INTRODUCTION

BHEL, acronym for BHARAT HEAVY ELECTRICAL LIMITED is a name synonym to power.
It is the largest heavy electrical manufacturing public sector in INDIA. The first plant of what is
known as BHEL was established nearly 38 years ago at Bhopal and was the genesis of the Heavy
Electrical Equipment Industry in India. BHEL is today the largest engineering enterprise of its
kind in the World with an excellent track record of performance and making profits continuously
from 1971-1972.

BHEL today, is one of the largest manufactures of power generating equipment, ranking
among the top 12 organizations in the World. It has been accorded with the prestigious
‘Navaratna’ status by the government of India for its consistent power packed performance
and contribution to Indian industry. The company provides products, systems and services in
the fields of energy, industry and transportation. BHEL operations are organized around business
sectors like Power industry and International operations, to provide a strong market orientation.
The company today enjoys national and international presence of featuring in “fortune
international 500”.

BHEL with its country wide network of 14 manufacturing units offers a wide range of
heavy engineering products that cater to the needs of vital sectors like Thermal, Petro-Chemicals,
Steels, Fertilizers, Paper, Sugar, Tele-Communications, Non-Conventional Energy Systems,
Railways and so on.

1
 BHEL –RAMACHANDRAPURAM UNIT
BHEL R.C.Puram is located at a distance of 25Kms (approx.) from Hyderabad. The
factory area is 750 acres out of which the present fenced area is 350 acres and an area of 400
acres is available for the future expansion of the factory.

A vital link in BHEL’s manufacturing network and an industrial giant by itself is

BHEL-Hyderabad. This ISO-14001 certified unit has an exemplary product profile which
includes and gas turbines, turbo generators, compressors, pumps, heat exchangers, oil rings,
high-voltage switch gear, Pulverizes, control equipment and most of other products and
auxiliaries. Set up with Czechoslovakian collaboration for the manufacture of 60MW and
110MW thermal power sets, this unit has since diversified its product range. Today a wide
variety of product are manufacture to cater to the needs of different industries like paper,
fertilizers chemicals, petro-chemicals, sugar, steel, aluminum , cement, rayon, and oil. The
centrifugal compressors manufactured by BHEL, Hyderabad have become an integral part of the
Indian industry and are recognized World over for their efficiency and environment friendly
technology.

Fig 1: BHEL Entrance

2
Workshops at Bhel Hyderabad are: -

1. Turbines and compressors.

a) Steam turbines.

b) Gas turbines.

2. Turbo generators

a) Steam turbine generators.

b) Gas turbine generators.

c) Air cooled generators.

3. Switch gears & circuit breakers.

4. Foundry.

5. Fetling.

6. Oil field equipment (oil rigs) and heat exchangers.

7. Tool room.

8. Heat treatment.

9. Pattern shop.

10. Repair shop.

11. Bowl mills and pulverizes.

12. Pumps

3
 THERMAL POWER PLANT
A large thermoelectric plant like this burns a lot of coal—in this case, about 11 million tons per
year. Coal that has been ground into a fine powder by a pulverizer is blown into a furnace-like
device and burned. The heat produced converts water, which runs through a series of pipes in the
boiler. The high-pressure steam turns the blades of a turbine, which is connected by a shaft to a
generator. The generator spins and produces electricity.

In the diagram you can see how the main use of water is to cool the condenser units, which
receives the condensed steam that was used to turn the turbines. The hot, condensed steam water
is run through pipes that are cooled by the cooler water (withdrawn from the Ocmulgee River
and Lake Juliette reservoir in this case). The condensed water is thus cooled down and then
recirculated back through the coal-fired boiler to again turn to steam and power the turbines. This
is the closed-cycle loop part of the system and it reuses the water continuously.

In the other part of the water-use cycle of the plant, the open-loop cycle, massive amounts of
water are taken from a river and reservoir and are pumped to the condensers. This cooler water
surrounds the pipes containing the hot condensed steam and thus is heated up a lot. The hot water
is pumped from the condenser units into the four 530-foot tall cooling towers so it can lose its
heat. Each cooling tower at Plant Scherer circulates 268,000 gallons of water per minute. Most of
this water is reused after it cools, but about 8,000 gallons per minute are lost to evaporation.

Fig 2: Schematic diagram of a Thermal power plant

4
 OPERATING PRINCIPLE:
The steam turbine unlike the reciprocating steam engine (which operates due to the pressure
energy of system) operates due to dynamic action of the steam. The acceleration, which may be
a change in either magnitude or direction of a stream of fluid, produces a turning moment on a
rotating shaft. In a steam turbine, the velocity of steam is increased at the expense of pressure by
passing the steam through a set of nozzles and this high velocity steam when allowed to impinge
on a series of moving blades fixed to a common shaft, produces the shaft work.

Fig 3: working principle of steam turbine.

Ideal Rankine Cycle 

The Rankine cycle is the ideal cycle for vapor power plants; it includes the following four
reversible processes:

1-2: Isentropic compression: Water enters the pump as state 1 as saturated liquid and is
compressed isentropically to the operating pressure of the boiler.

5
2-3: Constant Pressure heat addition: Saturated water enters the boiler and leaves it as
superheated vapor at state 3.

3-4: Isentropic expansion: Superheated vapor expands isentropically in turbine and

produces work.

4-1: Constant Pressure heat rejection: High quality steam is condensed in the condenser
.

Fig 4: The ideal Rankine cycle.

RANKINE CYCLE:

 1-2-3 Isobaric Heat Transfer: High pressure liquid enters the boiler from the feed
pump (1) and is heated to the saturation temperature (2). Further addition of energy
causes evaporation of the liquid until it is fully converted to saturated steam (3).

 3-4 Isentropic Expansion: The vapor is expanded in the turbine, thus producing

work which may be converted to electricity. In practice, the expansion is limited by the
6
 temperature of the cooling medium and by the erosion of the turbine blades by liquid
entrainment in the vapor stream as the process moves further into the two-phase region.
Exit vapor qualities should be greater than 90%.

 4-5 Isobaric Heat Rejection: The vapor-liquid mixture leaving the turbine (4) is
condensed at low pressure, usually in a surface condenser using cooling water. In well
designed and maintained condensers, the pressure of the vapor is well below atmospheric
pressure, approaching the saturation pressure of the operating fluid at the cooling water
temperature.

 5-1 Isentropic Compression: The pressure of the condensate is raised in the feed

pump. Because of the low specific volume of liquids, the pump work is relatively small
and often neglected in thermodynamic calculations.

Fig 5: Rankine cycle.

Energy Analysis for the Cycle

7
All four components of the Rankine cycle are steady-state steady-flow devices. The potential and
kinetic energy effects can be neglected. The first law per unit mass of steam can be written as:

Pump Q=0 W pump ,in = h2 – h1

Boiler w=0 Q input = h3 – h2
Turbine Q=0 W turbine ,output = h3 – h4
Condenser w=0 Q output= h4 – h1
The thermal efficiency of the cycle is determined from:

STEAM:

Steam is the gaseous phase of water. It utilizes heat during the process and carries large
quantities of heat later. Hence, it could be used as a working substance for heat engines, turbines
etc. Steam is generated in boilers at constant pressure. Generally, steam may be obtained starting
from ice or straight away from the water by adding heat to it.

TYPES OF STEAM:

 Wet steam (saturated steam)

 Dry steam (dry saturated steam): Steam that has no moisture content.
 Superheated steam: Dry steam when heated at constant pressure attains superheat.
 Supersaturated steam.

TURBINE: A turbine is a machine for producing continuous power in which a wheel or rotor,
typically fitted with vanes, is made to revolve by a fast-moving flow of water, steam, gas, air, or
other fluid.

8
STEAM TURBINE: A steam turbine is a machine which produces mechanical energy due
to the movement of steam through the blades arranged systematically on a rotor.

CLASSIFICATION OF STEAM TURBINES:

1. Based on principle of operation.

 Impulse turbine.
 Reaction turbine.

2. Based on direction of flow.

 Axial flow turbine.

 Radial flow turbine.

1. Based on principle of operation:

 IMPULSE TURBINE:

If the flow of steam throughout the nozzles and moving blades of a turbine takes place in such a
way that the steam is expanded only in nozzles and pressure at the outlet sides of the blades is
equivalent to that at inlet side; such a turbine is termed as impulse turbine because it works on
the principle of impulse. In further words, in impulse turbine, the fall in pressure of steam takes
place only in the nozzles and not in moving blades. This is obtained by making the blade passage
of steady cross- section area as a general statement it may be stated that energy transformation
takes place only in the nozzles and moving blades (rotor) only cause energy transfer. Because the
rotor blade passages do not cause any acceleration of fluid, therefore chances of flow separation
are greater which results in lower stage efficiency.

 REACTION TURBINE:

If the moving blades of a turbine are shaped in such a way that the steam expands and drops in
pressure as it passes through them, then a reaction will be produced which gives a force to the

9
blades. If there is no escape opening or nozzle for the steam, then the pressure will be the same
on all walls of the container and the container will remain at rest. If, however, the container has
an escape opening or nozzle, then steam will expand through the opening and drop in pressure.
Therefore there will be an unbalanced pressure on the wall opposite to the opening and a reaction
force will be produced causing the container to move due to reaction effect.

2. Based on direction of flow:

AXIAL FLOW TURBINE:

An axial flow turbine is a turbine In which the steam flows through the length of the axis of the
shaft. It is the most appropriate turbine for large turbo-generators and that is why it is used in all
modern steam power plants.

Fig 6: Axial flow turbine.

10
Radial Flow Turbine:

In this turbine, the steam flow is in the radial direction. It integrates two shafts end to end, each
driving a separate generator. A disc is set to each shaft. Rings of 50% reaction radial-flow
bladings are fixed to both disks. The two sets of bladings rotate oppose to each other. In this
way, a relative speed of double the running speed is achieved and every blade row is prepared to
work.

Fig 7: Radial flow steam turbine.

COMPOUNDING

COMPOUNDING OF IMPULSE TURBINE

This is a method of reducing rotational speed of the simple impulse turbine to practical limit.
This also reduces the exit loss. Compounding is done by making use of more than one set of
nozzles and blades in series so that either the steam pressure or the jet velocity is absorbed by the
turbine in stages.

11
There are three main types of compounding:

 Pressure compounded impulse turbine.

 Velocity compounded impulse turbine.

 Pressure and velocity compounded impulse turbine.

 PRESSURE COMPOUNDED IMPULSE TURBINE:

1. In this turbine compounding is done for pressure of steam only to reduce the high rotational
speed of the turbine.

2. This is done by arranging a no. of simple impulse turbines in a series on the same shaft, each
having a set of nozzles and a set of moving each having a set of nozzles and a set of moving
blades.

3. This results splitting up the whole pressure drop from the steam chest pressure to the
condenser pressure into a series of smaller pressure drops across the several stages.

12
 Fig 8: preassure compounding

 VELOCITY COMPOUNDED IMPULSE TURBINE:

1. In this turbine compounding is done for velocity of steam only. Velocity drop is arranged in
many small drops through many rows of moving blades. • It consists of a set of nozzles and
many rows of moving blades attached to rotor and many rows of fixed blades attached to casing
arranged alternatively.

2. The whole expansion of steam from steam chest pressure to condenser pressure takes place in
nozzles only. No pressure drop takes place either in moving or fixed blades.

3. Steam velocity drops gradually at every stage of moving blades. There is only a negligible
velocity drop in fixed blades due to friction.

13
 Fig 9: Velocity compounding.

 PRESSURE AND VELOCITY COMPOUNDED IMPULSE TURBINE :

1. This is a combination of pressure and velocity compounding.

2. There are two sets of nozzles where the whole pressure drop takes place.

3. After each set of nozzles, there is more than one moving and fixed blade rows arranged
alternatively.

4. Hence velocity drop also takes place in steps.

Fig 10: Pressure and Velocity compounding of Impulse Turbine.

14
Parameters to Increasing the Efficiency of Rankine Cycles:

1. Increasing the Boiler Pressure (Increase TH) :
Increasing the operating pressure of the boiler leads to an increase in the temperature at which
heat is transferred to the steam and thus raises the efficiency of the cycle.

Fig 11: The effect of Increasing the Boiler Pressure on the ideal cycle.

2. Superheating the Steam to High Temperatures (Increase TH) :

Superheating the steam will increase the net work output and the efficiency of the cycle. It also
decreases the moisture contents of the steam at the turbine exit. The temperature to which steam
can be superheated is limited by metallurgical considerations (~ 620°C).

15
Fig 12: The effect of Superheating the Steam to High Temperatures on the ideal cycle.

3. Decreasing the Condenser Pressure (Lower TL):

Lowering the condenser pressure will increase the area enclosed by the cycle on a T-s diagram
which indicates that the net work will increase. Thus, the thermal efficiency of the cycle will be
increased.

Fig 13: The effect of Decreasing the Condenser Pressure on the ideal cycle.

4. The Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle :
To take advantage of the increased efficiencies at higher boiler pressure without facing the
excessive moisture at the final stages of the turbine, reheating is used. In the ideal reheating
cycle, the expansion process takes place in two stages, i.e., the high-pressure and low-pressure
turbines.

16
 Fig 14: The Ideal Reheat Rankine Cycle 

The incorporation of the single reheat in a modern power plant improves the cycle efficiency by
4 to 5 percent by increasing the average temperature at which heat is transferred to the steam.

The Ideal Regenerative Rankine Cycle :
The regeneration process in steam power plants is accomplished by extracting (or bleeding)
steam from turbine at various stages and feed that steam in heat exchanger where the feed water
is heated. These heat exchangers are called regenerator or feed water heater (FWH). FWH also
help removing the air that leaks in at the condenser (deaerating the feed water). There are two
types of FWH’s, open and closed.

 Open (Direct‐Contact) Feed water Heaters :

An open FWH is basically a mixing chamber where the steam extracted from the turbine mixes
with the feed water exiting the pump. Ideally, the mixture leaves the heater as a saturated liquid
at the heater pressure.

17
 Fig 15: The ideal regenerative Rankine cycle with an open FWH.

The heat and work interactions of a regenerative Rankine cycle with one FWH can be expressed
per unit mass of steam flowing through the boiler as:

Thermal efficiency of the Rankine cycle increases as a result of regeneration since FWH raises
the average temperature of the water before it enters the boiler. Many large power plants have as
many as 8 FWH’s.

 Closed Feed water Heaters:

In closed FWH, heat is transferred from the extracted steam to the feed water without any mixing
taking place. Thus; two streams can be at different pressures, since they don’t mix. In an ideal

18
closed FWH, the feed water is heated to the exit temperature of the extracted steam, which
ideally leaves the heater as a saturated liquid at the extraction pressure.

Fig 16: closed feed water heaters.

CONSTRUCTION OF STEAM TURBINE:

19
a) Nozzle: The nozzle expands steam of comparatively low velocity and high static pressure
within considerable increase in velocity. The nozzle is so positioned as to direct the flow of
steam into the rotor passage.

b) Diffuser: It is a mechanical device that is designed to control the characteristics of steam at

the entrance to a thermodynamic open system. Diffusers are used to slow the steam's velocity
and to enhance its mixing into the surrounding steam. In contrast, a nozzle is often intended to
increase the discharge velocity and to direct the flow in one Particular direction.

Flow through nozzles and diffusers may or may not be assumed to be adiabatic. Frictional effects
may sometimes be important, but usually they are neglected. However, the external work transfer
is always assumed to be zero. It is also assumed that changes in thermal energy are significantly
greater than changes in potential energy and therefore the latter can usually be neglected for the
purpose of analysis.

c) Blades or Buckets: The blades or buckets form the rotor flow passage and serves to
change the direction and hence the momentum of the steam received in the stationary nozzles.

Fig 17: Various types of turbine blades.

d) Guide or Guide blades: Often a turbine is arranged with a series of rotor flow passages.
Intervening between the blades comprising the rotor passages are rows of stationary guide
blades.

The purpose of this guide is to reverse the direction of steam leaving the preceding moving blade
row so that general direction of steam leaving the preceding moving blade rows is similar. If
20
guide blades were not provided, opposing force would be exerted on the rotor which would
largely negate each other.

Fig 18: Guide blades.

e) Casing Shell or Cylinder: The turbine enclosure is generally called the casing although
the other two names are in common use. The nozzle and guide are fixed on casing, which in
addition to confining the steam serves as support for the bearings. Sometimes the word cylinder
is restricted as a cylindrical form attached to inside of the casing to which the guides are fixed.

Fig 19: Casing of steam turbine.

21
f) Shaft, Rotor, and Spindle: These terms are applied to the rotating assembly which
carries the blades.

Fig 20: Rotor of steam turbine.

g) Disc or Wheel: The moving blades are attached to the disc which in turn is keyed to the
shaft.

h) Diaphragm: The diaphragm which is fixed to the cylinder or casing contains the nozzle
and serves to confine the steam flow to nozzle passage.

Fig 21: Diaphragm.

i) Packing: Packing in the form of carbon rings minimizes the leaking in the annular space
between the diaphragm and shaft.

22
j) BEARING: A bearing is a machine element that constrains relative motion to only the
desired motion, and reduces friction between moving parts. They are

1. Thrust bearing and

2. Journal bearing.

1. THRUST BEARING:

When shaft axial loads are great (as with vertical shafts of substantial weight, and propeller
shafts subjected to substantial thrust loads), hydrodynamic thrust bearings can be provided which
is shown in the following figure.

Fig 22: Cross section Thrust Bearing

a. Oil supplied to the inside diameter of the rotating collar or runner flows outward by
centrifugal force through the bearing interface.

b. As the oil is dragged circumferentially through the bearing, it experiences a wedging action,
which is due to the tapered pads on the stationary member.

23
c. This is directly analogous to the wedging action produced by the eccentricity of a journal
bearing.

d. As in figure, the fixed pads may have a fixed taper angle, or the pads may be pivoted and
allowed to assume their own optimum tilt angle, or they may be partially constrained and
permitted a small variation in tilt angle. If the pads have a fixed taper, it is obvious that a load
can be supported hydro dynamically for only one direction of rotation.

Fig 23: Thrust bearing.

2. JOURNAL BEARING:

It is a shaft or journal rotating in a bearing. The shaft rotates in the bearing with a layer of
lubricant separating the two parts. Because journal bearings are designed to reduce load friction,
they are often used when the load is light and the motion is continuous. With a journal bearing,
there is no rolling element like in other bearings. This is why journal bearings are often called
radial or sleeve bearings. Journal bearings can be made out of cast iron, Babbitt or hardened
steel. Journal bearings are most often used in industrial machines that require high horsepower
and high loads like turbines and pumps. With proper lubrication, journal bearings are durable and
long lasting. The fluid lubricant prevents metal-to-metal contact and often the lubricant has a

24
damping effect making the engines and motors quiet and running more smoothly. Journal
bearings are often restored by the process of chrome plating and finish grinding.

Fig 24: Journal bearing.

TURBINE BLADES

Blades are the heart of a turbine, as they are the principal elements that convert the energy of
working fluid into kinetic energy. The efficiency and reliability of a turbine depend on the proper
design of the blades. It is therefore necessary for all engineers involved in the turbines
engineering to have an overview of the importance and the basic design aspects of the steam
turbine blades, Blade design is a multi-disciplinary task. It involves the thermodynamic,
aerodynamic, mechanical and material science disciplines. A total development of a new blade is
therefore possible only when experts of all these fields come together as a team. The number of
turbine stages can have a great effect on how the turbine blades are designed for each stage. The
number of stages depends upon the load we have and the quantity of power we required. Too
many stages may also develop bending moment and high torque which in turn the reason of
failure of the entire unit of the plant.

25
 Fig 25: Assembling Moving blades on rotor.

Efficiency of the turbine is depends on the following parameters.

26
  Inlet and outlet angle of the blade.

 Surface finishing of the blade.

 Profile of the blade.

 Blade Material.

TYPES OF BLADES:

Blades are classified on the basis of following application

1. Pressure at stages.

 HP BLADES (high pressure blades)

 IP BLADES (intermediate pressure blades)

 LP BLADES (low pressure blades)

Fig 26: Pressure at stages

2. Their function in the turbine.

27
  Steam turbine moving blades

 Blades from the bar stock

 Rhomboid blades

 Curved blades

 Twisted profile blades

Fig 27: Types of blades

STEPS INVOLVED IN MACHINING OF STEAM TURBINE BLADE :

 Cutting to bar size

 Size Milling

 Size Grinding

 Rhomboidal milling

 Rhomboidal grinding

 Size cutting or Blade length cutting

28
  Root milling

 Width milling

 Back Profile milling (convex)

 Canal Profile milling (concave)

 Back width

 Canal width

 Root radius

 Taper milling

 Taper grinding

 Fitting and polishing

STEAM TURBINE GOVERNING SYSTEM:

It is the procedure of controlling the flow rate of steam to a steam turbine so as to maintain its
speed of rotation as constant. The variation in load during the operation of a steam turbine can
have a significant impact on its performance. In a practical situation the load frequently varies
from the designed or economic load and thus there always exists a considerable deviation from
the desired performance of the turbine. The primary objective in the steam turbine operation is to
maintain a constant speed of rotation irrespective of the varying load. This can be achieved by
means governing in a steam turbine. There are many types of governors. They are

29
 1. Throttle governing.
2. Nozzle governing.
3. Bypass governing.

1. THROTTLE GOVERNING:
In throttle governing the pressure of steam is reduced at the turbine entry thereby decreasing the
availability of energy. In this method steam is passed through a restricted passage thereby
reducing its pressure across the governing valve. The flow rate is controlled using a partially
opened steam control valve. The reduction in pressure leads to a throttling process in which
the enthalpy of steam remains constant.

Fig 28: Throttle governing

In larger steam turbines an oil operated servo mechanism is used in order to enhance the lever
sensitivity. The use of a relay system magnifies the small deflections of the lever connected to
the governor sleeve. The differential lever is connected at both the ends to the governor sleeve
and the throttle valve spindle respectively. The pilot valves spindle is also connected to the same
lever at some intermediate position. Both the pilot valves cover one port each in the oil chamber.
The outlets of the oil chamber are connected to an oil drain tank through pipes. The decrease in
load during operation of the turbine will bring about increase in the shaft speed thereby lifting
the governor sleeve. Deflection occurs in the lever and due to this the pilot valve spindle raises
up opening the upper port for oil entry and lower port for oil exit. Pressurized oil from the oil
tank enters the cylinder and pushes the relay piston downwards. As the relay piston moves the
throttle valve spindle attached to it also descends and partially closes the valve. Thus the steam

30
flow rates can be controlled. When the load on the turbine increases the deflections in the lever
are such that the lower port is opened for oil entry and upper port for oil exit. The relay piston
moves upwards and the throttle valve spindle ascend upwards opening the valve.

2. NOZZLE GOVEERING:

In nozzle governing the flow rate of steam is regulated by opening and shutting of sets of nozzles
rather than regulating its pressure. In this method groups of two, three or more nozzles form a set
and each set is controlled by a separate valve. The actuation of individual valve closes the
corresponding set of nozzle thereby controlling the flow rate. In actual turbine, nozzle governing
is applied only to the first stage whereas the subsequent stages remain unaffected. Since no
regulation to the pressure is applied, the advantage of this method lies in the exploitation of full
boiler pressure and temperature. Figure 2 shows the mechanism of nozzle governing applied to
steam turbines. As shown in the figure the three sets of nozzles are controlled by means of three
separate valves.

Fig 29: Nozzle governing.

3. BYPASS GOVERNING:

31
Occasionally the turbine is overloaded for short durations. During such operation, bypass valves
are opened and fresh steam is introduced into the later stages of the turbine. This generates more
energy to satisfy the increased load. The schematic of bypass governing is as shown in figure.

Fig 30: Bypass governing.

Merits and Demerits of Steam Turbine:

 Merits:

 Ability to utilize high pressure and high temperature steam.

 High component efficiency.

 High rotational speed.

32
  High capacity/weight ratio.

 Smooth, nearly vibration-free operation.

 No internal lubrication.

 Oil free exhausts steam.

 Can be built in small or very large units (up to 1200 MW).

 Demerits:

 For slow speed application reduction gears are required.

 The steam turbine cannot be made reversible.

 The efficiency of small simple steam turbines is poor.

Applications:

 Power generation

 Refinery Petrochemical,

 Pharmaceuticals,

 Food processing,

 Petroleum/Gas processing,

 Pulp & Paper mills,

33
CONCLUSION:
I have finally acquired knowledge over Steam turbines and its manufacturing process which had
led me know many unknown things that actually be followed during the production procedure
and also about the various materials used.

REFERENCES:

 Design and applications of steam turbines by Heinz P. Bloch and Murali singh.

 Wikipedia

34