It is defined as the difference between absolute gas pressure at any point in a gas flow passage and the ambient atmospheric pressure. Draught is plus if Patm < Pgas, if it is minus Patm > Pgas.
It is measured in millimter(mm).
Purpose of draught system :
To supply required amount of air to the furnace for the combustion of fuel. The amount of fuel that can be burn per square root of grate area depends upon the quantity of circulated.
To remove the gaseous products of combustion.
Types of draught system :
Natural draught :
Chimney only used to produce the draught is called natural draught.
Natural draught system employs a tall chimney as shown in figure. The chimney is a vertical tubular masonry structure or reinforced concrete.
It is constructed for enclosing a column of exhaust gases to produce the draught. It discharges the gases high enough to prevent air pollution.
The draught is produced by this tall chimney due to temperature difference of hot gases in the chimney and cold external air outside the chimney.
Where,
H- Height of the Chimney (m)
pa – Atmospheric pressure (N/m2)
p1 – Pressure acting on the grate from chimney side (N/m2)
p2 – Pressure acting on the grate from atmospheric (N/m2)
Due to this pressure difference (p), the atmospheric air flows through the furnace grate and the flue gases flow through the chimney.
The pressure difference can be increased by increasing the height of the chimney or reducing the density of hot gases.
Artificial Draught :
Steam jet or fan is used to produce the draught is called artificial draught.
It has been seen that the draught produced by chimney is affected by the atmospheric conditions.
It has no flexibility, poor efficiency and tall chimney is required. In most of the modern power plants, the draught used must be independence of atmospheric condition, and it must have greater flexibility (control) to take the fluctuating loads on the plant.
Today’s large steam power plants requiring 20 thousand tons of steam per hour would be impossible to run without the aid of draft fans.
A chimney of an reasonable height would be incapable of developing enough draft to remove the tremendous volume of air and gases (400 × 103 m3 to 800 × 103 m3 per minutes)
The further advantage of fans is to reduce the height of the chimney needed.
The draught required in actual power plant is sufficiently high (300 mm of water) and to meet high draught requirements, some other system must be used, known as artificial draught.
The artificial draught is produced by a fan and it is known as fan (mechanical) draught. Mechanical draught is preferred for central power stations.
Steam Jet Draught :- It employs steam to produce the draught
Mechanical Draught :- It employs fan or blowers to produce the draught.
Induced Draught : The flue is drawn (sucked) through the system by a fan or steam jet.
Forced Draught:
In a forced draught system, a blower is installed near the base of the boiler and air is forced to pass through the furnace, flues, economizer, air-pre heater and to the stack.
This draught system is known as positive draught system or forced draught system because the pressure and air is forced to flow through the system. A stack or chimney function is to discharge gases high in the atmosphere to prevent the contamination.
It is not much significant for producing draught therefore height of the chimney may not be very much.
Induced Draught:
In this system, the blower is located near the base of the chimney instead of near the grate. The air is sucked in the system by reducing the pressure through the system below atmosphere.
The induced draught fan sucks the burned gases from the furnace and the pressure inside the furnace is reduced below atmosphere and induces the atmospheric air to flow through the furnace.
The action of the induced draught is similar to the action of the chimney. The draught produced is independent of the temperature of the hot gases therefore the gases may be discharged as cold as possible after recovering as much heat as possible in air-pre heater and economizer.
This draught is used generally when economizer and air-preheated are incorporated in the system. The fan should be located at such a place that the temperature of the gas handled by the fan is lowest.
The chimney is also used in this system and its function is similar as mentioned in forced draught but total draught produced in induced draught system is the sum of the draughts produced by the fan and chimney.
Balanced Draught:
It is always preferable to use a combination of forced draught and induced draught instead of forced or induced draught alone. If the forced draught is used alone, then the furnace cannot be opened either for firing or inspection because the high pressure air inside the furnace will try to blow out suddenly and there is every chance of blowing out the fire completely and furnace stops.
If the induced draught is used alone then also furnace cannot be opened either for firing or inspection because the cold air will try to rush into the furnace as the pressure inside the furnace is below atmospheric pressure.
This reduces the effective draught and dilutes the combustion.
To overcome both the difficulties mentioned above either using forced draught or induced draught alone a balanced draught is always preferred.
The balanced draught is a combination of forced and induced draught. The forced draught overcomes the resistance of the fuel bed therefore sufficient air is supplied to the fuel bed for proper and complete combustion.
The induced draught fan removes the gases from the furnace maintaining the pressure in the furnace just below atmosphere.
Flames when the doors are opened as the leakage of air is inwards.
Also the pressure inside the furnace is near atmospheric therefore there is no danger of blowout or there is no danger of in-rushing the air into the furnace when the doors.
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