G. L.

BAJAJ INSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY & MANAGEMENT
GREATER NOIDA
Department of
Mechanical
Engineering

UNIT 5

BOILERS
Avdhesh Tyagi
M. E. Department
G. L. B. I. T. M. Gr. Noida

Boilers

Boilers
Boiler is an apparatus to produce steam. Thermal
energy released by combustion of fuel is used to
make
steam at the desired temperature and
pressure.
The steam produced is used for:
(i)Producing mechanical work by expanding it in
steam engine or steam turbine.
(ii)Heating the residential and industrial buildings.
(iii) Performing certain processes in the sugar mills,
chemical and textile industries.

Boiler properties:
(i)Safety. The boiler should be safe under operating
conditions.
(ii)Accessibility. The various parts of the boiler
should be accessible for repair and maintenance.
(iii) Capacity. Should be capable of supplying steam
according to the requirements.

(iv) Efficiency. Should be able to absorb a maximum

amount of heat produced due to burning of fuel in
the furnace.
(v) It should be simple in construction .
(vi) Its initial cost and maintenance cost should be
low.
(vii) The boiler should have no joints exposed to
flames.
(viii) Should be capable of quick starting and
loading.

CLASSIFICAT
ION OF
BOILERS

Classification of Boilers
Boilers may be classified according to the following:
1. Relative position of Hot gases and water
(a) Fire tube boiler
(b) Water tube boiler
(a) Fire tube boiler:
The hot gases passes through the tubes that are surrounded by
water. Fire tube boilers are also known by certain common
names Horizontal return tubular
Locomotive fire box
Scotch marine
Vertical tubular

(b) Water tube Boiler:

The water passes through the tubes and the hot
gases produced by combustion of fuel, flow
outside. This type of Boilers designated by the
following common names:
(i) Babcock and Wilcox Boiler (straight but inclined
tubes which connect the headers).
(ii) Stirling Boiler (multi tubular boiler having bent
tubes that connect boiler drums to headers).

2. Method of firing
(a) Internally fired Boilers
(b) Externally fired Boilers
(a) Internally fired Boilers:
The furnace is provided inside the boiler shell and is completely
surrounded by water cooled surfaces. This method of firing is used
in:

Lancashire Boilers

Locomotive Boilers and

Scotch Boilers
b) Externally fired Boilers:
The furnace is provided outside/ under the boiler. It has an
advantage that its furnace is simple to construct and can easily be
enlarged, as and when required. This method of firing is used in
Babcock and Wilcox Boiler.

3. Pressure of Steam:
(a) High pressure Boilers
(b) Low pressure Boilers
(a) High pressure Boilers
Boilers producing steam 80 bar and above are called High
pressure boilers. e.g.
(i) Babcock and Wilcox Boiler
(ii) Lamont Boilers
(iii) Velox Boilers and
(iv) Benson Boilers etc.
(b) Low pressure Boilers:
Boilers producing steam Lower than 80 bar are called Low
pressure boilers. e. g.

Cochran Boilers

Cornish Boiler

Lancashire Boiler

Locomotive Boiler

4. Method of circulation of water:

a) Natural circulation method
Circulation set up by convection current or by
gravity.
b) Forced circulation method
Circulation set up for high pressure steam through
pumps.

5. According to application.
a) Stationary
b) Mobile (Marine, Locomotive).

Fire tube Boilers

Water tube boilers

BABCOCK WILCOX
BOILER

MERITS OF WATER TUBE

BOILERS OVER FIRE TUBE
BOILERS

1. Generation of steam is much quicker

due to small ratio of water content
to steam content. This also helps in
reaching the steaming temperature
in short time.
2. Its evaporative capacity is
considerably larger and the steam
pressure range is also high-200 bar.
3. Heating surfaces are more effective
as the hot gases travel at right
angles to the direction of water flow.

4. The combustion efficiency is higher because

complete combustion of fuel is possible as the
combustion space is much larger.
5. The thermal stresses in the boiler parts are
less as different parts of the boiler remain at
uniform temperature due to quick circulation of
water.
6. The boiler can be easily transported and
erected as its different parts can be separated.
7. Damage due to the bursting of water tube is
less serious. Therefore, water tube boilers are
sometimes called safety boilers.
8. All parts of the water tube boilers are easily
accessible for cleaning, inspecting and repairing.
9. The water tube boiler's furnace area can be
easily altered to meet the fuel requirements.

DEMERITS OF WATER
TUBE BOILERS OVER FIRE
TUBE
BOILERS
1. It is less suitable for impure and

sedimentary water, as a small deposit of

scale may cause the overheating and
bursting of tube. Therefore, use of pure
feed water is essential.
2. They require careful attention. The
maintenance costs are higher.
3. Failure in feed water supply even for
short period is liable to make the boiler
over-heated.

IMPORTANT BOILERS
1.Cochran Boiler
2.Lancashire Boiler
3.Locomotive boiler
4.Babcock Wilcox Boiler

Cochran Boiler

Cochran Boiler

The outstanding features of

Cochran boiler are :
It is very compact and requires
minimum floor area
Any type of fuel can be used with
this boiler
Well suited for small capacity
requirements
It gives about 70% thermal
efficiency with coal firing and about
75% with oil firing

Fire tube Boilers

Lancashire
Boiler

Lancashire
Boiler
It is stationary fire tube, internally fired,
horizontal, natural circulation boiler. This is a
widely used boiler because of its good
steaming quality and its ability to burn coal of
inferior quality. These boilers have a
cylindrical shell 2 m in diameters and its
length varies from 8 m to 10 m. It has two
large internal flue tubes having diameter
between 80 cm to 100 cm in which the grate
is situated. This boiler is set in brickwork
forming external flue so that the external part
of the shell forms part of the heating surface.

Lancashir
e Boiler

Advantages

The feed pipe projecting into the boiler is

perforated to ensure uniform water distribution.
Its heating surface area per unit volume at the
boiler is considerably large.
Its maintenance is easy.
It is suitable where a large reserve of hot water
is needed. This boiler due to the large reserve
capacity can easily meet load fluctuations.
Super-heater and economizer can be easily
incorporated into the system, therefore; overall
efficiency of the boiler can be considerably
increased (80-85%).

LOCOMOTIVE BOILER
Locomotive boiler is a horizontal fire tube type
mobile boiler. The main requirement of this
boiler is that it should produce steam at a
very high rate. Therefore, this boiler requires
a large amount of heating surface and large
grate area to burn coal at a rapid rate. In
order to provide the large heating surface
area, a large number of fire tubes are setup
and heat transfer rate is increased by creating
strong draught by means of steam jet.

LOCOMOTIVE BOILER

LOCOMOTIVE BOILER

Advantages
1. Large rate of steam generation per square
metre of heating surface. To some extent this is
due to the vibration caused by the motion.
2. It is free from brickwork, special foundation and
chimney. This reduces the cost of installation.
3. It is very compact.
The pressure of the steam is limited to about 20
bar.

Features
1. The evaporative capacity of this boilers is
high compared with other boilers (20,000 to
40,000kg/hr). The operating pressure lies
between 11.5 to 17.5 bar.
2. The draught loss is minimum compared with
other boilers.
3. The defective tubes can be replaced easily.
4. The entire boiler rests over an iron structure,
independent of brick work, so that the boiler
may expand or contract freely. The brick walls
which form the surroundings of the boiler are
only to enclose the furnace and the hot gases.

Boiler performance
1. Evaporative capacity
can be expressed in terms of:
(i)kg of steam/hr
(ii)kg of hour/hr/m2 of heating surface
(iii)kg of steam/kg of fuel fired

Boiler efficiency

Ratio of heat actually utilized in the

generator to the heat supplied by the
fuel.

Efficiency= mw(h-hf)/C
Where C is the calorific
value

Assessment of a Boiler
Heat Balance
An energy flow diagram describes geographically
how energy is transformed from fuel into useful
energy, heat and losses
Stochiometric
Excess Air
Un burnt

Stack Gas

FUEL INPUT

STEAM
OUTPUT

Convection &
Radiation

Blow
Down

Ash and Un-burnt parts

of Fuel in Ash

38

Assessment of a Boiler
Heat Balance
Balancing total energy entering a boiler against the
energy that leaves the boiler in different forms
12.7 %
8.1 %

100.0 %
Fuel

1.7 %

BOILER

0.3 %
2.4 %
1.0 %

73.8 %

Heat loss due to dry flue gas

Heat loss due to steam in fuel gas
Heat loss due to moisture in fuel
Heat loss due to moisture in air
Heat loss due to unburnts in residue
Heat loss due to radiation & other
unaccounted loss

Heat in Steam
39