BASIC OF BOILERS

BY: SEMIN, PHD

Dept. Marine Engineering Faculty of Marine Technology Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Surabaya Indonesia

APPLICATION IN SHIPS

OUTLINE:
1. INTRODUCTION 2. MARINE BOILERS 3. MAIN COMPONENTS OF BOILER 4. TYPES OF BOILER

1.1 INTRODUCTION
BOILER:
BOILER or steam boilers are heating units that hold water, wood, oil or coal to create steam. This steam is transferred for purposes of heating, mover, locomotion and cleaning. Steam boilers are common found in the home, where water is converted to steam. This is transferred from the unit to radiators for heating comfort.

BOILER:

BOILER:
Generally, steam boilers break down into two categories: There is a "closed" system steam boiler in which the unused steam, which has now condensed, is recycled back into the system and reheated for further use. If you are concerned about contamination, you can obtain an "open" system steam boiler, in which the steam boiler evacuates the unused condensed liquid out of the system. This may require a continuous flow of water to the boiler.

BOILER:
A boiler or steam generator is a device used to create steam by applying heat energy to water. Although the definitions are somewhat flexible, it can be said that older steam generators were commonly termed boilers and worked at low to medium pressure (1300 psi/0.06920.684 bar; 6.8952,068.427 kPa), but at pressures above this it is more usual to speak of a steam generator. A boiler or steam generator is used wherever a source of steam is required. The form and size depends on the application: mobile, industrial installations and power stations will usually have a larger separate steam generating facility connected to the point-of-use by piping.

STEAM PLANTS:
Water in the form of steam has the ability to store great amounts of energy. With it's ease of control and delivery, steam brought the advent of power to the shipping world. There are still some steam powered vessels such as ULCC (Ultra Large Crude Carrier) where steam turbines can provide the necessary, high power shaft requirements to propel the ship. However it's time as passed, most ships nowadays use the more economical diesel burning heavy fuels. Although boilers may no longer be commonplace for ship propulsion they are almost guaranteed to be one boiler for various duties on board a ship. Duties like heating cargo, fuel, and accommodations. Some ships also use boilers for auxiliary power. Such as deck winches and pumps, where electrical machines would prove to be a hazard as in the oil industry.

STEAM THEORY:
Within the boiler, fuel and air are force into the furnace by the burner. There, it burns to produce heat. From there, the heat (flue gases) travel throughout the boiler. The water absorbs the heat, and eventually absorb enough to change into a gaseous state steam. The figure below are shown the basic theoretical design of a modern boiler. Boiler makers have developed various designs to squeeze the most energy out of fuel and to maximized its transfer to the water. But it all boils down, pardon the pun, to the basic design shown here.

STEAM THEORY

Figure: Basic theoretical design of a modern boiler

STEAM THEORY
Figure: Basic design of a modern boiler

STEAM THEORY:
Steam boilers are used to produce saturated or superheated steam, which is then put to work in a variety of ways. Steam is used for its heat energy in heating, cooking and reboiling operations. It also is used for its pressure energy in reciprocating steam engines and steam turbines. Steam boilers create the steam by converting heat energy from fuel combustion, nuclear reactors, concentrated sunlight or waste heat from other processes.

2. MARINE BOILERS
A boiler in one form or another will be found on every type of ship. Where the main machinery is steam powered, one or more large watertube boilers will be fitted to produce steam at very high temperatures and pressures.

On a diesel main machinery vessel, a smaller (usually firetube type) boiler will be fitted to provide steam for the various ship services. Even within the two basic design types, watertube and firetube, a variety of designs and variations exist.

MARINE BOILER DESIGN:

Reliability Flexibility Wide range of steam loads Rapid changes Responsive to automatic controls Relatively compact

MARINE BOILER DESIGN:

Efficient operation 5 different heat exchangers Combustion air Economizer Furnace Superheater Desuperheater Accessability for cleaning and repair

Figure: Simplified marine boiler arrangement

1.3 MAIN COMPONENTS of BOILER

ECONOMIZER FEED WATER INLET PIPE DOWNCOMERS WATER DRUM GENERATING TUBES SUPERHEATER DESUPERHEATER

ECONOMIZER:
The economizer is a feed water heater deriving heat from the flue gases discharged from the boiler. The justifiable cost for economizer depends on the total gain in efficiency. In turn, this depends on the gas temperature out of the boiler and feed water temperature to the boiler.

FEET WATER INLET PIPE:

These pipes are used for supplying boilers with hot feed water. An important benefit of these pipes is that most of the dissolved gases are liberated before the feed water enters the boiler.

The feed water flow passes through tubes which are exposed to partially expanded steam brought from, typically, one or more points in the turbine system. The turbine exhausted steam is thus used to some advantage.

In the steam generation process the feedwater enters the boiler where it is heated and becomes steam. The feedwater circulates from the steam drum to the water drum and is heated in the process. Some of the feedwater passes through tubes surrounding the furnace, i.e. waterwall and floor tubes, where it is heated and returned to the steam drum. Large-bore downcomer tubes are used to circulate feedwater between the drums. The downcomer tubes pass outside of the furnace and join the steam and water drums.

A boiler is used to heat feedwater in order to produce steam. The energy released by the burning fuel in the boiler furnace is stored (as temperature and pressure) in the steam produced. All boilers have a furnace or combustion chamber where fuel is burnt to release its energy. Air is supplied to the boiler furnace to enable combustion of the fuel to take place. A large surface area between the combustion chamber and the water enables the energy of combustion, in the form of heat, to be transferred to the water.

SUPERHEATER:
Steam that has been heated above the saturation temperature corresponding to its pressure is said to be superheated. This steam contains more heat than does saturated steam at the same pressure and the added heat provides more energy for the turbine for conversion to electric power, or in the case of process steam, more energy contained in a pound of steam for a more efficient process. The convection superheater is placed somewhere in the gas stream, where it receives most of its heat by convection.

The hot gases produced in the furnace are used to heat the feedwater to produce steam and also to superheat the steam from the boiler drum. The gases then pass over an economiser through which the feedwater passes before it enters the boiler. The exhaust gases may also pass over an air heater which warms the combustion air before it enters the furnace. In this way a large proportion of the heat energy from the hot gases is used before they are exhausted from the funnel.

The steam is produced in a steam drum and may be drawn off for use from here. It is known as 'wet' or saturated steam in this condition because it will contain small quantities of water, Alternatively the steam may pass to a superheater which is located within the boiler. Here steam is further heated and 'dried', i.e. all traces of water are converted into steam. This superheated steam then leaves the boiler for use in the system. The temperature of superheated steam will be above that of the steam in the drum. An 'attemperator', i.e. a steam cooler, may be fitted in the system to control the superheated steam temperature.

Figure: Superheater

DOWN COMER:
A tube or pipe in a boiler or water wall circulating system through which fluid flows downwards.

GENERATING TUBES:
A tube in which steam is generated.

DESUPERHEATER:
Apparatus for reducing and controlling of temperature of a superheated vapour or of a fluid.

A drum must be provided where steam and water can separate. There must also be a variety of fittings and controls to ensure that fuel oil, air and feedwater supplies are matched to the demand for steam. Finally there must be a number of fittings or mountings which ensure the safe operation of the boiler.

4. TYPE OF BOILERS

Boilers can be classified in various ways depending on firing method used, fuel fired, field of application, type of water circulation employed, and pressure of steam etc. In general there are two principle types of boilers. A. Water tube boilers. B. Fire tube boilers. C. Auxiliary boilers.

A. WATER TUBE BOILER:

A water tube boiler is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire. Water tube boilers are used for highpressure boilers. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which heats water in the steam-generating tubes. In smaller boilers, additional generating tubes are separate in the furnace, while larger utility boilers rely on the water-filled tubes that make up the walls of the furnace to generate steam.

A. WATER TUBE BOILER:

The heated water then rises into the steam drum. Here, saturated steam is drawn off the top of the drum. In some services, the steam will reenter the furnace through a superheater to become superheated. Superheated steam is used to drive turbines. Since water droplets can severely damage turbine blades, steam is superheated to 730 F (388 C) or higher to ensure that there is no water entrained in the steam and pressures above 350 psi (2.4 MPa).

Figure : Water tube boiler schematic

A. WATER TUBE BOILERContd:

As you can see, the Babcock Marine Water Tube Boiler in below is looks very complicated. Thousands of tubes are placed in strategic location to optimize the exchange of energy from the heat to the water in the tubes. These types of boilers are most common because of their ability to deliver large quantities of steam.

Figure: Babcock Marine Water Tube Boiler

A. WATER TUBE BOILERContd:

The large tube like structure at the top of the boiler is called the steam drum. You could call it the heart of the boiler. That's where the steam collects before being discharged from the boiler. The hundreds of tube start and eventually end up at the steam drum.

Figure: Foster Wheeler D-Type boiler

A. WATER TUBE BOILERContd:

Water enters the boiler, preheated, at the top. The hot water naturally circulates through the tubes down to the lower area where it is hot. The water heats up and flows back to the steam drum where the steam collects. Not all the water gets turn to steam, so the process starts again. Water keeps on circulating until it becomes steam.

Meanwhile, the control system is taking the temperature of the steam drum, along with numerous other readings, to determine if it should keep the burner burning, or shut it down.
As well, sensors control the amount of water entering the boiler, this water is know as feed water. Feed water is not your regular drinking water. It is treated with chemicals to neutralize various minerals in the water, which untreated, would cling to the tubes clogging or worst, rusting them. This would make the boiler expensive to operate because it would not be very efficient.

Figure: Detail of Martin Boiler

A. WATER TUBE BOILER.Contd:

On the fire side of the boiler, carbon deposit resulting from improper combustion or impurities in the fuel can accumulate on the outer surface of the water tube. This creates an insulation which quickly decrease the energy transfer from the heat to the water. To remedy this problem the engineer will carry out soot blowing. At a specified time the engineer uses a long tool and insert it into the fire side of the boiler. This device, which looks like a lance, has a tip at the end which "blows" steam. This blowing action of the steam "scrubs" the outside of the water tubes, cleaning the carbon build up.

A. WATER TUBE BOILER..Contd:

A. WATER TUBE BOILER..Contd:

Water tube boilers can have pressures from 7 bar (one bar = ~15 psi) to as high as 250 bar. The steam temperature's can vary between saturated steam, 100 degrees Celsius steam with particle of water, or be as high as 600 - 650 degrees Celsius, know as superheated steam or dry steam (all water particle have been turn to a gaseous state). The performance of boiler is generally referred to as tons of steam produced in one hour. In water tube boilers that could be as low as 1.5 t/hr to as high as 2500 t/hr. The larger boilers would be land based, your local power company would most likely operate one. In British Columbia, large boilers are most common at Pulp and Paper plants.

B. FIRE TUBE BOILER:

A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases from a fire pass through one or more tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat energy from the gases passes through the sides of the tubes by thermal conduction, heating the water and ultimately creating steam. The fire-tube boiler developed as the third of the four major historical types of boilers: low-pressure tank or "haystack" boilers, flued boilers with one or two large flues, fire-tube boilers with many small tubes, and high-pressure water tube boilers. Their advantage over flued boilers with a single large flue is that the many small tubes offer far greater heating surface area for the same overall boiler volume. The general construction is as a tank of water perforated by tubes that carry the hot flue gases from the fire. The tank is usually cylindrical for the most part being the strongest practical shape for a pressurized container and this cylindrical tank may be either horizontal or vertical.

B. FIRE TUBE BOILERContd:

This type of boilers started it all. This is the original design of boiler which brought the tide of power to the marine world. If you are ever in Vancouver, BC, the SS Master, a turn of the century tugboat, is open for the public to view at the Vancouver Maritime Museum. It is operational, and a fine example of ship using a fire tube boiler. On a modern ship, the fire tube boiler meet the ship's heating needs and is generally not used for deck machinery. The steam produced will circulate through coils in the cargo tanks, fuel tanks, and accommodation heating system. They are generally supplied as a complete package, such as the one pictured in figures below.

Figure: Fire tube boiler schema

Figure : Fire tube boiler

Figure: Fire tube boiler construction

B. FIRE TUBE BOILERContd:

This is a single furnace, three pass type fire tube boiler. Heat - flue gases - travels through three different sets of tubes. All the tubes are surrounded by water which absorbs the heat. As the water turns to steam, pressure builds up within the boiler, once enough pressure has built up the engineer will open main steam outlet valve slowly, supplying steam for service. Fire tube boilers are also known as "smoke tube" and "donkey boiler".

Figure: Detail of fire tube boiler

B. FIRE TUBE BOILERContd:

A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases from a fire pass through one or more tubes running through a sealed container of water. The heat energy from the gases passes through the sides of the tubes by thermal conduction, heating the water and ultimately creating steam.

The fire-tube boiler developed as the third of the four major historical types of boilers: low-pressure tank or "haystack" boilers, flued boilers with one or two large flues, fire-tube boilers with many small tubes, and high-pressure water tube boilers. Their advantage over flued boilers with a single large flue is that the many small tubes offer far greater heating surface area for the same overall boiler volume. The general construction is as a tank of water perforated by tubes that carry the hot flue gases from the fire. The tank is usually cylindrical for the most part being the strongest practical shape for a pressurized container and this cylindrical tank may be either horizontal or vertical.

C. AUXILIARY BOILER:
On smaller ships the auxiliary boiler can be a stand alone unit and would most likely be of the fire tube boiler arrangement as described above. But on a larger vessel it is more efficient for the auxiliary boiler to take advantage of the main engine's flue gases to heat the water. Basically this means that the hot gases from the main engine must pass through a heat exchanger (the auxiliary fire tube boiler) before exiting to the atmosphere. Figure: Auxiliary boiler

Figure: Cargo heating boiler

On this diagram, look for it above, and just aft of the main engine, near the exhaust stake of the ship. It is called the "cargo heating boiler".

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