Steam Generators

ME 462 Power Plant Engineering

Introduction
Generates steam for producing power in steam turbine
It is a complex integration of furnace, super-heater, reheater, evaporator, economizer, air preheaters and
various auxiliaries
Auxiliaries : pulverizes, burners, fans, stokers, dust
collectors, dust collectors and precipitors, ash-handing
equipment, and chimmney or stack.

Basic types of steam generators

Utility steam
generator
Industrial steam
generators
Marine steam
generators

Fire tube
Water tube boilers

Fire tube boilers

Afire-tube boileris a type ofboilerin which hot gases
from afirepass through one or (many)
moretubesrunning through a sealed container of water.
The heat of the gases is transferred through the walls of
thetubesby thermal conduction, heating the water and
ultimately creating steam.
For small steam requirements fire tube boilers are
suitable.
1) low capital cost 2) reliability in operation. 3)unskilled
operator can operate them 4) less draught is required 5)quick
response to load changes

Water tube boilers

High pressure and capacity
Awatertube boiler(also spelledwatertubeandwater tube) is a type ofboilerin
whichwatercirculates intubesheated externally by
the fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot
gas which heatswaterin the steam-generatingtubes.
Straight tube boiler
Bent tube boilers

Water tube boilers

Water is converted to stream in three heat exchangers :
Economizer
Evaporator
Superheater

Superheater
Asuperheateris a device used to convertsaturated
steamor wet steam intodry steamused in
steam enginesor in processes, such assteam reforming
. There are three types of superheaters namely: radiant,
convection, and separately fired. A superheater can
vary in size from a few tens of feet to several hundred
feet (a few metres to some hundred metres).

Types
A radiant superheater is placed directly in the
combustion chamber.
A convection superheater is located in the path of the
hot gases.
A separately fired superheater, as its name implies, is
totally separated from the boiler.