Industrial boilers are devices that serve as fuel sources to heat, water, oil, and liquid or are used to create steam for industrial heating. Most boilers are made of copper, steel, or cast iron and they can be heated by wood, coal, oil, natural gas, and electricity. These boilers are available as fire tube and water tube types.
Industrial boilers have varied configurations to suit specific industry requirements. They can be very large devices or smaller portable models. Fire tube boilers convey hot gases via cylindrical tubes, which are surrounded by the water that must be heated. Fire tube boilers are unsuitable for larger applications consisting of over 2, 500 psig. This is the type of boiler that was used on steam locomotives. Fire tube boilers are relatively low priced, easy to clean, and are smaller in size.
They boilers are ideal for space heating and various other smaller industrial jobs. Water tube boilers convey water through tubes that connect to two drums, a steam drum and a mud drum. The tubes are usually bent to maximize the surface area. The smaller the boiler is, the more likely it is that the tubes will separated. However, in larger boilers the narrow tubes are used to make up the walls of the furnace. The heated water will rise to the steam drum where steam is saturated. In some instances, such as to drive turbines, the steam will re-enter the furnace to become superheated. Water-tube boilers are most often used for high-pressure boiling as they are available in larger sizes, feature faster recovery times and can handle pressures around 5000 psig.
These boilers are generally used more for steam and hot water production than they are for heating purposes. They cost more than fire tube boilers and usually harder to clean. Other types of industrial boilers are bubbling fluidised bed, circulating fluidised bed and pressurized circulated fluidised bed systems. Some industrial boilers are created for HVAC applications, and need to be certified by governing bodies. Other features include monitors/controllers, mounted and packaged options, and water conditioners, etc. Calcium scales and deposits can build up in the boilers which may create impurities that will harm the efficiency of the boilers, so make sure you take good care of them. Scales are formed from carbonates that are associated with the hardness of water and they can form sludge.
You can help to prevent this by using distilled water instead of tap water or by treating the water with soda-lime or an ion exchange method. Source: industrial101.com
