Advanced ultra supercritical steam generator
AssigneeThe Babcock & Wilcox Company
InventorPaul S. Weitzel
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A supercritical steam generator includes a downdraft furnace enclosure, a hopper tunnel, and a convection pass enclosure, with the hopper tunnel joining the downdraft furnace enclosure and convection pass enclosure together. Flue gas passes down through the downdraft furnace enclosure through the hopper tunnel and up through the convection pass enclosure. This structure permits the outlet steam terminals, which provide access to the resultant supercritical steam and/or reheat steam, to be located at a base of the steam generator rather than at the top of the steam generator as with conventional boilers. This reduces the length of the steam leads from the steam generator to a steam turbine that produces electricity using the supercritical steam.
Claims19
A steam generator, comprising:
- a downdraft furnace enclosure formed from walls made of water or steam cooled tubes, and wherein the furnace walls define a top end and a bottom gas outlet;
- a convection pass enclosure including a bottom gas inlet and horizontal tube banks located above the bottom gas inlet;
- a hopper tunnel connecting the bottom gas outlet of the downdraft furnace enclosure to the bottom gas inlet of the convection pass enclosure;
- and
- a steam outlet terminal located at the base of the steam generator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.