INTRODUCTION:

In general the heat absorbing parts subject to

internal pressure in a boiler will be called as pressure
parts. The main pressure parts in a boiler will be as
follows:-

Drums, Water walls, Super heaters, Re heaters,

Economisers and valves & fittings. The Drum, Down
comers, water wall headers and water walls will form the
circulation system and cover the furnace zone. The drum
provides the necessary space for locating the steam
separating equipments for separation of steam from
mixture of steam and water.
 It also serves as a reservoir for the supply of
water to circulation system to avoid possible
starvation during operation. Super heaters are used to
raise the steam temperature above the saturation
temperature by absorbing heat from flue gas to
increase the cycle efficiency. For utility boilers which
are meant for power generation, the super heater
outlet temperature is limited to 540 ± 5°C due to
metallurgical considerations. Re heaters are used to
raise the steam temperature to the same super heater
temperature but at a lower pressure since steam flow
through re heater takes place after HP stage turbine.
Economisers are used to absorb heat from the flue
gases and add this as sensible heat to the feed water
before water enters the evaporation circuit of the
boiler.
 LAYOUT OF PRESSURE PARTS:

The Fig.1 shows the arrangement of pressure

parts in a boiler. The circuit arrangement is normally
classified as water circuit and steam circuit.

WATER CIRCUIT:

Feed water is supplied to the economiser inlet

header via feed stop and check valves. The feed water
flow is upward through the economiser coils that is
counter flow to the hot flue gases. After feed water is
collected by economiser intermediate headers it
passes through Economiser hanger tubes to reach
top Economiser outlet header. The water from
Economiser outlet header will go to drum through
Economiser connecting links to drum.
Water from Drum comes to bottom water wall ring
header through vertical down comers. From Ring
headers it will rise through front, side and rear water
wall panels and absorb radiant heat and the resulting
mixture of water and steam will reach top water wall
headers above roof. The mixture will be discharged
into Drum by riser pipes. Steam will be separated
from the mixture inside the drum by drum internals.
STEAM CIRCUIT:

The saturated steam which is separated from

water steam mixture by drum internals will reach SH
Radiant Roof inlet header SHH1 through SH
connecting pipes. After steam passes through radiant
roof tubes it will reach outlet header SHH2.
The steam from SHH2 comes to SHH3 (left and right side
wall inlet headers) in the second pass. Fin welded panels
on either side of second pass will bring the steam to SH
side outlet header SHH4. Steam from SHH4 will reach SH
front inlet header SHH5 via elbow connections and it will
raise up through Front Panels. These panels will be in
the form of loose tubes at the corner near SH Final coils
and they are called SH Hanger tubes connected to SH
Rear Junction Header SHH 7. Steam also will pass
through supply pipes from SHH 5 to extended side wall
inlet header SHH6. The panels from SHH6 cover the
bottom and side portions of extended from either side of
SHH 14 region and connected to separate header at top
on either side (extended side wall outlet headers) SHH
3A.
The steam from these headers reach SHH7 through
connecting pipes and further flow will be through fin
welded panels covering the rear roof and rear wall to
LTSH Inlet Header SHH9. A portion of steam which
enters SH 2nd Pass Side Wall Inlet Headers SHH3 will
reach SH Side wall Outlet Header Rear SHH 4A. The
steam from SHH 4A on either side enters SH Back
pass Rear wall Inlet Header SHH8 through elbows and
goes up to SHH9 covering the lower portion of rear
wall. The steam from SHH9 passes through
(LTSH/Horizontal) super heater lower and upper banks
and will come to SHH 10 (LTSH Outlet Header) by SH
terminal tubes.
De super heater links are connected between SHH 10
and SHH 11 (SH Platen Inlet Header) at quarter points
where DESH are placed. Then steam from SHH 11 will
pass through SH platen coil assemblies and reach
SHH 12 (SH Platen Outlet header). Two Links which
are connected between SHH 12 and vertical spaced SH
(Final SH) inlet header SHH 13 will allow the steam to
pass through Final SH assemblies to reach SHH 14
(SH Vertical spaced or main steam outlet header). The
main steam line will further carry the steam to HP
turbine from either side of SHH14. Steam after HP
turbine enters Reheater through cold reheat lines and
the Reheated steam reaches the next stage/IP turbine
Via Hot reheat lines connected on either side of
Reheater outlet header.
 DRUM AND DRUM INTERNALS:
CIRCULATION SYSTEM:

The circulation system of water through the

furnace water wall is due to either natural circulation
or controlled circulation. Natural circulation boilers
employ the effect of density differences between water
and steam to produce circulation.

This density differences together with the height

of the boiler constitutes a head which overcomes the
losses occurring in the circuit and makes circulation
possible. In controlled circulation boilers this density
difference is augmented by a pump output energy to
ensure positive circulation through the water wall
tubes.
The circulation system for a natural circulation boiler
comprises of the Drum, Downcomers, Furnace walls
and connecting pipes at the top of the boiler furnace.

DRUM:

The boiler drum serves three main functions:

™ To provide the necessary space for separation of

steam from mixture of steam and water.

™ To provide the required space for the separated

steam till it leaves the drum as purified steam.
™ To house the equipment needed for purification of
steam after separation from the mixture of steam
and water.

™ To provide a water storage for preventing the

starvation of tubes during operation.

™ The Drum size is determined to meet all the above

requirements. Drum diameter and length should
be sufficient to provide accessibility for installation
and inspection. The drum is checked for stresses
induced due to self weight and external loads.
 DRUM INTERNALS:

The following are the functions of Drum Internals.

™ Separation of water from steam water mixture.

™ Removal of water bubbles from water volume of

boiler from entering downcomer.

™ Mixing and distributing the feed water.

™ Adding chemicals.

™ Facilitating blow down.

CHECK LIST FOR ALIGNMENT OF DRUM INTERNALS:

¾ While dismantling the drum internals during

overhaul, marks may be made to ensure same
assembly goes back to the same place.

¾ Check that there are no obstructions in safety valve

nozzles, nozzles, water gauge nozzles etc.

¾ The steam water mixture that enters the separating

chamber from the riser tubes should not leak.

¾ The welds at the joints of the separating chamber

should be complete the leak proof.

¾ Tightness of separating chamber may be ensured

by torch test.
¾ All corrugated sheets of secondary separators and
final screen dryers should be free from foreign
material.

¾ The vertically of the turbo separator should be

ensured during re-fixing.

¾ The final dryer boxes are to be fixed with each

other without any gap.

¾ All bolted / screwed connections are to be tight.

¾ After the fit up drum internals is over the inside of

the drum should be thoroughly cleaned and free
from foreign materials.
 FURNACE WALLS:

(Fig.4) Normally for boiler furnace enclosures

membrane wall construction is adopted. They are
called fusion welded panels in which a number of
tubes are joined together by a process of fusion
welding. The fusion welded panels have been built
with tube sizes from 31.8 mm OD to 63.5 mm OD and
the panels are made in width on length is because of
transportation.

The fusion welded wall construction offers many

advantages, over tangent tube construction.
™ Pressurised furnace is possible with the related
advantages of (a) increase in efficiency (b) better
load response with similar combustion control (c)
quicker starting and stopping (d) Forced draft fan
handle less air.

™ Heat transfer is better.

™ Erection is made easy and quick.

™ Gas tight enclosure.

™ Less insulation weight.

Presently, the membrane walls are also made from

fin welded panels using PEMAMEK fin welding
machine. All the above advantages are applicable
to this PEMAMEK made fin welded panels also.
 SUPERHEATER AND REHEATER:
These heating surfaces are in the form of coils which
are made by bending the tubes in cold or hot condition.
The superheater is composed of four basic sections.

The platen section is located directly above the

furnace in front of the furnace arch (Fig.5a). It absorbs
heat mainly by radiation. The pendant spaced section is
located in back of the screen wall tubes (Fig.5b). The
mode of heat transfer is convection.

The horizontal section of the superheater is

located in the rear gas pass above economiser. The
steam cooled wall sections form the side, front and rear
walls and roof of the vertical gas pass. The combination
of convective and radiant superheater is generally used
in all boilers to give flat superheat curves over wide
ranges in load.
The fundamental considerations governing
superheater design apply also to reheater design. The
reheater is composed of single stage but two parts for
ease of manufacture and erection (front & rear pendant
vertical spaced section) (Fig.5c). The rear pendant
vertical spaced section is located above the furnace
arch between water wall screen and rear wall hanger
tubes. The front pendant vertical spaced section
located between the rear water wall hanger tubes and
the superheater platen section. The outside diameter
of reheater tubes will be larger than that of superheater
tubes as more volume is to flow through reheaters,
operating at low pressures.
 SPACERS FOR SH & RH:
Spacer are used to maintain pitches along and across
coil assemblies. The type of spacers generally used
are transverse spacers and alignment ties. Fluid
cooled spacers or mechanical spacer bar are used as
transverse spacers. Alignment ties are used to
maintain pitch between tubes in the same assembly.
Flexible connector and alignment band are used as
alignment ties. Flexible connectors in combination
with fluid cooled spacers are used and mechanical
spacer bars in combination with alignment band are
used. The spacers are all made of stainless steel
(Fig.6).
 SUPPORTS & SUSPENSIONS FOR SH & RH:

The vertical superheaters or reheaters are suspended from

the ceiling and horizontal coils are supported by hanger
tubes. In pendant SH or RH assemblies the tie lugs are
welded in between tubes at the top row to transfer the load
from centre to end terminals. The horizontal superheaters
are supported by economiser hanger tubes through strap
supports as shown in Fig. 7. The pendant superheaters
and reheaters are separately suspended by high crown
supports. As shown in Fig.8 the high crown plates are
welded on either side of seal band and the load is
transferred through end bar. The headers will be
independently supported from the ceiling through tie rod
assemblies with or without variable spring hangers as the
case may be.
 OPERATION & MAINTENANCE
OPERATION:
Basically, the following rules are to be followed:-
1) Superheater:

Make sure the horizontal superheater sections

and steam cooled walls are completely drained by
opening the inlet and outlet header drains and link
vents before lighting off. Close the inlet header drains
down to a slightly cracked position after draining.
Close the link vents when they beginning to steam.
Close the inlet header drains immediately after rolling
the turbine. The superheater pendant outlet header
and main steam line vents and drains serve as starting
drains and are kept open until the turbine is under light
load.
 These drain valves may be throttled as drum
pressure increases providing sufficient steam flow
through the superheater is assured at all times. The link
vents should be kept open until all air has been expelled
from the superheater. These vents are normally kept
open until the drum pressure has reached approximately
2 ata (g).

2) Reheater:

All reheater drains and vents are opened before

lighting off. The vents and drains to the atmosphere must
be closed prior to raising a vacuum in the condenser.
Drains connecting with the condenser may be left open
until the boiler is under light load.
3) Maintenance:

It is essential that suitable arrangements are made

to assure cleanliness of the external and internal
surfaces of the superheater and reheater at all times. Fly
ash and / or slag accumulations result in unequal gas
distribution inefficient heat transfer and possible
localised overheating.

Suitably located soot blowers operated in the

proper cycle, normally provide adequate means of
keeping external surfaces clean during operation. The
external surfaces of superheater and reheater should be
inspected regularly for cleanliness. Slagging must be
kept to a minimum by proper use of soot blowers.
Extreme build ups must be removed immediately.
 Proper feed water treatment and control of
steam quality and carry over are essential to assure
cleanliness of interior surfaces of superheaters. Over
loads, fluctuating load, high water level, high
concentrations, etc. all contribute to deposits on
interior surfaces. Accumulation of these deposits
inside the tube will lead to unit failures. Periodic
checks of steam pressure drops across the
superheater and reheater under identical load
conditions usually indicate whether or not solid
deposits are present within the elements. The
manufacturer may be consulted for repair procedures
and proper means to prevent recurrence.
4) Desuperheaters:

Desuperheating is one of the methods of steam

temperature control. Desuperheaters are provided in the
superheater connecting links and the cold reheat line to
permit reduction of steam temperature when necessary
and to maintain the temperatures at design values within
the limits of nozzle capacity. Temperature reduction is
accomplished by injecting spray water into the path of
steam in the form of a fine spray. The water getting itself
vaporised, absorbs heat from steam thereby reducing its
temperature. The spray water source is from the boiler
feed water system. It is essential that the spray water be
chemically pure and free of suspended and dissolved
solids. The desuperheaters used in the reheater system is
meant for emergency condition. The reheat steam
temperature is controlled mainly by tilting burners.
The desuperheater consists of a spray tube, liner and
fixing screws (Fig.9). The spray tube is perforated with
holes, the diameter and number of which are determined
based on the maximum quantity of injected water. The
holes always should face the downstream of steam flow.
In the case of reheater desuperheater which receives
water for injection from after feed pump, the spray tube is
of special design called spray nozzle (Fig.10). The spray
nozzle is of sturdy construction to handle a large
pressure drop as high as 50 to 60 atmospheres. The liner
is a thin cylinder, open at both ends, kept concentric to
the outer shell by means of positioning screws. The liner
prevents water particles sprayed from getting in contact
with shell, before getting vaporised thereby avoid thermal
erosion in the desuperheater shell. The liner only can be
replaced if found to be pitted during any annual overhaul
of the boiler.
5) Superheaters:
The purpose of the economizer is to preheat the
boiler feed water before it is introduced in to the steam
drum, and to recover some of the heat from the flue
gases leaving the boiler. The economizer is located in
rear gas pass below the horizontal superheater. They
are kept as the last heat absorbing surface of all
pressure parts. Each section is composed of a number
of parallel tube circuits.

Economisers are designed either as plain tube or

finned tube (Fig.11) Finned tube has the extended
surface in the form of fins. The fins can either be
continuous flat or spiral fins. Flat fins are used for coal
fired units whereas spiral finned economizer is used
only for oil or gas fired units as in coal fired units ash
may settled in the gap of spiral fins which will foul the
surface and rupture the tubes. The spiral finned
economizer will be the most compact of all types.
6) SUPPORTS FOR ECONOMISERS:

For the supports of plain tube economizers

ladder type/panto type of supports are used as shown
in fig.12. In ladder type support, plain strips are
placed on either side of Eco. Coil and are connected
with support clips over which Eco. Tubes will be
resting.

For panto type supports scalloped plates are

put in between coil assembly’s and eco tubes rest on
the scalloped portions.
 OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF ECONOMISERS:

OPERATION:

Before starting up the boiler, economizer should

be inspected and cleared of foreign materials. All
access doors should be bolted tightly. Always use
deaerated water for boiler feeding. This is essential to
keep down the inside corrosion of pressure parts
including economizer. Feed water temperature must
also be maintained at the highest level possible either
with the help of feed water heaters or heating the water
in the tank. Low temperature of feed water will result in
external corrosion of economizers. The eco. Circulation
system if provided should be kept in service when there
is fire in the boiler with no feed flow.
 Frequency with which soot blowers are used
depends entirely on local conditions. Observation of the
increase in draft loss between blowing will determine the
frequency. In many cases it has been found that
blowing once a day or less is sufficient. An economizer
tube leak can be detected by sound or increased make
up water requirements. The leak should be investigated
at the earliest possible time and the unit to be shut down
in a normal manner. Water leaks in the economizer can
cause considerable erosion damage to adjacent tubes.
MAINTENANCE:

Water washing can be done to remove bonded

deposit and fouling at in a accessible locations as off-
load cleaning. Even though on load cleaning is
sufficiently effective. It is usual to water wash
economizer during each annual overhauls. Any exposed
insulation should be kept in good condition at all times.
It is recommended that during every long maintenance
shut downs, the economizer tube outside erosion is
checked up visually as well as with a micrometer
measurement at the top tube facing the flue gas flow.
Ultrasonic method of measuring the thickness reduction
due to coal ash erosion is also recommended.
MATERIALS:
Oxidation resistance, maximum allowable stress
and economics determine the choice of materials for
pressure parts. The use of carbon steel is extended as
far as these considerations permit. Beyond this point
carefully selected alloy steels are used. The boiler drum
can be made of alloy steel or carbon steel plates. The
steel should have a carbon content less than 0.3%.
Some of the materials used for Drum are

CARBON STEEL PLATES: SA 299

SA 515 GR.70

Comparing carbon steel and alloy steel as material

for drum the carbon steel will cost less per ton of
material but the overall weight of drum will be higher
because of increased thickness. Hence there may be
additional material handling cost in case of carbon steel
drums.
However, the fabrication and welding of carbon steel plates
presents little difficulties. Hence this factor tilts the scale
infavour of carbon steel plates.

The majority of superheaters and reheaters are made

of low alloy steel. The steels commonly used for this
application are shown in table. Higher chromium content
increases the resistance to scaling or oxidation. Stainless
steels are also used to a limited extent wherever the skin
temperatures of superheaters or reheaters are very high. In
utility boilers the lowest portion of wrapper tube of SH
platen/RH coils which is exposed to flame directly is made
of stainless steel. Stabilised stainless steel has Niobium,
Titanium, Columbium, and Tantulam, etc. added in traces
to the steel which prevents carbide precipitation along the
grain boundaries.
BOILER MOUNTINGS:

Major areas of activities covered in this

section.

1. BOILER TRIM PIPING

2. MOUNTINGS &

3. VALVES AND FITTINGS.

 TRIM PIPING:
Trim piping are various lines made out of pressure
parts around boiler for both intermittent operations like
drain, vent, start up (or) continuous operations like spray
system etc. Function wise these piping can be mainly
categorized as

™ DRAIN SYSTEM
™ VENT SYSTEM
™ STARTUP SYSTEM
™ SPRAY SYSTEM
™ BLOW DOWN AND ECONOMISER RECIRCULATION
SYSTEMS IF APPLICABLE.

Scheme of water and steam circuit with valves,

fittings and instrumentation clearly shows the various
systems to be provided in a boiler with applicable valves
and fittings and instrumentation.
 DRAIN SYSTEM:

All pressure parts must be drainable when not in

operation except some complicated assemblies like
platen coils etc. So two major drain systems one for
water side and another for steam side is provided. The
drain lines may join in a header if no. of lines are more
and one big line from header will be routed to
intermittent blow down tank. (or) if no. of lines are less
they may be directly routed to IBDT. The drain system
is adequately sized to drain the whole boiler with in
specified time which is normally 60 minutes.
 VENT SYSTEM:

When the boiler is fitted with water either for

Hydro test or for light up, air inside must be driven out
other wise air lock will occur which will result in
hammering effect. So at all high points where water
simultaneously gets filled up, separate vents are
provided to vent the air out. These same lines are used
for Nitrogen blanketing also during acid cleaning to
prevent rust formation. For this a tee off connection is
provided in the air vent.
 START UP VENT:

When boiler is warming up initially the turbine

will be matched only a specified temperature and
pressure. Till such time the steam produced will be let
out to atmosphere. For this purpose, start up vent is
required. It’s other purpose is for safety valve floating,
that is to check the safety valve set pressure. This
system includes start up line, regulating and isolating
valves, diffuser and silencer, to abate noise.
 SPRAY SYSTEM:

The boiler is designed for particular flow,

pressure and temperature. Flow will change with load
but pressure and temperature are maintained constant
in the specified range of operation say 60-100% MCR.
The temperature is important factor because wide
variation in temperature is detrimental to turbine
operation. So temperature is maintained with in ± 5° C
at all loads between 60 - 100% MCR. When heat
absorbing surfaces are designed for 100% MCR at
various loads with varied flow of medium heat pickup
cannot be controlled with firing alone.
 Also it cannot cope up with sudden load change.
So spray system which uses feed water for quenching
temperature. In RH, tilting of burner is enough and
only in emergency condition spray is required. The
system consists of spray control station where a
pneumatically operated control valve regulates the
spray quantity according to signal got from SH outlet
temperature. The signal is corrected for burner tilt
position for precise control. In SH, the DESH is one
stage before final super heater to prevent water carry
over to turbine.
BLOW DOWN:

In drum where steam is separated from water steam

mixture, concentration of salt in water increases as
steam is pure without any salt. So after a certain
period of continuous operation of boiler, if drum water
sample shows high ppm of dissolved salts, water from
the bottom portion of drum will be blown out to blow
down tank through blow down valve where all pressure
is dropped. This is not continuously operated because
of high purity of water used nowadays.
 INTERMITTENT BLOW DOWN AND
EMERGENCY DRAINS:

These lines are connected to downcomer and

drum respectively. They are operated during
start up to control drum swelling (or) also
during emergency times when drum level rises
alarmingly.
SAMPLING SYSTEM:

Even though highly treated water is used in

boiler and elaborate water treatment system
is available, it is essential to monitor quality
of water at various parts of the boiler. For
this sampling system is given. Normally tap
off pts. for sampling are
1) Feed water inlet to Economiser - To ensure highly
treated water only enters boiler.

2) Drum Water (CBD TEE OFF).

3) As steam evaporates, PPM of salts in water increases.

To monitor that and also to know the effect of
chemical dozing done in drum it is useful.

a) Saturated Steam Sampling

4) Totally five sampling tapings are given in saturated

steam pipes at equal distances. They are useful in
two ways.
a) To monitor any salt carry over in steam

b) To know the efficiency of different section

of cyclone separators.
5) Superheated steam sampling

6) To ensure that quality steam enters turbine.

7) Similar samplings can be done for R.H. inlet and

outlet also.

8) Sampling system consists of sampling probe,

sampling lines, sample coolers. Material used is
stainless steel to ensure true sampling.
MOUNTINGS:

As explained before some essential

fittings for safe operation of boiler and
monitoring are called mountings. Some of
these are mandatory in nature.

i) Safety valves
ii) Water level gauges.
SAFETY VALVES:

It is mandatory requirement as per all

codes. Boiler should have adequate self
actuating safety valves which will relieve at
least 100% of its maximum generating
capacity. The following are the types of
safety valves:

i) Spring loaded S.Valves.

ii) Electromatic relief valve.

SPRING LOADED SAFETY VALVES:

Spring loaded Safety Valves are self

actuating type which are kept close by
compressed spring which opens on
reaching its set pressure. Relieving capacity
at 80% drum and Minimum 20% rel. capacity
at Superheater. Superheater is lowest set
to prevent starvation.
SAFETY VALVE SET PRESSURE:

DRUM:

First Safety valve is set at Design Pressure of

the Drum. 2nd safety valve is set at 2% high and 3rd at
3% higher.

Any Safety Valve set pressure should not

exceed 3% of design pressure. Staggered setting
done to prevent all Safety Valves opening at same
time. The operating pressure of drum should be less
than 95% of design pressure as safety valves will sit
tightly only up to 95% of set pressure. If operating
pressure is more than that, the spring force is more
or less neutralized and leakage may occur.
ELECTROMATIC RELIEF VALVE:

Electrometric relief valve is a power

operated safety valve and is not approved by
codes as it will fail to operate on power failure.

Spring loaded Safety Valves need more

maintenance once it pops up and should be
prevented from blowing as far as possible.
 In case of E.R.V. due to its
construction, steam acts both below and above
seat in addition to spring which ensures extra
tightness. So it is the lowest set Safety Valve
which will open first and relieve pressure. Only
when it cannot cope with the situation Spring
loaded safety valves will open. So E.R.V.
reduces maintenance burden of spring loaded
safety valves. This is actuated automatically
when operating pressure increases the set
pressure (or) also can be opened by pushing a
bottom from Unit Control Board when ever found
necessary.
WATER LEVEL GAUGES:-

Water level measurement in drum is very important

because:

i) if level decreases beyond a limit starvation will occur.

ii) excess water carry over and salt carry over will occur.

Different type of level measurement available are:

i) Direct water level gauge (DWLG).

ii) Remote water level indicator (RWLI).

iii) Electronic water level indicator (EWLI)

iv) Level transmitters and switches for alarm and trip.

DIRECT WATER LEVEL GAUGES:

These are mandatory as per code. For low

pressure application flat gauge glasses are used in
which we can see water level directly. In case of high
pressure application bi-colour port gauges are used in
which instead of continuous column, ports are provided.
In a typical gauge, 7 ports are available. For easy
identification of water and steam, water level is shown in
green colour and steam level in red colour by the use of
colour strips. Due to different Refractive Index of water
and steam, the transmitted colour is either green or red.
Two numbers are used on either side of the drum.
DISADVANTAGE:

As temperature of water in gauge is less due to heat

loss density differs from that of water in drum and this
results in erroneous level indication.

REMOTE WATER LEVEL INDICATOR:

These are used to show drum level at operating floor.

Though periscopic duct, fibre optic devices can be used to
see DWLG reading at operating floor. Remote water level
indicator is more rigid and clear indication on scale is
possible. Two R.W.L.I. are connected on either side of
drum. With secondary indicator, it is possible to have
reading in UCB also.
ELECTRONIC WATER LEVEL INDICATOR (EWLI)

A recent development in water level

measurement is Electronic Water Level Indicator which
uses a different principle of detecting water level.
Resistivity of water is 100 times less that that of steam.

A pressure vessel is used to simulate water and

steam level in drum and number of electrodes are
inserted at equal intervals. The resistivity between
vessel and electrodes is measured and the signals are
processed in a Printed Circuit Board circuit which gives
out as lamp indication. With some addition we can
have alarm and trip facility also with EWLI. The
indication can be had at UCB (or) drum operating floor.
Recently BHEL has developed an indigenous version of
EWLI as Bhelvision 10/20.
 Apart from these, instruments for measurement
of flow, pressure and temperature are also installed in
appropriate equipments.

BOILER CODES:

The pressure parts of any boiler are to be

designed to meet the regulations of the boiler code, in
force in every country. It is a statutory obligation to
comply with the provisions of the boiler code in every
aspect in the design, manufacture, inspection and
erection of boilers. The materials for the pressure parts
should be selected and procured incompliance with the
code regulations.
 There are different codes used for the boiler
design viz. IBR, ASME Section I, DIN, BS & JIS.
Generally all indigenous boilers are designed to IBR
code. The fabrication and inspection of pressure parts
should be as per IBR which specifies the weld end
preparations, heat treatment, destructive and non-
destructive testing during manufacture and erection.
The designs should be approved by the Chief Inspector
of Boilers. The formula to arrive at the thickness of
shell or header and tube is given below as per IBR.
 There are different codes used for the boiler
design viz. IBR, ASME Section I, DIN, BS & JIS.
Generally all indigenous boilers are designed to IBR
code. The fabrication and inspection of pressure parts
should be as per IBR which specifies the weld end
preparations, heat treatment, destructive and non-
destructive testing during manufacture and erection.
The designs should be approved by the Chief Inspector
of Boilers. The formula to arrive at the thickness of
shell or header and tube is given below as per IBR.

Thickness calculation for shells/headers:-

PR
t= + 0.75 mm
100 f z - 0.5 P
Thickness for tubes

PD
t= mm
200 f + P

Where t = Calculation thickness in mm

P = Calculation pressure Kg/cm2 (g)

Z = Ligament efficiency

f = Maximum allowable stress

for the material at

R = Internal radius of header in mm.

Apart from the above, the maximum
permissible openings, Reinforcement
calculations wherever required, end cover
calculations are also submitted for
approval by Statutory Authorities along
with relevant drawings and on his approval
they become documents for production.