1.

1 OBJECTIVE The objectives of the experiment are:

To determine the performance characteristics of a steam plant

To demonstrate thermodynamics principles as applied to laboratory scale steam plant. To demonstrate the conversion of energy from one form to another and the measurement of mechanical power.

1.2 INTRODUCTION

Boiler or more specifically steam boiler is an essential part of thermal power plant. Steam boiler or simply a boiler is basically a closed vessel into which water is heated until the water is converted into steam at required pressure. The boiler is essentially a closed vessel inside which water is stored. Fuel (generally coal) is bunt in a furnace and hot gasses are produced. These hot gasses come in contact with water vessel where the heat of these hot gases transfer to the water and consequently steam is produced in the boiler. Then this steam is piped to the turbine of thermal power plant. There are many different types of boiler utilized for different purposes like running a production unit, sanitizing some area, sterilizing equipment, to warm up the surroundings etc. There are mainly two types of boiler water tube boiler and fire tube boiler. In fire tube boiler, there are numbers of tubes through which hot gases are passed and water surrounds these tubes. Water tube boiler is reverse of the fire tube boiler. In water tube boiler the water is heated inside tubes and hot gasses surround these tubes. As is indicated from the name, the fire tube boiler consists of numbers of tubes through which hot gasses are passed. These hot gas tubes are immersed into water, in a closed vessel. Actually in fire tube boiler one closed vessel or shell contains water, through which hot tubes are passed. These fire tubes or hot gas tubes heated up the water and convert the water into steam and the steam remains in same vessel. As the water and steam both are in same vessel a fire tube boiler cannot produce steam at very high pressure.

Generally it can produce maximum 17.5 kg/cm2 and with a capacity of 9 Metric Ton of steam per hour.This is the basic definition of water tube boiler. The heat source in a boiler system is located in a separate compartment within the water vessel. The water vessel is attached to the heat source by metal rods, which heat the water directly and convert it to steam. The steam initially collects in an area above the water vessel known as the dome before exiting the boiler. The dome forces the steam to become highly condensed so that it will exit the boiler with a significant amount of pressure. Pressurized steam is particularly important for industrial applications such as powering turbines and other heavy equipment. All boilers have a safety valve, which allows excess steam to be released to prevent explosions. A boiler also contains a drain, which removes contaminants and sediment from the water vessel, and a chimney, which allows heat to escape once it has passed through the water vessel.

1.3 THEORY The cycle of operations in a heat engine is based on Rankine Cycle. The Rankine cycle is a thermodynamic cycle which converts heat into work. The heat is supplied externally to a closed loop, which usually uses water as the working fluid. Almost all coal and nuclear power stations use this cycle for power generation. It is named after William John Macquorn Rankine, a Scottish polymath. It is more closely approximates to the cycle of a real steam engine if been compared to the Carnot cycle where it predicts a lower ideal thermal efficiency than the Carnot cycle. In the Rankine cycle, heat is been added at constant pressure (P1), at which water is converted in a boiler to the superheated steam condition that causes the steam expands at constant entropy to a pressure (P2) in a condenser; the water so formed is compressed at constant entropy to P1 by a feed pump. The cycle consists of four processes as been listed below:

1 to 2: Isentropic expansion (Steam turbine) 2 to 3: Isobaric heat rejection (Condenser)

3 to 4: Isentropic compression (Pump) 4 to 1: Isobaric heat supply (Boiler)

FIGURE 1: RANKINE CYCLE