BOILER control

INTRODUCTION
 A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is
heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use
in various processes or heating applications.

 Instrumentation and controls in a boiler plant encompass

an enormous range of equipment from simple industrial
plant to the complex in the large utility station.

 The boiler control system is the means by which the

balance of energy & mass into and out of the boiler are
achieved. Inputs are fuel, combustion air, atomizing air or
steam &feed water. Of these, fuel is the major energy input.
Combustion air is the major mass input. Outputs are steam,
flue gas, blow down, radiation & soot blowing.
Boilers can be classified into the following
configurations:
“Pot boiler” or “Haycock boiler”:
A primitive "kettle" where a fire heats a partially-filled
water container from below. 18th century Haycock boilers
generally produced and stored large volumes of very low-
pressure steam, often hardly above that of the atmosphere.
These could burn wood or most often, coal. Efficiency was
very low.
“Fire-tube boiler”:
Here, water partially fills a boiler barrel with a small volume
left above to accommodate the steam (steam space). This is
the type of boiler used in nearly all steam locomotives. The
heat source is inside a furnace or firebox that has to be kept
permanently surrounded by the water in order to maintain
the temperature of the heating surface just below boiling
point.
Diagram of a fire-tube boiler
“Water tube boiler”:
In this type, the water tubes are arranged inside a furnace in
a number of possible configurations: often the water tubes
connect large drums, the lower ones containing water and
the upper ones, steam and water; in other cases, such as a
monotube boiler, water is circulated by a pump through a
succession of coils.
Diagram of a water-tube boiler
GENERAL BLCOK DIAGRAM OF BOILER DRUM
BLOCK DIAGRAM DESCRIPTION
The block diagram of boiler control is shown in above
figure the output from the boiler i.e, the steam outputs and
the level of water is given to transmitters. The output of
transmitter is given to the controller which act as level
indicator controller and flow indicator controller. If there is
any error corresponding to desired set point, the signal
from controller is given to the converter which will open or
close the valve and the water will be drained out or filled
according to required steam.

The major loops in boiler control are

1) Combustion control
2) Feed water control
 PROBLEMS
Until recent years, only the largest boilers could justify
sophisticated combustion controls. Now, higher fuel
costs and occasionally limited fuel availability make it
necessary for users to improve boiler efficiency.
Combustion control have also become more important
because boiler loads are being varied to meet needs,
rather than operating at full capacity and wasting fuel
and steam. Similar concerns are causing the metals-
processing and heat-treating industries to consider
improved combustion control for their furnaces and
other fuel-fired processed
COMBUSTION CONTROL
A combustion control system is broken down into
(a) fuel control and
(b) combustion air control subsystems.
The interrelationship between these two subsystems
necessitate the use of fuel air ration controls.
The primary boiler fuels are coal, oil and gas. The control of
gas and oil fuels requires simplest controls- i.e a control
valve in the fuel line.
The steam drum pressure is an indication of balance
between the inflow and outflow of heat. Therefore by
controlling the steam supply one can establish balance
between the demand for steam (process load) and supply
of water.
Burner combustion control generally includes one or a c
combination of the following methods
 Regulation of excess air
 Oxygen trim
 Burner modulation
 Air/fuel cross-limiting
 Total heat control
 EXCESS AIR REGULATION
In actual practice, gas, oil, coal
burning and other systems do not
do a perfect job of mixing the fuel
and air even under the best
achievable conditions.
Additionally, complete mixing may
be a lengthy process. Figure 1
shows that in order to ensure
complete combustion and reduce
heat loss, excess air has to be kept
within a suitable range.
The regulation of excess air
provides:
A better boiler heat transfer rate
An ‘advance warning’ of flue gas
problems (excess air coming out of
the zone of maximum efficiency)
Substantial savings on fuel
Oxygen trim
When a measurement of oxygen in the flue gas is
available, the combustion control mechanism
can be vastly improved (since the percentage of
oxygen in flue is closely related to the amount of
excess air) by adding an oxygen trim control
module, allowing 
 Tighter control of excess air to oxygen setpoint
for better efficiency
 Faster return to setpoint following disturbances
 Tighter control over flue emissions
 Compliance with emissions standards
 Easy incorporation of carbon monoxide or
opacity override.
  Burner modulation
Modulating control is a basic improvement in
controlling combustion. A continuous control
signal is generated by a controller monitoring the
steam or hot water line.Reductions in steam
pressure or hot water temperature lead to an
increase in firing rate. The advantages of
introducing burner modulation in combustion
control include
 Fuel and air requirements are continuously
matched to the combustion demand
 Steam pressure or hot water temperature is
maintained within closer tolerances
 Greater boiler efficiency
 Weighted average flue gas temperature is lower
Air/fuel cross-limiting
 A cross-limiting combustion control
strategy ensures that there can never
be a dangerous ratio of air and fuel
within a combustion process. This is
implemented by always raising the air
flow before allowing the fuel flow to
increase, as shown in Figure 2, or by
lowering the fuel flow before allowing
the air flow to drop.  Cross-limiting
combustion control is highly effective
and can easily provide the following
 Optimization of fuel consumption
 Safer operating conditions by
reducing risk of explosion
 Fast adaptation to variations in fuel
and air supplies
 Satisfaction of the plant demand for
steam
 Total heat control
In situations where combustion is not the
principal heat source and when several
factors contribute to the total heat to be
generated by a boiler, a control loop can be
introduced in order to monitor and manage
the generated heat. This is particularly true
for CHP plants, where gas turbines and
supplementary firing are used. This type of
implementation is shown in Figure 4:
Metering control system:
In this system control is regulated in accordance with the
measured fuel and air flows. This maintains combustion
efficiency over a wide load ranges & over long period of
time.

Both metering & positioning control systems use steam

header pressure as their primary measured variable & as a
basis for firing rate demand. A master pressure controller
responds to changes on header pressure & positions the
dampers to control air flow and fuel valve to regulate fuel
supply.
HARDWARES USED IN COMBUSTION CONTROL
ON/OFF controls:
Are still used in many industries but are generally used in
small water tube boilers. When the pressure drops to a
present value, fuel & air are automatically fed into the
boiler at predetermined rate until pressure has risen to its
upper limit.
Positioning systems:
Respond to changes in header pressure by simultaneously
positioning the forced draft damper and fuel valve to a
predetermined alignment. This is not used in liquid ,
gaseous fuel – fired boilers.
Combustion efficiency

It can be determined if proper information is available on

fuel analysis, fuel gas analysis, combustion air temperature
and stack temperature.
The loss of heat in the fuel gas, on a percentage basis is
subtracted from 100% to provide the percentage
combustion efficiency.
Combustion efficiency = (100% – %age of heat loss in fuel
gas)
Combustion efficiency manometer
FEEDWATER CONTROL
Feedwater control is the regulation of water to the boiler
drum. It provide a mass accounting system for steam
leading and feedwater entering the boiler.
Proper boiler operation requires that the level of water in
the steam drum should be maintained within certain band.
A decrease in this level may uncover boiler tubes, allowing
them to become overheated.
An increase in the level of water may interfere with the
internal operation of internal devices in the boiler drum.
It is important to made that the water level in the boiler
drum must be above 50% all the time.
As system for feedwater control must be designed to
maintain the mass balance over expected boiler load
changes so that the level in the steam drum remains within
the required limits for safe and efficient operation.

Control system complexity is based on number of

measured variables used to initiate control action and
include single element ,two element,3 – element and
advanced control schemes to improve accuracy of final
control action.
SINGLE ELEMENT CONTROL SYSTEMS

For small boilers having relatively high storage volumes

and slow changing loads ,single element control system is
used.
It controls feed water flow based on drum level.
Response is very slow because a change in feedwater flow
takes a long time to show up the level change.
As a result the steam drum causes water to increase and
decrease in volume, resulting in false measurements.
TWO ELEMENT CONTROL SYSTEMS

The two element system overcome these inadequacies

by using steam flow changes as a feed forward signal.
This control is used in intermediate boilers as well as
large boilers.
Here the flow and level transmitters are summed by a
computing relay and will be the set point for
feedwater.
Here the response is faster.
THREE ELEMENT CONTROL

Boilers that experiences wide and rapid load changes

require three element control.
Three element control is similar to two element system
except that the water flow loop is closed rather than open.
The level and steam flow signals are summed and used as
an index or set point to the feedwater flow. The feedwater
flow measurement provides corrective action for variation
in feedwater pressure.
FIVE ELEMENT CONTROL

Additional elements can be added to a feedwater

control system to improve response accuracy.
 A five element feedwater control system is essentially
a three element configuration in which the steam flow
measurement is temperature compensated and drum
level measurement is pressure compensated.
FIVE ELEMENT BOILER CONTROL
FLOWMETER
The flow meter is designed to measure flow rate of a fluid.
Measurement is based on Faraday’s law of induction,
according to which a voltage is induced in an electrically
conductive body which passes through a magnetic field.
. The following expression is applicable to the voltage.

U=K*B*V*D
Where:
U = induced voltage
K = an instrument constant
B = magnetic field strength
V = mean velocity
D = pipe diameter
RELATION BETWEEN FEEDWATER FLOW AND
STEM FLOW
In feedwater control the flow rate of feedwater is proportional to
the change in displacement of the valve stem i.e.
Change in flow rate = k(change in stem displacement)
k = constant
If Q = flow rate
S = stem displacement
Qmax = maximum flow rate
Smax = maximum stem displacement
Then,
Q/Qmax = S/Smax
Percentage change in the flow rate = percentage change in the
stem displacement
ADVANTAGES

Multiple element feedwater control can help:

i. Faster response of systems.
ii. More accurate control.
iii. Maximum system stability.
Metering control system maintains combustion efficiency
over wide load changes and over long period of time.
DISADVANTAGES

Boilers require quick responding controls.

Level of the water in the boiler must be kept above 50% of
height.
CONCLUSIONS

The various goals of boiler control includes:

1. To minimize excess air
2. To minimize blow down
3. To minimize steam pressure
4. To measure efficiency
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Instrumentation Controls Journal

www.control.com
www.ask.com
www.wikipedia.com
THANK YOU