The Clayton Steam Generator design provides a high degree of heat transfer capability because of the spirally wound pancakes of boiler tubing.
Combustion gases are passed upward from the combustion chamber assisted by the forced draft blower. The tube itself serves as a baffle by virtue of the turns of tubing staggered with respect to the adjacent pancakes. Gas velocities are controlled by changing the tube spacing of adjacent pancakes.
As the hot combustion gases release their heat to the circulating feedwater the gas volume decreases. The spacing between the tubes is decreased as the gas volume declines, maintaining the constant high velocity throughout the upward path of the flue gases, yielding maximized, controlled heat transfer.
Initial combustion gas temperatures are in the range of 1300 to 1650˚C. At the flue outlet the gas temperature will have dropped to approximately 180˚C, and to about one-third of its original volume.
Because of the carefully calculated spacing between the tubing turns, the heat transfer rate is greatly increased. This design allows the Clayton Steam Generator to maintain a ratio of heating surface per boiler horsepower that is less than one half that of a conventional fire-tube boiler.
Flue gas economizing is accomplished with the tube spacing, thus eliminating the need for bulky, expensive stack economizers.