Nature and costs of fan erosion in coal-fired electric power plants
One of the tasks set forth in this contract was to ascertain the quantity and severity of erosion damage occurring to fans in coal burning power plants. A telephone survey was conducted of power plants having units larger than 100 megawatts generating capacity and using pulverized coal fired boilers. This sample represented approximately 50% of the total coal-fired generating capacity in the US and virtually all of the units rated over 250 megawatts. Results of this survey show that erosion damage can be found on blade leading edges (most severe), blade trailing edges, and center plates of fans. Seventy-one percent of the gas recirculating fans require erosion-caused repairs. Twenty-two percent of these fans have moderate to heavy erosion damage. Thirty-nine percent of the induced draft fans require erosion caused repairs with 14% experiencing moderate to heavy erosion damage. Of scrubber booster fans, 68% experience no erosion, 26% experience slight erosion, and 6% experience high erosion. Pimary air fans suffer slight damage. One percent experience moderately high erosion damage out of 18% needing any repairs. Damage to forced draft fans is minimal with 98% suffering no erosion. A total of 27,000 man-hours is being used annually to repair erosion damage in these fans. Units experiencing severe damage are spending up to 11 million dollars a year to purchase replacement power during operations. Various types of erosion shields and coatings are being used to reduce damage.
- Research Organization:
- Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (USA). Research Labs.
- OSTI ID:
- 6869557
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-CS-1596
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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