INTRODUCTION TO

BOILERS AND GAS

TURBINES
BOILERS AND ITS
COMPONENTS
BOILER/STEAM GENERATOR

▪ A steam generator or boiler is usually a closed vessel made of steel. Its

function is to transfer the heat produced by the combustion of fuel to water
and ultimately to generate steam at a desired pressure and temperature.
▪ Steam Boiler" means any closed vessel exceeding 22.76 litres
which is used exclusively for generating steam under pressure and
includes any mountings and other fittings attached to such vessel
which is wholly or partly under pressure when steam is shut off.
(Indian Boiler Act. 1923)
▪ Open vessels, generating steam at atmospheric pressure are not considered to
be boiler

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 Boiler Classificaion
Before going into the design phase we need to understand different options
available for the boiler:

1. According to Relative Passage of water and hot gases:

. ▪ Water Tube Boiler: A boiler in which the water flows through some
small tubes which are surrounded by hot combustion gases, e.g.,
Babcock and Wilcox, Stirling, Benson boilers, etc.

▪ Fire-tube Boiler: The hot combustion gases pass through the boiler
tubes, which are surrounded by water, e.g., Lancashire, Cochran,
locomotive boilers, etc.

2. According to Water Circulation Arrangement:

▪ Natural Circulation: Water circulates in the boiler due to density
difference of hot and water, e.g., Babcock and Wilcox boilers,
Lancashire boilers, Cochran, locomotive boilers, etc.

▪ Forced Circulation: A water pump forces the water along its path,
therefore, the steam generation rate increases, Eg: Benson, La Mont,
Velox boilers, etc.
3. According to the Use:
▪ Stationary Boiler: For power plants or processes steam
in plants.
▪ Portable Boiler: Small mobile units and used for
temporary uses at the sites.
▪ Locomotive: Produce steam to drive railway engines.
▪ Marine Boiler: Used on ships

4. According to Position of the Boilers:

▪ Horizontal
▪ Inclined
▪ Vertical boilers

5. According to the Location of Furnace

▪ Internally fired: The furnace is located inside the
boiler shell, e.g., Cochran, Lancashire boilers, etc.
▪ Externally fired: The furnace is located outside the
boiler shell, e.g., Babcock and Wilcox, Stirling boilers,
etc.
6. According to Pressure of steam generated
▪ Low-pressure boiler: Boiler pressure is about 15-20 bar (process
heating).
▪ Medium-pressure boiler: Boiler pressure 20-80 bars (for power
generation or combined use of power generation and process
heating).
▪ High pressure boiler: Boiler pressure of more than 80 bars (for
power generation).
▪ Sub-critical boiler: Boiler pressure which is less than the critical
pressure (220 bars for water ), it is called as a subcritical boiler.
▪ Supercritical boiler: Boiler pressure is greater than the critical
pressure around 220-280 bars, 540 C for water.
▪ Ultra Supercritical boiler: These boilers provide steam at a
pressure greater than the critical pressure (300 bar, 600 C) for
water.

7. According to fuel used in the boiler

▪ Solid fuel boiler
▪ Liquid fuel boiler
▪ Gaseous fuel boiler
▪ Electric boiler
 FIRE TUBE BOILER
▪ In fire-tube boilers, combustion gases pass through the inside of
the tubes with water surrounding the outside of the tubes.
▪ The advantages of a fire-tube boiler are its simple construction
and less rigid water treatment requirements.

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 WATER TUBE BOILER

▪ In a water-tube boiler, the water

is inside the tubes and
combustion gases pass around the
outside of the tubes.

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRETUBE AND
WATERTUBE
Fire tube boiler Water tube boiler

In Fire-tube boilers hot flue gases pass In Water-tube boilers water passes
1 through tubes and water surrounds through tubes and hot flue gasses
them. surround them.
These are operated at low pressures up The working pressure is high enough, up to
2
to 20 bar. 250 bar in super critical boilers.
The rate of steam generation and quality The rate of steam generation and quality of
3 of steam are low, therefore, not suitable steam are better and suitable for power
for power generation. generation.
Overall efficiency with an economizer:
4 Overall efficiency: up to 75%.
90%.
Even less skill operators are sufficient for
5 Skilled operators are required for operation.
efficient operation.
The treatment of feed water is not very Treatment of feed water is very essential as
6 essential, as overheating due to scale small scale deposits inside the tubes can
formation cannot burst thick shell. cause overheating and bursting.
7 Used in process industry. Used in large power plants. 9
 PACKAGED BOILER
▪ Small self-contained boiler
▪ Used as:
▪ hot water boilers, utility
boilers and process
steam producers.
▪ Packaged boilers can be
both water tube and fire
tube boilers.
▪ Packaged boilers can only
be used with oil and gas
as fuel without separate
preparation devices.

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PACKAGED BOILER

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BOILER SYSTEMS

▪ Water Treatment System

▪ Feed Water and Condensate System
▪ Chemical Feed System
▪ Fuel Supply System
▪ Air Supply System
▪ Flue Gas System
▪ Steam System
▪ Blow Down System

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BOILER MOUNTINGS
▪ BOILER MOUNTINGS are the components generally
mounted on the surface of the boiler to have safety
during operation. These are the essential parts of the
boiler, without which the boiler operation is not
possible. The following are the important mountings
of the boiler:
▪ Water Level Indicator
▪ Pressure gauge
▪ƒSafety valves
▪ Steam stop valve
▪ Low Water Cut Off Switch (LWCO)
▪ Feed Check valve

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 BOILER MOUNTINGS

Water Level Indicator

• The water level indicator
is needed to ascertain
the water level of a boiler.
• Two water level
indicators should be
fitted for each boiler in
such a place that the water
level can be constantly
seen.

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 BOILER MOUNTINGS

Pressure Gauge
• A pressure gauge is an instrument by means of which
the pressure exerted inside a boiler can be measured.

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BOILER MOUNTINGS

Safety Valve
• The safety valve (pressure relief
valve) is used in a boiler to relieve
the pressure of steam when it is
above the pressure of steam when it
is above the working pressure.
• Its function is to discharge a portion
of the steam from the boiler
automatically when the steam
pressure exceeds the normal limit. It
is mounted on the top of the shell.
• As per boiler regulation two safety
valves are required to be fitted in
each boiler. .
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BOILER MOUNTINGS

Low Water Cut Off Switch

• LWCOs are installed in
boilers as a safety device to
shut down the
boiler/burner in the event
of loss of water in the system.

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 BOILER MOUNTINGS

Steam Stop Valve

• The function of the stop valve
or junction valve is to
regulate the flow of steam
from the boiler to the main
steam pipe.
• To shut off the steam
completely when required.

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BOILER MOUNTINGS

Feed Check Valve

• The feed check valve is used to
control the supply of water to the
boiler and to prevent the backflow
of water from the boiler when the
pump pressure is less or the pump
is stopped.

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 BOILER ACCESSORIES

• These are those devices which are installed with a boiler

and its neighboring area to increase the efficiency of the
boiler. These are not the essential part of the boiler and
thus without installing these devices, the boiler operation
can be accomplished though at a lower efficiency.
• Economiser
• Air pre heater
• Super heater
• Feed water pump
• Injector Pressure reducing valve
• Steam drier or separator
• Steam trap

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BOILER ACCESSORIES
Economiser
• Used to recover some heat being carrying by exhaust flue
gases.
• Heat recovered is utilized in raising the temperature of the
feed water.
• Feed water at raised temperature is supplied to the boiler,
thus less heat is required for conversion into steam.
Advantages
• The temperature range between various parts of the
boiler is reduced which results in reduction of
stresses due to unequal expansion.
• If the boiler is fed with cold water it may result in
chilling the boiler metal. Hot fed water checks it.
• Evaporative capacity of the boiler is increased.
• Overall efficiency of the plant is increased. 21
 BOILER ACCESSORIES

Air Preheater
• Used to recover heat from the
exhaust flue gases that rises the
combustion air temperature
• Installed in between the
economizer and chimney.

Advantages
• Gives higher furnace temperature
which results more heat transfer
thus increase evaporative
capacity.
• Approximately boiler efficiency
increases about 2% for each 30-
35°C rise in air temperature. 22
 BOILER ACCESSORIES

Super heater
• Super heater is used for stationary boiler. The function of the super
heater is to convert dry saturated steam into super heated at the
desired temperature
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BOILER ACCESSORIES

Boiler feed pumps are multistage radial flow pumps that feed water in
the boiler against the boiler pressure
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GAS TURBINE
THEORY AND
CONSTRUCTION
 BACKGROUND
▪ Aircraft turbojet/turbofan engines are
precursors to gas turbines
▪ Installed for propulsion in:
▪ FFG’s
▪ DD’s
▪ DDG’s
▪ CG’s
▪ M-1 tanks
▪ Also used for electrical generation &
auxiliary applications
BRAYTON CYCLE
▪ Operate on STEADY-FLOW cycle
▪ Open cycle, unheated engine

1-2: Compression

2-3: Combustion

3-4: Expansion through

Turbine and Exhaust Nozzle

(4-1: Atmospheric Pressure)

BASIC COMPONENTS
BASIC COMPONENTS
BASIC COMPONENTS
▪ Compressor
▪ Draws in air & compresses it
▪ Combustion Chamber
▪ Fuel pumped in and ignited to burn with
compressed air
▪ Turbine
▪ Hot gases converted to work
▪ Can drive compressor & external load
BASIC COMPONENTS
▪ Compressor
▪ Draws in air & compresses it
▪ Combustion Chamber
▪ Fuel pumped in and ignited to burn with
compressed air
▪ Turbine
▪ Hot gases converted to work
▪ Can drive compressor & external load
BASIC COMPONENTS
▪ Compressor
▪ Draws in air & compresses it
▪ Combustion Chamber
▪ Fuel pumped in and ignited to burn with
compressed air
▪ Turbine
▪ Hot gases converted to work
▪ Can drive compressor & external load
COMPRESSOR
▪ Supplies high pressure air for combustion process
▪ Compressor types
▪ Radial/centrifugal flow compressor
▪ Axial flow compressor
COMPRESSOR
▪ Radial/centrifugal flow
▪ Adv: simple design,
good for low
compression ratios (5:1)
▪ Disadv: Difficult to stage,
less efficient

▪ Axial flow
▪ Good for high
compression ratios (20:1)
▪ Most commonly used
USE OF COMPRESSED AIR
▪ Primary Air (30%)
▪ Passes directly to combustor for combustion process

▪ Secondary Air (65%)

▪ Passes through holes in perforated inner shell & mixes with
combustion gases
▪ Film Cooling Air (5%)
▪ Insulates/cools turbine blades
COMBUSTION CHAMBERS
▪ Where air & fuel are mixed, ignited, and burned
▪ Spark plugs used to ignite fuel
▪ Types
▪ Can: for small, centrifugal compressors
▪ Annular: for larger, axial compressors (LM 2500)
▪ Can-annular: rarely used
TURBINES

▪ Consists of one or more stages designed to develop rotational

energy
▪ Uses sets of nozzles & blades
ENGINE POWER TRANSFER
▪ Turbojet
▪ Thrust provided by reaction against expansion of exhaust gases

▪ Turbofan
▪ Thrust provided by reaction against expansion of large volumes of air

▪ Marine systems
▪ Thrust provided by turbine

▪ SCRAMjet/RAMjet
STEAM TURBINE
▪ A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat
engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steamand
uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft
▪ Application:

• Chemical Industry: Providing heat and electricity to drive different

processes in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries
• Waste Plants: Steam turbines help generate the power needed to
harness energy from wastes.
• Oil & Gas: Used as a pump drive or a compressor, steam turbines
support dozens of operations in the oil and gas industry.
• Sugar Mills
CLASSIFICATION
▪ Direction of flow: (a) Axial flow turbine (b) Radial flow turbine
▪ Action of steam: (a) Impulse turbine (b) Reaction turbine (c)
Combination of both
▪ Number of stages: (a)Single stage turbine (b)Multi stage
turbine
▪ Steam pressure at inlet of Turbine: (a) Low pressure turbine
(b) Medium pressure turbine. (c) High pressure turbine (d)
Super critical pressure turbine.
STEAM TURBINE
▪ The function of the governing is to maintain the speed constant
irrespective of load on the turbine.
Compounding in Steam Turbine
▪ The compounding is the way of reducing the wheel or rotor
speed of the turbine to optimum value
▪ Different methods of compounding are:
1. Velocity Compounding
2. Pressure Compounding
3. Pressure Velocity Compounding
STEAM TURBINE