An air preheater (APH) is general term to describe any device designed to heat air before another process (for example, combustion in a boiler) with the primary objective of increasing the thermal efficiency of the process. They may be used alone or to replace a recuperative heat system or to replace a steam coil. In particular, this article describes the combustion air preheaters used in large boilers found in thermal power stations producing electric power from e.g. fossil fuels, biomasses or waste. The purpose of the air preheater is to recover the heat from the boiler flue gas which increases the thermal efficiency of the boiler by reducing the useful heat lost in the flue gas. As a consequence, the flue gases are also sent to the flue gas stack at a lower temperature, allowing simplified design of the ducting and the flue gas stack. It also allows control over the temperature of gases leaving the stack. Air pre-heater transfer heat from flue gas to air by means of a rotary matrix in which heat is absorbed by the heating elements passing through the hot gas stream & transferred to the combustion air stream.
Types
There are two types of air preheaters for use in steam generators in thermal power stations: One is a tubular type built into the boiler flue gas ducting, and the other is a regenerative air preheater.These may be arranged the gas flows horizontally or vertically across the axis of rotation. Another type of air preheater is the regenerator used in iron / glass manufacture.
Tubular type:-
Tubular preheaters consist of straight tube bundles which pass through the outlet ducting of the boiler and open at each end outside of the ducting. Inside the ducting, the hot furnace gases pass around the preheater tubes, transferring heat from the exhaust gas to the air inside the preheater. Ambient air is forced by a fan through ducting at one end of the preheater tubes and at other end the heated air from inside the tubes emerges into another set of ducting, which carries it to the boiler furnace for combustion.
Regenerative air preheaters:-
The rotating-plate design (RAPH)consists of a central rotating-plate element installed within a casing that is divided into two (bi-sector type), three (tri-sector type) or four (quad-sector type) sectors containing seals around the element. The seals allow the element to rotate through all the sectors, but keep gas leakage between sectors to a minimum while providing separate gas air and flue gas paths through each sector. Tri-sector types are the most common in modern power generation facilities. In the tri-sector design, the largest sector (usually spanning about half the cross-section of the casing) is connected to the boiler hot gas outlet. The hot exhaust gas flows over the central element, transferring some of its heat to the element, and is then ducted away for further treatment in dust collectors and other equipment before being expelled from the flue gas stack. The second, smaller sector, is fed with ambient air by a fan, which passes over the heated element as it rotates into the sector, and is heated before being carried to the boiler furnace for combustion. The third sector is the smallest one and it heats air which is routed into the pulverizers and used to carry the coal-air mixture to coal boiler burners. The total air heated in the RAPH provides: heating air to remove the moisture from the pulverised coal dust, carrier air for transporting the pulverised coal to the boiler burners and the primary air for combustion. The rotor itself is the medium of heat transfer in this system, and is usually composed of some form of steel and/or ceramic structure. It rotates quite slowly (around 3-5 RPM) to allow optimum heat transfer first from the hot exhaust gases to the element, then as it rotates, from the element to the cooler air in the other sectors.
Flue Gas Air Pre Heater Manufacturer INDIA 
An air preheater (APH) is general term to describe any device designed to heat air before another process (for example, combustion in a boiler) with the primary objective of increasing the thermal efficiency of the process. They may be used alone or to replace a recuperative heat system or to replace a steam coil. In particular, this article describes the combustion air preheaters used in large boilers found in thermal power stations producing electric power from e.g. fossil fuels, biomasses or waste. The purpose of the air preheater is to recover the heat from the boiler flue gas which increases the thermal efficiency of the boiler by reducing the useful heat lost in the flue gas. As a consequence, the flue gases are also sent to the flue gas stack at a lower temperature, allowing simplified design of the ducting and the flue gas stack. It also allows control over the temperature of gases leaving the stack. Air pre-heater transfer heat from flue gas to air by means of a rotary matrix in which heat is absorbed by the heating elements passing through the hot gas stream & transferred to the combustion air stream.