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GE Power Generation
GE Power Generation
RDC24265-4
Figure 1. Tandem-Compound Double-Reheat Supercritical Steam Turbine
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RDC24265-5
Figure 2. Tandem-Compound Single-Reheat Supercritical Steam Turbine
F / 1000 F (241 bar, 538 C / 538 C) as shown in atures needs to be considered. Starting with the
Figure 2. These units ranged in size from 350 traditional 2400 psi / 1000 F (165 bar / 538 C)
MW to 1103 MW. Included were units of tan- single-reheat cycle, dramatic improvements in
dem-compound design ranging in size between power plant performance can be achieved by
350 MW and 884 MW. raising inlet steam conditions to levels up to
The combination of experience with single 4500 psi/310 bar and temperatures to levels in
and double reheat units, together with the excess of 1112 F/600 C. It has become industry
knowledge gained on the advanced steam condi- practice to refer to such steam conditions, and
tion designs of the 1950s, served as the basis for in fact any supercritical conditions where the
several Electrical Power Research Institute throttle and/or reheat steam temperatures
(EPRI) studies conducted during the 1980s of exceed 1050 F/566 C, as “ultrasupercritical”.
double-reheat turbines designed for operation Figure 3a illustrates the relative heat rate gain
at the advanced steam conditions of 4500 psi, for a variety of main steam and reheat steam
1100 F / 1100 F / 1100 F (310 bar, 593 C / 593 conditions for single-reheat units compared to
C / 593 C). Such designs have been offered for the base 2400 psi, 1000 F / 1000 F (65 bar, 538 C
a number of years and although there appears / 538 C) cycle.
to be little interest in the United States for
advanced steam conditions, other countries, Double Reheat vs. Single Reheat
most notably in Asia and northern Europe, have
pursued this option. An example of a recent It has long been understood that improved
advanced steam turbine generator recently
designed by GE is a single-reheat cross-com-
pound unit for operation with main steam con-
ditions of 3626 psi, 1112 F (250 bar / 600 C)
and reheat steam temperature of 1130 F/610 C.
This unit is being executed in a four-casing
design with separate high-pressure and interme-
diate-pressure sections on the full speed shaft
and two double-flow LP turbines on the half-
speed shaft.
THERMODYNAMIC CYCLE
OPTIMIZATION
Effect of Higher Steam Conditions
on Unit Performance
As the first step in the optimization of cycle GT25590
steam conditions, the potential cycle efficiency Figure 3a. Heat Rate Improvement from Steam
gain from elevating steam pressures and temper- Cycle with Ultrasupercritical Steam
Conditions
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plant performance is possible by employing a heavily on local site conditions, fuel costs and
double, rather than single, reheat cycle. These environmental requirements.
performance benefits were recognized by utili-
ties in the 1960s and, as a result, many double- Heater Selection and Final Feedwater
reheat machines were built by GE [1]. The ben- Temperature
efit of using the double reheat cycle is further
enhanced by the feasibility of using ultrasuper- In order to maximize the heat rate gain possi-
critical pressures and temperatures. During the ble with ultrasupercritical steam conditions, the
mid-1980s, an extensive development project feedwater heater arrangement also needs to be
under the auspices of EPRI led to the design of optimized. In general, the selection of higher
large ultrasupercritical 4500 psi, 1100 F / 1100 F steam conditions will result in additional feedwa-
/ 1100 F (310 bar, 593 C / 593 C / 593 C) dou- ter heaters and a economically optimal higher
ble reheat units with gross output of 700 MW final feedwater temperature. In many cases the
and below [2,3]. Figure 3b demonstrates the selection of a heater above the reheat point
performance gains possible by utilizing a double (HARP) will also be warranted. The use of a sep-
reheat cycle at various steam conditions. arate desuperheater ahead of the top heater for
For any particular application, the heat rate units with a HARP can result in additional gains
gain possible with the double reheat cycle will in unit performance.
have to be evaluated against the higher station The use of a HARP and the associated higher
costs attributable to greater equipment com- final feedwater temperature and lower reheater
plexity in the boiler, piping systems and steam pressure have a strong influence on the design
turbine. The result of this trade-off will depend of the steam turbine and will be discussed in
more detail below.
Other cycle parameters such as reheater pres-
sure drop, heater terminal temperature differ-
ences, line pressure drops and drain cooler tem-
perature differences have a lesser impact on
turbine design, but should also be optimized as
part of the overall power plant cost/perfor-
mance trade-off activity. Table 1 shows typical
gains for different heater configurations associ-
ated with a 4500 psi, 1100 F / 1100 F (310 bar,
593 C / 593 C) single reheat cycle and a 1100 F
/ 1100 F / 1100 F (593 C / 593 C / 593 C) dou-
ble reheat cycle. Figure 4 shows a typical single-
reheat cycle featuring eight feedwater heaters
including a HARP.
GT25591
Reheater Pressure Optimization and
Figure 3b. Heat Rate Improvement from Steam Use of a HARP
Cycle with Ultrasupercritical Steam
Conditions The selection of the cold reheat pressure is an
integral part of any power plant optimization
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GT25592
Figure 4. Typical Single Reheat Heater Cycle with Heater Above Reheat Point
GT25594
GT25593
Figure 5a. Effect of Final Feedwater Figure 5b. Effect of Final Feedwater
Temperature and Reheat Pressure on Temperature and Reheat Pressure on
Turbine Net Heat Rate Turbine Net Heat Rate
process, but becomes more important for plants performance. Therefore, the resulting net heat
with advanced steam conditions. Figure 5a rate gain is usually larger, approaching 0.6 -
shows the heat rate impact of different final 0.7%.
feedwater temperatures for single-reheat units The use of a HARP results in a lower optimal
with advanced steam conditions. Comparing the reheater pressure and a higher optimal final
heat rate at the thermodynamic optimum, the feedwater temperature. Both of these considera-
improvement resulting from the use of a HARP tions significantly impact the design and cost of
amounts to about 0.5%. However, economic the boiler. As a result, careful plant-level cross-
considerations of the boiler design without a optimization needs to be done, in considering
HARP will tend to favor a lower reheater pres- the use of a HARP, to ensure an economically
sure at the expense of a slight decrease in cycle optimal cycle selection is made.
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GT25596
Figure 7. Double Reheat Cycle with Heater above Reheat Point
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GT25604
Figure 9. Single-Reheat Ultrasupercritical Product Line
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GT25605
Figure 10. Combined HP/IP Section of Ultrasupercritical Turbine
GT25606
Figure 11. Separate HP and IP Sections of Ultrasupercritical Turbine
As unit rating increases, stability requirements configurations of this type with three LP sec-
and last IP bucket length make a configuration tions are capable of the highest unit ratings cur-
utilizing a single flow HP section and double rently contemplated for ultrasupercritical power
flow IP section in separate casings the appropri- plants. The HP and RH cross-section of such a
ate selection. These two high temperature sec- unit is shown in Figure 12.
tions can be combined with one, two or three For the highest unit ratings and those
double-flow LP sections depending on the instances where the customer prefers it, cross-
design exhaust pressure. Tandem compound compound units are also available. These units
GT25607
Figure 12. Separate HP and Double-Flow IP Sections of Ultrasupercritical Turbine
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GT25,608o
Figure 13. Ultrasupercritical Steam Turbine Designed for 2-Stage District Heating Application
include a full speed shaft line having a single- single-flow IP section is directed into a separate
flow HP section and a double-flow IP section, as double-flow asymmetrical IP section in a sepa-
described, above driving a two pole generator. rate casing. The two district heating extractions
A second half-speed shaft line consisting of two are taken from the exhausts of this casing and
double-flow LP sections driving a four pole gen- the district heating pressure is controlled by way
erator is also included. Steam exhausting from of butterfly valves in the crossovers to the LP sec-
the IP section of the full-speed shaft-line is fed tions. In comparison to an alternative construc-
to the inlet of the LP sections in the half-speed tion with totally separate HP and IP sections, the
shaft line via two crossovers. use of single-flow IP staging for the first part of
the reheat expansion enables longer buckets
Single Reheat District Heating Applications with associated better stage per formance.
A number of single-reheat ultrasupercritical Additional benefits include confining all the
projects have been used for district heating high temperature steam to the center of the first
applications and this requirement can signifi- section, better rotor cooling steam utilization
cantly affect both the steam cycle parameters and overall reduced machine length.
and turbine configuration. The optimal turbine
configuration that meets the functional require- Double Reheat Applications
ments of district heating operation as well as the The available configurations for double-
high performance and economical turbine reheat applications are shown in Figure 14. For
island arrangement, will depend primarily on many applications, a single-flow HP section in its
the need for controllability of district heat over own casing can be combined with a second cas-
the load range. A study done recently on a 440 ing having the two reheat sections in an
MW ultrasupercritical district heating applica- opposed flow arrangement. The high pressure
tion concluded that if part load district heat and reheat sections are directly coupled to one,
controllability is not a requirement, a compact two or three double-flow LP sections depending
three-casing configuration using an opposed on the application rating and design exhaust
flow HP/IP section, such as that shown in Figure pressure.
10, was the best choice from a systems cost per- For units of higher rating, a configuration
spective. With this configuration, the district with a single-flow HP section and single-flow first
heaters would be fed from uncontrolled extrac- reheat section, located in a common casing and
tions in the LP sections and control would be coupled to a double-flow second reheat section
achieved on the water side of the district heating in a separate casing, is utilized. As with the con-
system [4]. figuration described above, the high tempera-
In district heating applications where part ture sections are directly coupled to one, two or
load district heat controllability is a require- three double-flow LP sections based on the rat-
ment, a four-casing configuration such as that ing and exhaust pressure. Figure 15 shows a
shown in Figure 13 is more appropriate. This cross-section of the HP and RH sections of such
configuration, which was developed for another a design.
400 MW ultrasupercritical application features a For units of the highest rating, a cross-com-
first casing containing the HP section and the pound configuration can be used. This configu-
single flow portion of the IP section in an ration would utilize a full-speed shaft line having
opposed-flow arrangement. Exhaust from the sections basically the same as the HP and RH
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GT25609
Figure 14. Double-Reheat Ultrasupercritical Product Line
GT25610
Figure 15. HP and Reheat Sections of a Double-Reheat Ultrasupercritical Turbine
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GT25611
Figure 16. Reheat Stage Cooling Configuration for Opposed Flow HP/IP Sections
ences and long-term material tests has con- built turbines utilizing conventional materials
firmed that the 12Cr rotor alloy has a rupture and operating at traditional temperatures.
strength at 1100 F/593 C that is equivalent to For opposed flow HP/IP sections, the cooling
the corresponding value for CrMoV material at steam is extracted from the third or fourth HP
1050 F/566 C. Therefore, no compromise is stage and re-admitted into the mid-span pack-
required for the design of a high temperature ing. To improve the cooling effectiveness, a por-
rotor operating at 1100 F/593 C with the 12Cr tion of the mid-span packing leakage flow can
material [5]. be bled off prior to mixing. The HP/IP cooling
scheme is shown in Figure 16.
Weld Inlay of Rotor Bearing Journals For the first stage of a double-flow second
The 12Cr rotor material has very poor journal reheat section, the cooling steam is extracted
running characteristics due to its high chrome from the first reheat extraction stage and is
content. Under abnormal running conditions, piped into the upstream first stage wheel space
the rotor journal surface can gall and parts of below the double flow tub. By judicious use of
the surface can be chafed off, resulting in bear- bucket dovetail steam balance holes and root
ing failure. Traditionally, this problem was radial spill strips on both sides of the dovetail, it
solved by employing shrunk-on low alloy journal is possible to direct the cooler steam to the sec-
sleeves. However, the use of shrunk-on sleeves ond stage upstream wheel space.
also requires the use of shrunk-on couplings In all cases, the cooling steam effectiveness
and, depending on the unit configuration, the must be evaluated at full load and at the load
use of shrunk-on thrust runners. Although these point where the reheat temperature normally
designs have been shown to operate reliably, starts to drop off, typically at 40-50% load. This
current designs employ a low alloy weld inlay to effect is shown in Figures 17 and 18.
the journal and thrust runner surfaces, which
addresses the galling issue without resorting the High Temperature Bucket / Diaphragm Designs
use of shrunk-on components. This approach and Materials
provides the additional benefit of allowing the Buckets for the early HP and reheat stages of
turbine designer to locate the thrust bearing in steam turbines must have good high-tempera-
a position such that optimum clearance control ture strength and low thermal expansion to min-
in the HP section is achieved. imize thermal stresses. For ultrasupercritical
applications, a 10CrMoVCbN bucket alloy simi-
Rotor Cooling lar to the rotor forging alloy was developed. This
At the elevated temperatures associated with alloy possesses a rupture strength nearly 50%
ultrasupercritical applications, the first and sec- higher at 1050 F/566 C than the AISI 422 alloy
ond stage of the reheat sections generally traditionally used in applications of up to 1050
require external cooling of the wheel and buck- F/566 C. Together with use of axial entry type
et dovetail region. This design approach has bucket dovetails, judicious application of rotor
been successfully employed on many previously cooling schemes, reheat pressure optimization
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GT25599
Figure 18. Effect of Part Load Operation on
GT25598
Figure 17. Typical Boiler Characteristic for USC Cooling Effectiveness
Unit (Hybrid Pressure 310 bar, 395
C/593 C/593 C Cycle cation. With this type of construction, the outer
and the use of double-flow configurations for shell is not subjected to elevated temperatures
HP control stages at higher ratings, acceptable and can thus be constructed of traditional
high temperature bucket designs can be CrMoV material.
achieved to cover the rating range of 350 MW to The transition between the main steam
1100 MW. leads and the outer shell has traditionally been
In all turbine sections employing designed as a flanged connection with thermal
12CrMoVCbN rotors, diaphragms and packing sleeves. Today's ultrasupercritical designs
casings are constructed of 12Cr material to employ a welded connection. The welded con-
match the thermal expansion characteristics of nection is cooled by the cold reheat steam on
the 12Cr rotor material. the inner wall to a temperature level of 1025 F
- 1050 F/550-565 C. To assure sufficient heat
Shells and Nozzle Boxes transfer near the weld, a small amount of
Low alloy CrMoV materials generally suitable steam is blown down to the next extraction
for stationary components in turbines designed point. Figure 19 illustrates the ultrasupercriti-
for conventional steam conditions are not suit- cal multi-shell HP section constr uction
able for the higher temperature regions of ultra- described above.
supercritical steam turbines. High strength IP sections of ultrasupercritical turbines uti-
martensitic stainless steel casting alloys lize double shell construction with the high tem-
(10CrMoVCb) were developed by the authors’ perature inner shell being constructed of cast
company in the late 1950s for valve bodies and 10CrMoVCb material and the outer shell and
nozzle boxes in applications with 1050 F/566 C
and 1100 F/593 C inlet temperatures. Last year,
four large turbine shells were made from this
material and work has been completed with a
vendor to improve its producibility for large
castings.
HP sections of ultrasupercritical steam tur-
bines generally utilize triple-shell construction
to minimize the thermal and operating stresses
the various pressure containment parts are sub-
jected to. The highest pressures and tempera-
tures are borne by a nozzle box constructed of
forged 12CrMoVCbN steel. The inner shells are
constructed of cast 10CrMoVCb or CrMoV
material depending on the specific tempera-
GT25600
tures associated with the ultrasupercritical appli- Figure 19. Main Steam Inlet Construction
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HT25602
Figure 21. Predicted HP/RHT Inner Shell Stress Distribution at Peak Load (Normalized to Maximum
Stress)
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CONCLUSION
Increased fuel costs, improved technology
and an a heightened focus on reducing power
plant emissions have combined to revitalize
power industr y interest in coal-fired power
plants utilizing ultrasupercritical steam condi-
tions. To achieve an economically optimized
plant, the cycle conditions under which these
plants operate need to be carefully evaluated,
taking into account such parameters as the num-
ber of reheats employed, inlet steam conditions
and feedwater heater arrangement. A variety of
steam turbine configurations for ultrasupercriti-
cal applications are available. Each of these con-
figurations utilizes materials and design features
appropriate to ensure long turbine life with reli-
ability levels comparable to conventional
designs.
© 1996 GE Company
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LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES
GE Power Systems
8/96