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Water-tube boiler
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A watertube

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boiler[1] (also

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tube and water

tube) is a type of
boiler in which
water circulates in

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tubes heated

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externally by the

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fire. Fuel is

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burned inside the

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furnace, creating
hot gas which

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Schematic diagram of a marine-type watertube boiler

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heats water in the

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steam-generating

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tubes. In smaller boilers, additional generating tubes are separate in the furnace,

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while larger utility boilers rely on the water-filled tubes that make up the walls of the
furnace to generate steam.

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The heated water then rises into the steam drum. Here, saturated steam is drawn off

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the top of the drum. In some services, the steam will reenter the furnace through a
superheater to become superheated. Superheated steam is defined as steam that is

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heated above the boiling point at a given pressure. Superheated steam is a dry gas

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and therefore used to drive turbines, since water droplets can severely damage

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turbine blades.

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Cool water at the bottom of the steam drum returns to the feedwater drum via largebore 'downcomer tubes', where it pre-heats the feedwater supply. (In large utility
boilers, the feedwater is supplied to the steam drum and the downcomers supply

water to the bottom of the waterwalls). To increase economy of the boiler, exhaust

gases are also used to pre-heat the air blown into the furnace and warm the

Deutsch

feedwater supply. Such watertube boilers in thermal power stations are also called

Hrvatski

steam generating units.

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The older fire-tube boiler design, in which the water surrounds the heat source and

gases from combustion pass through tubes within the water space, is a much weaker

Simple English
/ srpski
Srpskohrvatski /

Suomi

structure and is rarely used for pressures above 2.4 MPa (350 psi). A significant
advantage of the watertube boiler is that there is less chance of a catastrophic failure:
there is not a large volume of water in the boiler nor are there large mechanical
elements subject to failure.

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Contents
1 Applications

1.1 Stationary
1.2 Marine
1.3 Railway
1.3.1 Hybrids
1.4 Road
2 Design variations
2.1 D-type boiler
2.2 M-Type Boilers
2.3 Low Water Content
2.4 Babcock & Wilcox boiler
2.5 Stirling boiler
2.6 Yarrow
2.7 White-Forster
2.8 Thornycroft
2.9 Forced circulation boiler
2.10 Other types
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

Applications

[ edit ]

The ability of watertube boilers to generate superheated steam makes these boilers
particularly attractive in applications that require dry, high-pressure, high-energy
steam, including steam turbine power generation.[2]
Owing to their superb working properties, the use of watertube boilers is highly
preferred in the following major areas:
Variety of process applications in industries
Chemical processing divisions
Pulp and Paper manufacturing plants
Refining units
Besides, they are frequently employed in power generation plants where large
quantities of steam (ranging up to 500 kg/s) having high pressures i.e. approximately
16 megapascals (160 bar) and high temperatures reaching up to 550 C are
generally required. For example, the Ivanpah solar-power station uses two Rentech
Type-D watertube boilers.[3]

Stationary

[ edit ]

Modern boilers for power generation are almost entirely water-tube designs, owing to
their ability to operate at higher pressures. Where process steam is required for
heating or as a chemical component, then there is still a small niche for fire-tube
boilers.

Marine

[ edit ]

Their ability to work at higher pressures has led to marine boilers being almost
entirely water-tube. This change began around 1900, and traced the adoption of
turbines for propulsion rather than reciprocating (i.e. piston) engines although
watertube boilers were also used with reciprocating engines.

Railway

[ edit ]

There has been no significant adoption of water-tube boilers for railway locomotives.
A handful of experimental designs were produced, but none of these were successful
or led to their widespread use.[4] Most water-tube railway locomotives, especially in
Europe, used the Schmidt system. Most were compounds, and a few uniflows. The
Norfolk and Western Railway's Jawn Henry was an exception, as it used a steam
turbine combined with an electric transmission.[5]
LMS 6399 Fury
Rebuilt completely after a fatal accident
LNER 10000 "Hush hush"
Using a Yarrow boiler, rather than Schmidt. Never successful and re-boilered with
a conventional boiler.[6]
Hybrids [ edit ]
A slightly more successful adoption was the use of hybrid water-tube / fire-tube
systems. As the hottest part of a locomotive boiler is the firebox, it was an effective
design to use a water-tube design here and a conventional fire-tube boiler as an
economiser (i.e. pre-heater) in the usual position.
One famous example of this was the USA Baldwin 4-10-2 No. 60000, built in 1926.
Operating as a compound at a boiler pressure of 2,400 kilopascals (350 psi) it
covered over 160,000 kilometres (100,000 mi) successfully. After a year though, it
became clear that any economies were overwhelmed by the extra costs and it was
retired to become a stationary plant.[7] A series of twelve experimental locomotives
were constructed at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's Mt. Clare shops under the
supervision of George H. Emerson, but none of them was replicated in any
numbers.[8]
The only railway use of water-tube boilers in
any numbers was the Brotan boiler, invented
in Austria in 1902 by Johann Brotan and found
in rare examples throughout Europe.
Hungary, though, was a keen user and had
around 1,000 of them. Like the Baldwin, this
combined a water-tube firebox with a fire-tube
barrel. The original characteristic of the Brotan
was a long steam drum running above the
main barrel, making it resemble a Flaman
boiler in appearance.[9][10]

Road

[ edit ]

While the traction engine was usually built

using its locomotive boiler as its frame, other

Brotan boiler

types of steam road vehicles such as lorries

and cars have used a wide range of different boiler types. Road transport pioneers
Goldsworthy Gurney and Walter Hancock both used water-tube boilers in their steam
carriages around 1830.
Most undertype wagons used water-tube boilers. Many manufacturers used variants

of the vertical cross-tube boiler, including Atkinson, Clayton, Garrett and Sentinel.
Other types include the Clarkson 'thimble tube' and the Foden O-type wagon's pistolshaped boiler.[11]
Steam fire-engine makers such as Merryweather usually used water-tube boilers for
their rapid steam-raising capacity.
Many steam cars used water-tube boilers, and the Bolsover Express company even
made a water-tube replacement for the Stanley Steamer fire-tube boiler.[12]

Design variations

[ edit ]

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D-type boiler

[ edit ]

The 'D-type' is the most common type of small- to medium-sized boilers, similar to the
one shown in the schematic diagram. It is used in both stationary and marine
applications. It consists of a large steam drum vertically connected to a smaller water
drum (a.k.a. "mud drum") via multiple steam-generating tubes. These are surrounded
by walls made up of larger water-filled tubes, which make up the furnace.

M-Type Boilers

[ edit ]

The M-Type boilers were used in many US WWII warships including hundreds of
FLETCHER class destroyers. Three sets of tubes form the shape of an M, and create
a separately fired superheater that allows better superheat temperature control. In
addition to the mud drum shown on a D-type boiler, an M-Type has a water-screen
header and a waterwall header at the bottom of the two additional rows of vertical
tubes and downcomers.

Low Water Content

[ edit ]

The 'Low Water Content' boiler has a lower and upper header connected by
watertubes that are directly impinged upon from the burner. This is a "furnace-less"
boiler that can generate steam and react quickly to changes in load.

Babcock & Wilcox boiler

[ edit ]

Designed by the American firm of Babcock &

Wilcox, this type has a single drum, with
feedwater drawn from the bottom of the drum
into a header that supplies inclined watertubes. The watertubes supply steam back into
the top of the drum. Furnaces are located
below the tubes and drum.
This type of boiler was used by the Royal
Navy's Leander-class frigates.

Babcock & Wilcox boiler

Foster Wheeler
Combustion Engineering

Stirling boiler

[ edit ]

Main article: Stirling boiler

The Stirling boiler has near-vertical, almost-straight watertubes that zig-zag between
a number of steam and water drums. Usually there are three banks of tubes in a "four
drum" layout, but certain applications use variations designed with a different number
of drums and banks.
They are mainly used as stationary boilers, owing to their large size, although the
large grate area does also encourage their ability to burn a wide range of fuels.
Originally coal-fired in power stations, they also became widespread in industries that
produced combustible waste and required process steam. Paper pulp mills could burn
waste bark, sugar refineries their bagasse waste. It is a horizontal type of boiler.

Yarrow

[ edit ]

Main article: Yarrow boiler

Named after its designers, the then Poplarbased Yarrow Shipbuilders, this type of threedrum boiler has three drums in a delta
formation connected by watertubes. The
drums are linked by straight watertubes,
allowing easy tube-cleaning. This does,
however, mean that the tubes enter the drums
at varying angles, a more difficult joint to
caulk. Outside the firebox, a pair of 'cold-leg'
pipes between each drum act as
'downcomers'.[13]
Due to its three drums, the Yarrow boiler has
a greater water capacity. Hence, this type is
usually used in older marine boiler

End-view of a Yarrow boiler

applications. Its compact size made it

attractive for use in transportable power
generation units during World War II. In order to make it transportable, the boiler and
its auxiliary equipment (fuel oil heating, pumping units, fans etc.), turbines, and
condensers were mounted on wagons to be transported by rail.

White-Forster

[ edit ]

The White-Forster type is similar to the Yarrow, but with tubes that are gradually
curved. This makes their entry into the drums perpendicular, thus simpler to make a
reliable seal.[13]

Thornycroft

[ edit ]

Designed by the shipbuilder John I. Thornycroft & Company, the Thornycroft type
features a single steam drum with two sets of watertubes either side of the furnace.
These tubes, especially the central set, have sharp curves. Apart from obvious
difficulties in cleaning them, this may also give rise to bending forces as the tubes

warm up, tending to pull them loose from the

tubeplate and creating a leak. There are two
furnaces, venting into a common exhaust,
giving the boiler a wide base tapering
profile.[13]

Forced circulation boiler

[ edit ]

In a forced circulation boiler, a pump is added

to speed up the flow of water through the
tubes.[14]

Other types

[ edit ]

O-type boiler

End-view of a Thornycroft boiler

A-type boiler
Flex-tube boiler
M-Type Control superheater

See also

[ edit ]

Three-drum boiler
Clarkson thimble tube boiler
Corner tube Boiler
Internally rifled boiler tubes (also known as Serve tubes)

References

[ edit ]

1. ^ https://law.resource.org/pub/us/code/ibr/asme.bpvc.vii.2010.pdf
2. ^ "Boiler Efficiency: Water Tube Boilers"

3. ^ http://docketpublic.energy.ca.gov/PublicDocuments/07-AFC05C/TN203064_20140915T132932_ISEGS_Order_Approving_Petition_to_Amend.pd
f
4. ^ "High Pressure Steam Locomotive Technology."
5. ^ "The Jawn Henry"

. Trains Magazine. Retrieved 2008-10-28.

6. ^ "LNER 10000 High Pressure Locomotive"

7. ^ "Baldwin 60000"

. Loco Locomotive gallery.

. Loco Locomotive gallery.

. Loco Locomotive gallery.

8. ^ See chapter on "Experimentals" in Sagle, Lawrence W. (1964). B&O Power. Staufer.

p. 288 ff.
9. ^ "Brotan"
10. ^ "Brotan"

. Loco Locomotive gallery.

.

11. ^ Kelly, Maurice A. (1975). The Undertype Steam Road Waggon. Cambridge: Goose
and Son. ISBN 0-900404-16-7.
12. ^ Harris, K. N. (1967). Model Boilers and Boilermaking. Hemel Hempstead: Model
Aeronautical Press.
13. ^

a bc

Stokers' Manual ((1912 edition) ed.). Admiralty, via HMSO, via Eyre &

Spottiswoode. 1901.
14. ^ Newest on Process Equipments (2012-11-25). "Boilers circulation systems: natural
circulation and forced circulation"

External links

. Enggcyclopedia. Retrieved 2013-09-30.

[ edit ]

Robertson, Leslie Stephen Water-tube

Wikimedia Commons has

boilers; based on a short course of

media related to Water-tube

boilers.

lectures delivered at University college,

London

(1901) from the Internet Archive

Steam engines

V T E

Operating cycle

Atmospheric Watt Cornish Compound Uniflow

Valves

Slide (D slide) Piston Drop Corliss Poppet Sleeve

Bash

Valve gear

Gab Stephenson link Joy Walschaerts Allan Baker

Corliss Lentz Caprotti Gresley conjugated
Southern

Valves

Mechanisms

Beam Cataract Centrifugal governor Connecting rod Crank Crankshaft

Hypocycloidal gear Link chain Parallel motion Plate chain Rotative beam
Sun and planet gear Watt's linkage
Simple boilers

Boilers

Fire-tube boilers
Water-tube boilers
Boiler feed

Cylinder
Condenser

Other

Haystack Wagon Egg-ended Box Flued Cornish

Lancashire
Locomotive Scotch Launch
Babcock & Wilcox Field-tube Sentinel Stirling
Thimble tube Three-drum Yarrow
Feedwater heater Feedwater pump Injector

Locomotive Oscillating Single- and double-acting

Condensing steam locomotive Jet Kirchweger Watt's separate "Pickle-pot"
Surface
Crosshead Cutoff Expansion valve Hydrolock Piston
Reciprocating engine Return connecting rod engine
Six-column beam engine Steeple engine Safety valve
Steeple compound engine Stroke Working fluid
Precursors
Newcomen engine

Savery Engine (1698)

Newcomen Memorial Engine (1725) Fairbottom Bobs
(1760) Elsecar Engine (1795)

Beam

Watt engine

High-pressure

Compound
Murray
High-speed

See also

Soho Manufactory engine (1782)

Bradley Works engine (1783)
Rotative beam

History

Kinneil Engine (1768) Old Bess

(1777) Chacewater Mine engine
(1778) Smethwick Engine (1779)
Resolution (1781)

Whitbread Engine (1785)

National Museum of Scotland engine
(1786) Lap Engine (1788)

Richard Trevithick (Puffing Devil (1801)

London Steam Carriage (1803)
"Coalbrookdale Locomotive" (1803)
"Pen-y-Darren" locomotive (1804))
Woolf's compound engine (1803)
Murray's Hypocycloidal Engine (1805) Salamanca
(1812)
Porter-Allen (1862)

Glossary of steam locomotive components History of steam road vehicles

(Cugnot's fardier vapeur (1769) Murdoch's model steam carriage (1784))
Lean's Engine Reporter List of steam technology patents Modern steam
Stationary steam engine Timeline of steam power Water-returning engine

Categories: Water-tube boilers

Boilers

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