LESSON

3
STEAM TURBINE TECHNOLOGY
TURBINE GLANDS & DUMMY PISTONS
LECTURE
SUB - OBJECTIVE
At the end of th! "e!!on the t#$nee %"" &no% $nd 'nde#!t$nd the ('#(o!e of T'#)ne
G"$nd! $nd D'**+ P!ton!,
-,. USE O/ GLANDS
Glands must be fitted to turbines where the shafts pass through the cylinders in
order to reduce steam or air leakage to a minimum. Allowance must also be made
for movement of the shaft or casing without damaging the glands or reducing their
efficiency.
At the high pressure end of the turbine, steam which would attempt to leak out along
the shaft is reduced to very small proportions by means of a gland.
Where the steam pressure in the turbine cylinder is lower than atmospheric, the
glands are sealed with steam or water. Steam or water is applied to the middle of
the gland and leaks both into and out of the casing thus preventing entry of air into
the casing.
0,. TYPES O/ GLANDS
There are three types of glands, which are often referred to as external glands, as
follows
!. "arbon #ing Glands
$. %abyrinth Glands
&. Water Sealed Glands
0,- CARBON GLANDS
"arbon glands are made up of carbon rings split into sections and placed round the
shaft. They are located in channels in the gland housing and are lightly compressed
against the shaft by garter springs wrapped around the outside of them. The carbon
rings are prevented from rotating by stop pins. An illustration of a carbon ring gland
is shown in 'ig. ()&)!. *oles are provided in the walls of the channels to pass
sealing or leak off steam to and from the gland rings. A stainless steel sleeve is
sometimes fitted to the shaft to act as a rubbing surface for the carbon rings.
"arbon ring glands are not suitable for high steam temperatures and pressures and
for these conditions labyrinth glands are used.
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0,0 LABYRINTH GLANDS
%abyrinth glands are made up of packing strips of stainless steel, brass, copper or
nickel depending on the temperature of the steam. These strips are fitted into the
gland housing or shaft to give a very small radial clearance. 3n some cases ridges
are cut in the shaft to form the rotating half of the gland packing but generally the
ridges are cut in a sleeve which is fitted on to the shaft.
+acking strips are tapered down to a thin edge so that no damage is done should
actual rubbing take place.
%abyrinth glands are also used internally in the cylinder to reduce to a minimum,
leakage along the shaft at the diaphragms, in an impulse type turbine. 3n a reaction
turbine they reduce the leakage past the dummy piston. Some examples of types of
labyrinth gland are shown in 'ig. ()&)$.
The theory of a labyrinth gland is not that a long tortuous path prevents steam
leakage but that as the small amount of steam leaks through the very fine
clearances it is throttled. This means that its pressure falls and its velocity
increases. ,n entering the space between the ring this velocity is largely lost due to
the eddying motion of the steam. Thus in each packing rings the steam pressure is
reduced and less leakage takes place. The number of packing rings re6uired will,
therefore, depend on the steam pressure.
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With labyrinth glands, passages are provided in the gland housing for steam sealing
and leak off. The gland at the *.+. end of a turbine is always under steam pressure
from the cylinders and has a small leak off steam. The %.+. cylinder glands are
sub7ect to vacuum from the casing side and must be sealed with steam to prevent air
leaking through. The intermediate cylinder glands may be under pressure or
vacuum from the casing according to the load on the turbine.
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0,3 3ATER SEALED GLANDS
Water sealed glands are used on some turbine %.+. cylinders. They operate like a
small centrifugal pump, the impeller being fitted to the shaft and accommodated in a
circular recess or channel in the gland housing. Water 9condensate: is supplied to
the gland from a head tank and is whirled round by the impeller creating a ring of
water under pressure which effectively seals the gland when the turbine is up to
speed. 1uring running up or shutting down water under pressure, or steam is used
temporarily to seal the gland. A few rings of labyrinth packing are used on each side
of the gland to reduce water leakage to a minimum. A diagram of this type of gland
is shown in 'ig. ()&)8.
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3,. SHA/T PAC5ING GLANDS DETAILS
Steam leakage out of the turbine cannot be avoided entirely. Some steam will leak
out of the turbine casing where the shaft passes through.
!. 3n condensing turbines, air tries to leak along the shaft into the low)pressure
condensing space. -xcessive air leakage past the shaft seals into the
condensing end will overload the air removal and condensing e6uipment.
This will result in an increase in the backpressure on the turbine.
$. -xcessive steam leakage will result in a loss of turbine efficiency. 4y design,
some leakage is allowed to maintain a steam barrier between the turbine
interior and the atmosphere.
&. Seals are installed, in both cases, to stop or minimi<e such leakage.
8. Typically turbines use labyrinth seals in series and then add a set of carbon
ring seals at the shaft ends.
Stepped labyrinth)gland seals control shaft leakage. %abyrinth packing consists of
machined packing strips of fins mounted on the casing surrounding the shaft to
make a very small clearance between the shaft and the strip. 9'ig. ()&);:
!. The principle of labyrinth packing seals is that as the steam leaks through the
very narrow spaces between the packing strips and the shaft, the steam
pressure drops. As the steam passes from one packing strip to the next, it=s
pressure is gradually reduced and any velocity that it might gain through the
no<<ling effect is lost by the action of the steam as it moves through the
gland.
$. 3ntermediate leak)offs direct the steam to lower turbine stages or heaters.
&. The large intermediate chamber may connect to the suction of a blower that
holds a vacuum lower than the turbine last stage. This would draw in low)
pressure steam from one side and air from the blower side. The blower
discharges the mixture to a condenser where the steam is recovered.
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4,. DUMMY PISTONS
4,- REASON /OR USING DUMMY PISTONS
As described in the reaction turbine there is a pressure drop across each row of
blades in a reaction type turbine and a considerable force is set up which acts on the
rotor in the direction of the steam flow. 3n order to counteract this force and reduce
the load on the thrust bearings, dummy pistons are machined out of the rotor forging
at the steam inlet end. 3ncreasing si<e has allowed thrust balance to be achieved in
multi flows, as only single flow *+ cylinders re6uire dummy pistons in ;AA 0W
machines.
4,0 BALANCING THE THRUST
The dummy piston diameter is so calculated that the steam pressure acting upon it
in the opposite direction to the steam flow, balances out the force on the rotor blades
in the direction of the steam flow. 3t is preferable that the dimensions are arranged
to keep a small but definite thrust towards the inlet end of the turbine. To help
maintain this condition at all loads a balance pipe is usually connected from the
casing, on the outer side of the balance piston, to some tap off point down the
cylinder.
The balance pipe maintains the steam pressure on the outboard side of the dummy
piston to correspond with pressure at the stage down the turbine cylinder to which
the balance pipe is connected.
4,3 STEAM /LO3
Steam can flow in either direction along the balance pipe but under steady load
conditions the steam leakage through the dummy piston labyrinth packings flows,
from the outboard side of the dummy piston, through the balance pipe and does
work in the lower stages of the turbine.
4oth dummy piston and balance pipe arrangement are shown in 'ig. ()&)?.
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