
Suction line
4 1
Expansion Evaporator Water
valve Compressor
QL

Cooled environment

Hand pump
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Ambient pressure is very important for pumps. In fact the liquid from Lift Upper level

suction tank reaches to the pump with the aid of ambient pressure. tank

Lift
Here the pump helps the water to enter the pump body (casing) by
line Lift
creating a vacuum (low pressure) through intake port.
Check valve
Total height
The only condition for the suction of the liquid is that the pressure of the
vacuum be lower than the ambient pressure. Pump
Suction
line Suction
Here ambient pressure may be due to air (atmosphere) or another effect.
Ambient
Lower level pressure
Suction
tank Filter

Pump installation
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Piston pumps
Pumps are used to move or lift the liquid to desired levels, Piston pumps are composed of
thus their pressure is generally given in terms of meter of water a cylinder and a piston moving
column (mWC). inside.

The friction losses generally affects the lift height of the pumps. Inlet check valve allows the flow rod
only to enter the cylinder.
Friction losses (hydraulic resistances) are mainly due to friction
between liquid and pipes, bends, fittings, valves, etc. Similarly, outlet check valve permits
the flow only to exit from the cylinder.
Those friction losses decreases the lift height of the liquid.
Check valves allows flow only in one direction.

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Suction stroke: During the movement The work cycle of the pump is composed of suction and discharge
of the piston to the left (bottom dead center) strokes.
vacuum occurs.
Since liquid is pressurized only during the
Then, under the effect of ambient pressure discharge stroke a continuous flow can
the liquid in suction tank opens the inlet not be obtained.
valve and liquid is sucked into the cylinder.
A simple way to obtain a continuous flow
During the discharge stroke; the piston moves is to use pump with double cylinders.
to the right (top dead center) thus, pressure
increases and this effect closes the inlet valve
and opens the outlet valve and then liquid is
transferred to other tank.

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Axial piston pump Radial piston pump

shaft plate Piston rod cylinder
Piston
suction
Pistons are radially placed in a
cylinder.

joint
Control plate discharge
Pistons are forced to move via an
eccentric shaft.
Pistons are connected to an inclined
plate.

During the rotation of the plate, the piston

moving from bottom to top performs the
suction stroke, another piston moving from
top to bottom performs the discharge stroke.

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 Rotational pumps
Thrust gear
Gear pumps
Vane pump
Gear pumps are composed of two gears
The rotor rotates eccentrically inside the
that rotate in a casing.
pump casing. There are vanes radially
moving inside channels in the rotor.
One of the gear is connected to the motor
shaft and drives the other gear that is
Centrifugal forces that occur due to the
free to rotate.
rotation of the rotor forces the vanes to
Free gear
move and contact to the pump casing.
During the rotation, vacuum occurs at the intake side and liquid enters
to the pump. During the rotation of the rotor, expanding and decreasing volumes
are generated. Therefore, liquid is sucked and discharged during
The liquid is moved during the rotation of the gears and discharged at expanding and contraction, respectively.
the exit port.

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Centrifugal pump
It is composed of a casing and rotor with
vanes. The rotor is placed eccentrically
with respect to the casing.
The liquid enters from the center axially and rotated by the rotor vanes.
The centrifugal forces throw the fluid to the outer space between the
rotor and casing. Then by following a circular trajectory the fluid exits
from the discharge side.
Their pressure and hydrodynamic efficiency are low.
They can not produce vacuum at the intake pipe (very low vacuum
pressure is possible) thus its casing must be filled with the fluid at the
beginning.
Compressors
Compressors are used to increase the pressure of the gases.
Working principle of compressors is similar to that of pumps. The main
difference is that gases are compressible whereas liquids are
incompressible.
The temperature and pressure of the gases increases during compression
and decreases during expansion.
Thus, pressurized air coming from the compressor expands on the related
machine and its temperature and pressure decreases accordingly. If it is
not taken into account, some water droplets may occur by condensation.

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Piston compressor Rotary compressors

As it is the case in piston pumps, the work

cycle is composed of two stages namely Vane
suction and discharge stages. compressor

Screw compressor
Centrifugal
compressor

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