BOILER DRUM LEVEL CONTROL

 Two and three element drum level control

 Enhanced three element drum level control
Boiler drum level control is critical for both plant protection and equipment safety and
applies equally to high and low levels of water within the boiler drum.
The purpose of the drum level controller is to bring the drum up to level at boiler start-up
and maintain the level at constant steam load. A dramatic decrease in this level at
constant steam load. A dramatic decrease in this level may uncover boiler tubes,
allowing them to become overheated and damaged. An increase in this level may
interfere with the process of separating moisture from steam within the drum, thus
reducing boiler efficiency and carrying moisture into the process or turbine
The functions of this control models can be broken down into the following
 Operator adjustment of the setpoint for drum level
 Compensation for the shrink & swell effects
 Automatic control of drum level
 Manual control of the feedwater valve
 Bump-less transfer between auto and manual modes
 Indication of drum level and steam flow
 Indication of feedwater valve position and feedwater flow
 Absolute/deviation alarms for drum level
The Three main options available for drum level control are
Single element drum level control

The simplest but least effective form of drum level control

This consists of proportional signal or process variable (PV) coming from the drum level
transmitter. This signal is compared to a setpoint and the difference is a deviation value
This signal is acted upon by the controller which generates corrective action in the form
of a proportional output. The output is then passed to the boiler feedwater valve, which
then adjusts the level of feedwater flow into the boiler drum
Notes:
 Only one analogue input and one analogue output required
 Can only be applied to single boiler / single feedpump configurations with
relatively stable loads since there is no relationship between drum level and
steam- or feedwater flow
 Possible inadequate control option because of the swell effect
Two element drum level control

The two-element drum level controller can best be applied to a single drum boiler where
the feedwater is at a constant pressure.
The two elements are made up of the following:
Level Element : a proportional signal or process variable (PV) coming from the drum
level transmitter. This signal is compared to a setpoint and the resultant is a deviation
value. This signal is acted upon by the controller which generates corrective action in the
form of a proportional value.
Steam Flow Element: a mass flow rate signal (corrected for density) is used to control
the feedwater flow, giving immediate corrections to feedwater demand in response to
load changes.
Any imbalance between steam mass flow out and feedwater mass flow into the drum is
corrected by the level controller.
This imbalance can arise from
 Blowdown variations due to changes in dissolved solids
 Variations in feedwater supply pressure
 Leaks in the steam circuits.
Notes:
 Tighter control of drum level than with only one element
 Steam flow act as feed forward signal to allow faster level adjustments
 Can best be applied to single boiler / single feedpump configurations with a constant feedwater pressure
Three-element drum level control

The three-element drum level control is ideally suited where a boiler plant consists of
multiple boilers and multiple feedwater pumps or where the feedwater has variations in
pressure or flow..
The three-elements are made up of the following
Level Element & Steam Flow Element: corrects for unmeasured disturbances within
the system such as
 Boiler blowdown
 Boiler and superheater tube leaks
Feedwater Flow element: responds rapidly to variations in feedwater demand, either
from the
 Steam flow rate feedforward signal
 Feedwater pressure or flow fluctuations
In order to achieve optimum control, both steam and feedwater flow values should be
corrected for density
Notes:
 The three-element system provides tighter control for drum level with fluctuating steam load. Ideal where a
system suffers from fluctuating feedwater pressure or flow
 More sophisticated level of control required
 Additional input for feedwater flow required
Enhanced three element drum level control
The enhanced three-element drum level control module incorporates the standard three
element level components with the following improvements
 The three-element mode is used during high steam demand. The two-element
mode is used if the steam flow measurement fails and the module falls back to
single element level control if the feedwater flow measurement should fail or if
there is a low steam demand.
 The drum level can be derived from up to three independent transmitters and is
density compensated for pressure within the boiler drum.
Cascade, Feed Forward and Boiler Level Control

By Allen D. Houtz 1

One common application of cascade control combined with feed forward control is in level control system
steam drums.

The control strategies now used in modern industrial boiler systems had their beginnings on shipboard s
propulsion boilers. When boilers operated at low pressure, it was reasonably inexpensive to make the st
large. In a large drum, liquid level moves relatively slowly in response to disturbances (it has a long time
Therefore, manual or automatic adjustment of the feedwater valve in response to liquid level variations
effective control strategy.

But as boiler operating pressures have increased over the years, the cost of building and installing large
forced the reduction of the drum size for a given steam production capacity.

The consequence of smaller drum size is an attendant reduction in process time constants, or the speed
important process variables can change. Smaller time constants mean upsets must be addressed more
this has led to the development of increasingly sophisticated control strategies.

3 Element Strategy
As shown below (click for large view), most boilers of medium to high pressure today use a “3-element”
strategy. The term “3-element control” refers to the number of process variables (PVs) that are measure
control of the boiler feedwater control valve. These measured PVs are:
▪ liquid level in the boiler drum,
▪ flow of feedwater to the boiler drum, and
▪ flow of steam leaving the boiler drum.

Maintaining liquid level in the boiler steam drum is the highest priority. It is critical that the liquid level r
enough to guarantee that there is adequate disengaging volume above the liquid, and high enough to a
there is water present in every steam generating tube in the boiler. These requirements typically result
range in which the liquid level must be maintained.

The feedwater used to maintain liquid level in industrial boilers often comes from multiple sources and is
to steam drum pressure by pumps operating in parallel. With multiple sources and multiple pumps, the s
pressure of the feedwater will change over time. Every time supply pressure changes, the flow rate thro
even if it remains fixed in position, is immediately affected.

So, for example, if the boiler drum liquid level is low, the level controller will call for an increase in feedw
consider that if at this moment, the feedwater supply pressure were to drop. The level controller could b
valve, yet the falling supply pressure could actually cause a decreased flow through the valve and into t

Thus, it is not enough for the level controller to directly open or close the valve. Rather, it must decide w
needs more or less feed flow to the boiler drum. The level controller transmits its target flow as a set po
controller. The flow controller then decides how much to open or close the valve as supply pressure swin
the set point target.

This is a “2-element” (boiler liquid level to feedwater flow rate) cascade control strategy. By placing this
flow rate in a fast flow control loop, the flow controller will immediately sense any variations in the supp
which produce a change in feedwater flow. The flow controller will adjust the boiler feedwater valve posi
the flow to its set point before the boiler drum liquid level is even affected. The level controller is the pri
controller (sometimes referred to as the master controller) in this cascade, adjusting the set point of the
controller, which is the secondary controller (sometimes identified as the slave controller).

The third element in a “3-element control” system is the flow of steam leaving the steam drum. The var
demand from the steam header is the most common disturbance to the boiler level control system in an
steam system.

By measuring the steam flow, the magnitude of demand changes can be used as a feed forward signal t
control system. The feed forward signal can be added into the output of the level controller to adjust the
loop set point, or can be added into the output of the flow control loop to directly manipulate the boiler f
control valve. The majority of boiler level control systems add the feed forward signal into the level cont
to the secondary (feedwater flow) controller set point. This approach eliminates the need for characteriz
forward signal to match the control valve characteristic.

Actual boiler level control schemes do not feed the steam flow signal forward directly. Instead, the differ
the outlet steam flow and the inlet water flow is calculated. The difference value is directly added to the
signal to the feedwater flow controller. Therefore, if the steam flow out of the boiler is suddenly increase
up of a turbine, for example, the set point to the feedwater flow controller is increased by exactly the am
measured steam flow increase.

Simple material balance considerations suggest that if the two flow meters are exactly accurate, the flow
produced by the flow control loop will make up exactly enough water to maintain the level without produ
significant upset to the level control loop. Similarly, a sudden drop in steam demand caused by the trip o
turbine load will produce an exactly matching drop in feedwater flow to the steam drum without produci
significant disturbance to the boiler steam drum level control.

Of course, there are losses from the boiler that are not measured by the steam production meter. The m
of these are boiler blow down and steam vents (including relief valves) ahead of the steam production m
addition, boiler operating conditions that alter the total volume of water in the boiler cannot be correcte
forward control strategy. For example, forced circulation boilers may have steam generating sections th
out of service or in service intermittently. The level controller itself must correct for these unmeasured d
using the normal feedback control algorithm.

Notes on Firing Control Systems

In general, firing control is accomplished with a Plant Master that monitors the pressure of the main stea
modulates the firing rate (and hence, the steam production rate) of one or more boilers delivering steam
header. The firing demand signal is sent to all boilers in parallel, but each boiler is provided with a Boiler
allow the Plant Master demand signal to be overridden or biased. When the signal is overridden, the stea
rate of the boiler is set manually by the operator, and the boiler is said to be base-loaded. Most boilers o
header must be allowed to be driven by the Plant Master to maintain pressure control. Boilers that have
Master set in automatic mode (passing the steam demand from the Plant Master to the boiler firing cont
are said to be swing boilers as opposed to base-loaded boilers.

The presence of heat recovery steam boilers on a steam header raises new control issues because the s
production rate is primarily controlled by the horsepower demand placed on the gas turbine providing th
boiler. If the heat recovery boiler operates at a pressure above the header pressure, a separate pressure

Boiler Drum Level Control

Problem in Boiler Drum Level Control with YS170 and SLPC:

 In the YS170 and SLPC, single-element control needs to be configured within the user program.

 The YS1700, however, offers the primary direct mode so that the user program can switch on and off single-element control by changing a parameter.

Three-element Control:

 Disturbances in drum level are caused by fluctuations in main steam flow.

 Figure 1 shows a typical drum level controller, which measures the drum level (1), main steam flow (2), and feedwater flow (3) and manipulates the feedwater control valve to regulate the drum level. This is
three-element control.

 This three-element controller is a so-called cascade controller in which a drum level control unit is cascaded into a feedwater flow control unit.

Single-element Control:

 During startup of a boiler, both the feedwater and main steam flow rates remain below the measurable ranges, and this makes the three-element control with a level controller and flow controller unstable.

 In such cases, it is effective to use single-element control in which the feedwater controller is bypassed and the drum level controller directly controls the feedwater control valve.

Products

Drum Level Control

 July 3, 2010

A very common control problem, and one used in many examples elsewhere, is that of controlling the level in a boiler drum. Many industrial plants have boilers for generating process steam, and of course boilers are central to thermal power generation.

The boiler drum is where water and steam are separated. Controlling its level is critical – if the level becomes too low, the boiler can run dry resulting in mechanical damage of the drum and boiler piping. If the level becomes too high, water can be carried
over into the steam pipework, possibly damaging downstream equipment.

The design of the boiler drum level control strategy is normally described as single-element, two-element, or three-element control. This article explains the three designs.

Single-element Control (Feedback Control)

One or more boiler feedwater pumps push water through one or more feedwater control valves into the boiler drum. The water level in the drum is measured with a pressure and temperature-compensated level transmitter. The drum level controller
compares the drum level measurement to the set point and modulates the feedwater control valves to keep the water level in the drum as close to set point as possible. Variable-speed boiler feed pumps are sometimes used to control the level instead of
valves.

The simple feedback control design described above is called single-element control, because it uses only a single feedback element for control – the drum level measurement.

Single-Element Drum Level Control

Drum Level Controller Tuning

1. Integrating Process

From a controls point-of-view, the boiler drum is an integrating process. This means that any mismatch between inflow (water) and outflow (steam) will cause a continuous change in the drum level.

Integrating loops are difficult to tune, and can easily become unstable if the controller’s integral time is set too short (i.e. high integral gain). The process-imposed requirement for a long integral time makes the loop slow to recover from disturbances to the
drum level.

2. Inverse Response

To further complicate matters, the boiler drum level is notorious for its inverse response. If the drum level is low, and more feedwater is added to increase it, the drum level tends to decrease first before increasing. This is because the cooler feedwater
causes some of the steam in the evaporator to condense, causing the volume of water/steam to decrease, and hence the drop in drum level.

Conventional feedback control has difficulty in coping with this inverse response. A control loop using high controller gain and derivative action may work well in other level applications, but it will quickly go unstable on a boiler drum level. Stability is best
achieved by using a low controller gain, long integral time, and no derivative. However, these settings make the controller’s response very sluggish and not suitable for controlling a process as critical as boiler drum level.

Major Disturbances

Drum level is affected by changes in feedwater and steam flow rate. But because of the very slow response of the feedback control loop, changes in feed flow or steam flow can cause very large deviations in boiler drum level. Single-element drum level
control can work well only if the residence time of the drum is very large to accommodate the large deviations, but this is seldom the case – especially in the power industry. For this reason, the control strategy is normally expanded to also include
feedwater and steam flow.

Two-element Control (Cascade Control)

Many boilers have two or three feed pumps that will be switched on or off depending on boiler load. If a feed pump is started up or shut down, the total feedwater flow rate changes. This causes a deviation in drum level, upon which the drum level controller
will act and change the feedwater control valve position to compensate. As explained above, the level controller’s response is likely very slow, so switching feed pumps on and off can result in large deviations in drum level.

A faster control action is needed for dealing with changes in feedwater flow rate. This faster action is obtained by controlling the feedwater flow rate itself, in addition to the drum level.

To control both drum level and feedwater flow rate, cascade control is used. The drum level controller becomes the primary controller and its output drives the set point of the feedwater flow controller, the secondary control loop. This arrangement is also
called two-element control, because both drum level and feedwater flow rate are measured and used for control.

Two-Element Drum Level Control

Three-element Control (Cascade + Feedforward Control)

Similar to feed flow, changes in steam flow can also cause large deviations in drum level, and could possibly trip the boiler. Changes in steam flow rate are measurable and this measurement can be used to improve level control very successfully by using
a feedforward control strategy.

For the feedforward control strategy, steam flow rate is measured and used as the set point of the feedwater flow controller. In this way the feedwater flow rate is adjusted to match the steam flow. Changes in steam flow rate will almost immediately be
counteracted by similar changes in feedwater flow rate. To ensure that deviations in drum level are also used for control, the output of the drum level controller is added to the feedforward from steam flow.

The combination of drum level measurement, steam flow measurement, and feed flow measurement to control boiler drum level is called three-element control.

Three-Element Drum Level Control

Low-load Conditions

Although three-element drum level control is superior to single- or two-element control, it is normally not used at low boiler loads. The reason is that steam flow measurement can be very inaccurate at low rates of steam flow. Once the boiler load is high
enough for steam flow to be measured accurately, the feedforward must be activated bumplessly.