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Copyright © 1990 by ASME

The Influences of Fintube Characteristics on the

Manufacturing and Operation of Waste Heat Recovery
Boilers (W. H. R. B.) Behind Turbines
P. A. DESMET
Mannesmann Carnoy N.V.
Belgium

ABSTRACT These characteristics can be guaranteed for a great

The technological developments in the steam boiler
field, induced by changes in the use of different fins
and the need to save energy, has its consequential
effects on the heat transfer techniques.
As the extended surface tube is one of the important
components of the steam boilers and particularly of
waste heat recovery boilers (WHRB) behind turbines, we
want to draw the attention to recent developments in
the field of finned tubes, opening new possibilities
for the optimization of construction costs of WHRB on
one hand and reducing the fouling problem by a new
geometry of the helically wound fins on the other
hand.
number of finned tubes, being produced at short
notice, constituting an important part in quantity and
quality of the body of a WHRB.
The problem areas discussed in this paper are
restricted to these types of RHF welded spiral finned
tubes, which are used for exhaust gases higher than
250°C.(490°F)
HOW TO DEFINE THE FINTUBE ?
- Because of the temperature range in utilization, the
fin and the base tube which are taken in account are
either in carbon steel or alloy steel or a combination
of carbon and alloy steel.

- The I-shaped fin can be either solid (plain) or

INTRODUCTION serrated (segmented). (see fig. 1)

The spiral wound welded fin is the most widely used

extended surface tube in Europe and North America, and
the radio high frequency (RHF) welding procedure is by
far the most popular one, this means that references
worldwide in the WHRB-sphere are practically
restricted to this type of welding.

The popularity of this RHF-welding procedure with an

I-shaped fin is justified by different facts :

- The fin remains fused with the base tube for its
life time despite thermal shocks which can occur
during normal operation.
- The RHF welding procedure does not influence the
properties of the base tube (so there should not
be any post weld heat treatment after finning).
- The fin is bound to the tube continuously.
The metal characteristics are defined as a function of
the existing exhaust gas temperatures (see further in
this paper the problem area of the fintip temperature)
and requirements of the production technology.
The largest quantity of the fintubes installed in WHRB
are of the plainfin type. But there is a trend among
certain design- engineering to use segmented fins, in
certain conditions.

'Presented at the Gas Turbine and Aeroengine Congress and Exposition—June 11-14, 1990—Brussels, Belgium

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 OPTIMIZATION OF THE WHRB CONSTRUCTION COSTS
It is a general aim to reduce to the utmost the
construction costs of heat exchanger modules of
WHRB so to reach as good as possible the targets
related to the foreseen investment level.
Optimization through the geometry of the fintube
The thermal calculations and the related cost of
the fintube determine the final decision on tube
length, fin height, fin thickness, fin pitch
(number of fins per unit length).
The design of the WHRB modules will lead to the
option to produce the fintube either fully finned
or with interruptions i.e. with bare parts,
depending on the chosen method for tube arrangement
in the modules. The selection of these parameters
will influence the final cost of the finned tubes
and automatically the cost of the WHRB.
- Optimization through the choice of the steel grade
in connection with the fintip temperature.
The maximum fintip temperatures accepted for
various steel grades are as follows :
Carbon Steel 475°C (890°F)
11% Cr-Steel 650°C (1200°F)
18-8% Cr-Ni Steel 875°C (1610°F)
25-12% Cr-Ni Steel 1050°C (1920°F)
25-20% Cr-Ni Steel 1100°C (2010°F)
As there is a gap between 475°C and 650°C which is
actually completely covered by an 11% Cr steel
quality, the question has been examined if there
could be an intermediate %Cr quality which could be
considered good enough for some intermediate fintip
temperatures. It is now generally concluded that
there is no alloy, on a price level lower than that
of 11% Cr, which can be considered to have better
characteristics than those of carbon steel. This
appears clearly in the scaling behavior of various
steels during 1000 hours exposure in air at tem-
peratures from 595 to 925°C. (1100°F to 1700°F).
(see fig. 2)
6ao 650 M M M
150
ti o
1W X
o F
ti
IW Q0O?o
M1E
^ OaS
Q S
•• 1000 1100 IY° I]YO 1400 1100
It seems interesting to note that different alloys
such as TP304, 316, 321, 347 are all similar in
consideration of the maximum temperature without
excessive scaling.
This temperature is generally accepted to be on a
level of 900°C (1650°F).
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Optimization through the choice of the solid
(plain) fin compared to segmented (serrated or
cut fin).
Whether to use a solid fin or a serrated one seems
to be a matter of philosophy.
The serrated fin increases the turbulence on the
gas side which leads to a better heat transfer.
But on the other hand the serrated fins increase
the pressure drop in the heat exchanging area and
it has to be determined how much the p could be
accepted for the total design.
There could additionally be an influence on the
side of fouling and this matter will be described
later on in this paper. The price comparison in
absolute value between solid and serrated fins is
often contradictory depending on the producer; so
that in one case the serrated fin is the cheapest
one and in another case the solid fin.
Optimization through staggered fintube con-
figuration instead of in line.
The staggered arrangement is generally considered
to be the optimal choice, because of the smaller
module-volume and the higher heat exchange and is
consequently a more economical solution. On the
other hand, this arrangement seems to be much more
critical for fouling i.e. more difficult to clean
by sootblowing.
Design engineers generally estimate that eventual
problems after start-up will be more difficult to
solve by use of a staggered arrangement.
For this reason it seems that the majority of
installations are designed with an in line arrange-
ment.
—Optimization through Differential Finning Pitch
(DFP)
In certain module designs, the finned tubes are
pushed through drilled tube sheets.
The thickness of the sheet is chosen as low as
possible to get an acceptable rigidity and an accep-
table support area to allow expansion of the fin-
tubes (fins move in the tubesheet).
It is generally accepted that 3 to 4 fins should be
supported by the tubesheet to avoid gliding problems
M ^0 M during expansion of the tubes by changing tem-
peratures.
The following figures 3 and 4 illustrate this
situation as it happens for a fin density of
200/meter and a sheet thickness of 20 mm.
x
bX^'
O
1
1N
ia+ro
ILfll
1600 lid IN.
As soon as there is a necessity to install fintubes
with, for example, a fin density of 100/metre, the
contact of the fins with the tube sheet surface will
be insufficient.
fig. 4
 B. REDUCING THE FOULING PROBLEMS

Most of the WHRB are engineered for exhaust gases

from turbines firing natural gas.
More and more however it appears that there could
be the possibility of temporarilly running with
oil-fuels with a higher fouling factor.
Different ways are available to reduce fouling.

a) Adapting the Finned Tube design i.e. the fin

pitch for a bare tube dia 51 mm (Kentube
Corporation USA).
These pitches are recommended for economizers
behind steamboilers and can be a base for esti-
mating finpitch differences in case of
WHRB. (see table 1)
Presently design-engineers have only three solu-
tions
FINNED TUBE DESIGN STANDARDS

1) Consider tube sheets with a aru...l ot..r

higher thickness, which
involves a higher weight and
71 higher price Co.l Fird 24 Y..

2) Fit, by welding to the drilled F:rin6 heavy ...it-1

buvker 'C" 04_30
sheet holes or to the tube, a Y..

shell to get a larger gliding Firing nth /5 . d /6 oil 36 Y.

I
"- —^ surface. (see figure 5) Fi rieg ^it6 IL avd /4 vll N Ye.

This means a considerable Coal Fired ^ieh precipft.tlm

price increase up .t resin of acmun:ser 1g Y..

3) Take the option, for a speci- Firing —Y ^N utvr.l g.. 54-T2 No

fic zone, to use unfinned N.eo .l ga. [i riog with •2

hr:ng m .t.ndby Pau 16.,
parts which means a higher 30 d.y./y..rl 60 No
cost per tube and a more Natural gfl hi g .rltb /2 4 /4

expensive support structure o:l II rivg m inter nrptble W.i. 48 Y..

(Christmas tree) N.tur.l g.` fir:g with bevy

.Id:wn ..Mby (.merg.ny
1 'IY) 36 Y..

A NEW possibility has been developed, the so called N.tur.l g.. (:nng^ tl heavy
re um (or tote t evt

Differential Finning Pitch (DFP). 24-3o Y..

b) Choice of the better sootblowing system together

This new technical possibility results in a still with an in-line arrangement of fintubes. (see
continuous weld but, on those places chosen by the figures 7 and 8)
design-engineer, the finning density is increased
to reach, for the same sheet thickness, the accep-
table number of fincontacts. Figure 6 illustrates
this new development.

In-line

•0000000000

The cost increase for this zone DFP is negligible

in comparison with the cost savings which are
obtained during WHRB-Construction so that this
Staggered
opportunity is largely profitable.

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 The advantages of a staggered configuration to an
in-line one are a higher heat transfer for a
smaller volume of fintubes, but this implies a
higher pressure drop together with a more difficult
cleaning.
c) Effect of fouling on "serrated" and "solid" fins
and other general characteristics of the
finning.
Tests conducted at the Air Research Manufacture
Company in Torrence, USA, with diesel exhaust
grade 6-oil on serrated and plain finned tubes
(197 fins/m, 16 mm fin height, 51 mm base tube
diameter), show that after 28 days the fouling
height was about 0,5 mm for the plain fin and
1,15 mm for the serrated fin.
After 37 days, 90% of the fin height on the serrated
finned tube was already bridged but it took 10
days longer to produce the same effect on a solid
fin. But after 56 days without cleaning, both finned
tube types had collected the same amount of soot.
This heavy fouling and bridging effect only occurs
on high numbers of fins per unit length. The same
test was conducted on tubes with 118 fins/m (40%
less fins) and no bridging was noticed. It is
obvious that a reduced number of fins per length
will reduce the fouling con siderably.
There are three other characteristics which
influence the fouling :
1. The attachment of the fin on the bare tube has
an influence on fouling.
If there are not properly welded-through areas
at the foot of the fin, soot will enter and stay.
2. The corrugation of the finfoot has to be main-
tained as low as possible.
This leaves low opening corners between fin and
tube in which soot and dirt like to stick.
3. The dishing of the fin. A helically wound fin
very rarely sits at 90 0 angle on the tube.
It usually is inclined to the tube and the higher
the inclination the more fouling can occur.
This geometrical result has been obtained actually
by a spiral wound RHF welded fintube with the
following advantage :
The angle between fin and pipe is more "open" i.e.
less fouling and easier blowing.
No corrugation at the foot and consequently less
fouling.
Very small welding beam at the foot. This means a
smoother surface which is again helpful against
fouling.
It is, on the other hand of interest to know that
for the same pitch and fin height the heat transfer
is at least the same as for the rectangular cross-
section. These conclusions have been taken on a
theoretical basis, by way of laboratory tests per-
formed by FACULTE POLYTECHNIQUE de MONS,(BELGIUM),
Service de Thermique, Professeur H. MEUNIER.
It is expected that in the near future practical
experience will confirm this theoretical basis, expe-
cially according the assumption of lower fouling.
CONCLUSIONS
The growing investment in combined cycle powerplants
generate the above mentioned problems, which become
exponentially more important because of their influence
on the total result of a WHRB. The importance of the
fintube problem areas are therefore evident and it
appears the producers of these kind of products are
working hard to investigate new and better technical
and economical solutions.

d) Adaptation of the fin cross-section geometry.

It is by practice well known for years that an
extended surface based on a geometry near to a tra-
pezium instead of rectangular is less fouled by soot
and is much easier to clean by blowing. (see
figure 9)

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