Steam - That's A Bright Idea

First a little bit of history surrounding steam and boilers. It is said that the steam ‘engine’ was invented in about AD 50 by an ancient Greek called Hero, and called it an ‘aeolipyle’. However he only used the steam to power singing birds or tooting horns – just toys! Then in 1698 Thomas Savery patented a simple but clever steam pump which was used to pump water from coal mines. I suppose we tend to think of James Watt, born in 1736 as the real inventor of the steam engine and in 1776 his vastly superior steam engine was again used to keep mines free of water.

So that brings me onto the Water Tube Steam Boiler which was first patented in 1867 by the American inventors George Babcock & Stephen Wilcox. In their design, water flowed through tubes heated externally by combustion gases and steam was collected above in a drum. The water tube boiler allowed for higher pressures than earlier boilers. Two years later, Babcock & Wilcox published the first edition of "Steam: Its Generation and Use" - the industry bible which I and thousands of others rely on for the best information and advice.

From then until this current day, many other innovative ideas have been introduced into the art of steam production and improving the efficiency of boilers. Steam soot blowers were developed to improve boiler efficiency but, as this page about soot blowers for boilers explains, there can be inherent problems with this type of approach. The more recent introduction of Sonic Soot Blowers is the latest and perhaps greatest ‘tool’ to be employed in preventing ash build up and improving boiler and thermal efficiency.

The main advantages that Sonic Soot Blowers have over the old steam soot blowers are:-

Elimination of opacity spikes due to more regular, more efficient cleaning
Guarantees not to damage tube bundles or boiler structure
Elimination of tube corrosion and erosion problems
360° cleaning of all tube surfaces – not harsh leading edge tube cleaning as with steam soot blowers
Prevention of ash build up and sintering on steam tubes due to sonic soot blowers regular operation
No costly repair, maintenance or operational costs
Eco Friendly – helps to combat global climate change and the effect of global warming

Of course sonic soot blowers can be employed in other key items of plant such as ESPs, Baghouse Filters, SCRs and Marine Boilers. Take a look at this website dedicated to sonic soot blowers (the alternative to steam soot blowers) for more information.