Measurements of absorbed heat flux and water-side heat transfer coefficient in water wall tubes

The tubular type instrument (flux tube) was developed to identify boundary conditions in water wall tubes of steam boilers. The meter is constructed from a short length of eccentric tube containing four thermocouples on the fire side below the inner and outer surface of the tube. The fifth thermocouple is located at the rear of the tube on the casing side of the water-wall tube. The boundary conditions on the outer and inner surfaces of the water flux-tube are determined based on temperature measurements at the interior locations. Four K-type sheathed thermocouples of 1 mm in diameter, are inserted into holes, which are parallel to the tube axis. The non-linear least squares problem is solved numerically using the Levenberg-Marquardt method. The heat transfer conditions in adjacent boiler tubes have no impact on the temperature distribution in the flux tubes.