🔍 Key Concepts

• superheater function in a boiler and how it changes steam temperature and pressure • effect of reducing flow area in superheater tubes on heat transfer and gas velocity • difference between changes in temperature, pressure, and boiler water level

💭 Think About

• If many superheater tubes are plugged, what happens to the path and quantity of steam that can flow through the remaining tubes? • How would the same amount (or nearly the same amount) of furnace heat acting on fewer active tubes affect the steam conditions leaving the superheater? • Would plugging superheater tubes directly affect the boiler drum water level, or mainly the characteristics of the steam after it passes the superheater?

✅ Before You Answer

• Distinguish clearly between drum water level effects and superheater outlet conditions • Decide whether plugging tubes makes the remaining tubes run hotter or cooler for the steam passing through them • Consider whether plugging tubes would more directly change temperature or pressure at the outlet, given the same firing rate