BOILER DRUM LEVEL MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL

Proper operation of Drum Level Measurement and Control circuit is very crucial for uninterrupted operation of Boiler. Principle of measurement and three-element control of Boiler Drum Level is explained in this write up. Liquid level measurement can be carried out by measuring the head exerted by liquid column. Figure 1 shows a liquid level-measuring scheme employing the principle.

Figure 1 In this method, pressure gauge indicates the head exerted by liquid column, which is given by (Height of liquid column Density of liquid in the tank). If density of liquid remains constant, then Pressure Gauge reading is linearly and directly proportional to Liquid level. Any change in level will cause proportionate change in the reading shown by pressure gauge. Scale of the gauge is marked and calibrated in terms of level and thus level measurement is achieved. However, if the tank is pressurized one, this technique does not remain very effective. Fig. 2 shows and subsequent discussions explain the shortcomings of above technique in case of pressurized tank.

Figure 2 Pressure gauge reading in this case is = (Height of liquid column of height h Density of liquid in the tank) + Pressure in the tank. In this case, any change in Tank Pressure shall cause change in the Pressure Gauge
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reading. Thus the reading shown by pressure gauge is not solely dependent on height of liquid column. Better measurement technique in such cases is as explained in fig. 3. Pressure Gauge used in this case is Differential Pressure Gauge that accepts two inputs. Reading = P2 P1 P1 = Tank Pressure P + (h *density of liquid column) P2= Tank Pressure P + (Th *density of liquid in the tube connected to Port 2 of the Differential gauge Fig. 3 Differential Gauge Reading = P2 - P1

P2 - P1 = (P + (Th * density of liquid in the tube)- (P + (h * density of liquid in tank) Constant Head Unit (also called CHU) is a Condensing Pot. Impulse line connects CHU to the top of the Tank. Steam from tank condenses to atmospheric temperature and fills the CHU. Hence the term P2 in above equation becomes constant. Tank Pressure P cancels out from both the sides. If the tank is operated at constant temperature, then density of water in the tank also remains constant. The Differential Pressure Gauge reading is hence proportional to liquid level h only. Any change in liquid level will cause linearly proportionate deflection of pointer. By appropriate calibration of the Differential Pressure gauge, it can be used to read level in the tank. This type of arrangement is useful where liquid temperature in the tank remains fairly constant during its operation. This technique is widely used for Level measurement of Feed Water Tank, Condenser Hotwell, Feed water heaters, Condensate storage tanks etc. In place of differential pressure gauge, Differential Pressure Transmitter is used for remote indication of level in all these cases. Transmitter gives electrical signal proportional to the Differential Pressure, which is fed as input to the indicator, scale of which is calibrated for level indication. In case of boiler drum level measurement further modifications are required because of the following facts: 1. Operating pressure in Boiler drum always varies with units loading. 2. Drum Pressure is very high (above 100 Kg/ cm2 in modern high capacity boilers.) 3. When drum pressure is very high, difference in density of water and steam is low and head produced depends on density of water as well as density of steam. In high-pressure boilers, differential pressure transmitters (DPT) measure Head Produced due to water in drum and additional electronic circuitry is used for correction of transmitter output for density of water and steam. Fig. 4 shows one such measurement scheme.
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Fig. 4 In fig. 4 above, DP sensed by the DPT (in terms of mm Water Column) is equal to Difference in pressure head between Positive and Negative ports of the DPT. Head on +ve limb = Head exerted by Water column of CHU in mm + Drum Pressure Head on ve limb = Head exerted by Water column of Drum in mm + Head exerted by Steam column of Drum in mm + Drum Pressure D.P. = (h + P) (P + hw dw + (h-hw) ds) = h hw dw h ds + hw ds = h (1- ds) hw (dw ds) Where, h = vertical distance between steam and water side impulse line tapping for the drum, in mm, and is a constant, DP is output from DPT, ds and dw is the density of steam and water in Drum. Drum level hw = ((h ds) DP) / (dw ds)
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Generally h for Boiler Drums varies between 1000 to 1500 mm compared to which steam density ds is very small and can be ignored from the Numerator of the above equation. Hence Drum level hw = (h-DP) / (dw ds) Density of water and steam in drum depends on Drum Pressure and hence the input to electronic circuit for Density Correction is Drum pressure signal. The values of densities are calculated in the correction circuit. Correction unit also calculates above expression and its output represents physical value of Water level in Drum. DRUM LEVEL CONTROL Figure 5 shows a simple block diagram of Drum Level control Circuit.

Fig. 5

In this scheme called single element control, signals of measured level and set point are fed to the controller, output of which goes to the Feed Control Valve. Depending upon the deviation of measured level from set point, controller output positions the valve thus regulating the Feed Water flow rate to Drum. This scheme thus controls the mass of feed water going to drum. If Drum level drops below the set value, controller output causes increased opening of Feed Control Valve and feed flow rate increases. Conversely if drum level drops, feed control valve opening reduces, dropping the feed flow rate. In low operating pressure boilers with low evaporation rates, this type of single element control gives reasonable automatic level control. For the Boilers working at very high pressures and large evaporation rates, a phenomenon called swelling and shrinking of drum level makes such simple control circuit inadequate. Effects of Swelling and shrinking: Increase in steam flow rate is associated with the phenomenon of swelling. Steam and water mixture from water wall enters drum. Steam bubbles continuously leave bulk water from the interface between steam and water in drum. At steady state conditions, Drum Pressure is stable. Bubbles do not coalesce. Whenever the steam flow increases, there is a drop in drum
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pressure. This causes increased rate at which steam bubbles comes out of bulk water causing large number of bubbles rising from the bulk water and coalescing at the inter phase surface. This apparent increase in level will cause reduction in feed water flow and lesser quantity of water will enter drum. As soon as drum pressure stabilizes, the rate of steam bubbles coming out from bulk water reduces, and level starts shrinking at a very fast rate. Reduced feed flow further aggravates the situation and level starts dropping at very rapid rate. The feed control circuit many times is unable to cope with the situation leading to level dropping to tripping values. Reasons for failure of single element drum level control are : 1. When steam flow rate increases, due to swelling in level, feed flow rate decreases, which lead to depletion of mass of water in drum. 2. When drum pressure reaches stability, coalesced bubbles collapse and drum level shrinks very fast. 3. Due to already depleted quantity of water in drum and shrinking, level drop is rapid Inherent time lag in the process can not make up the water quantity in drum at the required rate. To overcome this problem, two-element control circuit is developed, which is shown in fig. 6.

Two Element Drum Level Control Schematic Diagram Fig. 6 Two Element Drum Level Control : The problem of reduced feed flow in case of increased steam flow encountered in single element control circuit is taken care of in two element control circuit by measuring the steam flow rate and using it as another input to the controller. In this type of control, tuning of Controller and Biasing relay is so arranged that feed flow rate shall always be equal to steam
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flow rate. Control valve opening is not dependent on level alone. This control philosophy prevents reduction in Feed Flow rate even if level swells. This avoids depletion of quantity of water present in drum. When level starts shrinking, feed flow increases and thus sudden at rapid fall in level is prevented. The only problem in this scheme is Feed Flow rate is not measured, instead it is presumed that Control Valve opening shall result in same feed flow rate at all operating conditions. However, feed flow rate is also a function of Differential Pressure across the valve. DP across the valve is determined by Drum Pressure and Feed water pump discharge pressure. Hence, feed flow may not match with steam flow in many operating conditions, leading to instability of the control. Three Element Drum Level Control is hence the most widely used control for drum level which is explained in following figure 6 and subsequent discussions. Three Element Drum Level Control :

Three Element Drum Level Control Schematic Diagram Fig. 7 In this control, Feed Flow transmitter measures feed flow and its output is connected to the computing relay to which is connected steam flow signal. Difference between steam flow and feed flow is then fed to drum Level control, to which drum level signal is also connected. Since actual measurement of feed flow is carried out, this control circuit gives very stable and high quality performance. Drum level control circuits used in Power Plants now a days control the feed flow by varying the Feed Pump scoop instead of Feed Control valve on loads above 30% (i.e. when full load feed line is in service). In some of the 210 MW plants, drum level controller controls the
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BFP Scoop position where as another controller is used to maintain the DP across control valve. Schematic diagram is as shown in fig. 8.

Fig. 8 In most of the newer plants, Feed Control valve is full open. This avoids energy loss in throttling of control valve. Three-element control output is fed to BFP Scoop and it is the only control point to achieve feed flow regulation. In such cases, Control Circuit for maintaining DP across valve is not required. As there is a limitation which does not allow scoop position below 30%, at low drum pressure below 35 kg/cm2 (encountered during startups) Low load feed line is provided with control valve for regulation of feed flow. In such instances, Drum level controller output is fed to the feed control valve instead of BFP scoop. When Full Load feed line is taken in to service, three-element control with BFP scoop regulation is taken in to service.

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