Stable Operation of Reciprocating Grates in Large Heating Projects
A large central heating project in a provincial capital in northern China, responsible for heating 100,000 households during winter, places extremely high demands on the stability, reliability and efficiency of boiler combustion equipment. The project ultimately selected the reciprocating grate from our partner factory. After five heating seasons of operation, it has demonstrated outstanding overall performance and become a benchmark case in the industry.
The project faced two core challenges. First, the heating season is long (up to six months), so the equipment must run continuously and stably with an extremely low failure rate. Second, the fuel is locally produced low-grade bituminous coal with high moisture and high ash content, so combustion efficiency and heating performance had to be maintained. Our partner factory customized the HZL-40 reciprocating grate for the project’s needs, ensuring stable operation through three major technical innovations.
First, reinforced heat-resistant grate bars were adopted. Through a special heat treatment process, their high-temperature strength was improved, solving the problem of traditional grate bars being easily damaged at high temperatures. Over five heating seasons, only 3% of the grate bars needed replacing, far below the industry average. Second, the movable-grate drive system was optimized using a variable-frequency motor and precision reducer, making grate movement smoother and reducing the failure rate by 80%. Third, an intelligent control system was provided that automatically adjusts the reciprocating frequency and air supply volume of the grate according to outdoor temperature and heating load, keeping combustion efficiency stable above 95%. Compared with the equipment originally used in the project, fuel consumption was reduced by 10%, saving more than 2,000 tons of coal per heating season. In addition, through our partner factory’s “one product, one code” service, operators can scan a code to obtain equipment parameters and maintenance guides, greatly improving operation and maintenance efficiency.
