Fire-tube boilers and tubular exchangers

Cleaning of heat exchange surfaces in fire-tube boilers and tubular exchangers by means of shock wave generators (GFU-24/8).

In the cleaning installations for the fire-tube boiler and exchanger heat exchange surfaces, the shock wave generators (GFU-24/8) are used very effectively. It is enough to add just one generator in order to keep clean the combustion tubes of a 3 MW pulverized fuel or biomass boiler. The shock wave is generated during the rapid expansion of some compressed air portion. The generators are mounted on the side of the furnace chamber, i.e. where the combustion tubes are most vulnerable to fouling. The galloping fuel prices make the final users keep the heat exchanger and boiler heating surfaces clean.

Reference installations:

• Dairy Plant Ltd. in Łuków, 3 MW steam boiler, fired with pulverised coal – commissioned in April, 2011.
• Foamed Polystyrene Factory YETICO S.A. in Galewice, steam boiler 3 MW, fired with pulverised coal – commissioned in July, 2011.
• DREW-ZET Ltd. in Pomorzanowice, steam boiler 3.5 t/h, fired with humid biomass – commissioning in January, 2012.

The main features which characterise the cleaning system based on the shock wave generators (GFU-24/8) in comparison with other commonly applied solutions are as follows:

• elimination of costly and time-consuming manual cleaning of the combustion tubes,
• lower fuel consumption,
• high cleaning efficiency in relation to power consumption,
• low operational costs,
• low consumption of compressed air,
• no need for extension of the existing compressor station,
• the commonly applied compressed air pressure up to 8 atm,
• compliance with noise emission standards, i.e. 45 dB at the boundaries of the plot.