16

Pressure Drop in Gas and Air Ducts

The purpose of a boiler draft system is to provide the air needed for the combustion
of fuel and to discharge the flue gas produced in the furnace. In early days, gas
passages in boilers were large. As a result the pressure drop owing to the flow of
fluids through these passages was small. So most boilers did not need any external
means for moving the fluid through the system. As with an open fire, air was driven
through the fuel grate and the boiler furnace simply by the buoyancy force of the
hot flue gas. This is called natural draft. Modern boilers are much more compact.
So the resistance through the system is too large for the natural draft to overcome.
A fan is required to force the gas through the system. This type of system is,
therefore, called farced or mechanical draft.
Figure 16-1 shows the schematic of a typical draft system of a modern power
boiler. Air from the atmosphere is drawn by forced draft fans and delivered to the air
heater. This air passes through the air heater and coal mill. It then enters the furnace,
where the fuel burns to produce the flue gas. The flue gas passes through back-
pass heat transferring sections, air heater, and air pollution equipment. Finally,
an induced draft fan draws the gas and releases it to the atmosphere through
a tall chimney. A reasonable assessment of the magnitude of the pressure drop
through the system is essential to specify the fans. Furthermore, in most fans
the discharge volume varies with the imposed resistance. Thus a knowledge of
the system resistance is also important for the assessment of the flow through the
entire boiler draft system. The present chapter describes different draft systems
and presents methods for calculation of the system resistance.

16-1 Draft Systems

In a modern boiler a large number of heating surfaces are located in a very compact
space. As a result a mechanical means, i.e., fan, is required to overcome the flow
resistance in its compact flow passages.
In natural draft systems the buoyancy force carries the gas through the system.
The mechanical draft uses a fan to draw the air and gas through the system. Mechan-
ical draft can be one of three types: negative, positive, and balanced draft. A forced

P. Basu et al., Boilers and Burners

Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. 2000
458 16. Pressure Drop in Gas and Air Ducts

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FIGURE 16-\. A typical draft plan of a boiler plant

draft fan draws cold air from the atmosphere and forces it through the boiler draft
system. An induced draft fan draws air out of the boiler draft system and forces it
back into the atmosphere. A combination of these two gives the balanced draft.

16-1-1 Suction or Negative Draft

In this system, most of the boiler gas and air passage remains at slightly below
the atmospheric pressure. An induced draft fan located downstream of the system
draws gas and air from the system by overcoming the total resistance of the furnace,
air, and gas ducts. Its disadvantage is that a large amount of cold air is drawn into
the furnace, increasing stack losses and unburned losses. This reduces the boiler
efficiency. Furthermore, the fan power consumption is higher for the negative draft
system. Owing to the higher flue gas temperature an induced draft will handle a
larger volume of gas than a forced draft fan would pump from the colder end of
the draft system.

16-1-2 Pressurized or Positive Draft

Forced draft fans are located upstream of the boiler. These fans pump air to a
sufficiently high pressure to overcome the resistance of the air and gas ducts system.
The pressure in the furnace is above the atmospheric pressure, and therefore it is
called pressurized draft. This type of draft requires that the gas ducts and the