Energy/ Power Plants

Air Pre-heater Fires in Large Capacity Boilers

The damage due to air pre-heater fire is very severe depending upon the intensity of the fire. In many cases it has made the regenerative air pre-heater elements a molten mass. The boiler availability loss will be high if a fire takes place in the air heater.

Published by Dr V T Sathyanathan (4059 pts) on Oct 7, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles
Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Systems

To effectively use solar power, solar energy incident on a large area has to be concentrated to get high temperatures. The heat then has to transfer to a working media like steam to produce power. How is this done ? Read on…

Published by johnzactruba (3261 pts) on Sep 30, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles
Mechanisms of Steam Soot Blower Erosion.

There are many mechanisms that can cause steam soot blower erosion of boiler tubes at various heat transfer sections. Knowing the way these mechanisms contribute to erosion will help to prevent loss of availability of boiler.

Published by Dr V T Sathyanathan (4059 pts) on Sep 30, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles

Solar Thermal Power Plants.

What is the future of solar power? How are we going to effectively use the incident solar radiation to get reliable and steady power ? This article gives an overview on the Solar thermal Power Plants.

Published by johnzactruba (3261 pts) on Sep 30, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles
Handle Low Drum Level in Boiler Operation

Low drum level operation leads to availability loss of the boiler. Water wall tubes fail due to short term overheating. Never bye-pass the very low drum level trip in boiler is to be adopted. Drum level in boiler indicates the level of water in drum for enabling the steam generation without hurdle.

Published by Dr V T Sathyanathan (4059 pts) on Sep 30, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles
Causes of High Temperature Corrosion in Boilers

High temperature corrosion occur in boilers occurs mainly in two areas- waterwalls and superheaters. The inorganic impurities in fuel like vanadium, sodium, sulphur, etc., are responsible. Read on to learn more about how this happens.

Published by Dr V T Sathyanathan (4059 pts) on Sep 23, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles

How Efficient is Energy Conversion in a Thermal Power Plant ?

Electricity is a convenient form of energy. Thermal power plants convert the energy in coal to Electricity. Have you ever wondered how much is lost in the process of generating electricity? This article explains how efficiently (or inefficiently) the natural energy sources are converted.

Published by johnzactruba (3261 pts) on Sep 20, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles
Flow Induced Vibration in Boilers

Flow induced vibration in boilers occurs when the vortex shed by the passing flow coincides with the natural frequency of the component or gas column. It can be experienced in the tube bundles of heat exchangers, in heat transfer surfaces, piping conveying fluids, or rotating machines in a boiler.

Published by Dr V T Sathyanathan (4059 pts) on Sep 14, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles
Prevent Slagging in a Boiler Furnace

There are two major areas where the coal fired boiler operator will have to concentrate one on the operating parameters of the boiler and the other on the coal being fired, to prevent deposition and slagging. This enables boiler operator to prevent slagging in boiler or at least to reduce it.

Published by Dr V T Sathyanathan (4059 pts) on Sep 11, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles
Coal Hang-up in Bowl Mill

Depending on the quality of the coal, sometimes the smooth flow to the coal mill can be disrupted. The mill will then trip on flow protection, upsetting boiler parameters and demanding immediate operator corrective action.

Published by Dr V T Sathyanathan (4059 pts) on Sep 11, 2009 to
Mechanical Engineering Articles