Next Steps in Level Measurement
Power Plant Feedwater
Heater Level Control
Kevin Hambrice, K-TEK Corporation
With old mechanical displacers, level fluctuations ran 4-in
to 5-in with a lot of hysteresis and frequent failures, causing
operators to control at much higher levels than were optimal.
New magnetic technology is changing all that. Here’s how.
F
eedwater heaters are used to “preheat” feedwater before
it is fed to the steam drum or boiler to be converted
to steam.
The feedwater heater is a larger shell and tube heat
exchanger through which condensate returns and any
makeup water is preheated prior to being sent to the boiler
for conversion to steam. This “preheating” means that less
energy (fuel) is required to flash the water into steam.
The feedwater heater, simply described, is a series
of tubes carrying feedwater through a tank shell. Steam is
injected into the shell and heat is transferred to the feedwater
inside the tubes. The steam condenses in the shell, creating a
liquid level of condensate in the heater.
The level is controlled to create a seal and prevent
blow-through of steam. The maximum thermal transfer
A schematic showing the layout of a feedwater heater.
s20 SEPTEMBER 2007
between steam and the feedwater takes place when the larg-
est tube area is exposed to the steam without allowing steam
blow-through.
Condensate is allowed to drain from the shell through
the normal drain. When the tubes become submerged in
condensate, heat is transferred to the condensate rather than
the tubes with the feedwater inside, resulting in poor heater
efficiency. A relatively small increase in condensate level (2-in
to 4-in) over the minimum greatly reduces the heat rate (fuel
efficiency) of the boiler. Thus, tight level control is required.
Historically, mechanical displacement type level systems
with mechanically driven pneumatic controllers have been
used. These types of controllers have two basic issues.
First, the mechanical nature of these level controllers
requires high maintenance due to seal and bearing failures
A Special Supplement to PUMPS & SYSTEMS
and air supply issues. In fact, one plant used maintenance costs area within the feedwater heater is
and an average 5-year life of the equipment as cost justification exposed and additional feedwater
for an upgrade of the level systems. can be heated for the same energy
Second, the varying liquid density of both the water and input to the heater. This increases
the steam in a feedwater heater creates significant errors in the heater throughput and efficiency.
measurement with a displacer. A change of only 0.1-sgu in the The accuracy and reliability of the
liquid will result in a 12.5 percent error and, as more com- system prevent steam blow-through.
monly seen, a change of 0.2-sgu will create a 25 percent inac- Typical system accuracy is 1-in.
curacy with a displacer. To further enhance perfor-
With the ranges for these heaters typically being 48-in to mance of these new level systems, a
120-in, it is common to see the heater level change 6-in to 8-in thermocouple and thermowell can
without a change of feed or extraction rate. Most power plants be installed in the magnetic level
compensate for this by simply controlling the level at a point gauge to measure condensate tem-
above the maximum inaccuracy of the displacer. Typically, this perature. The density of condensate
point is 8-in to 10-in above the drain – which greatly impacts will change with temperature, caus-
the heater efficiency. ing a small change in the buoyancy
Another point is that “displacers” are typically pneumatic of the float that affects the accuracy
and cannot be easily tied into a distributed control system of the reading.
(DCS). This means the advantages of varying heater level Through the use of the tem-
to control temperature with load cannot be realized. Early perature measurement in the DCS, a
upgrades used “hydrostatic” level transmitters, which proved simple correction can be made. This
unsatisfactory due to their inaccuracies caused by changes in correction allows the use of an even
the condensate density due to temperature, thermal expansion lower condensate level in the heater,
and contraction of the shell. and provides even more efficiency.
To solve these problems, numerous major power producers The real money is in the
in the U.S. and international locations have applied the newest improved control. With the old
magnetic level gauges and magnetostrictive level transmitter mechanical displacer, level fluctua-
technology to their feedwater heaters. tions ran 4-in to 5-in with a lot of
The design of the newest magnetic level gauges is rugged, hysteresis. This poor performance,
yet simple, and can be certified to ANSI / ASME B31.1 “Power coupled with frequent failures,
Plant Piping Requirements.” These gauges use a magnetically caused operators to control at much A magnetic level gauge
coupled float level indicator for local visual indication. The higher levels than were optimal. with magnetostrictive
float design and magnet technology provide very high magnetic With the new technology, users level transmitter.
flux density at the measurement point to prevent “decoupling” can control the level systems with
of the indicator on high-pressure heaters. their DCS to a level set point of 9-in. Through this precision
To eliminate the maintenance problems with mechanical level control, they are able to maintain a 5-deg differential on
transmitters and controllers, new magnetostrictive level trans- their heaters and get 6 percent more efficiency, which equates
mitters can be utilized. A very accurate (1/32-in) level transmit- to an overall cost savings.
ter is actuated by the magnetic field in a level gauge. It is simply Several power facilities around the world have found mag-
strapped to the outside of the level gauge housing. Magnetic netic level gauges and magnetostrictive level transmitter tech-
level switches can also be mounted in this fashion with certain nology so economical that redundant systems were installed on
magnetic level gauges. each heater. They simply do not want to run without this type
New magnetostrictive level transmitters are loop powered of system in place.
and 4-mA to 20-mA, with versions in HART®, Honeywell DE, Discussions with several plant engineers indicate a pay-
and Foundation Fieldbus. By mounting a magnetostrictive back in less than six months on efficiency gains alone. Plant
level transmitter on the outside of the heater, maintenance is operators have also reported huge maintenance savings, since
very low because it is not exposed to the internal temperatures sightglass repairs are eliminated.
and extremes of the heaters.
The accuracy and repeatability of a magnetostrictive level P&S
transmitter is key in this situation. The performance and reli-
ability of the transmitter allow the level of the condensate in the Kevin Hambrice is the director of marketing for K-TEK,
heater to be controlled precisely (usually at a point 2-in to 3-in 18321 Swamp Road, Prairieville, LA 70769, 225-673-
above the drain). 6100, Fax: 225-673-2525, khambrice@ktekcorp.com,
When the level is controlled as low as possible, more tube www.ktekcorp.com.

A Special Supplement to PUMPS & SYSTEMS SEPTEMBER 2007 s21