Boiler Drum Level

Control
Types of Boilers
• Fire Tube boilers-Hot flue gases flow inside tubes that are submerged in water
within a shell.
Pressures up to about 10 bar
Produce up to 14 tonnes of steam/hr
Can meet wide and sudden load fluctuations because of large water volumes
Usually rated in HP
• Water Tube boilers-Water flows through tubes that are surrounded by hot
combustion gases in a shell.
Usually rated in tons of steam/hr
Used for H.P. steam
High capacity
Boiler Drum

• A steam drum is a standard

feature of a water-tube boiler.
• It is a reservoir of water/steam at
the top end of the water tubes.
• The drum stores the steam
generated in the water tubes and
acts as a phase-separator for the
steam/water mixture.
Boiler Drum
• In thermal power plants, boiling the water to make steam is a very
important procedure.
• The control of water level is a major function in this process and it is
achieved through a water steam interface established in a cylindrical vessel
called the drum, located near the top of the boiler.
• If the water level is too high, flooding of steam purification equipment can
occur.
• If the water level is too low, Pressure can build to dangerous levels. It can
even result in tube failure due to overheating from lack of cooling water on
the boiling surfaces.
• A drum level control system tightly controls the level whatever the
disturbances, level change, increase/ decrease of steam demand and
feedwater flow variations.
Single element Drum level Control
• It needs single analog input for its operation and in return
provides single analog output. Hence, it is named single
element control.
• There’s no relationship between drum level and steam or
feedwater flow, hence it can be applied only to a single feed
pump on a single boiler supplying a relatively stable load.
• This consists of a proportional signal or process variable (PV)
coming from the drum level transmitter. This signal is
compared to a setpoint and the difference is a deviation
value.
• This signal is acted upon by the controller which generates
corrective action in the form of a proportional output. The
output is then passed to the boiler feedwater valve, which
then adjusts the level of feedwater flow into the boiler drum.
• Possible inadequate control option because of the swell effect
Need for2 element control
• basic objective of the drum level control is to manipulate feedwater flow in
response to water level feedback in order to maintain a constant level. The
water flow is manipulated typically by changing rotation speed of a
feedwater pump or by opening/closing a control valve.
• The feedback control explained above is acceptable if the boiler load (steam
demand) is steady. However, a sudden change in the load would cause a
transient disturbance called ‘reverse response of the drum level’*3 which is
disruptive in its stability. In order to provide the tight control during both
steady and transient conditions, the steam output flow, cause of the
disturbance, is measured in advance of any change of the level, and is used
to directly manipulate the feedwater. This is called ‘two-element control.’
Two element Drum level Control
• This drum level control design is particularly suitable in case of single drum boilers where the feedwater is available at a
constant pressure.
• “Two-element control includes the same level element used for the single-element configuration but has an added steam-
flow element that provides a density-corrected mass flow-rate signal to control the feedwater flow.”
The two elements are made up of the following:
• Level Element: a proportional signal or process variable (PV) coming from the drum level transmitter. This signal is
compared to a setpoint and the resultant is a deviation value. This signal is acted upon by the controller which generates
corrective action in the form of a proportional value.
• Steam Flow Element: a mass flow rate signal (corrected for density) is used to control the feedwater flow, giving immediate
corrections to feedwater demand in response to load changes. Any imbalance between steam mass flow out and
feedwater mass flow into the drum is corrected by the level controller.
This imbalance can arise from
• Blowdown variations due to changes in dissolved solids
• Variations in feedwater supply pressure
• Leaks in the steam circuits
Advantages:
• Tighter control of drum level than with only one element
• Steam flow acts as feed forward signal to allow faster level adjustments
• Can best be applied to single boiler / single feedpump configurations with a constant feedwater pressure
Need for 3 element control

• Two element control cannot change for the load disturbances take place in
feed water supply. Secondly, the phasing interaction between the drum
level and feed water flow cannot be eliminated by the two-element control.
• Thus, to deal with these issues, three element steam drum level control is
used in which a third variable feed water flow rate is added which is used
to manipulate the feed water control valve.
• The output of two element drum level controller is cascaded with feed
water flow controller. The steam flow act as the set point to the feed water
controller and feed water flow is used as the process variable. Thus,
amount of steam leaving the drum results in the addition of equal quantity
of feed water to the drum.
 Three element Drum level Control
• “Three-element drum-level control is suited for handling variable feedwater pressure or multiple boilers with multiple feedwater
pumps.”
• In this design, three elements are used, each for controlling level, steam and feedwater flow respectively. This system offers far better
and advanced drum level control as compared to all other systems.
• For best control, correct flow values of both steam as well as feedwater must be maintained with regard to density.
Level Element & Steam Flow Element: corrects for unmeasured disturbances within the system such as Boiler blowdown and Boiler and
superheater tube leaks
Feedwater Flow Element: responds rapidly to variations in feedwater demand, either from the
• Steam flow rate feedforward signal
• Feedwater pressure or flow fluctuations
• To achieve optimum results, both steam and feedwater flow values should be corrected for density.
Advantages:
• The three-element system provides tighter control for drum level with fluctuating steam load.
• Ideal where a system suffers from fluctuating feedwater pressure or flow
• More sophisticated level of control required
• Additional input for feedwater flow required
• effective for rapid variations in load because it can easily handle the balance between feed water flow and steam flow.
Enhanced three element drum level control
The enhanced three-element drum level control module incorporates the
standard three element level components with the following improvements:
• The three-element mode is used during high steam demand.
• The two-element mode is used if the steam flow measurement fails
• The module falls back to single element level control if the feedwater flow
measurement should fail or if there is a low steam demand.
• The drum level can be derived from up to three independent transmitters
and is density compensated for pressure within the boiler drum.
Advantages:
• Tighter control through a choice of control schemes.
• Drum level maintained on failure of steam or feedwater flow
measurements.
 Conclusion
• Feed water flow to the drum should be continuous; failure of flow even for a brief period
can cause serious and hazardous effects on the plant and operating personnel.
• Many of modern boilers today operate at steam temperatures near the maximum
permissible metal temperatures and temperature fluctuation as a result of poor feed
water control can cause damage to the boiler tubes.
• In the closed loop system, under normal steady conditions, with the drum level at the
correct value, the ratio of steam flow to feed water flow will be 1:1.
• Any change in this condition will result in a control signal being applied to the feed water
control valve. The signal from the water level also will affect the readjustment of the
feed water valve to trim the level back to its desired value, once stability is achieved.
• Water flow measurement signal enters the control system to position the regulating
valve in the feed water line so that the water input equals the steam output from the
boiler.
• Any variations in feed water pressure ahead of the regulating valve, causing a change in
water flow will at once be detected by the flow meter and the regulating valve will react.