BOILER DRUM LEVEL CONTROL

BOILER DRUM THEORY The boiler drum forms a part of the circulation system of the boiler. The drum serves two functions, the first and primary one being that of separating steam from the mixture of water and steam discharged into it. Secondly, the drum houses all equipments used for purification of steam after being separated from water. This purification equipment is commonly referred to as the Drum Internals.

The quantity of water contained in the boiler below the water level is relatively small compared to the total steam output. As a result, regardless of drum size, the matter of water storage is not significant. Primarily, the drum size is determined by the space required to accommodate the steam separating and purifying equipment. The steam space provided should be sufficient to prevent priming & foaming. Drum diameter and length should be sufficient to provide .accessibility for installation, inspection and servicing of the drum internals. In most cases, the drum length generally depends on furnace width or in high capacity units it may be governed by the space required for steam separating devices. For this purpose, the drum length is kept at least 900 mm more than the furnace width. The thickness of the drum is designed taking into consideration, the operating parameters, the diameter and location of the various holes on the drum. Steam generated in a boiler is intimately mixed with relatively large and variable amounts of circulating boiler water. Before the steam leaves the boiler drum and enters the superheater practically this entire associated boiler water must be separated from the steam. Materials: The boiler drum is made of carbon steel plates. The material used should comply with the Indian Boiler Regulations. Comparing carbon steel and alloy steel as material for drum, the carbon steel costs less per ton of material but the overall weight of drum will be higher because of increased thickness. Fabrication and welding of carbon steel plates presents little difficulties, whereas alloy steel fabrication has its problems. Drum internals are used to separate water from steam and to direct the flow of water and steam in a manner so as to obtain an optimum distribution of drum metal temperature in boiler operation. The drum

internals may consists of baffle arrangements, devices which change the direction of flow of steam and water mixture, separators employing spinning action for removing water from steam or steam purifiers as washers and screen dryers. These devices are used in conjunction with other to remove impurities from the steam leaving the boiler drum. The arrangement of drum normally consists of two or more integrated devices, each of which may be quite different in design and operate on totally different principles. Each stage must have a high separation efficiency. The greater the number of stages of separation, the lower the required efficiency for each stage. Thus, two stages at 99 percent efficiency, three stages at 90 percent efficiency and six stages at 70 percent efficiency will give similar results. There is a considerable change in the densities of water and steam as the pressure increases towards the critical point. Thus, with increase in pressure, the separation of water from steam by simple devices become more difficult. It becomes necessary to use more efficient apparatus if primary separation is to be achieved in a confined area. Practically all drum internals are made up of plate baffles, banks of screens, arrangements of corrugated or bent plates and devices employing radial acceleration of water from steam.

NEED OF BOILER DRUM LEVEL CONTROL AND ITS COMPLICATIONS A decrease in this level may uncover boiler tubes, allowing them to become overheated and damaged. An increase in this level may interfere with the process of separating moisture from steam within the drum, thus reducing boiler efficiency and carrying moisture into the process or turbine. Drum level control is complicated by the inverse response in level to a change in the firing rate. This phenomenon is known as swell and shrink. Dynamic shrink/swell is a phenomenon that produces variations in the level of the liquid surface in the steam drum whenever boiler load (changes in steam demand) occur. This behavior is strongly influenced by the actual arrangement of steam generating tubes in the boiler. During operation, the tubes exposed to the radiant heat from the flame are always producing steam. As the steam rises in the tubes, boiler water is also carried upward and discharged into the steam drum. Tubes that are not producing significant steam flow have a net downward flow of boiler water from the steam drum. The tubes producing large quantities of steam are termed risers and those principally carrying water down from the steam drum are termed down comers.

The mechanics of the natural convection circulation of boiler water within the steam generator is the origin of the dynamic shrink/swell phenomenon. Consider what happens to a boiler operating at steady state at 600 psig when it is subjected to a sudden increase in load (or steam demand). A sudden steam load increase will naturally produce a drop in the pressure in the steam drum, because, initially at least, the firing rate cannot increase fast enough to match the steam production rate at the new demand level. When the pressure in the drum drops, it has a dramatic effect on the natural convection within the boiler. The drop in pressure causes a small fraction of the saturated water in the boiler to immediately vaporize, producing a large amount of boil-up from most of the tubes in the boiler. During the transient, most of the tubes temporarily become risers. The result is that the level in the steam drum above the combustion chamber rises. However, this rise in level is actually an inverse response to the load change. Since, the net steam draw rate has gone up, the net flow of water to the boiler needs to increase, because the total mass of water in the boiler is falling. However, the level controller senses a rise in the level of the steam drum and calls for a reduction in the flow of feed water to the boiler. The level control loop does not start to correct for the increase in steam flow until after drum level has fallen below setpoint. The risk is that drum level can significantly drop before the control system finally adjusts to the change in steam load. This inverse response to a sudden load increase is dynamic swell. Dynamic shrink is also observed when a sudden load decrease occurs. However, the dynamic shrink phenomenon does not disrupt the natural convection circulation of the boiler as completely as the dynamic swell effect. Consequently, the reduction in level produced by a sudden decrease in load is typically much smaller and of shorter duration than the effect produced by dynamic swell. CONTROL STRATEGIES. The main functions for control can be broken down into the following: Operator adjustment of the setpoint for drum level Compensation for the shrink & swell effects Automatic control of drum level Manual control of the feedwater valve Bump-less transfer between auto and manual modes Indication of drum level and steam flow Indication of feedwater valve position and feedwater flow Absolute/deviation alarms for drum level The Three main options available for drum level control are: Single element drum level control: This is the simplest but least effective form of drum level control. It consists of proportional signal or process variable (PV) coming from the drum level transmitter. This signal is compared to a setpoint and the difference is a deviation value. This signal is acted upon by the controller which generates corrective action in the form of a proportional output. The output is then passed to the boiler feedwater valve, which then adjusts the level of feedwater flow into the boiler drum. Notes: Only one analogue input and one analogue output required Can only be applied to single boiler / single feedpump configurations with relatively stable loads since there is no relationship between drum level and steam- or feedwater flow Possible inadequate control option because of the swell effect