RE: Steam Blowing

From: <Macharla>
Date: Sat Oct 06 2001 - 01:16:00 EDT


Hello,

SEE MY REPLY IN CAPS

  1. Do we need to put any water inside the pipelines before we do steam blowing? IDEA OF STEAM BLOWING IS TO ENSURE THE CLEAN STEAM TO EQUIPMENT LIKE STEAM TURBINES, WHICH ARE SENSITIVE TO FOREIGN PARTICLES IN THE STEAM. HOW ONE WILL ENSURE THAT...DEPENDS ON INDEPENDENT CHOICE. SINCE THE STEAM IS MUCH COSTLIER THAN WATER, NORMAL TENDENCY IS FLUSH THE PIPELINE WITH WATER THOROUGHLY, SO THAT ALL MAJOR DIRT, FOREIGN BODIES (NOT UNCOMMON TO SEE DEAD BIRDS, TOOLS ETC) AND WELDING DEBRIS. MOREOVER AFTER COMPLETION OF THE FABRICATION PROCESS, PIPELINE HAS TO BE HYDROTESTED. ONCE THE HYDROTEST IS COMPLETED, FLUSHING CAN BE CARRIED OUT. THEN DRAIN OUT THE LINE AND ADMIT THE STEAM FOR STEAM BLOWING.
  2. How do we calculate the Disturbance Factor, Cleaning force ratio and Maximum continuous rating for the steam blowing? EVEN THOUGH I AM INVOLVED IN STEAM BLOWING OF SOME DRIVE TURBINE LINES, I DID NOT COME ACROSS THESE TERMS. THESE SEEM TO BE MORE THEORETICAL THAN REALITY. BASIC IDEA IS TO MAINTAIN THE STEAM VELOCITY AND CONDITIONS SAME AS THAT OF DURING NORMAL OPERATION. BUT IT IS ANYBODY'S GUESS HOW ONE CAN MAINTAIN THE DIFF.PRESSURE BETWEEN STEAM SOURCE AND ATMOSPHERE (SINCE THE EQUIPMENT WHICH IS EXPECTED TO TAKE THE DIFF.PRESSURE IS NOT ON LINE). IN VIEW OF THIS STEAM DRUM PRESSURE WILL BE MAINTAINED AT AS MAXIMUM AS POSSIBLE WITH THAT OF NORMAL RUNNING CONDITIONS. STEAM WILL BE ADMITTED INTO BLOWING LINE AT SUITABLE FLOW RATE. IN CASE SOME OF THE OTHER UNITS/EQUIPMENT ARE USING THE STEAM FROM SAME SOURCE, PROPER BALANCE HAS TO BE ACHIEVED SO THAT OTHER EQUIPMENT ARE NOT DOWN.
  3. Any special instrumentation needed for the process? NOT REALLY...EXCEPT FOR THE ARRANGEMENT FOR VENTING THE STEAM TO ATMOSPHERE AT SUITABLE ELEVATION AND ARRANGEMENT TO INSERT THE TARGET PLATE JUST BEFORE THE VENT OUT CONNECTION. SINCE IT CREATES TREMENDOUS NOISE POLLUTION, SILENCER MAY BE OPTED. ONE HAS TO ARRANGE THE TARGET PLATES (NOTHING BUT A HIGHLY POLISHED CLEAN METAL SURFACE) IN SUFFICIENT NUMBER....MAY BE 10. TARGET PLATES NEED NOT BE INSERTED FOR INITIAL FEW BLOWS AND IT CAN BE STARTED AFTER 6 OR 7 BLOWS. PERMISSIBLE CLEANLINESS FOR TURBINE VENDORS IS...DOTS/SPOTS ON TARGET PLATE SHOULD NOT BE MORE THAN TWO.
  4. How long it will take for the process to finished? IT IS AGAIN A GUESS. IT DEPENDS HOW U STARTED THE PROCESS AND FOLLOWED. I HEARD OF THE CASES WHERE THE BLOWING COMPLETED WITHIN LESS THAN A WEEK. ALSO SEEN THE CASES WHICH LASTED FOR MORE THAN 4 WEEKS. IT ALL DEPENDS ON LENGTH OF NEW PIPE, NO. OF BLOWS GIVEN, DURATION OF EACH BLOW, INTERVAL BETWEEN THE BLOWS, STEAM FLOW RATE/VELOCITY ETC. BASIC IDEA IS HEAT THE LINE DURING BLOWING AND ALLOW THE LINE TO COOLDOWN TO AMBIENT TEMPERATURE. THIS HEATING AND COOLING PROCESS DETACHES THE SCALES FROM PIPE LINE AND THOSE WILL BE BLOWN OUT IN THE NEXT BLOW. ONE OF OUR GROUP MEMBER IS REFERRING TO PORTABLE STEAM GENERATION UNIT FOR BLOWING. BUT I NEVER USED THAT, SINCE GENERATING THE HIGH PRESSURE STEAM AND REQUIRED FLOW RATE WAS A LIMITATION IN OUR CASES.
  5. Anyone have any write-up procedure on steam blowing? I WAS HAVING WITH ME..NOT AT PRESENT. YOU CAN FIND IT IN ANY STEAM TURBINE INSTALLATION MANUAL. OTHERWISE CAN GET IT FROM STEAM TURBINE MANUFACTURERS OR FROM YOUR ROTATING MACHINERY GROUP.
Thanks for your help

  U ARE WELCOME. HOPE IT EXPLAINS THE PROCESS TO U ATLEAST UPTO SOME EXTENT. IF ANY DOUBTS, LET ME KNOW. PLEASE NOTE THAT ABOVE EXPLANATION IS CONSIDERING THE STEAM FOR STEAM TURBINES/DRIVERS. IF IT IS FOR PROCESS USAGE..I HAVE NO EXPERIENCE. HARI



If you want only site update notifications, go here: mailto:<a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=hDzPH5sD14DFMdbkT0DIGQHldG_WASaFdcrSP68ryugrmtinGHuyZWm8l6u3tWIn-zLqXO5FBHhkPh6phQiaobyXhf5_ADCgbQ6ov3YCjXVF">PipingDesignNews-subscribe@yahoogroups.com</a>

Piping Design Central
[ http://www.PipingDesign.com <http://www.PipingDesign.com> ]

We hope you find this newsletter useful. If not, you can unsubscribe at:
<a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=eIQ5gR3rAkzd2zGsljRK_TNDsdC-aspvRcmQvk8pEPWjxcNRB6SfP3Nq2diQDhNlu4JRVXe5tUeuhP3PKzRyI2PUVHcW2Q-hFV0yJAop8SJ1">PipingDesign-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com</a> Post message: <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=_v2YPeVRXqh8DLxD68EEbWyVB6-HK4tmM-3vsPSp0LXQdku_pljGElt8AHsfsV_pEOSBMc14cJ5OFiYVyrIEItx6PidkEBc">PipingDesign@yahoogroups.com</a> Subscribe: <a href="/group/PipingDesign/post?postID=9YI3ATZwx_atoyspJwwgFWL9rzuRrxugq1K3XonslPO6X8ATQ5jI8J4_lUqUyCrss0DbMfD912BdYfRpignO0-MjDktG4zKSwZuqBgB8QQ">PipingDesign-subscribe@yahoogroups.com</a>

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> Terms of Service. Received on Sat Oct 06 01:16:00 2001

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Tue Mar 04 2008 - 11:40:17 EST