Accurate Level Measurement Contributes to Heat Rate Reduction

Industrial steam turbine

Steam production is a costly operation in any facility, but is of paramount importance in power generation plants. The bottom line of a combustion based power generation facility is sensitive to the cost of input fuel. Measures that can be taken to reduce fuel input for a unit of power output (called heat rate) can translate directly into profitability. An additional benefit of reducing heat rate is a commensurate reduction in emissions.

A major contributor to heat rate reduction is the recovery of heat from the process and transference of that heat into the boiler feedwater. A sizable feedwater preheater of the shell and tube type is used to recover the heat. Shell and tube heat exchanger efficiency can be maximized with accurate control of liquid level.

Magnetrol, globally recognized leader in level measurement technology, makes the case for using guided wave radar level measurement technology as the most advantageous means for this application. The video below describes the process and how the guided wave radar level transmitter can provide the best performance.

Magnetrol has an information kit devoted to heat rate reduction. Share your steam system and level measurement challenges with a product specialist, and ask how you can get the Heat Rate Reduction Kit. Combining your facility and process knowledge with the product application expertise of a specialist will result in effective solutions.

Energy Calculator Simplifies Chilled and Hot Water Usage Monitoring

Yokogawa Model 212 Heat Calculator

Early in my professional career, I was a sales rep calling upon building engineers, maintenance technicians, and lots of HVAC related people. One encounter I had, many years ago, has always stayed with me. I was prattling on to a building engineer about whatever gear I was trying to promote for his chilled water system, and I must have really missed the mark. The engineer, clearly a man of superior experience to mine, stopped me in mid sentence. "You know what flows through these pipes?", he said, referring to the chilled water system. In my defense, I was very young and inexperienced at the time, but I did answer "Chilled water". My building engineer friend bellowed out, "Wrong....money flows through those pipes". That single encounter had a lasting impact upon how I viewed HVAC systems.

Energy costs for heating or cooling a building can be the single largest line item on the cash outflow summary for an operation. Much effort and expense is put into efforts to maximize energy efficiency and conservation. Monitoring of usage patterns related to the chilled or hot water system can provide useful information for developing new conservation strategies and verifying the impact of any steps taken to reduce consumption.

The Yokogawa Model 212 is an affordable and easy to install and use device that will provide a stream of usage data. A key feature of the Model 212 is its ability to interface with a broad range of flowmeter devices, including vortex and magnetic flowmeters with pulse outputs, positive displacement and inferential water meters, turbine and paddlewheel flowmeters. This flexibility allows the user to select a companion flowmeter that will suit their accuracy, budget, and operational requirements.

The Heat Calculator has four modes of operation to totalize the usage patterns in a manner that best suits the needs of the user. Additionally, the unit can interface with a building management system and includes internal data logging capabilities. Other features are described in the product data sheet I have included below.

Even small chilled and hot water systems can benefit from usage data derived from a monitoring system such as the Yokogawa Model 212. Share your system challenges with a product specialist. Combining your process and system knowledge with their product application expertise will produce effective solutions.

Heat Calculator for Chilled and Hot Water Systems from Miller Energy, Inc.