Dear Participants

WELCOME
To a discussion on

FSSS/ Boiler Protection System

Basic Concepts
and
Standards

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 1

 CONTENT
• Basic concept
• Function of BMS
• Furnace purge procedure
• STANDARDS / NFPA

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 2

 Main Functions

•Furnace purge before boiler light-up

•Oil firing: Permissives, Sequences and Protections
•Coal firing: Permissives, Sequences and Protections
•Master Fuel Trip (MFT) or Boiler Trip
•Post-Trip Purge Fans Trip
•Runback: Graded Mill Tripping
•Runback: Graded Mill Tripping

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 3

 SG (Steam Generator)
CONTROLS
• BURNER • SEC. AIR DAMPER • AUX. PRDS
MANAGEMENT CONTROL CONTROL
SYSTEM

• BOILER
• SOOT BLOWER • HP-BYPASS
PROTECTIONS
CONTROL CONTROL
• MILLING
SYSTEM

• FUEL OIL
SYSTEM

• UNIT PURGE

BACK
December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 4
 Some Definitions
•Boiler Control System:
Deals with Regulating Control
•Burner Management System (BMS):
Deals with Furnace Safety and Start/Stop of Fuel
Preparation and Burning Equipment
BMS Logic:
Deals with Control System which would give
output based on external inputs and internal logic
December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 5
 Burner management system
Burner management system is
designed to ensure the execution
of a safe ,orderly operating
sequence in the startup and
shutdown of fuel firing
equipments and to prevent errors
of omission safe operating
procedure.
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 Function of BMS
 TO PROVIDE SAFETY TO BOILER.
 TO PROVIDE ORDERLY SEQUENCE IN
THE S/U & S/D OF FUEL FIRING
EQUIPMENTS.
 PREVENT S/U OF FUEL FIRING EQUIPMENTS
UNLESS CERTAIN PERMISSIVE INTERLOCKS
HAVE BEEN SATISFIED.
 CONTINUOUS FLAME MONITORING.
 FAULT DETECTION AND ASSOCIATE S/D.
 INITIATE MFT UNDER CERTAIN CONDITION OF
LOAD COMBINATION.
December 8, 2021 7
 Basic Concepts of BMS
• BMS is an independent and discreet logic system
specially designed for safety and protection during
starting , shutdown, low load and emergency conditions.
• BMS system has been designed to provide increased
safety, reliability, flexibility and over all performance of
the boiler.
• The system is intended to protect against malfunction of
fuel firing equipment and associated systems.
• In some phases of operation, the BMS shall provide
permissive interlocks only to ensure safe startup of
equipment.

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 8

 • The Burner Management system monitors the presence
or absence of the forced draft fan running and verifies air
flow is being produced, ensures the water level in the
boiler drum is satisfactory, and verifies that there is at
least one flame in the furnace.
• The Burner Management alarm system provides for a
“first out” cause of trip allowing operators to readily
identify the reason for an unexpected boiler trip
condition.
• The Burner Management System controls the air
registers, igniters and fuel oil valves for each burner, as
well as monitoring of the flame signals for each burner in
service.

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 9

 • If the flame quality degrades to 60% of maximum signal
strength a poor flame alarm is issued to the alarm
system. When a flame quality signal is below 40% for 4
seconds the burner will trip.
• The Burner Management System lights off the initial
burner and cuts out burners automatically based on an
operator selected sequence.
• It determines when burners need to be cutout based on
the steam pressure signal from the ACC (Automatic
Combustion Control) system.
• It also provides an interface to the ACC  system to tell it
when there is a state of change that can affect how the
ACC will respond or perform. 

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 10

 Function of BMS
• Controls boiler purge, fuel headers, and burner field devices,
allowing sequential control of the start-up and shutdown of any
burners.
• Continuous monitoring of supervisory interlocks, fuel valve
positions, flame status and field devices.
• The control strategy normally utilize “de energize to trip” method.
• Smart alarms provide “fail to open,” “fail to start,” “fail to close,” and
“fail to stop” information.
• Flame monitoring equipment provides the logic controller with flame
status of burners and/or igniters.
• Prevent firing unless a satisfactory furnace purge has first been
completed.

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 11

• Prohibit start-up of the equipment
unless certain permissive interlocks
have first been  completed.
• Monitor and control the correct
component sequencing during start-
up and shut-down of the equipment.
• Conditionally allow the continued
operation of the equipment only
while certain safety interlocks
remaining satisfied.
• Provide automatic supervision when
the equipment is in service and
provide means to make a Master
Fuel Trip (MFT) should certain
unacceptable firing conditions occur.

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 12

 SIMPLIFIED BLOCK DIAGRAM OF
BURNER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.

C.C.R

FUEL ABC
V/V LOCAL
CONTROL B DAS
AIR BOX
DAMPER M
FLAME
DETECTOR
S MILL
CONTROL
IGNITION
IGNITER CONTROL BOILER
December 8, 2021
PANEL PLANT13
BURNER GROUP-EACH STEAM GENERATOR HAS FOUR BURNER
GROUPS.EACH GROUP COMPRISES FOUR OIL BURNER WITH
ASSOCIATE PF BURNER LOCATED ABOVE AND BELOW.

MILL GROUP- THERE ARE EIGHT MILL GROUPS PER STEAM

GENERATOR EACH GROUP COMPRISES A MILL ,ITS ASSOCIATED COAL
FEEDER AND A SEAL AIR FAN.

AIR DAMPER-
AIR DAMPER ARE DIVIDED AS FOLLOWS-
1-FIVE ELEVATION OF FOUR SECONDARY AIR.
2- 4 ELEVATION OF 4 AIR TO OIL/S.A.D
3-8 ELEVATION OF 4 AIR TO P.F. BURNER.
4-TWO ELEVATION OF FOUR OVERFIRE AIR.

December 8, 2021 14
 RELATIONSHIP OF MILL GROUP,
ELEVATION NUMBERS & GROUP
NUMBERS.
BURNER NOZZLE NOZZLE MILL GROUP
GROUP ELEVATION TYPE GROUP
NUMBER NUMBER
4 13---------------------------SECONDARY AIR
12---------------------------COAL--------------------------- -F
11---------------------------OIL AND S/A
3 10 --------------------------COAL-----------------------------E
9 --------------------------SECONDARY AIR
8---------------------------COAL------------------------------D
2 7-------------------------- OIL AND S/A
6---------------------------COAL------------------------------C
5---------------------------SECONDARY AIR
4---------------------------COAL------------------------------B
1 3---------------------------OIL AND S/A
2---------------------------COAL------------------------------A
1-------------------------- SECONDARY AIR

December 8, 2021 15
December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 16
 STANDARDS AND CODES

• Prescriptive standards such as NFPA have done well at

identifying “what” interlocks should be implemented based
upon lessons learned from previous incidents and near
misses.
• In today’s microprocessor-based world, it is more important
to know “how” to properly implement the prescriptive based
interlocks.
• The logic solver was comprised of relays with simple and
well-defined failure modes, it was very easy to understand
what level of risk reduction the BMS provided.

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 17

 NFPA

• Burner Management Systems (BMS) associated with fired

devices in the power boilers are defined as Safety
Instrumented Systems (SIS) if they contain sensors, a logic
solver and a final control element according to NFPA.
• By actively embracing the concept that a BMS may in fact
be a SIS, companies can ensure that these systems are
designed, maintained, inspected and tested per both the
applicable prescriptive standards (API, NFPA, etc.).
• A BMS can be designed that meets all requirements of the
prescriptive standards such as NFPA.

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 18

 Standard Followed

National Fire Protection Authority (NFPA) of USA

Code 85 of 2001

This code is an amalgamation of earlier codes 8501 to

8506 applicable for various types of boilers and
combustion

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 19

 IBR Requirements

Fuel supply should be shut off when:

Flame failure occurs
Failure to ignite fuel within a pre-determined
time
Abnormal drum level
Trip of Draft fans
Increase in Boiler Pressure

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 20

 BMS Logic Hardware

 No specific stipulation regarding type of

hardware
 NFPA stipulations are not retroactive
 Existing system if giving trouble free operation
can continue to work even if not PLC/DCS
based

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 21

 Some Requirements of
NFPA
Burner Management System (BMS) Logic shall:
 be such that single failure does not prevent shutdown
 evaluate and address failure of components
 diagnose improper logic functions
 have a direct operable device for MFT which would work
irrespective of BMS logic
 be protected from unauthorised logic changes
 be provided with independent logic, I/O, power supply
and hardware etc for each boiler separately

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 22

 Interesting Insights to
NFPA
NFPA recognises that:
It is not possible to encompass all specific
hardware applications
The code should not be considered a “cook
book”
No standard can guarantee elimination of
Furnace explosion or implosion
Basic cause of Furnace Explosion is ignition of
accumulated combustibles in the furnace

December 8, 2021 PMI Revision 00 23

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