Automatic Control Virtual Lab

THW-1 Simulation of water-tube boiler heating unit with thermal balance calculating

, are complex apparatus used for transformation of water into steam exploiting the thermal ener

Water-tube boiler is vaporizer

formed by many connected
tubes where feeding water
from economizer, pushed by
feeding pump, arrives into
superior manifold, called also
collector of water and steam.

Big diameter falling tubes (at

the internal boiler wall
exterior) are subject to hot
gases to subtract gases heat.
Higher density colder water
comes, by gravity, to the lower
drum inferior manifold called
water manifold. Steaming
tubes are contained into boiler
interior and expose to main
flow of gases to subtract heat
quantity necessary to the
vaporization. Mixture of the
lower density water and
saturated steam re-ascends
again into superior manifold. A
natural circulation establishes
between the two manifolds
because of density difference
Steam drawn from superior manifold, sent to main super-heater and re-superheater and subsequently to
the users. The boiler insulation is obtained by covering the combustion chamber inside walls with a
framing made of big diameter tubes that have a function of absorbing the furnace radiant heat and it is
called water wall. The water wall is realized with the system of tangent tubes, placed side by side, with all
their surface exposed to the radiant heat, with refractory material placed on the back of the tubes. The
water walls through manifold heads are connected to superior and inferior manifolds.

main synoptic
Boiler characteristic parameters : Exercise or stamp pressure. It is the range of effective
pressure of steam produced in normal working conditions; it is indicated on boiler front
with proper stamp. Normally on the boiler pressure gauge the zone the pressure must
not exceed is red. In our case, maximum working pressure is 102 bar as on pressure
gauge.
The Steam efficiency: Steam production in kg/h or Tones/h, in the normal working conditions;
Effective steaming index: ratio of produced steam per hour and burned fuel quantity per hour; Msteam /
Mfuel
The heating surface: defined as the generator surface that on one side is drawn by the combustion
products and on the other one by water; it is measured in m2 from the side of the combustion products;
The specific efficiency: It is the quantity of produced steam per hour and per m2 of heating surface;
The specific capacity: ratio between water volume contained into the generator and the heating surface.
Automatic Control Virtual Lab Program

Note: The heat balance item is written in negative value when

the boiler is inactive and not producing steam.
- Heat balance: this selection can be effectuated when the
transcription from negative comes positive; to obtain this, the
burner must work and the steam must be produced and taken
out. When possible runs are done, the following window is
opened:
Set point (for automatic run): The program
with casual source (not intended) can insert
some anomalies (non-standard or unusual
values) into the register of air, of fuel and into
the level stat setting. The anomalies are
activated during the automatic conduction/
run. As the steam generator, even if with a
worsening of its efficiency equally works, the
operator could ignore the anomaly; for this
reason, when printing the exercitation
recording/report (see following paragraph),
the anomaly if present is transcribed. Vice
versa, if the operator locates the anomaly,
with this selection enters following window
Student Name:
Opens the shown window. In this window you must
insert the operator name and, subsequently, confirm
with the relative key. The name insertion will customize
all the prints (the shall be shown on all prints).
Information: It gives the access to a submenu as shown that includes:
- Help: this selection gives access to an hypertext containing some instructions for program
use. It is better to proceed to hypertext reading at the beginning or at the end of the
exercise to not loose the control of it. (important help instructions shall be given at the end
of file)
- Logo: it shows the program identification logo.
Synoptic includes: the control
instrumentation; the simplified
distribution of plant lines with
steam generator, complete of
valves; control board of burner
and of feeding centrifugal pump
with relative users &steam
intake
Lines (inlet & outlet piping): are
shown in colors recommended
by regulation/standards in force
(dark green for feeding water,
red for steam, dark brawn for the
fuel). The ones interested by the
flow will be visualized, with a
particular attention to the motion
direction of the flow.
Conclusions - Applications for Boiler Heat Balance:
To establish real & accurate heat balance, it is necessary to do particular/effective
steaming tests to detect all parameters related to calculation of heat balance. Every
parameter is determined as an average value of series of measures done with
maximum run time at equal intervals, during the test time, vary from 5 to 8 hours.
The tests are to be done at different load rating of the boiler. From an educational
point of view it is enough to do only one detection of the interested magnitudes.