Optimization of Air Preheater Design for the Enhancement of Heat Transfer Coefficient

P. N. Sapkal1, P. R. Baviskar2, M. J. Sable3 & P. A. Makasare4

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering, Pune-411033, Maharashtra, India E-mail : [email protected]

Abstract - This paper presents an approach for the optimization of air preheater design with inline tube arrangement. The poor performance of an air preheater in the modern power plants is one of the main reason for higher unit heat rate & is responsible for deterioration in boiler efficiency. The main problem of air preheater is the leakage of air to the flue gas side & thereby resulting in poor thermal performance. The higher ash content in Indian coal also adds to the problems associated with tubular air preheater. Air preheaters are designed to meet performance requirements with consideration of highly influencing parameters viz. heat transfer, leakage and pressure drop. In the present work the performance of tubular air preheater is evaluated with the help of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis for In-line tube arrangement for evaluating influence of various parameters viz. Gas flow rate, Gas temperature, tube pitch, etc. The model can also be used while selecting a new type of surface geometry for optimizing the design of air-preheater. Key words - Air preheater, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), Efficiency, K- model, Tube pitch.

I.

INTRODUCTION

Heating combustion air can raise boiler efficiency about 1% for every 22C in temperature increase. The most common way to preheat the air is with a heat exchanger on the flue exhaust. There are two types of air preheaters for use in steam generators in thermal power stations One is a tubular type built into the boiler flue gas ducting and the other is a regenerative air preheater. These may be arranged so the gas flows horizontally or vertically across the axis of rotation. Another type of air preheater is the regenerator used in iron or glass manufacture. Many new circulating fluidized bed (CFB) and bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) steam generators are currently incorporating tubular air heaters offering an advantage with regards to the moving parts of a rotary type.
With the increasing price of fuel and technology improvements, the size of a boiler that can be economically equipped with a pre-heater should become smaller. Although still a technology most applicable to large boilers, high energy prices will certainly motivate innovative new applications for economical combustion air pre-heaters on ever smaller boilers. Air heaters can also use extraction steam or other sources of energy depending upon the particular application. The hot air produced by air heaters enhances combustion of all fuels and is needed for drying and transporting the fuel in pulverized coal-fired units. Industrial units fire variety of fuels such as wood, sewage sludge, industrial waste

gases as well as coal, oil and natural gas. In the small units tubular, plate and cast iron heaters are widely used.[1] Fuels fired on stoker grates, such as bituminous coal, wood and refuse, dont require high air temperatures, therefore water or steam coil air heaters can be used. Tubular preheaters consist of straight tube bundles which pass through the outlet ducting of the boiler and open at each end outside of the ducting. Inside the ducting, the hot furnace gases pass around the preheater tubes, transferring heat from the exhaust gas to the air inside the preheater. Regenerative air heaters are relatively compact. Air to gas leakage can be controlled by cold -presetting axial & radial seal plates to minimize gaps at the hot operating conditions, or using sacrificial material.[2] Computational studies are performed to investigate the effect of various operating parameters on entrained flow through air preheater tubes.CFD is a versatile tool. A large variety of problems with different levels of complexity can be solved. In a typical tubular air heater, energy is transferred from the hot flue gas flowing inside many thin walled tubes to the cold combustion air flowing outside the tubes. The unit consists of a nest of straight tubes that are roll expanded or welded into tubesheets and enclosed in a steel casing. In the vertical type tubes are supported from either the upper or lower tubesheet while the other (floating) tubesheet is free to move as

International Journal of Applied Research In Mechanical Engineering (IJARME), ISSN: 2231 5950, Volume-1, Issue-2, 2011

44

This page was not converted and intentionally left blank To purchase a license go to: http://www.pdfonline.com/purchase/easyconvertersdk/easyconvertersdk_form.asp or contact us at: [email protected]

Optimization of Air Preheater Design for the Enhancement of Heat Transfer Coefficient

KR = Gas properties factor, m2 hr/ Kg G = gas mass flux, Kg / m2 hr Gas film heat transfer coefficient is the sum of the convection heat transfer coefficient from the longitudinal gas flow inside the air heater tubes & a small gaseous radiation component from within the tube. To properly account for the fly ash layer inside the tubes, the gas side heat transfer coefficients will be multiplied by a cleanliness factor in the overall heat transfer calculation. h

h xFxFxF

12

Where, h = Basic convection velocity & geometry factor for crossflow F F F = Physical properties factor = Arrangement factor for in-line tube banks = Heat transfer depth factor

h x F x F x D

Assuming negligible wall resistance, the overall heat transfer coefficient is: FFR x U h h h xh h 13

Where,
Kcal/m 2 hr C

D = The gas convection heat transfer coefficient,

h h = Basic convection velocity & geometry factor for longitudinal flow F = Physical properties factor F = Temperature factor F = Tube inside dia., mm F = Tube outside dia., mm Gas side radiation heat transfer coefficient is given by, h h x K 9 Where,

FFR x h

The cleanliness or fouling resistance factor, FFR , is empirically derived from field test data; 0.9 is representative of bituminous coal. The total heat transfer rate for the air heater is: [5] q U x A x LMTD Where, = Heating surface area in m2 Air heater exit gas temperature is calculated to be: q 14

= The gas side radiation heat transfer coefficient,

Kcal/m2 hr C hr C

T T mC III. INTRODUCTION TO CFD

15

F = Basic radiation heat transfer coefficient, Kcal/m 2

= Fuel factor The air mass flux is calculated as, m G A Where, m = Mass flow rate of air, kg/hr A = Air flow area, m2 Air Reynolds number is given by, KR x G R Where, G = air mass flux, Kg / m2 hr 11 10

Computational Fluid Dynamics or CFD is the analysis of systems involving fluid flow, heat transfer and associated phenomena such as chemical reactions by means of computer-based simulation. It works by solving the equation of fluid flow over the region of interest with specified condition on the boundary of that region. [6]
CFD codes are structured around the numerical algorithms that can tackle fluid flow problems. Hence all codes contain three main elements: (i) A preprocessor, (ii) A solver and (iii) A post- processor. [7]

The basic procedure followed for solving any CFD problem is as follows: 1. 2. The geometry (physical bounds) of the problem is defined. The volume occupied by the fluid is divided into discrete cells (the mesh).

The crossflow convection heat transfer coefficient for air is obtained from following equation:

International Journal of Applied Research In Mechanical Engineering (IJARME), ISSN: 2231 5950, Volume-1, Issue-2, 2011

46

This page was not converted and intentionally left blank To purchase a license go to: http://www.pdfonline.com/purchase/easyconvertersdk/easyconvertersdk_form.asp or contact us at: [email protected]

Optimization of Air Preheater Design for the Enhancement of Heat Transfer Coefficient

Fig. 1 : Assembly of air preheater module .

Fig. 2 : Air preheater model with inlet duct

Fig. 3 : Meshed geometry of Air preheater tube

International Journal of Applied Research In Mechanical Engineering (IJARME), ISSN: 2231 5950, Volume-1, Issue-2, 2011

48

This page was not converted and intentionally left blank To purchase a license go to: http://www.pdfonline.com/purchase/easyconvertersdk/easyconvertersdk_form.asp or contact us at: [email protected]

Optimization of Air Preheater Design for the Enhancement of Heat Transfer Coefficient

8 9 10

Air side pressure drop Tube OD Tube thickness Tube length Number of tubes wide Perpendicular pitch (perpendicular to the direction of air flow) Number of tubes deep Parallel pitch (along the direction of air flow) Total number of tubes Heat transfer coefficient Weight of all tubes in APH module

mmwc mm mm mm Nos.

22.9 63.5 2.04 1920 15

22.9 38.1 2.04 960 40

11

12

mm

85

55.0

13 14 15

Nos. mm Nos. (Kcal/m hr C) Ton

2

50 85 750 20.783 4.60

58 63.5 2320 22.279 4.27

Fig. 10 : Velocity streamlines across flue gas flow path with perforated plate TABLE V: CFD RESULTS FOR VARIOUS FLUE GAS FLOW RATES
Flue Gas
flow,

16 17

Sl. No.

Flue gas temperature ( C ) in out 157.5 158.0 158.9 159.8 160.6

Air temperature ( C ) in 35.0 35.0 35.0 35.0 35.0 out 147.8 148.7 150.6 152.2 153.6

Gas side pressure

drop

Heat
coefficient
(Kcal/m2

Transfer hr C)

TABLE VII : CFD RESULTS FOR DIFFERENT TUBE PITCH ON AIR SIDE
Air side Sl. tube No. Pitch, mm 1 2 3 4 85 90 95 100 Flue gas temperature ( C ) in 171.0 171.0 171.0 171.0 out 157.5 157.9 158.2 158.6 In 35.0 35.0 35.0 35.0 Air temperature ( C ) out 147.8 145.0 142.0 139.2 33.0 17.8 10.2 7.6 20.783 19.269 17.885 16.698 Air side Heat pressure Transfer drop coefficient
(Kcal/m2

(mmwc)

kg/hr 95850 100000 110000 120000 130000 171.0 171.0 171.0 171.0 171.0 22.9 25.4 30.5 35.6 40.6

1 2 3 4 5

20.783 21.178 22.175 22.941 23.715

(mmwc)

hr C)

TABLE VI : CFD RESULTS FOR DIFFERENT TUBE GEOMETRY

Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Parameter Flue gas flow Flue gas inlet temperature Flue gas outlet temperature Flue gas side pressure drop Air flow Air inlet temperature Air outlet temperature Unit Kg/ hr C C mmwc Kg/ hr C C Case-1 95850 171 158 22 12297 35 148 Case-2 95850 171 158 22 12297 35 148

V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS A. Influence of perforated plate at inlet of Air preheater

Tubular air preheaters consist of straight tube bundles which pass through the outlet ducting of the boiler and open at each end outside of the ducting. When flue gas passes through bend portion of flue gas duct, there is unbalance in flow patterns. Fig. 2 represents air preheater module with inlet flue gas duct. Fig. 3 represents meshed geometry of air preheater tube. Simulation is done on existing air preheater inlet duct without perforated plate and results of velocity contours, vector and streamlines are presented in Fig. 4, 5 & 6. This unbalance is carried forward to the air preheater module resulting in uneven distribution of gas through

International Journal of Applied Research In Mechanical Engineering (IJARME), ISSN: 2231 5950, Volume-1, Issue-2, 2011

50

This page was not converted and intentionally left blank To purchase a license go to: http://www.pdfonline.com/purchase/easyconvertersdk/easyconvertersdk_form.asp or contact us at: [email protected]