Chapter 1 1.

1 Introduction
Ever since the cradle of electrification in the late 19th century steam turbines have been the most dominant prime movers for electricity generation, in terms of installed capacity. A phase shift in the energy generation policies (worldwide) is noticeable. Up till the last decade the heat and power generation was driven by strong centralization and therefore the research and development was focused on large-scale units, but during recent decades a global understanding has been crystallized where the necessity of decentralized systems utilizing local green energy flows has become obvious, mainly in order to meet the demands for a future environmentally friendly energy conversion. Decentralization is an attractive scenario in the perspective of the Swedish transfer of electricity generation from nuclear to other options. Year 2007 Sweden had a total heat generation of approximately 47 TWh in the district-heating network, and out of these approximately 19 TWh were delivered by combined heat and power plants (CHP), which at the same time gave a total electricity generation of 7 TWh from which approximately 47% is generated out of renewable energy resources (Svensk Fjrrvrme, 2007). This gives an idea of the potential size of electricity generation from CHPs: hypothetically, if the entire district heating demand is utilized as heat load in CHPs (with an assumed average electricity-to-heat ratio that is the same as of 2007) there is a built-in yearly capacity of electricity of approximately 10 TWh, which corresponds to approximately an annual average of electricity generation from 1.5 nuclear reactors in Sweden (Energy in Sweden, 2008). Furthermore, the enticements of generating electricity from renewable resources are growing stronger and stronger, year after year, not least depending on the share of green electricity certificates in relation to the total production that the producers are imposed to maintain (Energy in Sweden, 2008), and which is increased by the Swedish government on annual basis just in order to promote electricity generation from renewable resources. Moreover, the certificates provide commercial mechanisms for green electricity on the market, something that producers of green electricity can benefit from by trading certificates.

Based on the abovementioned, a focus on small-scale options and their effectiveness seems logical and desired. The steam turbine is an important part of small-scale CHP and combined cycle plants for future de-centralized power generation, and it has not been thoroughly investigated in detail with the prerequisites of today. Here, small-scale is defined as turbines generating less than 25 MWel. The first admission stage in an industrial steam turbine is referred to as the control stage if partial admission is applied, which has through history shown to be a cost effective option when rapid load changes are required. It is routinely applied on industrial steam turbines in CHP plants which frequently operate at part load (reduced mass flow) due to the fact that the district heating grid is used as a heat sink. The inlet steam flow is individually throttled with control valves into separate annular arcs of the first stator row (so-called partial admission). This results in jets which only occupy parts of the annulus, leaving the first stator row and entering the following rotor row. Traditionally, the first stage is of impulse design, i.e. the entire pressure drop for the stage is realized across the stator row. This leaves only a small circumferential pressure gradient after the stator so the spreading of the jets circumferentially may be attenuated. At present 54.09% or 93918.38 MW (Data Source CEA, as on 31/03/2011) of total electricity production in India is from Coal Based Thermal Power Station. A coal based thermal power plant converts the chemical energy of the coal into electrical energy. This is achieved by raising the steam in the boilers, expanding it through the turbine and coupling the turbines to the generators which converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. A power station is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power.[1][2][3] At the center of nearly all power stations is a generator, a rotating machine that converts mechanical power into electrical power by creating relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor. The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely. It depends chiefly on which fuels are easily available, cheap enough and on the types of technology that the power company has access to. Most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to generate electricity, and some use nuclear power, but there is an increasing use of cleaner renewable sources such as solar, wind, wave and hydroelectric. Central power stations produce AC power, after

a brief Battle of Currents in the 19th century demonstrated the advantages of AC distribution. In a coal based power plant coal is transported from coal mines to the power plant by railway in wagons or in a merry-go-round system. Coal is unloaded from the wagons to a moving underground conveyor belt. This coal from the mines is of no uniform size. So it is taken to the Crusher house and crushed to a size of 20mm. From the crusher house the coal is either stored in dead storage( generally 40 days coal supply) which serves as coal supply in case of coal supply bottleneck or to the live storage(8 hours coal supply) in the raw coal bunker in the boiler house. Raw coal from the raw coal bunker is supplied to the Coal Mills by a Raw Coal Feeder. The Coal Mills or pulverizer pulverizes the coal to 200 mesh size. The powdered coal from the coal mills is carried to the boiler in coal pipes by high pressure hot air. The pulverized coal air mixture is burnt in the boiler in the combustion zone. Generally in modern boilers tangential firing system is used i.e. the coal nozzles/ guns form tangent to a circle. The temperature in fire ball is of the order of 1300 deg.C. The boiler is a water tube boiler hanging from the top. Water is converted to steam in the boiler and steam is separated from water in the boiler Drum. The saturated steam from the boiler drum is taken to the Low Temperature Superheater, Platen Superheater and Final Superheater respectively for superheating. The superheated steam from the final superheater is taken to the High Pressure Steam Turbine (HPT). In the HPT the steam pressure is utilized to rotate the turbine and the resultant is rotational energy. From the HPT the out coming steam is taken to the Reheater in the boiler to increase its temperature as the steam becomes wet at the HPT outlet. After reheating this steam is taken to the Intermediate Pressure Turbine (IPT) and then to the Low Pressure Turbine (LPT). The outlet of the LPT is sent to the condenser for condensing back to water by a cooling water system. This condensed water is collected in the Hotwell and is again sent to the boiler in a closed cycle. The rotational energy imparted to the turbine by high pressure steam is converted to electrical energy in the Generator.

1.2 History
The world's first power station was designed and built by Sigmund Schuckert in the Bavarian town of Ettal and went into operation in 1878.[4] The station consisted of 24 dynamo electricgenerators which were driven by a steam engine. It was used to illuminate a grotto in the gardens of Linderhof Palace. The first public power station was the Edison Electric Light Station, built in London at 57, Holborn Viaduct, which started operation in January 1882. This was an initiative of Thomas Edison that was organized and managed by his partner, Edward Johnson. A Babcock and Wilcox boiler powered a 125 horsepower steam engine that drove a 27 ton generator called Jumbo, after the celebrated elephant. This supplied electricity to premises in the area that could be reached through the culverts of the viaduct without digging up the road, which was the monopoly of the gas companies. The customers included the City Temple and the Old Bailey. Another important customer was the Telegraph Office of the General Post Office, but this could not be reached though the culverts. Johnson arranged for the supply cable to be run overhead, via Holborn Tavern and Newgate.[5] In September 1882 in New York, the Pearl Street Station was established by Edison to provide electric lighting in the lower Manhattan Island area. The station ran until destroyed by fire in 1890. The station used reciprocating steam engines to turn directcurrent generators. Because of the DC distribution, the service area was small, limited by voltage drop in the feeders. The War of Currents eventually resolved in favor of AC distribution and utilization, although some DC systems persisted to the end of the 20th century. DC systems with a service radius of a mile (kilometer) or so were necessarily smaller, less efficient of fuel consumption, and more labor intensive to operate than much larger central AC generating stations. AC systems used a wide range of frequencies depending on the type of load; lighting load using higher frequencies, and traction systems and heavy motor load systems preferring lower frequencies. The economics of central station generation improved greatly when unified light and power systems, operating at a common frequency, were developed. The same generating plant that fed large industrial loads during the day,

could feed commuter railway systems during rush hour and then serve lighting load in the evening, thus improving the system load factor and reducing the cost of electrical energy overall. Many exceptions existed, generating stations were dedicated to power or light by the choice of frequency, and rotating frequency changers and rotating converters were particularly common to feed electric railway systems from the general lighting and power network. Throughout the first few decades of the 20th century central stations became larger, using higher steam pressures to provide greater efficiency, and relying on interconnections of multiple generating stations to improve reliability and cost. Highvoltage AC transmission allowed hydroelectric power to be conveniently moved from distant waterfalls to city markets. The advent of thesteam turbine in central station service, around 1906, allowed great expansion of generating capacity. Generators were no longer limited by the power transmission of belts or the relatively slow speed of reciprocating engines, and could grow to enormous sizes. For example, Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti planned what would have been the largest reciprocating steam engine ever built for a proposed new central station, but scrapped the plans when turbines became available in the necessary size. Building power systems out of central stations required combinations of engineering skill and financial acumen in equal measure. Pioneers of central station generation include George Westinghouse and Samuel Insull in the United States, Ferranti and Charles Hesterman Merz in UK, and many others.

1.3 Thermal Power plant

In thermal power stations, mechanical power is produced by a heat engine that transforms thermal energy, often from combustion of a fuel, into rotational energy. Most thermal power stations produce steam, and these are sometimes called steam power stations. Not all thermal energy can be transformed into mechanical power, according to the second law of thermodynamics. Therefore, there is always heat lost to the environment. If this loss is employed as useful heat, for industrial processes or district heating, the power plant is referred to as a cogeneration power plant or CHP (combined heat-and-power) plant. In countries where district heating is common, there are

dedicated heat plants called heat-only boiler stations. An important class of power stations in the Middle East uses by-product heat for the desalination of water. The efficiency of a steam turbine is limited by the maximum steam conditions produced and is not directly a function of the fuel used. For the same steam conditions, coal, nuclear and gas power plants all have the same theoretical efficiency. Overall, if a system is on constantly (base load) it will be more efficient than one that is used intermittently (peak load). Steam turbines generally operate at higher efficiency when operated a full capacity. Besides use of reject heat for process or district heating, one way to improve overall efficiency of a power plant is to combine two different thermodynamic cycles. Most commonly, exhaust gases from a gas turbine are used to generate steam for a boiler and steam turbine. The combination of a "top" cycle and a "bottom" cycle produces higher overall efficiency than either cycle can attain alone.

1.3.1 Classification of Thermal Power Plant

Power plants are classified by the type of fuel and the type of prime mover installed. According to the fuel used Thermal power stations Nuclear power Natural gas fired plant Geothermal power plant Renewable energy plant

According to the prime mover used Steam turbine Gas turbine Natural-gas fuelled turbine Internal combustion Reciprocating engines Microturbines Stirling engine

Internal combustion reciprocating engines

1.3.2Components of Thermal Power Station:

Steam turbines Steam turbines have been used predominantly as prime mover in all thermal power stations. The steam turbines are mainly divided into two groups: Impulse turbine Impulse-reaction turbine

The turbine generator consists of a series of steam turbines interconnected to each other and a generator on a common shaft. There is a high pressure turbine at one end, followed by an intermediate pressure turbine, two low pressure turbines, and the generator. The steam at high temperature (536 c to 540 c) and pressure (140 to 170 kg/cm2) is expanded in the turbine.

Figure 1.1 Rotor of steam turbine Impulse turbines An impulse turbine has fixed nozzles that orient the steam flow into high speed jets. These jets contain significant kinetic energy, which is converted into shaft rotation by the bucket-like shaped rotor blades, as the steam jet changes direction. A pressure drop occurs across only the stationary blades, with a net increase in steam velocity across

the stage. As the steam flows through the nozzle its pressure falls from inlet pressure to the exit pressure (atmospheric pressure, or more usually, the condenser vacuum). Due to this high ratio of expansion of steam, the steam leaves the nozzle with a very high velocity. The steam leaving the moving blades has a large portion of the maximum velocity of the steam when leaving the nozzle. The loss of energy due to this higher exit velocity is commonly called the carry over velocity or leaving loss. Reaction turbines In the reaction turbine, the rotor blades themselves are arranged to form

convergent nozzles. This type of turbine makes use of the reaction force produced as the steam accelerates through the nozzles formed by the rotor. Steam is directed onto the rotor by the fixed vanes of the stator. It leaves the stator as a jet that fills the entire circumference of the rotor. The steam then changes direction and increases its speed relative to the speed of the blades. A pressure drop occurs across both the stator and the rotor, with steam accelerating through the stator and decelerating through the rotor, with no net change in steam velocity across the stage but with a decrease in both pressure and temperature, reflecting the work performed in the driving of the rotor.

Figure 1.2 Different types of blades of steam turbine

Figure 1.3 Comparison between impulse and reaction turbine blades

Boiler and auxiliaries A Boiler or steam generator essentially is a container into which water can be fed and steam can be taken out at desired pressure, temperature and flow. This calls for application of heat on the container. For that the boiler should have a facility to burn a fuel and release the heat. The functions of a boiler thus can be stated as:1. To convert chemical energy of the fuel into heat energy 2. To transfer this heat energy to water for evaporation as well to steam for superheating. The basic components of Boiler are: 1. Furnace and Burners 2. Steam and Superheating a. Low temperature superheater b. Platen superheater c. Final superheater Economizer It is located below the LPSH in the boiler and above pre heater. It is there to improve the efficiency of boiler by extracting heat from flue gases to heat water and send it to boiler drum. Advantages of Economiser include 1) Fuel economy: used to save fuel and increase overall efficiency of boiler plant. 2) Reducing size of boiler: as the feed water is preheated in the economiser and enter boiler tube at elevated temperature. The heat transfer area required for evaporation reduced considerably. Air Preheater The heat carried out with the flue gases coming out of economiser are further utilized for preheating the air before supplying to the combustion chamber. It is a necessary equipment for supply of hot air for drying the coal in pulverized fuel systems to facilitate grinding and satisfactory combustion of fuel in the furnace Reheater Power plant furnaces may have a reheater section containing tubes heated by hot flue gases outside the tubes. Exhaust steam from the high pressure turbine is rerouted to go

inside the reheater tubes to pickup more energy to go drive intermediate or lower pressure turbines. Condenser The condenser condenses the steam from the exhaust of the turbine into liquid to allow it to be pumped. If the condenser can be made cooler, the pressure of the exhaust steam is reduced and efficiency of the cycle increases. The functions of a condenser are:1) To provide lowest economic heat rejection temperature for steam. 2) To convert exhaust steam to water for reserve thus saving on feed water requirement. 3) To introduce make up water. We normally use surface condenser although there is one direct contact condenser as well. In direct contact type exhaust steam is mixed with directly with D.M cooling water. Boiler feed pump Boiler feed pump is a multi stage pump provided for pumping feed water to economiser. BFP is the biggest auxiliary equipment after Boiler and Turbine. It consumes about 4 to 5 % of total electricity generation. Cooling tower Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or, in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers, rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature. The cooling tower is a semi-enclosed device for evaporative cooling of water by contact with air. The hot water coming out from the condenser is fed to the tower on the top and allowed to tickle in form of thin sheets or drops. The air flows from bottom of the tower or perpendicular to the direction of water flow and then exhausts to the atmosphere after effective cooling. The cooling towers are of four types: 1. Natural Draft cooling tower 2. Forced Draft cooling tower 3. Induced Draft cooling tower

4. Balanced Draft cooling tower

Cooling towers vary in size from small roof-top units to very large hyperboloid structures (as in the adjacent image) that can be up to 200 metres (660 ft) tall and 100 metres (330 ft) in diameter, or rectangular structures (as in Image 3) that can be over 40 metres (130 ft) tall and 80 metres (260 ft) long. The hyperboloid cooling towers are often associated with nuclear power plants, although they are also used to some extent in some large chemical and other industrial plants. Although these large towers are very prominent, the vast majority of cooling towers are much smaller, including many units installed on or near buildings to discharge heat from air conditioning. Fan or draught system In a boiler it is essential to supply a controlled amount of air to the furnace for effective combustion of fuel and to evacuate hot gases formed in the furnace through the various heat transfer area of the boiler. This can be done by using a chimney or mechanical device such as fans which acts as pump. i) Natural draught When the required flow of air and flue gas through a boiler can be obtained by the stack (chimney) alone, the system is called natural draught. When the gas within the stack is hot, its specific weight will be less than the cool air outside; therefore the unit pressure at the base of stack resulting from weight of the column of hot gas within the stack will be less than the column of extreme cool air. The difference in the pressure will cause a flow of gas through opening in base of stack. Also the chimney is form of nozzle, so the pressure at top is very small and gases flow from high pressure to low pressure at the top.

ii) Mechanical draught There are three types of mechanical draught systems 1) 2) 3) Forced draught system Induced draught system Balanced draught system

Forced draught: In this system a fan called Forced draught fan is installed at the inlet of the boiler. This fan forces the atmospheric air through the boiler furnace and pushes out the hot gases from the furnace through superheater, reheater, economiser and air heater to stacks. Induced draught: Here a fan called ID fan is provided at the outlet of boiler, that is, just before the chimney. This fan sucks hot gases from the furnace through the superheaters, economiser, reheater and discharges gas into the chimney. This results in the furnace pressure lower than atmosphere and affects the flow of air from outside to the furnace. Balanced draught:-In this system both FD fan and ID fan are provided. The FD fan is utilized to draw control quantity of air from atmosphere and force the same into furnace. The ID fan sucks the product of combustion from furnace and discharges into chimney. The point where draught is zero is called balancing point.

Ash handling system The disposal of ash from a large capacity power station is of same importance as ash is produced in large quantities. Ash handling is a major problem. i) Manual handling: While barrows are used for this. The ash is collected directly through the ash outlet door from the boiler into the container from manually. ii) Mechanical handling: Mechanical equipment is used for ash disposal, mainly bucket elevator, belt conveyer. Ash generated is 20% in the form of bottom ash and next 80% through flue gases, so called Fly ash and collected in ESP. iii) Electrostatic precipitator: From air preheater this flue gases (mixed with ash) goes to ESP. The precipitator has plate banks (A-F) which are insulated from each other between which the flue gases are made to pass. The dust particles are ionized and attracted by charged electrodes. The electrodes are maintained at 60KV.Hammering is done to the plates so that fly ash comes down and collect at the bottom. The fly ash is dry form is used in cement manufacture.

Alternator Alternator is the electrical end of a turbo-generator set. It is generally known as the piece of equipment that converts the mechanical energy of turbine into electricity. The generation of electricity is based on the principle of electromagnetic induction.

1.3.3 Advantages of thermal Power Plant

They can respond to rapidly changing loads without difficulty A portion of the steam generated can be used as a process steam in different industries

Steam engines and turbines can work under 25 % of overload continuously Fuel used is cheaper Cheaper in production cost in comparison with that of diesel power stations

1.3.4 Disadvantages of thermal Power Plant

Maintenance and operating costs are high Long time required for erection and putting into action A large quantity of water is required Great difficulty experienced in coal handling Presence of troubles due to smoke and heat in the plant Unavailability of good quality coal Maximum of heat energy lost Problem of ash removing

1.4 Working Principle of Steam Turbine

The working principle of steam turbine is very important to be known in the power plant system. Steam turbine is the engine, where the energy of working fluid is used directly to rotate the turbine blades. In the turbine, the working fluid undergoing a process of expansion, namely the pressure drop and flow continuously. The working fluid of steam

turbine is steam. Steam turbine classification can be categorized based on steam flow direction, working principle, exit steam and steam pressure. In general, the steam turbine system consists of several components, such as: compressors, pumps, boilers, combustion chamber, condenser and turbine. Turbine is much in use for power generation, aircraft, in the industry, and others. Steam turbine is one of machine types that use a method of external combustion engine. The heating of working fluid (steam) is done outside the system. In brief the working principle of steam turbine as follows:

Steam enters into the turbine through a nozzle. In the nozzle, heat energy from

steam is converted into kinetic energy and the steam is expanding. Steam pressure at the exit of nozzle is smaller when compared with at the time of enter into nozzle, but otherwise the velocity of steam out from nozzle is greater than at the time of enter into the nozzle.

The steam gushing out of the nozzle is directed to the turbine blades with arches

shaped and fitted around the wheel turbines. Steam flowing through gaps between the turbine blades is deflected towards following the curve of the turbine blades. The changes in steam velocity raise the force that encourages and then rotate the turbine wheel and shaft.

If the steam still has velocity when it leaves the turbine blades means that only

some of the kinetic energy of steam is taken by the turbine blades which are running. More than one line of blade motion is installed to utilize the remaining kinetic energy when steam leaves the turbine blades.

Before entering the second line of blade motion, so between the first row and

second row blades motion is mounted one line fixed blade (blade guide) that allows you to change the direction of the steam velocity, so steam can enter the second line of blade motion in the right direction.

The velocity of steam when it leaves the last blade motion should be made as

small as possible, so that the available kinetic energy can be utilized as much as

possible. Thus the steam turbine efficiency is higher because of energy loss is relatively small.

1.5 Objectives of the thesis The specific objectives of the work are: To experimentally explore and determine performance for a steam turbine. To experimentally explore and determine performance and losses for a partial admission configurations.