Development and evaluation of a long-term deposit probe for on-line monitoring of deposit growth

A newly designed air-cooled probe for on-line monitoring of deposition growth has been tested in a boiler firing three woody fuels. Thermocouples are mounted on both sides of the tube wall enabling measurements of the heat flux through the probe wall. Knowing the heat flux through the probe wall, it is possible to measure the additional heat transfer resistance caused by the deposit and to estimate the properties of the deposit. Calculating the deposit thickness using the collected temperature data indicated the thinnest deposit when wood was fired, followed by bark and waste wood. The calculated deposit thickness was larger than those found when analysing the deposit thickness after the probe had been removed. Nevertheless, the ranking of fuels by deposit build-up rate was the same.