Experimental thermal behavior of a power plant reheater

The process conditions of power plant components subjected to high pressures and temperatures are essential to determine their remaining life, availability and efficiency. It is, therefore, expedient to pay special attention to critical components, such as superheater and reheater heat exchangers, headers, and main and reheated steam lines. In this paper, on-line and off-line variables of a power plant reheater that has presented problems of thickness losses and repetitive tube fissures are studied. The fissures are associated with the effect of a thermal–mechanical mechanism. Off-line measurements were taken of the following variables: pressure, temperature, velocity and composition of the gases. On-line instrumentation was completed by the installation of specific thermocouples to ascertain the temperatures in the tubes outlet. Various angles for the fuel inlet of the burners and variations in the number and location of the working burners were also assayed. As a consequence of this analysis, it can be deduced that there are important differences in the outlet temperature of the reheater tubes that decrease for lower powers. Finally, it is pointed that a non-uniform distribution of the steam flow in the reheater might be the cause of the problem.