BOILERS

BOILERS

A Boiler is a closed vessel having a capacity of more

than 22.75 litres and used for generating steam under
pressure.
It includes mountings and other accessories attached
to such a vessel for its safe operation.

BASIC SPECIFICATIONS OF BOILERS

Steam Pressure (bar)

Steam Temperature (K, C)
Steam Flow Rate (Tonnes/hr, kg/s)

THERMAL POWER STATION

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.

CLASSIFICATION OF BOILERS

Fire Tube Boilers

In the Fire Tube Boilers the hot gases from the furnace pass through the
tubes which are surrounded by water. The hot gases heat the water. Fire tube
boilers are low pressure boilers. In process industries like Paper, Leather,
Textile, Chemical and Sugar industries fire tube boilers are used.
e.g., Cochran boiler, Locomotive boiler.

Water Tube Boilers

In Water Tube Boilers the water circulates inside the tube and is heated from
outside by the hot gases that are produced through combustion in the furnace.
Normally for high pressure boilers water tube boilers are used.
e.g., Babcock and Wilcox boiler

 Packaged Boilers are compact in size which

can be transported by trucks. These are low
capacity boilers mostly used in process
industries.
Field Erected Boilers are the ones which are
erected in the site. Individual components are
transported to the site where erection will take
place. These boilers are used for power
generation.

 Wet, Dry and Super Heated Steam

Steam can be classified as wet steam,
dry steam and super heated steam. In wet
steam some moisture is present, in dry
steam no moisture is present and in
superheated steam the dry steam will
further be heated.

 Boiler Mountings
The valves and gauges which are
necessary for the safe operation of boiler
are known as boiler mountings.
Water gauge, pressure gauge, safety valve,
blow off valve and fusible plug are some of
the mountings.

Main parts
Fusible Plug
If the water level in the
boiler falls below a
predetermined level,
the boiler shell and
tubes will be overheated.

Water Level Indicator

This indicates the
water level in the boiler .

Pressure Gauge
This indicates the pressure of the steam in the boiler.

Steam Stop Valve

It regulates the flow of
steam supply outside.
The steam from the boiler
first enters into an antpriming pipe where most of
the
water
particles
associated with steam are
removed

Safety Valve.
The function of the safety valve is to prevent
the increase of steam pressure in the boiler
above its design pressure.

Feed Check Valve.

The high pressure feed water is supplied to the boiler
through this valve. This valve opens towards the boiler
only and feeds the water to the boiler.

Blow-off Cock.
The water supplied to the boiler always contains
impurities like mud, sand and, salt Due to heating, these
are deposited at the bottom of the boiler, they have to
be removed using blow off cock.

 Boiler Accessories
Equipment like economizer, air pre heater
and super heater are attached to the boiler
to increase its efficiency.
These are used to extract maximum heat
from the flue gases.

Air Pre-heater

COCHRAN BOILER FIRE TUBE BOILER

COCHRAN BOILER FIRE TUBE BOILER

Cochran boiler is a Vertical Fire Tube Boiler
It is a small capacity steam generation boiler having a
number of horizontal fire tubes
The boiler consists of a cylindrical shell with its crown
having a Hemispherical Shape
The Hemispherical crown of the boiler shell gives
maximum strength to withstand the pressure of the
steam inside the boiler.
The flue gases coming out of fire tubes are finally
discharged to the atmosphere through chimney.

BABCOCK AND WILCOX BOILER (WATER TUBE BOILER)

BABCOCK AND WILCOX BOILER

(WATER TUBE BOILER)
This is a water tube boiler used for High
Pressure Steam Production
The Hot gases from the furnace pass
through Water Tubes, Baffles, Super
Heater and then go to chimney through
damper.
The Damper controls the rate of burning
and the steam generation.

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

DEMERITS :
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.
They require careful attention. The maintenance costs are
higher.
Failure in feed water supply even for short period is liable to
make the boiler over-heated.

UTILITY BOILERS
Utility Boilers are used in thermal power plants
to generate electric power in large quantities
These are water tube boilers that produce high
pressure (175 bar or more) and high
temperature (540 C or more) steam in large
quantities with a single unit power from 210 to
1000 MW
BHEL Trichy is involved in the manufacture of
such boilers of capacity upto 660 MW

THE BOILER CAN BE DESCRIBED TRACING THE FOLLOWING

CIRCUITS.

FUEL AIR COMBUSTION

PRODUCTS
WATER / STEAM CIRCUIT
TURBINE / GENERATOR