Patent ID: 11927344
Assignee: GENERAL ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGY GMBH
Field: Thermal processes and apparatus (Mechanical engineering)
Classification: CPC F | IPC F

Claim 0:
1. A system for warm keeping a plurality of water fill circuits of a steam generator including an economizer, furnace waterwall tubes, a boiler drum, and at least one boiler drum downcomer that provides water from the boiler drum to an inlet header to the furnace waterwall tubes, at an elevated temperature while in an unfired stand-by mode of operation, the system comprising:
water extraction piping to extract water from a component of one of the plurality of water fill circuits, the component including the at least one boiler drum downcomer that provides water from the boiler drum to the inlet header to the furnace waterwall tubes, the water extraction piping branching from the at least one boiler drum downcomer;
a deaerator heating system to provide heated deaerated feedwater to the plurality of water fill circuits, the deaerator heating system having an inventory tank of water that is in fluid communication with the water extraction piping to receive the extracted water from the component, the extracted water from the component mixing with the water in the inventory tank, wherein the deaerator heating system heats the mix of water in the inventory tank to a predetermined temperature level to generate heated deaerated feedwater;
feedwater piping that forwards the heated deaerated feedwater at the predetermined temperature level from the deaerator heating system to the plurality of water fill circuits of the steam generator; and
a controller configured to control the water extraction piping, the deaerator heating system and the feedwater piping to operate cooperatively to warmkeep the plurality of water fill circuits in accordance with the predetermined temperature level by recirculating the extracted water and the heated deaerated feedwater through the plurality of water fill circuits while the steam generator is in the unfired stand-by mode of operation.