Impulse Cleaning System

Maximize Coal-Fired Boiler Heat Transfer
Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

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Improve Boiler Operations

The path to helping enhance boiler operation and minimize maintenance expenses is closer than you think and it starts with the Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System. This revolutionary technology offers signicant advantages over traditional cleaning methods such as: Soot blowing Rapping Manual shaking Blasting High-pressure water washing The Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System uses controlled, repeated impulses; cleaning is simply performed online. Plus, you benet from less tube wear and avoid wasting steam and water. GEs powerful impulse technology augments and potentially replaces cleaning systems used to dislodge buildup and deposits on convection surfaces in boilers and heat exchangers. This helps provide high levels of penetration and dramatically increases performance compared to alternative methods such as soot blowing while helping reduce operating costs and minimizing tube and shield damage.
GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Prevent ash build-up on boiler surfaces Extend time between outages Improve heat rate transfer
The installation of this technology will decrease the number of unplanned outages in the affected section of the boiler and provide greater value for our customers.
Xcel Energy project manager
Coal-Gen Presentation
Boiler Fouling, On-line Cleaning Solution Using Impulse Cleaning
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* Trademark of General Electric Company or its afliates. 2012 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

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How It Works
Using groundbreaking jet propulsion technology, impulses form in a controlled, pulsed manner to direct cleaning waves at surfaces where debris has collected. The cleaning cycle results from a complex process but its fully managed by a simple, automated control system. Heres how the cleaning cycle works: Each burst delivers fuel and air to the combustion chamber The mixture ignites and accelerates from subsonic to supersonic Mach 5 speeds A supersonic impulse exits the Powerwave+ cleaner and travels into the boiler for cleaning This process repeats up to 2 times per second The strength and frequency of operation is adjustable, depending on the application This shockwave weaves around obstructions and surrounding areas to provide more complete surface contact. So you get a much cleaner boiler with optimized heat exchange and increased performance.

Play the video below to see the effect of the Powerwave+ impulse wave.
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Harness the Power of Online Cleaning Technology

Removes thick and stubborn ash deposits better than traditional cleaning methods Reduces or eliminates the need for steam soot blowing Enhances long-term operability Reduces platenization Fuel-efcient design offers low operating cost with minimal maintenance Can integrate into plant control systems or operate in self-timed mode Cleaner tubes increase heat transfer and overall efciency of boiler Operates online using proactive cleaning vs. requiring an outage and reactive cleaning Extends time intervals between downturns caused by off-line cleaning, allowing more time for production Will not cause abrasion or erosion to boiler tube surfaces Easy to install and maintain, with a small footprint that preserves valuable space Uses only small amounts of compressed air, fuel and 110 VACv

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Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System

Frequency of cleaning cycle # of impulses per cleaning cycle Output Power Level (Decibels) Material Max Operating Temperature every 15 minutes to 1 hour 20 bursts, Typical up to 180 dB Stainless steel and cast malleable iron 1600 F (870C) 100-120 SCFM @ 70-90 PSI

Weight 205 lbs. (93 kg) Air Consumption (47-57 l/s @ 4.83-6.21 bar) Fuel Consumption Call +1-800-821-2222 or +1-816-356-8400 for more information
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Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System Controller Assembly:

External Dimensions ~12 x 9 x 6 to ~12 x 12 x 6.5 (~30.5 cm x 22.9 cm x 15.2 cm to ~30.5 cm x 30.5 cm x 16.5 cm) Weight 23 lb. (10.4 kg) Input Voltage 120/240 VAC Input Frequency 50/60 Hz Input Current 0.9 Amps @ 240 VAC/1.8 Amps @ 120 VAC

General:
Operating Temperature Operating Humidity Maximum Operating Altitude Range Storage Temperature Range Storage Humidity Range Storage Altitude Range 120 to 158 F (48.9 to 70 C) 90% Relative Humidity, non-condensing 0-9842 ft. (0-3000 m) -68F to 122F (-20C to 50C) 20-50% Relative Humidity, non-condensing 0-9842 ft. (0-3000 m)
cooling systems available for higher temperature areas
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Case Study 1
Prevent ash build-up on boiler surfaces

Challenge: This 220 MW unit uses 100% PRB coal. The T-red boiler had heavy ash build up in the backpass. The low temperature superheat (LTSH) section was tted with an in-line tube arrangement that had ash platenization in some areas and pluggage in others. Piling and ash accumulation were also a challenge in the lower economizer section. Traditional sootblowers provided limited cleaning and used valuable steam that caused corrosion and weakened boiler surfaces. The unit required an annual cleaning outage in order to operate until the major scheduled outage. Solution: Following a thorough evaluation, GE recommended the installation of six Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning Systems to clean the entire backpass of the boiler. Results: After the installation of the Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning Systems in early 2007, the plant did not require an unplanned outage for boiler cleaning and repair.

Other benets included:

33F improvement in economizer outlet gas temperature >25F improvement in air preheater outlet temperature 30% improvement in air preheater
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Case Study 2
Extend time between outages

Challenge: The 96 MW PRB coal-red boiler was experiencing severe ash accumulation in its reheat section. The plant had to take a major outage every year to clean the boiler in an effort to keep ash build up in check. The primary goal for the plant was to keep this area as clean as possible and prevent costly structural damage. Solution: Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System technology delivers online high-energy impulse cleaning that cleans transfer surfaces improving efciency of coal-red boilers. Results: Installation of the Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System has allowed the plant to maintain boiler temperatures and pressures at desired levels. Additionally, sootblowers were eliminated in two locations and the time between scheduled cleaning outages has been extended by 50% (from 12 to 18 months) due to the ongoing cleanliness of the boiler.

Key results
Eliminated sootblowers in two locations 50% increase in time between scheduled outages (from 12 to 18 months)
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Case Study 3
Improve heat rate transfer

Challenge: The combination of PRB coal and a tight n design in the economizer was causing pluggage in the boiler backpass. The existing cleaning methods for this 70 MW unit were inadequate and the plant would become rate limited due to pressure and heat transfer efciency loss.

Solution: Originally developed for jet propulsion, Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System technology can increase energy output while reducing overall maintenance time and costs. Results: Shortly after two Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning Systems were installed, the plant experienced over a 70F drop in ue glass temperature across the economizer and a 15F drop across the air preheater. The boiler gained a 0.5% improvement in heat transfer rate following the Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning Systems start up.
If GE Powerwave+ cleaning systems were installed on 10 percent of all coal-red boilers in the United States, boiler operators could produce an additional 1.09 million MWh of electricity per year without burning additional coal.
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Presented at Coal-Gen
Boiler Fouling, Online Cleaning Solution Using Impulse Cleaning

See how impulse cleaning technology can offer effective non-erosive heat transfer surface cleaning plus lower operation, maintenance and installation costs.
Introduction
Due to ever-increasing efforts towards maximizing availability and efciency of utility and industrial coal-red boiler equipment and minimizing emission rates, there have been recent surges in research and development in the areas of alternative fuels, chemical additives, active monitoring, combustion tuning, and line cleaning. Burning of solid hydrocarbon fuels results in what is commonly referred to as slagging and fouling of downstream heat transfer surfaces due to the bi-products of the combustion process. As heat transfer surfaces are layered with or blocked by ash deposits, efciency of heat transfer drops dramatically. If left to continue to foul, the mass loading of the deposits, the redirected ow patterns, and/or the excessive cleaning using current technology can lead to expensive operation and maintenance expenditures for plants. Looking at a sample 270 MW coal-red power boiler, improvement of online cleaning that results in a 0.5% efciency gain can yield signicant direct payback. This payback could equate to a maximum of 5,400 tons reduction of coal consumption or the equivalent of 14,500 MWhr of electricity, 11,500 tons reduction in CO2
Signicant payback is also seen in terms of reduced maintenance and cleaning costs during outages, and less forced outages throughout the year.
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emissions, and up to 50-ton reduction in SO2 emissions. Signicant payback is also seen in terms of reduced maintenance and cleaning costs during outages, and fewer forced outages throughout the year. Impulse cleaning technology, a derivative of acoustic cleaning, has recently shown potential for dramatic improvements in online cleaning of fouled surfaces when compared to existing cleaning systems being used. This paper will present a brief background and description of impulse cleaning technology, explanation of placement and operation, and highlight case studies from a sampling of plants that have beneted signicantly from the implementation of impulse cleaning systems to either augment or replace existing soot blower cleaning systems.

Background
Acoustic cleaning technology in one form or another has been utilized in plants for over 3 decades to aid in cleaning of heat transfer surfaces in boilers, lters in baghouses, plates in electrostatic precipitators, air preheater modules, catalyst in selective catalytic reduction reactors, fans, silos, hoppers, and various other pieces of equipment. Acoustic cleaning systems typically utilize compressed air to rapidly vibrate thick titanium diaphragm plates to create sound waves or pressure waves. The resulting sound waves are amplied and directed into the equipment to be cleaned. The transverse sound waves push and pull at the deposits, breaking them apart, and allowing gas ow or gravity to carry the deposits away from the surfaces. Typically, a dry, friable, ash-deposit is the most receptive to this type of cleaning power. There have been numerous papers written and presented over the years regarding
A signicant benet of acoustic or impulse cleaning systems over soot blowers is that they can be operated very aggressively in terms of their cleaning frequency per day without causing the tube erosion associated with soot blowers.
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the benets of acoustic cleaning technology over other types of cleaning systems such as rappers, soot blowers, shakers, reverse-air systems, vibrators, and air cannons. Impulse cleaning technology, the main subject of this paper, utilizes intense pressure waves of magnitudes more intense than acoustic cleaners can emit, to provide signicantly more complete and far reaching cleaning of heat transfer surfaces and the ability to address more sticky deposits typically outside the range of acoustic cleaning capabilities. The method utilized to create these impulse pressure waves vary greatly, including just exing a diaphragm plate with air as described for acoustic cleaners. In most cases, the impulse or shock waves are created through the rapid combustion, or detonation, of a charge of fuel/oxidizer in such a manner to direct the resulting impulse wave into the heat transfer surface to be cleaned. The basis for this rapid combustion technology has roots deep within the aerospace research and development eld (where high-throughput, pressure-rise combustion has the potential to radically change the design of future propulsion systems). A shock wave, or impulse wave, is an intense single pressure pulse characterized as having an immediate pressure rise followed by a sharp pressure-decay. This pressure wave is utilized in impulse cleaning systems to physically break apart agglomerations and facilitate them to move on through the process, without damaging the heat transfer and surrounding structure.

A signicant benet of acoustic or impulse cleaning systems over soot blowers is that they can be operated very aggressively in terms of their cleaning frequency per day without causing the tube erosion associated with soot blowers. The benet of this is that on average the boiler maintains more cleanliness and therefore operates more efciently. Soot blowers typically clean 2-3 times a day and between those cleanings, the tubes become fouled again leading heat transfer efciencies to continue to degrade until the next soot blower cycle. Impulse cleaners typically operate multiple times per hour throughout the day and therefore maintain higher heat transfer efciencies.
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Impulse cleaners have been applied by plants in boilers to reduce their reliance on soot blowers and slow down the associated tube erosion, augment the cleaning of deposits to gain back efciency loss, and to completely replace existing soot blowers that are not performing to plant expectations. Impulse cleaners are generally not utilized for cleaning of lter bags in baghouses, or catalyst in SCR reactors, however there are other applications where friable deposits clinging to heavy metal structures can be removed with impulse waves.

Placement and Operation of Impulse Cleaners

Since most impulse cleaners are wall mounted units that emit shockwaves radially out from the penetration point, it is necessary to design the placement of the system or systems and operate them in such a manner to fully cover the area to be cleaned. This section will describe the basic operation of impulse cleaners and how this impacts cleaning sequence and range of the cleaning impulse wave. Impulse waves from each cleaner are created
Placement of the cleaners is important to the success of installation and it is important to take into account tenacity of deposit, its physical state, and the temperature of the ue gas through which the shock wave is travelling.
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individually, in that each combustion event results in a single impulse wave. Impulse cleaners therefore operate in cyclic cleaning sequences, creating multiple cleaning waves per cleaning sequence. Typical cleaning sequences consist of 10-20 impulses with delays of 30 minutes to two hours between cleanings, radically different from the typical operation of a soot blower cleaning system. This exemplies a pro-active cleaning cycle that enables continued removal of deposits resulting in improved average efciency of the
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boiler. This is possible due to the low operation cost of the cleaner and the fact that it does not damage tube surfaces. Each impulse is the result of the lling of the generating chamber with a mixture of fuel and compressed air and igniting that mixture instantaneously. The combustion event moves at speeds approaching 1800 m/s (roughly ve times the speed of sound) as it consumes the fuel/air mixture. This supersonic combustion speed is what creates the strong shock wave coupled to the leading edge of the combustion ame as it consumes the volume gas within the chamber. The generating chamber shape can affect the strength of the resulting shock wave signicantly. Once the fuel and air is fully consumed, the shockwave decouples from the combustion process, exits the chamber, and begins expanding spherically as it continues to travel away from the penetration point of the cleaner. A unique benet of cleaning with impulse waves versus soot blowers is that the impulse waves will actually clean the leading edge and trailing edge of all tube-scale structures it passes. This is what allows the impulse wave to penetrate deeply throughout tube bundles and clean in a non-line-of-site manner to remove deposits typically left behind by other cleaning systems. This is a very important feature of an impulse wave with regards to boiler cleaning, where deposits build up in many areas that soot blowers cannot reach.

Although the Mach 5 velocity of the impulse wave quickly decays to the speed of sound once it leaves the combustion chamber, the steep pressure rise associated with the wave decays signicantly slower as the impulse wave expands and travels throughout the boiler. This pressure decay is approximated by blast wave decay theory and has been veried via previous research (Glaser, 2007). Based on what is known about leaning with pressure waves, once the wave pressure decreases beyond a threshold, dependent on type of deposit, it is no longer effective at removing those deposits. Similar to how the further away the deposit is from a soot blower jet, the less effective that jet of air/steam is for cleaning. Therefore, the initial shock strength is a variable that can affect the effective cleaning distance of each cleaner. Placement of the
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cleaners is important to the success of installation, and it is important to take into account tenacity of deposit, its physical state, and the temperature of the ue gas through which the shock wave is traveling. The more tenacious, or more aggressively attached that the deposit is to the heat transfer surface, the higher the pressure threshold required to remove it. Physical state is important, because as deposits cool, they move from a molten state, to a plastic state, and eventually to a solid state. In a molten state, the deposits absorb acoustic energy without breaking apart. Another important consideration is gas temperature in the area of the boiler through which the impulse waves are traveling. As gas temperature increases, the density of that gas decreases. Pressure waves moving through less dense gas result in smaller pressure rise and therefore less cleaning range. Taking all of these variables into consideration, impulse cleaning technology has been successfully implemented for coal-red boilers throughout the entire convection passes, up to temperatures as high as 1650 Fahrenheit.

Various fuel and oxidizer combination requirements exist for impulse cleaning systems. Physical sizes of the combustion chambers can vary greatly based on the fuel/oxidizer combination. Operation costs vary based on many factors, but a typical impulse cleaner can cost $2,000.00 USD to $4,000.00 in yearly operation costs. Most installations have less than a one-year payback.
When impulse cleaners were rst introduced to market, they were initially sought after to improve difcult buildup situations in existing boilers where changes in fuel, operating conditions, or degradation of existing cleaning systems had caused serious issues in the efcient operation of convection passes. Now, the industry is seeing emergence of sites interested in replacing entire (traditional) cleaning systems with impulse cleaning due to the operational and nancial benets.
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Conclusion
In the last ve years there have been many advances in impulse cleaning systems and they have become more accepted by utility and industrial boiler operators. Placement and operation of the systems is crucial to their performance. When applied correctly, impulse cleaning systems represent a rapid change in boiler cleaning technology and have provided proven benets that include more effective non-erosive heat transfer surface cleaning, lower operation and maintenance cost, and lower installation costs.

Note
Paper presented by GE at Coal-Gen Europe 2011.
Works Cited
Glaser, A. J. (2007). Performance and Environmental Impact Assessment of Pulse Detonation Based Engine Systems. Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati.
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FAQ
Q: How is an impulse wave different from a typical sound wave used in acoustic cleaning?
A: Acoustic waves have hundreds of pressure peaks per second. Impulse waves are more intense with fewer pressure peaks per second. That means the impulse waves can achieve greater cleaning power for tenacious deposits and can penetrate deeper into tube bundles.
Q: Will it damage my boiler?

GEs Impulse Technology Specications A: The Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System will not damage your boiler as other cleaning methods can. The impulse cleaning technologys shock wave generates a pressure disturbance in the gas stream, which causes displacement of dust particleswithout exposing the boiler tubes to erosion from steam soot blowing.
Q: What fuel is used?

Case Studies
A: The system uses ethylene gas, a light hydrocarbon C2H4, which is readily available through local gas distributors. Each system can generate about 10,000 impulses from a single, 30 lb. tank of ethylene.
Q: What else is required to install a Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System?

A: In addition to ethylene gas, electrical power and plant air are needed. A standard 110/220 VAC line is required to power the control system. And the system draws about 80-100 SCFM at 80-90 psi when operating.
Q: How do I know if the technology is right for my application?

A: Powerwave+ impulse cleaning is best suited for dry friable deposits. Systems have delivered effective results in superheaters down to economizers on boilers burning PRB coal, known for pluggage due to high ash content. Systems have been effective for both staggered and inline tubes, nned and smooth tubes, and tubular airhearters.
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Q: How many systems are required to clean a boiler?

A: This varies, but GEs engineering team can quickly determine the appropriate locations and number of systems needed for a boiler based on drawings and basic operational information.
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Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System

For more information, contact us at:
1-800-821-2222 1-816-356-8400
or visit
www.ge-energy.com/powerwaveplus
is GEs commitment to imagine and build innovative solutions to todays environmental challenges while driving economic growth. An ecomagination product must demonstrate a significant and measurable improvement to its customers operating performance or value proposition and environmental performance.
2012 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.
GEA30396e (10/2012)

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Maximize Coal-Fired Boiler Heat Transfer

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Improve Boiler Operations

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Harness the Power of Online Cleaning Technology

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System Controller Assembly:

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Prevent ash build-up on boiler surfaces

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Other benets included:

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Extend time between outages

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Improve heat rate transfer

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Boiler Fouling, Online Cleaning Solution Using Impulse Cleaning

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Placement and Operation of Impulse Cleaners

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

GEs Impulse Technology Specications Case Studies

Powerwave+* Impulse Cleaning System

Q: Will it damage my boiler?

Q: What fuel is used?

Q: What else is required to install a Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System?

Q: How do I know if the technology is right for my application?

Q: How many systems are required to clean a boiler?

Powerwave+ Impulse Cleaning System

2012 General Electric Company. All rights reserved.

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