• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.465-469
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• 2010

Air heater used in power plant helps increase the thermal efficiency of the boiler by recovering the heat from the boiler flue gas and thus preventing the loss of useful heat. This study investigates the effect of preventive maintenance on the performance of the air heater in a power plant. Performance indexes for the air heater are calculated to observe the changes in the performance and operation status of the air heater before and after preventive maintenance. The major performance indexes considered are temperature efficiency of the flue gas side, air leakage rate, heat recovery rate, heat transmission rate, and heat capacity ratio. The performance of the air heater is evaluated before and after preventive maintenance; our results show that all the abovementioned performance indexes are improved after the maintenance.