Air preheater

Air preheater is a general term to describe any device

designed to heat air before another process (for
example combustion in a boiler). The purpose of the air
preheater is to recover the heat from the flue gas from
the boiler to improve boiler efficiency by burning fuel
with warm air which increases combustion efficiency,
and reduces useful heat lost from the flue. As a
consequence, the gases are sent to the chimney or
stack at a lower temperature(to meet emissions
regulations, for example) allowing simplified design of
the ducting and stack.
 Different types
For use in steam generators in thermal power
stations, there are two types of air preheaters: One is
a tubular type built into the boiler flue gas ducting,
and the other is a rotating regenerative air pre heater
(RAPH) known as Ljungstrom Air Pre heater .
Performance comparison between Regenerative (RAPH) &
Recuperative (tubular or plate recuperators for mill duties on a
900 MW unit:

Regenerative Recuperative
(RAPH) (tubular or plate
recuperators)
Heating surface 8715 m² 11982 m²
Total weight 139 ton 331 ton
No./boiler 02 02
Leakage 12-14% <2%
Undiluted gas outlet 131ºC 122 ºC
temp.
Fan shaft power per 12,664 kW 13172 kW
boiler FD/PA/ID
TUBULAR –APH
Advantages:
Static construction.
Small Nominal leakages of air to gas.
Low Fan shaft power consumption.
Problems
Large for thermal duty.
Difficult to clean.
Do not allow replacement of damaged
heating surface.
The ductings for cold and hot air require
additional space and structural supports
compared with the Ljungstrom design
 Ljungstrom Regenerative Air Preheater (RAPH)
Regenerative APH:
where the gas flows through a closely packed matrix with
consequent increase in matrix temp. and subsequently
air is passed through the matrix to pick up the heat.

The rotor itself is the medium of heat transfer in this

system, and is usually composed of some form of steel
structure.

It rotates quite slowly (around 1-5 RPM) to allow optimum

heat transfer first from the hot exhaust gases to the
element, then as it rotates, from the element to the cooler
air in the other sectors.
 Construction

•In this design the whole air preheater casing is supported on the boiler
supporting structure itself with necessary expansion joints in the ducting. The
vertical rotor is supported on thrust bearings at the lower end and has an oil
bath lubrication. Oil in bath is cooled by water circulating in coils inside a
cooler.

•The top end of the rotor has a simple roller bearing to hold the shaft in a
vertical position.

•The rotor is built up on the vertical shaft with radial supports and cages for
holding the baskets in position.

•Radial and circumferential seal plates are also provided to avoid leakages of
gases or air between the sectors or between the duct and the casing while in
rotation.

•Air preheater baskets elements are made up of zig zag corrugated plates
pressed into a steel basket giving sufficient annular space in between for the
gas to pass through. These plates are corrugated to give more surface area
per unit mass for efficient heat transfer and also to give it the rigidity for
stacking them into the baskets.
Ljungstrom Regenerative Air Preheater (RAPH)

Advantages:
Significant reduction in overall size and weight.
Easy and economic replacement of heating surface with
separate cold end and hot end packs.
Minm . metal temp. at cold end is higher.
This metal temp. oscillates some 20-22ºC abve and below
mean of air entering and gas exit temp.
Problems
High Air leakages resulting high fan power.
Dust carry over to furnace is high causing ash erosion of
boiler tubes in burner panels.
Baskets are subjected to abrasive wear , hence frequent
replacement of the baskets are called for
Prone to air heater fire , the problem is aggravated
during oil firing
ILLUSTRATIVE SEAL SETTING CLEARANCES FOR 500 MW UNIT:

PAPH SAPH
SEAL TYPE Clerances In- Out- In- Out-
in mm board board board board
RADIAL HE 0.5-1.0 0.0 0.5-1.0 0.0
CE 0.0 13-14 0.0 25-26
AXIAL HE 7-8.0 10-11.0
CE 4-5.0 5-6.0
CIRCUMFERENT HE 4.0+_ 5.5+_
IAL 1.0 1.0
CE 1.0+_ 1.5+_
1.0 1.0