(Restricted Circulation Only)

POWER PLANT
FAMILIARISATION

Power Management Institute

NOIDA

CONTENTS
S.No.

Description

Page Nos.

THERMAL POWER PLANT

1.
2.

Locating a Thermal Power Station

Coal to Electricity

7
13

MAIN BOILER
3.

Boiler Fundamentals

23

4.

Water Circulation System

36

5.

Steam Circulation System

49

6.

Specification of Main Boiler

54

BOILER AUXILIARIES
7.

Arrangement of Boiler Auxiliaries

62

8.

Air and Draft System

66

9.

Fuel System

77

10.

Fuel Gas System

97

11.

Furnace Safeguard Supervisory System (FSSS)

106

12.

Specifications of Boiler Auxiliaries

113

MAIN TURBINE
13.

Steam Turbine Theory

126

14.

Turbine Components

136

15.

Data Sheet for Main Turbine

146

TURBINE AUXILIARIES
16.

Arrangement of Turbine Auxiliaries

149

17.

Vacuum System

153

18.

Condensate System

158

19.

Feed Water System

164

20.

Turbine Lubricating Oil System

175

21.

Auxiliary Steam System

178

22.

Flange, Stud & Rotor Heating System

180

23.

Data Sheet for Turbine Auxiliaries

183

SPECIAL FEATURE OF 200/210 MW TURBINE

24.

Turbine Governing System

189

25.

H.P. - L.P. By Pass System

198

26.

Automatic Turbine Run-up System (ARTS)

204

GENERATOR AND AUXILIARIES

27.

Generator Fundamentals

208

28.

Generator Components

213

29.

Generator Cooling and Sealing System

216

30.

Excitation System

223

31.

Automatic Voltage Regulation

231

32.

Data Sheet of Generator and Auxiliary

235

ELECTRICAL SIDE OF A POWER STATION

33.

Transformers

238

34.

Motors

249

35.

Electrical Switchgear

258

36.

Switchyard & Transmission Equipments

268

37.

A.C. Supply for Auxiliaries

275

38.

D.C. Supply System

279

CONTROL AND INSTRUMENTATION

39.

Measuring Instruments

282

40.

On-Load Leak Sealing Work Record Sheet

300

41.

Major Control Loops in Thermal Power Station

308

42.

Major C&I System Included Under Main Plant

Packages

311

43.

Distributed Digital Control Monitoring and Information

System

321

44.

Turbovisory Instruments

328

45.

Computerised Data Acquisition System (DAS)

342

OFF-SITE FACILITIES
46.

Coal Transportation & Handling

346

47.

Fuel Oil System

349

48.

Ash Handling Plant

356

49.

Circulating Water System

363

50.

Water Treatment Plant

366

51.

Compressed Air System

368

52.

Hydrogen Plant

391

53.

Introduction to 500 MW Power Plant

395

54.

Data Sheet for Main Boiler (500 MW)

398

55.

Data Sheet for Boiler Auxiliaries

400

56.

Data Sheet for Turbine Auxiliaries

402

57.

Major Different Between 210 MW & 500 MW Units

403

58.

GAS POWER PLANTS

408

59.

Data Sheet for Gas Projects

416

60.

Comparison Between Gas Turbines at Anta & Auraiya

422

61.

Steam Turbine (K.W.U. Design)

424

62.

Once Through Boiler

439

63.

Hydro Power Plant

444

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE

Target Population: Engineering Executive Trainees

Module No.: 1G/03 (Ref. Syllabus for Engineering Executive Trainees)

Instruction to Trainees

This booklet gives both the conceptual and practical aspects of a power station. If
more theoretical inputs are required, the same may be got from the faculty members/
library.
This booklet needs to be used even after this module
Instruction to Instructors

Step by step approach to familiarise the various system and equipments has been
adopted in this booklet. It is suggested that the lecture sections may he taken up in
the same order.
Few parameters/illustrations given in the booklet correspond to Russian designed
210 MW units. These may very from site to site Hence, the differences may be
highlighted. Also details of 500 MW units and gas based Power Plant are detailed in
this booklet.

Reference to specific equipment numbers has been avoided in order to make the
booklet useable by different training institutes. This data may be provided to the
trainees, if required.

Details regarding individual system/equipment may also be provided to the trainees

as per requirement.

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Instruction to Training Centre Staff

The detailed information on individual systems/equipments may be provided to

trainees, if required.

A copy of session plan and synopsis should be given to the Instructor in advance so
as to facilitate him to plan his lecture. A set Training Package should he given to
instructor to follow the sequence and Training inputs for the sessions on which the
packages are available.

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1. Thermal Power Plant

Locating a Thermal Power Station
This inaugural chapter deals with the basic considerations in selection of site,
plant requirements and allied facilities required for a coal fired power station.

Site Requirements

The basic requirements of the conventional power station are decided on the type, size
and other essential specifications of the station to be constructed. It is necessary to
know the capacity of the plant that will be required for the immediate development as
well as for the period to follow thereafter. The capacity of the plant for immediate
development (5 to 7 years ahead) gives the instruction for planning the initial
development and the capacity anticipated during the period following (next 10 to 20
years) helps to select the site area sufficiently large for the ultimate development and
services, railway sidings, water supply access and transmission connection to be
developed in the most economic manner for the future requirement.

The size of the site required depends on several factors like the fuel used and its mode
of delivery to the site, the area to be provided for the fuel storage, cooling towers,
switchyards, space needs for store yards, workshops, etc. Generally a 1000 MW fossil
fuel fired station will be requiring a 90 to 200 acre site. The following factors are to be
taken into consideration.

Station building
Coal store and siding
Cooling Towers
Switch yard compound
Surrounding area and approaches.

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Geology

The geology of the site should be reasonable as this affects the cost of the foundations.
Modern power plants with their heavy structures impose a heavy load on the subsoil
and hence are to be supported with suitable foundations.

Water for Power Stations

The water requirement for thermal stations come under two main groups, the first
requirement is the water required for steam generation and the second requirement is
for cooling purposes.

As far as the water for steam generation is concerned, the problem is not of quantity but
is of quality. The requirement of water in steam cycle is of the order of 3 to 4
Tons/hr/MW and make up quantity is 2 to 3% of

the same. This requirement can

be met from a small canal, city supply system or even through tube wells. The main
problem is of quality. If the water is very hard the dematerializing cost will be very high
and also it will require a large water treatment plant.

The amount of water required for condensation is quite significant. In once through
system of circulating water the amount required will be approx. 20,000 m3hr/1OO MW.
This includes small portion of requirement for cooling of generator and other machines.
Direct cooling will be possible only if perennial rivers, canals, or huge lakes are
available. Where the availability of water is not perennial and formation of a reservoir as
well cannot serve the purpose or flow through out the season is inadequate, the closed
circuit cooling system involving cooling towers is utilised and in such a system only 3%
(which consists of 1% as losses on account of evaporation and 2% for purging the salts)
of make up water is required.

As to which of the two systems of cooling be used will not only depend upon the
availability of water but also on the cost consideration which are to be compared before

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final decision. It may be noted that water, from whatever source may be used has to be
paid for either in the form of direct charges or pumping charges.
Coal for Power Station

In India, the principal source of commercial energy is coal amounting to over 95% of the
total primary energy resources of the country. The coal resources existing in our country
are of the order of 1,30,000 million tonnes or even more and new res erves are being
located. The main areas where coal mines are located are eastern region i.e Bihar,
Bengal, Central region, Singrauli Coal fields, Tamil Nadu, Neyveli and small sources of
coal are located in rest of the country as well.

The economic and efficient utilisation of high ash content coals for thermal power
generation calls for special consideration. Firstly it is uneconomical to haul this coal over
long distances because any transportation means paying freight and handling charges
on the useless ash; thereby adversely effecting the cost of useful heat that can be
recovered from these coals. The location of thermal Power station burning high ash
coals is therefore of great importance since about 50 to 60% of the cost of generation of
electric power is due to the delivered cost of coal at the generating stations. Hence, it is
imperative that these plants should be located at near the pit head or the coal
washeries. Consideration has to be given, in locating the pit head stations, for the cost
of transmission system vis-a-vis the fuel transport costs and other connected problems.
Transport

In case of thermal power stations, the problem of transport is to be considered mainly

from the view point of fuel viz. coal economics and for initial erection of the plant. Modes
of transport are also to be considered but may not be over riding factor in decision
regarding feasibility. At this stage the possibility of rail and road connections capable
of taking heavy and over- dimensioned loads of the machines are to be considered.
The bridges or tunnels of

required size and load capacity are to be provided or

existing once to be strengthened. On the basis of prevalent consumption pattern, the

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daily burden on transport system for a 500 MW station working at 80% load factor, due
to various consumables excluding spar;';-; etc. will be as given below :

Coal

4800 Tonnes

Furnace Oil

60 K.L.

Hydrochloric Acid

1200 Kg.

Sodium Hydroxide & other chemicals

600 Kg.

Disposal of Effluents

The major effluents in case of thermal stations are in ash and the flu- gases. The
disposal of chemically treated water generated in the water treatment plant is also an
effluent, which requires attention for disposal. The disposal of the gases and ash
concerns mainly the atmosphere and environment and that of water is concerned with
the effect on marine life of the rivers and canals. The method of disposal of ash has
been by converting it into slurry and pumping the same by means of ash disposal
pumps or hydrovaces to waste lands.

It is in this connection that the requirement of large area of waste lands for effluent
disposal plays a decisive factor in location. One 100 MW unit wili produce about 400 to
450 tonnes of fly ash per day on full load.
Transmission

A route must be available for the transmission lines from the site to the nearest grid
system or major load point on the area board system, which can accept the station
output. Increasing opposition from the public, amenity societies and planners to over
head lines makes line routes increasingly difficult to obtain and some times the only
solution is to lay underground sections of the line. The use oi underground cabling,
however can have a major effect on the selection of sites when considered from
economic merit because cable costs sixteen times more than over head lines of
equivalent capacity.
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Climatic Conditions

Climatic conditions of a place play a significant part in the economic; of capital

investment. The tropical climate existing in most parts of our country, calls for special
attention to the ventilation and cooling arrangements.
The humid conditions with fluctuating temperature lead to dew point and hence the
condensation which results in corrosion of insulation. It is a well-known fact that for
tropical countries insulation of electrical machines has different standards and is costly.
Further the modern stations use telemetering and control; the sensitive electronic
equipment along with other equipment such as relays etc. are required to be located in
air-conditioned rooms. This means addition to capital costs.
Proximity of Airfields

Before the site is selected, its proximity to air fields must be studied. The Chimney
height now go up to 500-600 ft. and boiler house structure upto 200 ft. These present
obstacles in air navigation particularly during landing and take off. The air safety
regulation must be taken into account before locating the power house.

Fisheries and Marine Life

The intake of large volume of water from the river and cons equent throw off at a higher
temperature after being treated with chlorine will effect fish. On some rivers where
fisheries are located, the plant site may have to be shifted though the location may be
suitable on other considerations. The effluent discharge from water treatment plant has
to be treated suitably before discharging it to the river.
Personnel Requirement

The personnel requirement will consists of persons both in the skilled and unskilled
labour categories. We may not find any difficulty in finding the unskilled labour within a
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reasonable distance of the site. But there may be some difficulty in getting the skilled
personnel required for different specialised jobs. This may again be solved by taking
persons from other regions by offering certain incentives. The provisions for residential
colonies with full amenities are to be though of.
Amenities
Some of the considerations kept in mind while locating a power plant are also the
availability of medical educational and related facilities. From the point of view of the
power plant, availability of ancillary industrial units will also form one of the factors.

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2. Coal to Electricity
This chapter aims to give a basic understanding of the modern thermal power
station in terms of major systems involved. This has been done under three basic
heads viz. generating steam from coal, conversion of thermal energy to
mechanical power and generation and load dispatch of electric power.

Basic Power Plant Cycle

The thermal (steam) power plant uses a dual (vapour + liquid) phase cycle. It is a closed
cycle to enable the working fluid (water) to be used again and again. The cycle used is
"Ranking Cycle" modified to include super heating of steam, regenerative feed water
heating and reheating of steam Figure 1A shows this cycle and is self-explanatory.

On large turbines, it becomes economical to increase the cycle efficiency by using

reheat, which is a way of partially overcoming temperature limitations. By returning
partially expanded steam, to a reheat, the average temperature at which heat is added,
is increased and, by expanding this reheated steam to the remaining stages of the
turbine, the exhaust wetness is considerably less than it would otherwise be conversely,
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if the maximum tolerable wetness is allowed, the initial pressure of the steam can be
appreciably increased.

Bleed Steam Extraction. For regenerative system, nos. of non-regulated extractions are
taken from HP, IP turbine.

Regenerative heating of the boiler feed water is widely used in modern power plants;
the effect being to increase the average temperature at which heat is added to the
cycle, thus improving the cycle efficiency*''
Factors Affecting Thermal Cycle Efficiency

Thermal cycle efficiency is affected by following:

Initial steam Pressure

Initial Steam Temperature

Whether reheat is used or not, and if used reheat pressure and temperature

Condenser pressure

Regenerative feed water heating

Coal to Steam

Coal from the coal wagons is unloaded in the coal handling plant. This Coal is
transported upto the raw coal bunkers (1) with the help of belt conveyors. Coal rs
transported to Bowl Mills (3) by Coal feeders (2) The coal is pulverised in the Bowl Mill,
where it is ground to a powder form. The mill consists of a round metallic table on which
coal particles fall. This table is rotated with the help of a motor. There are three large
steel rollers which are spaced 120" apart. When there is no coal, these rollers does not
rotate but when the coal is fed to the table it packs up between roller and the table and
this forces the rollers to rotate. Coal is crushed by the crushing action between the
rollers and rotating table. This crushed coal is taken away to the furnace through coal
pipes (4) with the help of hot and cold air mixture from P.A. Fan (5). P.A. Fan taken
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atmospheric air, a part of which is sent to Airpreheaters (7) for heating while a part goes
directly to the mill for temperature control. Atmospheric air from F.D. Fan (18) is heated
in the air heaters (7) and sent to the furnace (6) as combustion air.

Water from the boiler feed pump passes through economiser (8) and reaches the boiler
drum (9). Water from the drum passes through down commers and goes to bottom ring
header. Water from the bottom ring header is divided to all the four sides of the furnace.
Due to heat and- the density difference the water rises up in the water wall tubes (12).
"Water is partly converted to steam as it rises up in the furnace. This steam and water
mixture is again taken to the boiler drum (9) where the steam is separated from water.
Water follows the same path while the steam is sent to superheaters for superheating.
The superheaters are located inside the furnace and the steam is superheated ( 540"C)
and finally it goes to turbine.

Flue gases from the furnace is extracted by induced draft fan (14) which maintains
balance draft in the furnace (-5 to -10mm of wcl) with forced draft fan (18). These flue
gases emits their heat energy to

various

superheaters

in the pant house (15)

and finally passes through air preheaters (7)and goes to electrostatic precipitator (16)
where the ash particles are extracted. Electrostatic precipitator consists of metal plates
which are electrically charged. Ash particles are attracted on to these plates, so that
they do not pass through the chimney (17) to pollute the atmosphere. Regular
mechanical hammers blows cause the accumulation of ash to fall to the bottom of the
precipitator where they are collected in a hopper for disposal. This ash is mixed with
water to form a slurry and is pumped to ash pond.

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Steam to mechanical Power

As can be seen from figure 2, from the boiler, a steam piped) conveys steam to the
turbine through a stop valve (which can be used to. shut off steam in an emergency)
and through control valves (2) that automatically regulate the supply of steam to the
turbine. Stop valve and control valves are located in a steam chest and a governor (3),
driven from the main turbine shaft (4), operates the control valves to regulate the
amount of steam used (This depends upon the speed of the turbine and the amount of
electricity required from the generator).

Steam from the control valves enters the high pressure cylinder of the turbine, where it
passes through a ring of stationary blades (5) fixed to the cylinder wall (6). These act as
nozzles and direct the steam into a second ring of moving blades (7) mounted on a disc
secured to the turbine shaft. This second ring turns the shafts as a result of the force of
the steam. The stationary and moving blades together constitute a 'stage' of the turbine
and in practice many stages are necessary, so that the cylinder contains a number of
rings of stationary blades with rings of moving blades arranged between them. The
steam passes through each stage in turn until it reaches the end of the high pressure
cylinder and in its passage some of its heat energy is changed into mechanical energy.

The steam leaving the high pressure cylinder goes back to the boiler for reheating (8)
and returns by a further pipe (9) to the intermediate pressure cylinder. Here it passes
through another series of stationary and moving blades.

Finally, the steam is taken to the low pressure cylinders, each of which it enters at the
centre (10) flowing outwards in opposite directions through the rows of turbine blades an arrangement known as double flow - to the extremities of the cylinder. As the steam
gives up its heat energy to drive the turbine, its temperature and pressure fall and it
expands. Because of this expansion the blades are much larger and longer towards the
low pressure ends of the turbine.

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The turbine shaft usually rotates at 3,000 revolutions per minute. This speed is
determined by the frequency of the electrical system used in this country and is the
speed at which a 2- pole generator must be driven to generate alternating current at a
frequency of 50 cycles per second.

When as much energy as possible has been extracted from the steam it is exhausted
directly to the condenser. This runs the length of the low-pressure part of the turbine
and may be beneath or on either side of it. The condenser consists of a large vessel
containing some 20,000 tubes, each about 25mm in diameter. Cold water from the river,
estuary, sea or cooling tower is circulated through these tubes and as the steam from
the turbine passes round them it is rapidly condensed into water condensate. Because
water has a much smaller comparative volume than steam, a vacuum is created in the
condenser. This allows the steam to reduce down to pressure below that of the normal
atmosphere and more energy can be utilized.

From the condenser, the condensate is pumped through low pressure heaters by the
extraction pump, after which its pressure is raised to boiler pressure by the boiler feed
pump. It is passed through further feed heaters to the economiser and the boiler for
reconversion into steam.

Where the cooling water for power stations is drawn from large rivers, estuaries or the
coast, it can be returned directly to the source after use. Power stations situated on
smaller rivers and inland do not have such vast water resources available, so the
cooling water is passed through cooling towers (where its heat is removed by
evaporation) and re-used.

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A power station generating 2,000,000 kilowatts (KW) of electricity requires about

2,27,500 cubic meters pf water an hour for cooling purposes. Where cooling towers are
used, about one hundredth part of the cooling water evaporates and a certain amount is
returned to its source to carry away any impurities that collect. Most of it however, is
recirculated.

Switching and Transmission

Figure 3 shows that the electricity is usually produced in the stator windings of large
modem generators at about 25,000 volts and is fed through terminal connections to one
side of a generator transformer (1) that steps up the voltage to 132000,220000 or
400000 volts. From here conductors carry it to a series of three switches comprising an
isolator (2), a circuit-breaker (3) and another isolator (4).

The circuit-breaker, which is a heavy-duty switch capable of operating in a fraction of a

second, is used to switch off the current flowing to the transmission lines. Once the
current has been interrupted the isolators can be opened. These isolate the circuitbreaker being applied to its terminals. Maintenance or repair work can then be carried
out safely.

From the circuit-breaker the current is taken to the busbars (5)- conductors which run
the length of the switching compound - and then to another circuit-breaker (6) with its
associated isolators (7), before being fed to the Grid (8). Each generator in a power
station has its own transformer, circuit-breaker and associated isolators but the
electricity generated is fed into a common set of busbars.

Circuit-breakers work like combined switches and fuses but they have certain special
features and are very different from the domestic switch and fuse. When electrical
current is switched off by separating two contacts, an arc is created between them. At
the voltage used in the home, this arc is very small and only lasts for a fraction of a
second but at the very high voltages used for transmission, the size and power of the
arc is considerable and it must be quickly quenched to prevent damage.
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One type of circuit breaker has its contacts immersed in insulating oil so that when -the
switch is opened, either by powerful electrical coils or mechanically by springs the arc
is quickly extinguished by the oil. Another type works by compressed air, which
operates the switch, and at the same time 'blows out' the arc.

Three wires are used in a 'three-phase' system for large power transmission as it is
cheaper than the two wire 'single-phase' system that supplies the home.

The centre of the power station is the control room (9). Here engineers monitor the
output of electricity, supervising and controlling the operation of generating plant and
high voltage switch gear and directing power to the Grid system as required.
Instrument on the control panels show the output and condition which exits on all the
main plant and a miniature diagram indicates the precise state of the electrical system.

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3. Main Boiler - Boiler Fundamentals

The objective of this chapter is to acquaint the readers with the basics of combustion,
theory, types and classification of boilers and an overview of the arrangement of
various boiler accessories.

Principles of Combustion

The primary function of oil and coal burning systems in the process of steam
generation is to provide controlled efficient conversation of the chemical energy of the
fuel into heat energy which is then transferred to the heat absorbing surfaces of the
steam generator. The combustion elements of a fuel consists of carbon, hydrogen and
usually a small amount of sulphur. When combustion is properly completed the exhaust
gases will contain, carbon dioxide, water vapour, sulphur dioxide and a large volume of
Nitrogen, Combustion is brought about by combining carbon and hydrogen or
hydrocarbons with the oxygen in air. When carbon burns completely, it results in the
formation of a gas known as carbon dioxide. When carbon bums incompletely it forms
carbon monoxide.

Composition of air: the supply of oxygen for combustion is obtained from air. This is as
important as the supply of fuel. The average composition of air is

79% nitrogen and 21% oxygen by volume

77% nitrogen and 23% oxygen by weight

Nitrogen does not bum but passes through the combustion chamber to the chimney
unchanged excepting its temperature.

Ignition: Fuel must be ignited before it can burn. Combustion is brought about by
raising the temperature of the fuel to its ignition temperature. This temperature varies
with different fuels.
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Excess air: The amount of air required to burn any fuel can be calculated if the amount
of the elements present in the fuel are known. This amount of air is known as the
theoretical air. In practice this quantity is not sufficient to ensure complete combustion
and extra air has to be supplied. This extra air is known as excess air.

The loss of combustibles and unburnt gas loss reduces as excess air is added reaches
a maximum and any further additions of excess air beyond this stage, the boiler losses
increase. Thus there is one and only one quantity of excess air, which will give the
lowest combustion loss. The value of excess air needed depends upon the fuel used,
the type of firing etc.

The following factors in efficient combustion are usually referred to as "The three T's.

Time: It will take a definite time to heat the fuel to its ignition temperature and having
ignited, it will also take time to bum. Consequently sufficient time must be allowed for
complete combustion of the fuel to take place in the chamber.

Temperature: A fuel will not burn until it has reached its ignition temperature. The
speed at which this Temperature will be reached is increased by preheating the
combustion air. The temperature of the flame of the burning fuel may vary with the
quantity of air used. Too much combustion air will lower the flame temperature and
may cause unstable ignition.

Turbulence: Turbulence is introduced to achieve a rapid relative motion between the air
and the fuel particles. It is found that this produces a quick propagation of the flame
and its rapid spread throughout the fuel/air mixture in the combustion chamber.

Combustion efficiency: It varies with individual different grades of fuel within each
boiler. The idea to be aimed at, is the correct quantity of air together with good mixing
of fuel and air to obtain the maximum heat release. Maximum combustion efficiency
depends on

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Design of the boiler

Fuel used

Skill in obtaining combustion with the minimum amount of excess air.

Thermal efficiency of a boiler is measured by the amount of heat transferred to the

water in the boiler by each Kg of fuel used and is expressed as a percentage of the
total heat energy in one Kg. of fuel. The thermal efficiency is dependent on the factors
governing efficient combustion.
Boilers, their classification and types

Boiler is a device for generating steam for power, processing or heating purposes.
Boiler is designed to transmit heat from an external combustion source (usually fuel
combustion to a fluid) contained within the boiler itself.
The heat generating unit includes a furnace in which the fuel is burned. With the
advantage of water -cooled furnace walls, superheaters, air heaters and economisers,
the term 'steam generator* was evolved as a better description of the apparatus.
Boilers may be classified on the basis of any of the following characteristics:

Use

Pressure

Materials

Size

Tube Content

Tube Shape and position

Firing

Heat Source

Fuel

Fluid

Circulations

Furnace position

Furnace type
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General shape

Trade name

Special features.

Use: The characteristics of the boiler vary according to the nature of service performed.
Customarily boiler is called either stationary or mobile. Large units used primarily for
electric power generation are known as control station steam generator or utility plants.

Pressure: To provide safety control over construction features, all boilers must be
constructed in accordance with the Boiler codes, which differentiates boiler as per their
characteristics.

Materials: Selection of construction materials is controlled by boiler code material

specifications. Power boilers are us ually constructed of special steels.

Size: Rating code for boiler standardise the size and ratings of boilers based on
heating surfaces. The same is verified by performance tests.

Tube Contents: In addition to ordinary shell type of boiler, there are two general steel
boiler classifications, the fire tube and water tube boilers. Fire tube boiler is boilers with
straight tubes that are surrounded by water and through which the products of
combustion pass. Water tube boilers are those in which the tubes themselves contain
steam or water, the heat being applied to the outside surface.

Firing: The boiler may be a fired or unfired pressure vessel. In fired boilers, the heat
applied is a product of fuel combustion. A non-fired boiler has a heat source other than
combustion.

Heat Source: The heat may be derived from (1) the combustion of fuel (2) the hot
gasses of other chemical reactions (3) the utilization of nuclear energy.

Fuel: Boilers are often designated with respect to the fuel burned
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Fluid: The general concept of a boiler is that of a vessel to generate steam. A few utility
plants have installed mercury boilers.

Circulation: The majority of boilers operate with natural circulation. Some utilize positive
circulation in which the operative fluid may be forced 'once through' or controlled with
partial circulation.

Furnace Position: The boiler is an external combustion device in which the combustion
takes place outside the region of boiling water. The relative location of the furnace to
the boiler is indic ated by the description of the furnace as being internally or externally
fired. The furnace is internally fired if the furnace region is completely surrounded by
water-cooled surfaces. The furnace is externally fired if the furnace is auxiliary to the
boiler.

Furnace type: The boiler may be described in terms of the furnace type.

General Shape: During the evaluation of the boiler as a heat producer, many new
shapes and designs have appeared and these are widely recognised in the trade.

Trade Name: Many manufacturers coin their own name for each boiler and these
names come into common usage as being descriptive of the boiler.

Special features : some times the type of boiler like differential firing and Tangential
firing are described.

Categorisation of Boilers: Boilers are generally categorised as follows :

Steel boilers

Fire Tube type

Water tube type

Horizontal Straight tube

Bent tube

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Natural Circulation

Positive Circulation

Shell type

Cast Iron Boilers

Special Design Boilers

Nuclear Reactors

Boiler classification according to end use, Boilers can be classified into two categories
viz.

Utility Boilers

Industrial Boilers

The utility boners are large capacity steam generators used purely for the electrical
power generation. The industrial boilers are mainly for use in the process industries
and are characterized as follows:

Non-reheat units

Bi-drum boilers having partial steam generation in the boiler bank tubes.

Though the physical arrangement and location of various heat transfer sections may
differ considerably, the general design criteria from the performance aspect does not
change much for the two classifications. Hence the further paragraphs of this section
will be common for the utility and industrial boilers with special references, if required,
for any, one application.
Arrangement of Main Boiler (200/210 MW)

The illustration given in figure-4 shows a symbolic arrangement of various accessories

of a 200/210 MW Boiler. These accessories include :

Economiser

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Boiler drum

Down Comers

Water walls

Water wall platen (used for Low Pressure Boilers)

Primary super heater

Platen super heater

Final super heater

Reheater

Burner

Ignitors

A brief note on some of the major components shown in figure-4 have been listed in
the following paragraphs.

Boiler structural: The boiler structural is divided into two parts.

Supporting Structure

Galleries and stair ways

Supporting Structures: Boilers supporting structure consists of a systematic
arrangement of columns stiffened with horizontal beams and vertical diagonal
bracings and comprise of low carbon steel material. It is composed of 18 main
columns and 12 auxiliary columns. The main columns support the main boiler
components viz. drum, water wall membrance, panels, superheaters, reheaters,
economisers, air preheater, burners and galleries at various levels. The auxiliary
columns, supports the boiler platforms and other ducts coming in that region.
The total weight of supporting structures is about 970 M.T.

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Galleries and stairways: Galleries and stairways around the combustion and heat
recovery areas are provided for proper approach to the boiler. Stairways on both
the side of Boiler are provided. All the floors are covered with floor gratings of
required depth for walkway and are tig welded to the structure. The total weight
of Galleries and stairway are 900 M.T.

Furnace: A boiler furnace is that space under or adjacent to a boiler in which fuel is
burned and from which the combustion products pass into the boiler proper. It provides
a chamber in which the combustion reaction can be isolated and confined so that the
reaction remains a controlled force. In addition it provides support or enclosure for the
firing equipment.

Furnaces are of many types and may be classified in many ways. There names may be
descriptive of a construction feature or operating characteristics, there general shape or
design purpose or the fuel they burn. Classified according to wall construction the
furnace may be

Solid refractory setting

Air-cooled refractory setting

Water-cooled walls

The furnace must provide the following

Proper installation, operation and maintenance of fuel burning equipment.

Sufficient volume for combustion requirements.

Adequate refractories and insulation.

Accessibility to the boiler for the maintenance and repair work that must be handled
from inside the furnace chamber.

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Boiler Drum: The function of steam drum is to separate the water from the steam
generated in the furnace walls and to reduce the dissolved solid contents of the steam
to below the prescribed limit of 1 ppm. The drum is located on the upper front of boiler.
Economiser: The purpose of economiser is to preheat the boiler feed water before it is
introduced into the steam drum by recovering heat from the flue gases leaving the
boiler. The economiser is located in the boiler rear gas pass below the rear horizontal
superheater. The economiser is continuous unfinned loop type and water flows in
upward direction and gas in the downward direction.
Super Heater: There are three stages of superheater besides the side walls and
extended sidewalls. The first stage consists of horizontal superheater of convection
mixed flow type with upper and lower banks located above

economiser assembly in

the rear pass. The upper bank terminates into hanger tubes, which
outlet header of

the first

are connected to

stage superheter. The second stage superheater consists

of pendant platen which is of radiant parallel flow type. The third stage supherheater
pendant spaced is of convection parallel flow type.

The outlet temperature and pressure of the steam coming out from the superheater is
540C and 157 Kg/Cm 2 respectively for H.P.units

Reheater: The function of reheater is to reheat the steam coming out from high pressure
turbine to a temperature of 540C.

The reheater is composed of two sections. The front pendant section and rear pendant
section.

The rear pendant section is located above the furnace arc and the rear water wall and
front pendant section is located between the rear water hanger tubes and the
superheater platen section.

Burners: There are total twenty four pulverised coal burners for corner fired C.E. type
boilers and twelve oil burners provided each in between two pulverised fuel burner.
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The pulverised coal burners are arranged in such a way that six mills supply the coal
the burners at 4 corners, of the furnace. All the nozzles of the burners are inter linked
and can be tilted as a single unit from +30 to -30.

The oil burners are fed with heavy fuel oil till boiler load reaches to about 25%.

Igniters: There are twelve side eddy plate oil/H.E.A igniters per boiler. The atomising air
for ignitors are taken from plant air compressors at 7Kg/cm 2 (gauge).

The burner are located at three elevations. Each elevation has four oil burners and
ignitors. These elevations are normally known as AB elevation, CD elevation and EF
elevation (Refer Fig.5>. ignitors are used for lighting the main oil gun. There are two
ignitor air fans supply air for combustion of ignitor oil. Mainly two types of ignitors are
used.

Eddy Plate Ignitor

High Energy Arc Type Ignitors

Eddy Plate Ignitors

Eddy plate ignitor utilizes a metered controlled flow of combustion air directed through
the ignition chamber or horn to create eddy current about the down stream face of the
eddy plate. Static pressure measurements are monitored on the face of the eddy plate
and at the nozzle discharge. The flow of combustion
gives a static pressure differential in which
tap. When ignitor is fired the energy

air through the nozzle with no fire

the furnace tap is higher than eddy plate

conversion and

combustion reaction (with the

considerable gaseous expansion due to both the temperature rise and energy release)
creates a back

pressure on the

reversal of differential

eddy

measurement

plate pressure tap. This results is a positive

between the two taps. The differential is rather

significant and can be easily measured with relatively simple diaphragm meter.

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High energy Arc type Ignitor

High Energy Arc type electric al ignitors are provided which can directly ignite the heavy
fuel oil. The main Features of this system are.

An exciter unit which stores up the electrical energy and releases the energy at a high
voltage and short duration.

A spark rod tip which is designed to convert the electrical energy into an intensive
spark.
A pneumatically operated retract mechanism which is used to position the spark rod in
the firing position and retract to the non-firing position.

Each discrete spark provides a large burst of ignition energy as the current reaches a
peak value of the order of 2000 amps. These sparks are effective in lighting of a -well
atmosied oil spray and also capable of blasting off any coke particle or oil muck on the
surface of the spark rod.

For a reliable ignition of oil spray by the HEA ignitor, it is very much necessary to
maintain the following conditions;

The atomoisation is maintained at an optimum level. All the atmoising parameters such
as oil temperature steam pressure, clean oil gun tips etc., are maintained without fail.
The atmoising steam shall be with 20 deg superheat minimum.

The cold legs are minimum. The burner fittings are well traced and insulated. The spark
rod tip is located correctly at the optimum location.

The oil gun location with respect to the diffuser and the diffuser location with respect to
the air nozzle, is maintained properly.

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The control system is properly tuned with ignitor operation. The time of commencing of
all the operational sequences is properly matched.

It may become necessary to close the air behind the ignitors, during the light off period
for reliable ignition. This must be established during the commissioning of the
equipment and proper sequences must be followed.

The following facts must be born in mind to understand the ignitors and the system
clearly :

The spark rod life will be drastically reduced if left for long duration in the advanced
condition when the furnace is hot.

Too much retraction of spark rod inside the guide tube will interfere with nozzle tilts and
may spoil the guide tube.

A minimum discharge of 300 Kg/hr of oil is essential for a reliable ignition. A plugged oil
gun tip may result in an unsuccessful start.
A cold oil gun and hoses cause quenching of oil temperature and may lead to an
unsuccessful start. In such cases, warming up by scavenging prior to start is necessary.

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4. Water Circulation System

As a sequential step after understanding the fundamentals of boilers, this
chapter attempts to describe the basic theory of water circulation and the
various accessories coming under the preview of this system.

Theory of Circulation

Water must flow through the heat absorption surface of the boiler in order that it be
evaporated into steam. In drum type units (natural and controlled circulation) the water
is circulated from the drum through the generating circuits and back to the drum where
steam is separated and directed to the superheater. The water leaves the drum through
the downcomers at a temperature slightly below saturation temperature. The flow
through the furnace wall is at saturation temperature. Heat absorbed in water wall is
latent heat of vaporization creating a mixture of steam and water. The ratio of the weight
of water to the weight of steam in the mixture leaving the heat absorption surfaces is
called Circulation Ratio.

Types of Boiler Circulation System

The 3 systems of circulation (Refer fig 5 adopted in boiler are)

Natural circulation system

Controlled circulation system

Combined circulation system

Natural Circulation System

Water delivered to a steam, generator from feed heaters is at a temperature well below
the saturation value corresponding to that pressure. Entering first, the economiser, it is
heated to about 30 to 40 deg C below saturation temperature. From economiser the
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water enters* the drum and thus join the circulation system. Water entering the drum
flows down through the downcomer and enters ring header at the bottom. In the water
walls a part of the water is converted to steam and the mixture flows back to the drum.
In the drum, the steam is separated, and sent to superheater for superheating and than
sent to the H.P. turbine. Remaining water mixes with the incoming water from the
economiser, and the cycle is repeated.

The circulation, in this case, takes place on the thermo-siphon principle. The down
comers contain relatively cold water,whereas the riser tubes contain a steam water
mixture, whose density is comparatively less. This density difference is the driving force,
for the mixture. Circulation takes place at such a rate that the driving force and frictional
resistance in water wall are balanced.

As the pressure increases, the difference in density between water and steam reduces.
Thus the hydrostatic head available will not be able to overcome the frictional resistance
for a flow corresponding to the minimum requirement of cooling of water wall tubes.
Therefore natural circulation is limited to boiler with drum operating pressure around
175 Kg/cm 2.
Controlled Circulation System

Beyond 180 Kg/cm2 of pressure, circulation is to be assisted with mechanical pumps, to

overcome frictional losses. To regulate the flow through various tubes, orifice plates are
used. This system is applicable in the high sub-critical regions (say 200 Kg/cm 2).

Combined Circulation System

Beyond the critical pressure, phase transformation is absent, and hence once through
system is adopted. However, it has been found that even at supercritical pressure, it is
advantageous to re-circulate the water through the furnace tubes at low loads. This
protects the furnace tubes and simplifies the start-up procedure. A typical operating
pressure for such a system is 260 Kg/cm 2.

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Nucleate Boiling

As the heat flux increases, the water temperature near the surface increases and
reaches, saturation temperature. At this point a change from liquid to vapor occur
locally. But since the bulk of water does not reach saturation temperature the steam
bubbles collapse giving up their latent heat to raise the temperature of water. This
condition is known as nucleate film. Nucleate boiling regimes are characterised by high
heat transfer coefficients.

Beyond nucleate boiling region (i.e at still higher heat fluxes) the bubbles form a film of
steam inside the heating surfaces. This condition is known as film boiling. The point,
beyond which film boiling occurs is known as Departure from nucleate Boiling (DNB).

Till the Occurrence of DNB metal, temperature is slightly above the water temperature.
When water starts boiling, the metal temperature is slightly above the saturation
temperature. But when DNB occurs, the metal temperature increases much higher than
the saturation temperature.

Circulation Ratio: Circulation Ratio for utility boilers is between 6 to 9. Industrial boilers
have a high circulation ratio. The value of CR varies from 8 to 30 in industrial boilers.

Economiser

The function of an economiser in

steam

generating unit is

the flue gases and add this as sensible heat to

the feed

to absorb heat from

water before the water

enters the evaporative circuit of the boiler. Earlier the economisers were introduced
mainly to recover the heat available in flue gas that leaves the boiler and provision of
this additional heating surface increased the efficiency of steam generation, saving in
fuel consumption, thus the name " Economiser " christened. In the modern boilers used
for power generation feed water heaters were used to increase the efficiency of turbine
unit and feed water temperature and hence the relative size of economiser is less than
earlier units. This is a good proposition as the heat available in boiler exit flue gas can
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be economically recovered using airheater which is essential for pulverised fuel fired
boilers.
Location and Arrangements

It is usual to locate economiser, ahead of airheaters and following the primary

superheater or reheater in the gas stream. Hence it will be generally being contained in
the same casing as the primary superheater or reheater. Counterflow arrangement is
normally selected so that heating surface requirement is kept minimum for the same
temperature drop in the flue gas. Economiser coils are designed for horizontal
placement which facilitate drainings of the coil and favours the arrangement in the
second pass of boiler. Water flow is from bottom to top so that steam if any formed
during the heat transfer can move along with water and prevent the lock up steam
which will cause overheating and failure of economiser tube.

Economiser tubes are supported in such a manner that sagging, undue deflection and
expansion prevention will not occur at any condition of opreation. A recirculation line
with a stop valve and non-return valve may be incorporated to keep circulation in
economiser into steam drum when there is fire in furnace but no feed flow. (e.g. During
start-up). Tube elements composing the unit are built up into tiers or banks and these
are connected to inlet and outlet headers. Manholes and adequate access and spacing
between banks of tubes are provided for inspection and maintenance works. Normally
the tube bank arrangement and steam soot blowers provision at appropriate location
will facilitate efficient on load cleaning. An ash hopper below the economiser is provided
if the flue gas duct is taking a turn from vertical.

Type of Construction
Plain Tube : Plain tube economizers have several banks of tubes with either-in-line or
staggered type formation. Staggered arrangement induces more turbulence in the gas
than the in-line arrangement. This gives a higher rate of heat transfer and requires less
surface for a given duty but at the expense of higher draught loss. Inline arrangement
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may need about 10 to 15% more surface but effectively cleanable with the help of on
load steam soot blowers'. Hence selection of in-line or staggered arrangement depends
on the nature of fuel (fouling) and traverse distance between tube. Economiser can be
supported in a water or steam cooled coils which can also be used to support primary
superheater or reheater. The tubes are site welded to the stubs, which are shop welded
on to the inlet and outlet manifolds. In some design the outlet manifold is dispense with
by continuing the economiser tubes upwards to form the sidewalls of the
superheater/reheater economiser.

Welded Fin-tube : Large number of variations in this type is available. In earlier days
cast iron shrouds were shrunk on mild steel tube for use as economiser in stocker fired
boilers. This type has a good resistance against gas side corrosion but heavy in weight.
But modern boiler uses only plain or fin welded design as gas side corrosion is not
faced due to high feed water temperature and easy supporting of the banks with steam
or water cooled tubes of suspended design due to low mass (Refer fig 6.)

Fig No.-6

Types of Economiser Fins

Water Walls

Almost all modern power boilers are equipped with water-walls. In large boilers, water
walls completely cover the interior surfaces of the furnace providing practically complete
elimination of exposed refractory surface. Water walls ser ve as the only means of
heating and evaporating the feed water supplied to the boiler from the economisers.
Water walls usually consist of tangential vertical tubes and are connected at the top and
the bottom to headers. These tubes receive water from the boiler drum by means of
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downcomers connected between drum and water walls lower header. In a boiler
approximately 50 percent of the heat released by the combustion of fuel in the furnace
is absorbed by the water walls. Heat so absorbed by the water walls is used in
evaporation of water supplied to the boiler. The mixture of steam and water is
discharged from the top of the water walls tubes into the upper wall header and than
passes through riser tubes to the steam drum.

Here the steam is separated and the accompanying water together with the incoming
feed water is returned to the water walls through the down comers.
Construction

Water-wall design and construction depends upon the combustion and steam
conditions and the size of the boiler. The water walls may be of

Tangent tube construction or

Membrane wall construction

Tangent tube : This construction consists of water wall placed side by side nearly
touching each other. An envelope of thin sheet of steel called "SKIN CASING" is placed
in contact with the tubes, which provides a seal against furnace leakage. (Refer figure
7).

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CLOSE PITCH TUBE WALL

Fig No.-7

Tangent Tube Waterwall

Membrance Wall : In this type a number of tubes are joined by a process of fusion
welding or by means of steel strips called 'fins. Refer figure 8.

PIN

Fig No.-8

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The membrane wall construction offers many advantages namely.

pressurised furnace is possible with the related advantages of

Increase in efficiency

Better load response with simpler combustion control.

Quicker starting and stopping and hence increased availability of boiler.

Heat transfer is better

Weight is saved in refractory and structure

Erection is made easy and quick

Drum & Drum Internals

Steam and water Drum : The boiler drum forms a part of the circulation system of the
boiler. The drum serves two functions, the first and primary one being that of separating
steam from the mixture of water and steam discharged into it. Secondly, the drum
houses all equipments used for purification of steam after being separated from water.
This purification equipment is commonly referred to as the Drum Internals.

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The quantity of water contained in the boiler below the water level is relatively small
compared to the total steam output. As a result, regardless of drum size, the matter of
water storage is not significant. Primarily, the drum size is determined by the space
required to accommodate the steam separating and purifying equipment. The steam
space provided should be sufficient to prevent priming & foaming. Drum diameter and
length should be sufficient to provide .accessibility for installation, inspection and
servicing of the drum internals. In most cases, the drum length generally depends on
furnace width or in high capacity units it may be governed by the space required for
steam separating devices. For this purpose, the drum length is kept at least 900 mm
more than the furnace width.

The thickness of the drum is designed taking into consideration, the operating
parameters, the diameter and location of the various holes on the drum.

Steam generated in a boiler is intimately mixed with relatively large and variable
amounts of circulating boiler water. Before the steam leaves the boiler drum and enters
the superheater practic ally all of this associated boiler water must be separated from
the steam.

Materials: The boiler drum is made of carbon steel plates. The material used should
comply with the Indian Boiler Regulations. Comparing carbon steel and alloy steel as
material for drum, the carbon steel costs less per ton of material but the overall weight
of drum will be higher because of increased thickness. Fabrication and welding of
carbon steel plates presents little difficulties, whereas alloy steel fabrication has it's
problems.

Drum Internals
Drum internals are used to separate water from steam and to direct the flow of water
and steam in a manner so as to obtain an optimum distribution of drum metal
temperature in boiler operation. The drum internals may consists of baffle
arrangements, devices which change the direction of flow of steam and water mixture,
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separators employing spinning action for removing water from steam or steam purifiers
as washers and screen dryers. These devices are used in conjunction with other to
remove impurities from the steam leaving the boiler drum. Typical arrangement of
steam drum internals is shown in the figure 9.

The arrangement of drum normally consists of two or more integrated devices, each of
which may be quite different in design and operate on totally different principles. Each
stage must have a high separation efficiency. The greater the number of stages of
separation, the lower the required efficiency for each stage. Thus, two stages at 99
percent efficiency, three stages at 90 percent efficiency and six stages at 70 percent
efficiency will give similar results.

There is a considerable change in the densities of water and steam as the pressure
increases towards the critical point. This relationship is shown in figure 10.

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Thus, with increase in pressure, the separation of water from steam by simple devices
become more difficult. It becomes necessary to use more efficient apparatus if primary
separation is to be achieved in a confined area.

Practically all drum internals are made up of plate baffles, banks of screens,
arrangements of corrugated or bent plates and devices employing radial acceleration of
water from steam.

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5. Steam Circulation System

This chapter deals with the construction, function and types of different boiler
accessories under steam circulation system; from riser tubes to reheater.

Riser Tubes

A riser is a tube through which water and steam pass from an upper waterwall header
to a steam drum.
Superheater
Superheaters are usually classified according to the shape of the tube banks and the
position of the header; also according to whether they receive heat by radiation or
convention, although in some instance it may be a combination of both methods.

Types of superheaters : Depending on the firing method, fuel fired etc., the
superheaters are placed in the boiler flue passes, horizontally, vertically or combined.

Pendant type : The superheaters may be of pendant type, hanging from and supported
by their headers.

Horizontal type : The superheaters may be of the horizontal type with tubes arranged
across the boiler. This type of superheater is self-draining which is an advantage during
lighting up and for this reason they are now favoured by designers for the primary
section superheaters. The platen is a plane surface receiving heat from both sides. The
ratio of longitudnal pitching to transfer pitching is very low for platen superheater.

Radiant superheater : Radiant superheater absorb heat by direct radiation from the
furnace and are generally located at the top of the furnace. In some older designs, the
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superheater tubes form part of the furnace wall and receive practically all the heat of
radiation.

Since the furnace temperature, and therefore the amount of available heat from
radiation, does not rise as rapidly as the rate of steam flow, a radiant superheater has a
falling characteristic (as shown in figure- 11), the steam temperature drops as the
steam flow rises.

To minimum tube failure, high mass flow of steam through the unit is necessary, and
this can be achieved only at the expense of pressure drop. The temperature
characteristic of a straight radiant superheater is shown.

Convection Superheater : Convection superheaters absorb heat mainly by the

impingement of flow of hot gas around the tubes. A purely convection superheater has
a rising steam temperature characteristic. The mass flow and temperature of gas
entering the superheater zone, as well as the steam flow from the boiler, increase with
an increase in the firing rate. These changes in temperature produce a greater average
temperature difference between the gas and steam, and this together with the higher
gas mass flow, causes an increased rate of heat absorption, resulting in an increased
steam temperature. The temperature characteristic of a straight convection superheater
is shown in figure 12.

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Combined Superheater : A combination of the falling steam temperature characteristic

of the radiant superheater, together with the rising characteristic of the convection
superheater is used in most of the installations for the purpose of maintaining constant
steam temperature. It has the advantages of providing a constant steam temperature
over a very wide range in load. This illustrates the performance that may be expected
when the two types of surfaces are properly proportioned.
Location of radiant and convection superheaters are shown in figure 13.

Desuperheater/Attemperator

Desuperheating or attemperation is the reduction or removal of superheat from steam

to the extent required.

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As mentioned earlier, the characteristic performance of a superheater which receives

its heat lay covnection from gas flowing over it, is rising temperature with increasing
output. To obtain some degree of control, the superheater must be designed for full
temperature at some partial load. As a result, there will be excessive surface, with
corresponding excess temperatures at higher loads. A desuperheaters may be used to
reduce the steam temperature as shown in figure 14.

The preferred location of desuperheater, especially for temperature above 450 deg C is
between sections of superheater. In such installations, the steam is first passed through
a primary superheater where it is raised to some intermediate temperature. It is then
passed through the desuperheater and its temperature reduction is controlled so that,
after continuing through the secondary or final stage of the superheater, the required
constant conditions are maintained at the outlet.

Desuperheaters are either non-contact or direct contact type.

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Reheaters

This is the part of the boiler which receives steam back from the turbine after it has
given up some of its heat energy in the high pressure section of the turbine. The
reheater raises the temperature of this steam, usually to its original value, for further
expansion in the turbine. The purpose of this reheating is to add energy to the partially
used steam.

The arrangement and construction of a reheater is similar to that of a superheater. In

large modern boiler plant, the reheat sections are mixed equally with superheater
sections.

The reheat sections in modern boilers usually consists of pendant assemblies. These
can be used in combination with horizontal assemblies or a radiant wall located in the
upper furnace.

The cold reheat is not cold to the sense of touch, but is the line from turbine to the
boiler and is at a temperature lower than the reheat line from boiler to the turbine called
hot reheat steam. Due to resistance of flow through the reheat section, the hot reheat
steam is at lower pressure compared to the cold reheat steam.

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6. Specification of Main Boiler

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7. Boiler Auxiliaries Arrangement Of Boiler Auxiliaries

This Chapter endeavours to build up a basic understanding of the
arrangements of different boiler auxiliaries and their location.

The illustration shown in Fig. 15 gives a symbolic representation of the different boiler
auxiliary equipments and their major interconnections.

A brief note on various auxiliary equipments has been given in this chapter.

Coal Bunker : These are in'process storage silos used for storing crushed coal from the
coal handling system. Generally, these are made up of welded steel plates.' Normally,
there are six such bunkers supplying coal of the corresponding mills. These are located
on top of the mills so as to aid in gravity feeding of coal.

Coal Feeders : Each mill is provided with a drag link chain/rotary/gravametric feeder to
transport raw coal from the bunker to the inlet chute, leading to mill at a desired rate.

Mills : There are six mill (25% capacity each), for every 200 MW unit, located adjacent
to the furnace at '0' M level. These mills pulverise coal to the desired fineness to be fed
to the furnace for combustion.

P.A. Fan : The primary air fans (2 per unit - 50% capacity each) are designed for
handling atmospheric air upto a temperature of 50 deg C. These fans are located at *0'
M level near the boiler.

Air Pre-heater : Air pre-heater transfer heat from flue gases to cold primary and/ or
secondary air by means of rotating heating surface elements. Beneath this regenerative
type air pre-heaters, there exists a steam coil air pre-heater. These are located in the
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secondary pass of the furnace at a height of around '16' M level. Each 200 MW unit is
provided with two such air pre-heaters.

Burners : As evident from the name itself, these are used for burning pulverised coal or
oil. Every unit has a set of such burners located at different elevations of the furnace.

F.D.Fan : The forced draft fans (2 per unit - 50% capacity each) are designed for
handling secondary air for the boiler. These fans are located at '0' M level near the PA
Fan.

Wind Box : These act as distributing media for supplying secondary/excess air to the
furnace for combustion. These are generally located on the left and right sides of the
furnace while facing the chimney.

Scanner Fan : These fans, two per boiler, supply requisite air for scanner cooling.

Ignitor Fan : These fans, again two per boiler, are used to supply air for cooling ignitors
and combustion of ignitor air fuel mixture.

Electrostatic precipitator : These are generally two plate type located between boiler
and the chimney. The precipitator is arranged for horizontal gas flow and is constructed
with welded steel cas ings.

ID Fans : There are two induced Draft fans per boiler located between the Electrostatic
precipitator and the chimney. These fans are used for sucking flue gas from furnace.

Chimney : These are tall RCC structures with single/multiple flues (one flue per 200
MW Unit). The height of these chimneys vary depending on the locationa
considerations; anywhere between 150 m. to 220 m.

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Seal air Fan : These are used for supplying seal air to the mills to prevent ingress of
coal dust into gear box lubrication oil. There are two fans per boiler for 200MW units.

Soot Blowers : Following three types of soot blowers, in requisite numbers, are
provided :

Long retractable soot blowers

ii

Wall blower

iii

Air heater blower Superheated steam is tapped from superheater for the
purpose of soot blowing.

The pressure is reduced to 31 Kg/cm2 at 330 deg C by means of pressure reducing

valve. The soot blowers are used for efficient on-load cleaning of furnace,
superheaters, reheaters and regenerative air heaters.

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8. Air and Draft System

This Chapter endeavour: u, provide an exposure to the fundamentals of fans as
well as the draft system. The constructional & functional features of various
fans along with control and performance aspects have been detailed to facilitate
total understanding of air and draft systems.

Basics of Fans

The air we need for combustion in the furnace and the flue gas that we must evacuate
would not possible without using fans. A fan is capable of imparting energy to the air/gas
in the form of a boost in pressure. We overcome the losses through the system by
means of this pressure boost. The boost is dependent on density for a given fan at a
given speed. The higher the temperature, the lower is the boost. Fan performance (Max.
capability) is represented as volume vs pressure boost. The basic imformation needed
to select a fan are :

Air or Gas flow -Kg/hr

Density (function of temperature and pressure)

System, resistance (losses)

Classification of Fans

In boiler practice, we meet the following types of fans.

a)

Axial fans

b)

Centrifugal (Radial) fans

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Axial Fans : In this type the movement of air or gas is parallel to its exit of rotation.
These fans are better suited to low resistance applications. The axial flow fan uses the
screw like action of a multibladed rotating shaft, or propeller, to move air or gas in a
straight - through path.
Centrifugal Fan : This fan moves gas or air perpendicular to the axis of rotation. There
are advantages when the air must be moved in a system where the frictional resistance
is relatively high. The blade wheel whirls air centrifugally between each pair of blades
and forces it out peripherally at high velocity and high static pressure. More air is sucked
in at the eye of the impeller. As the air leaves the revolving blade tips, part of its velocity
is converted into additional static pressure by a scroll shaped housing. There are three
types of blades. (Refer Fig 16).

a)

Backward curved blades

b)

Forward curved blades

c)

Radial blades

Fi8 No.-16
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Draft System

Before a detailed study of industrial fans it is in the fitness of things to understand the
various draft systems maintained by those fans.

The terms draft denotes the difference between the atmospheric pressure and the
pressure existing in the furnace. Depending upon the draft used, we have

a)

Natural Draft

b)

Induced Draft

c)

Forced Draft and

d)

Balanced Draft System

Natural Draft : In natural draft units the pressure differentials are obtained hv
constructing tall chimneys so that vacuum is created in the furnace Due to tin' pressure
difference, air is admitted into the furnace.

Induced Draft : In this system the air is admitted to natural pressure differenc e and the
flue gases are taken out by means of induced Draft fans and the furnace is maintained
under vacuum.

Forced Draft : A set of forced draft fans are made use of for supplying air to the furnace
and so the furnace is pressurised. The flue gases are taken out due to the pressure
difference between the furnace and the atmosphere.

Balance Draft : Here a set of Induced and Forced Draft Fans are utilized in maintaining
a vacuum in the furnace. Normally all the power stations utilize this draft system.
Industrial Fans

I.D. Fan : The induced Draft Fans are generally of Axial-Impulse Type. Impeller nominal
diameter is of the order of 2500 mm. The fan consists of the following sub-assemblies
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(Refer Fig. 17).

a)

Suction Chamber

b)

Inlet Vane Control

c)

Impeller

d)

Outlet Guide Vane Assembly

The outlet guides are fixed in between the case of the diffuser and the casing. These
guide vanes serve to direct the flow axially and to stabilize the draft-flow caused in the
impeller. These outlet blades are removable type from outside. During operation of the
fan itself these blades can be replaced one by one.
Periodically the outlet blades can be removed one at a time to find out the extent of
wear on the blade. If excessive wear is noticed the blade can be replaced by a new
blade.

e)

Diffuser

f)

Bearings

The bearings are self-aligning roller type. The flanged bearing on the impeller side is the
fixed bearing and the outlet bearing is the expansion bearing. Both the bearings are
grease lubricated. A grease quantity control ring is provided in each bearing to
discharge the surplus amount of grease. For controlling the bearing temperature a
contact tele-thermometer is provided in the bearing. The contacts are to be set at 80
deg C for signaling and to 90 deg C for stopping the main motor. A cooling pipe for
cooling the inner bearing is provided.

g)

Flexible Coupling

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Coupling between the motor and fan is flexible pin type with rubber bush inserts.

F.D Fan : The fan, normally of the same type as ID Fan, consists of the following
components :

a)

Silencer

b)

Inlet bend

c)

Fan housing

d)

Impeller with blades and setting mechanism

e)

Guide wheel casing with guide vanes and diffuser.

The centrifugal and setting forces of the blades are taken up by the blade bearings. The
blade shafts are placed in combined radial and axial antifriction bearings which are
sealed off to the outside.

The angle of incidence of the blades may be adjusted during operation. The
characteristic pressure volume curves of the fan may be changed in a large range
without essentially modifying the efficiency. The fan can then be easily adopted to
changing operating conditions.

The rotor is accommodated in cylindrical roller bearings and an inclined ball bearing at
the drive side adsorbs the axial thrust.

Lubrication and cooling of these bearings is assured by a combined oil level and
circulating lubrication system.

Primary Air Fan : P.A. ran if flange mounted design, single stage suction, NDFV type,
backward curved bladed radial fan operating on the principle of energy transformation
due to centrifugal forces. Some amount of the velocity energy is converted to pressure
energy in the spiral casing. The fan is driven at a constant speed and the flow is
controlled by varying the angle of the inlet vane control. The Special feature of the fan is
that it is provided with inlet guide vane control with a positive and precise link
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mechanism. It is robust in construction for higher peripheral speed so as to have unit

sizes. Fan can develop high pr essures at low and medium volumes and can handle hot
air laden with dust particles. The fan consists of the following sub assemblies (Refer
Figure 18).

Suction Chamber: It is of welded sheet steel construction and split horizontally for each
assembly and dismantling. Manholes are provided for inspection of the same.
Inlet Vane Control: It consists of a number of aerofoil fixed to individual shaft, which are
connected by means of angular joints to a central ring. The rig is guided to rotating
position by a set of roller and spring assemblies. A control lever is connected to a ring
which can be operated by an electric servomotor or a pneumatic power cylinder.
Rotor: The rotor consists of a shaft and impeller. The impeller is mounted on a shaft
with a taper fit and locking nut. The critical speed is maintained we!! above operating
speed.

Housing: The spiral casing is of two part design. Casing and outlet have rectangular
cross section. Lower part of casing rests on supporting brackets on the foundation.

Bearings: The fan rotor is placed in cylindered roller antifriction bearings. An inclined
ball bearing absorbs the axial thrust on the impeller side and scrapper rings seal off the
bearing casing. For controlling the bearing temperature, thermometers are provided in
the bearings.
Flexible Coupling: Coupling is of flexible pin type with rubber bush inserts

Shaft-Seal: It is a two part-labyrinth seal which seals off the box section casing at the
shaft passage.

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Ignitor Air Fan

Ignitor fan provides necessary combustion air to all the igniters. Fan makes the suction
from atmosphere directly and supplies air to the wind boxes of individual igniters at a
fixed constant uncontrolled rate at ambient temperature.

Fan impeller is directly mounted on the motor shaft and installed in the casing. Casing
is so designed that one side panel (cover) can be easily removed off by loosening the
fixing bolts. Dampers are provided and flanged at inlet and outlet of fan to control the
air flow.

Scanner Air Fan

Scanner fans ar e installed in the boiler for supplying continuously cooling air to the
flame scanner provided for flame supervision. Normally one fan remains in service
while the other one remains available as stand-by.

Scanner air fan is centrifugal type and impeller is directly on the motor shaft with the
help of hub. Sets of dampers are mounted at inlet and outlet of the fan.

The scanner air fan takes its suction from F.D. fan outlet and boosts the pressure
further to provide 50 cftn of cooling air per scanner.
Control of Fan Output

Very few applications permit fan to operate continuously at the same pressure and
volume discharge rate. Therefore to meet requirements of the system, some
convenient means of controlling fan output becomes necessary. This will also help in
avoiding the overload on drive during starting.

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Variable Speed Control: Speed variation of fan also varies the quantity and pressure
developed in proportion to the load and square of the load. Hence, by selecting speed
variation as a control method the fan operating point can be kept always at the optimum
point which results in overall higher efficiency of fan.

Inlet Vane Control: In the case of axial fans the variation in output is achieved by
changing of angle of inlet with respect to the moving blades.

Damper Regulation: In this method a damper is introduced in the circuit and by varying
the damper opening the resistance offered by it is altered.

Variable Pitch type: This is applicable only to variable pitch type axial fan. The blade
itself is rotated such that optimum efficiency can be maintained at part loads also.
Factors Affecting Fan Performance

Given fan size, system resistance and fluid density when speed changes:

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b)

Speed, capacity and horsepower vary inversely with square root of absolute
temperature.

Constant speed and capacity

a)

Horsepower and pressure vary directly with density and barometric pressure and
inversely with absolute temperature.

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9. Fuel System
Two primary aspects of preparation and firing of coal arc described in this
chapter. The coal preparation equipments viz. feeders and mills, firing systems
and the firing equipments viz. the burners and their arrangement form the
contents of this chapter.

Feeders

In most of the power stations the types of feeders used for transporting coal from RC
bunker to the mills are

a.

b.

Volumetric feeders
i

Chain feeders

ii

Belt feeders

iii

Table type rotary feeders

Gravimetric type feeders

In chain type of feeders a continuous chain is moving round the sprockets in which a
sprocket is driven by a variable speed DC motor and the other sprocket is a ret urn
sprocket. On this chain, at different intervals, MS plates are connected which are called
as scrapers. This type of chain feeders is called scraper feeders. The Coal from the RC
bunker falls on a platform, which is below the scraper feeder. When the scraper moves
it will scrap the coal and at the end of the table or platform the coal falls into the
pulverizer. The actual fuel bed thickness carried by the scrapers will be more. To
restrict this a height regulating plate is provided so that height of fuel scraped by the
scraper can be controlled. Refer figure-19 for RC Feeder.

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In belt feeders a continuous belt is running. The belt is directly carrying the load of the
fuel. Here, the fuel can be controlled by the speed of the conveyor belt or the height of
the fuel bed. In all the cases for easy control of the speed of the either scraper feeders
or belt feeders, DC motor is used. (here we can have from 0 to 3m/Sec.)

Rotary feeders are just similar to the paddle feeders or blade feeders. These load on to
conveyor and the conveyors discharge the fuel into the pulverizers.
Gravimetric Coal Feeder : Gravimetric Coal feeder is used for feeding the Coal from the
bunker to pulveriser as per requirement. At the time of operation plate injects coal flow
and saves conveyor belt from direct in-feed impact. Plate can be taken out at the time
of pluggage or any other problem and heavy part can be replaced. Front portion of in
feed is always slotted in angle so that it could open when coal reaches at well. This infeed opens all by itself during rotation and there is no chance of its getting jammed.
Coal is dropped on belt at an angle to an in-feed dresser linker with the coupling.
Mills

Pulverised fuel firing is a method whereby the crushed coal, generally reduced to a
fineness such that 70-80% passes through a 200 mesh sieve, is carried forward by air
through pipes directly to burners or storage bins from where it is passed to burners.

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When discharged into combustion chamber, the mixture of air and coal ignites and
burns in suspension.

The economic motives for the introduction and development of pulverised fuel firing are:

i)

Efficient utilization of cheaper low grade coals.

ii)

Flexibility in firing with ability to meet fluctuating loads.

iii)

Elimination of banking losses.

iv)

Better reaction to automatic control.

v)

Ability to use high combustion air temperature; increasing the overall efficiency
of boiler.

vi)

High availability.

The only disadvantage is that the initial cost of equipment for preparation of pulverised
coal will be high.

Types of pulverisers : Milling plant may be divided into three main types - low, medium
and high speed; each having its own advantages and drawbacks.
Low Speed Mill

These are commonly known as tube ball mill and operate at approximately 17 to 20
rev/min. Such low speed is essential with this type of mill as otherwise the balls will be
held along the rotating surface due to centrifugal force and no milling can take place.
Major advantage of the mill is that the wearable part, which needs replacement
between annual overhauls, is only the ball and this can be done when mill is in
operation. Hence availability of each mill can reach 100% of the boiler availability.
However, the gearbox and main bearing failure may reduce the availability. The main
disadvantage is that the power consumed per ton of coal pulverised is nearly twice that
of the economic mills such as bowl mills In addition to this power consumption is
practically constant whatever may be the load at which mill is operated thus calling for
operation at or near full load to achieve economy in operating cost. Spare mill for
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maintenance purpose is not necessary due to high availability. Even though this mill
requires higher floor area, foundation and initial cost of equipment, it is preferred by
some customers because of high reliability coupled with low maintenance.
Advantages of Low Speed Mills

Low speed mills require no maintenance for long periods which results in better
availability and reductions in standby capacity.

This mill has no rejects and also does not give tramp iron problem.

There is reserve of fuel within the mill which makes the mill output more stable; but
unplanned stoppage will leave the mill full of coal which can ignite under unfavourable
conditions.
Disadvantages of Low Speed Mills

This mill consumes more power/ton coal ground especially when not loaded fully as
bulk of power is consumed in rotating mass of heavy ball charge.
Medium Speed Mills
This is normally of vertical spindle design and operate between 30 to 100 rpm.
Combustion Engineering's Bowl Mill, B & W's ball and race mill and other designs are
available in the market. These are suitable for both pressurised and suction operation.
These are most economic mills with regard to operating cost since comparatively small
mass is being rotated at moderate speed. Replacement of wearable parts in between
annual overhauls is essential and is facilitated by the design of mill and availability of
spare mill for each boiler. The mills of varying capacities from 1 to 100 t/hr and even
more have been designed and are in operation Power consumption varies with loading
on mill which offers maximum efficiency when used in direct firing. In addition to the
saving in operating cost, it requires less space and less initial foundation cost, thus the
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mill is seen increasingly used throughout the world.

Advantages of medium speed Mills

Low power consumption per ton of coal milled.

Capable of handling high moisture contents coal as compared to low speed

mills.

P.A Fan is more efficient than Exhauster fan.

Greater availability and low operating cost.

Comparatively quiet in operation as compared to high speed and low speed

mills.

Disadvantages of Medium Speed Mills

Seal air is required and mill casing must be leak proof to avoid dangerous
deposits of pulverised firing.

Frequent maintenance is required. Hence additional stand by mills are to be

installed.

Comparatively small coal reserve. Provision for frequent operation of mill rejects.
Mill outage directly reflect at plant output.

High Speed Mill

This mill is directly coupled to the motor, thus eliminating speed reduction gears
essential for the other types. This is run at 500 to 1000 rpm depending upon design
Beater mill, impact mill etc. are of this design.
Advantages of High Speed Mill

Due to high speed the tramp iron or similar foreign material can damage the mill and for
high mill output (for high capacity units) even higher speeds are required. But these

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types of mills are compact in size and consume less power as compared to low speed
and medium speed mills.
Disadvantages of high speed Mill

The main disadvantage of this type is that the rate of wear of the grinding elements is
very high. So frequent shut downs and high maintenance cost.
Bowl Mill

The bowl mill is one of the most advanced designs of coal pulverizer presently
manufactured (Refer Figure 20). The advantages of this mill are:

a)

Lower power consumption.

b)

Reliability.

c)

Minimum maintenance.

d)

Wide capacity.

Lower power Consumption : Low mass of grinding elements, and quick removal of
ground material by flowing air assure low power consumption.

Reliability: A pulveriser designed should be reliable in operation to meet the demand of

the steam generating units and the bowl mills are considered more reliable in this
aspect.

Minimum Maintenance: Frequency and length of the pulveriser outage must be kept to
an absolute minimum to ensure that large blocks of generating capacity are not lost
during peak load periods, there is bound to be an associated wear of mill components
during grinding. Unique grinding method and materials of wear parts used minimise
wear to greater extent. Replacement of parts involves minimum downtime because of
the ease with which the equipment can be taken apart and reassembled.

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Wide Capacity : Capacities of various ranges are available from 1.7 t/hr. to 100 V hr.

Design Features of a Bowl Mill : Important design features of these mills are :
High temperature air flow, air temperature upto 440 deg C can be used in these mills
enabling the mills efficiently dry, grind and classify high moisture coals.

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Part List of Bowl Mill

S. No.

Name of Part

1.

Hand Hole Cover

2.

Deflector Regulator

3.

Deflector Ring

4.

Deflector Blade

5.

Pressure Spring

6.

Journal Head Skirt

7.

Journal Assembly

8.

Upper Journal Housing Cover

9.

Bowl Hub Cover

10.

Mill Side

11.

Mill Side & liner Assembly

12.

Mill Side Insulation

13.

Lower Mill Side Liner

14.

Air Seal Housing

15.

Insul & Cover Plate Assembly

16.

Oil Gauge & Piping Assembly

17

Seal Air Line

18.

Worm Gear

19.

Worm Gear Hub

20.

Oil Cooler

21

Center Feed Pipe

22.

Multiport Outlet Assembly

23.

Outlet Ventury

24.

Separator Top

25.

Inner Coil

26.

Grinding Roll

27.

Separator Body Liner Assembly

28.

Separator Body

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29.

Bowl Ext. Ring

30.

Bull Ring

31.

Bowl

32.

Bowl Hub

33.

Bowl Hub Skirt

34.

Scraper

35.

Mill Base Gear Housing

36.

Worm

37.

Worm Shaft

38.

Vertical Shaft

39.

Anchor Bolts

40.

Mill Base Plate

41.

Foundation

Expected wear surfaces are lined with removable type wear resisting plates. Suitable
access doors are available for easy replacement.

Tramp iron sports provided in the mill base remove the undesirable foreign materials or
difficult-to-ground materials from the blow out of the mill and this greatly reduces the
possibility of damage to mill parts.

Mill of high capacity are provided with external lubrication system, since the gearing
system is different from the smaller size mills.
Firing Systems

This can be broadly classified into direct firing system and indirect firing or intermediate
bunker system. Both the systems can use any type of mill. Either hot gas or air can be
used for drying and transporting the coal.

Direct Firing System : As can be seen from Fig.21 coal is fed to the mill at controlled
quantity. Hot air whose temperature can be controlled with the help of cold air is
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permitted to flow through the mill. The air dries the coal and picks up the milled product
and flows through the classifier where higher size particle is rejected back to the mill.
The fine coal is carried by the air through the coal burner to the combustion chamber.
The Flow through the system is carried out by primary air fan or by exhauster. In case
of hammer mills forced draft itself can do the purpose of primary air fan.

This system is simple involving minimum equipment hence minimum initial cost and
maintenance cost. As there is no fine coal storage the mill load is varied according to
the boiler load. Hence part load operation of mill is essential and this means increase
in power consumption and maintenance per tonne of coal. Mill outage will result in
reduction of boiler output if spare mills are not provided or available. This is best suited
to use with high speed and medium speed mills as the mill power consumption varies
in direct proportion to the mill load. Tube ball mills with this system is also used but to a
limited extent.

Indirect Firing System : Figure 22 shows this system where mills are operated
independent of boiler loading and pulverised coal is stored in the intermediate bunker.
From the bunker it is taken to combustion chamber with the help of primary air fan.
Boiler loading is controlled by the amount of pulverised fuel fed to boiler.

Hot air or gas is used for drying and transporting. Cyclone type separators are used to
separate the fine coal from coal, air/gas mixture for storing in fine coal bunker. As fine
coal dust cannot be completely removed by cyclone type separators, a certain portion
of very fine particle is carried along by air/vapour.This necessitates admissions of
vapour/air into the combustion chamber to utilise the heating value of fine coal dust
carried along with vapour/air.This can be done by providing separate vapour burners or
the air can be used as primary air for carrying the fine coal.

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This system using gas as drying medium requires one additional can called vapour fan
for each mill. If air is used for drying, one fan called mill fan can be designed to carry out
both the functions of primary air fan and vapour fan.

This system favours the following advantages:

a)

Mill can be operated always at full load, thus saving in power, maintenance cost
per tonne of coal for the selected mill. Hence this system is adopted normally for
tube ball mill.

b)

Separate spare mill is not necessary for carrying out the maintenance. Certain
percentage as spare capacity on total basis is normally enough.

c)

Mills can be operated during off peak hours only and hence higher power out
during the peak period.

Methods of Fuel Firing : There are many ways of firing the coal in furnace. They are:

a)

Vertical firing

b)

Horizontal firing

c)

Impact firing

d)

Corner or tangential firing

Vertical firing : In vertical firing, a number of rectangular fan shaped nozzles are set
across the width of the furnace in an arch immediately under the boiler setting. The
Pulverised fuel mixture ignites under the arch and is directed vertically downwards to the
bottom of the furnace where the gases are made to turn upwards to pass through the
combustion chamber this gives a long path to the flame and is particularly suitable for
coals of low volatile content.
Horizontal Firing (Front Firing) : Horizontal firing with the turbulent type of burner are
set up usually in the front (front wall fired) or rear walls of the furnace. This burner
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consists of an inner cone for primary air and fuel which is given a rotar y motion as it
passes through the burner. This mixes with a stream of rotating secondary air before
burning.
Impact Firing : This is the arrangement with the type of burner used with slag tap
furnaces where the ash is kept in a molten state on the furnace floor and tapped off as
and when necessary.
Corner or tangential firing : In this system, burners are set at each corner of the
furnace and are directed to strike the outside of an imaginary circle in the centre of the
furnace. Because the streams of fuel so strike each other, extremely good mixing is
obtained. Since the body of the flame produced is given a rotary motion it leads to a
longer flame travel and the gases spread out-and flows through combustion chamber.
Burners & Burner Arrangement

Oil burner design considerations: The essential requirement for an oil burner design are:

a)

It must completely atomise the oil without -drooling, fouling or clogging.

b)

The jet must be so shaped that it will completely mix with the air necessary for
combustion.

c)

Maintenance of atomisation over a comparatively wide capacity range.

d)

Combustion must be complete, and excess air at a minimum over the entire
operating range.

e)

A ready acessibility for effecting repairs, thereby minimising burner outage as

well as maintenance costs.

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Atomisation Atomisation breaks the fuel into fine particles that readily mixes with the
air for combustion. Oil should be divided up into small particles for effective
atomisation. The advantages of atomisation are:

a)

Atomising burners can be used with heavier grades of oil.

b)

Can be adopted to large applications because of large capacity range.

c)

Complete combustion .is assured by the ability of the small particles to

penetrate turbulent combustion.

Classification Oil burners are classified according to the method used for atomization,
as follows:

a)

Air-atomised burners

b)

Steam-atomised burners

c)

Mechanically atomised burners

Air Atomising System The air atomising system uses compressed air at 7 kg/ sq.cm.
The quantity of air' required depends on design of burner, degree of automisation
required, grade of oil, its pressure and temperature. The air used in the system should
be free of condensate. Air atomising system are not recommended for heavy oil
system as they tend to chill the oil and decrease atoimsaiion quality. The guns used in
this system have two main components for atomisation. They are :

a)

Mixing plate

b)

Spray Plate.

The role of mixing plate is to mix the air and oil properly and the role of spray plate is to
inject this mixture uniformly into the furnace (Refer Figure 23).
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Mechanical atomisation Oil under pressure is supply to the burner gun and enters the
atomiser tip through slots cut tangentially to the periphery of the Whirling. The drop
pressure is converted into velocity causing the oil to enter the whirling chamber at a
very high speed, thus establishing a rapid rotation of the oil in the whirling chamber.
Since the mechanical atomisation oil guns are limited in range they are generally
selected for boiler operating at fixed loads.
Steam Atomisation This System uses auxiliary steam to assist in the atomisation of
the oil. The steam used in this method should be slightly superheated and free of
moisture. As in the air atomising system, the steam used ^or atomising as well as the
fuel pass through the tip and into the furnace. The main advantages of steam
atomising burners over other are:

a)

Simplicity of its design

b)

Initial cost of installation is low

c)

low pumping pressure

d)

low preheating temperature.

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Refer figure 24 for air / steam atomised oil gun compartment with windbox assembly.
The types of oil used in the oil burners are:

a)

Light Diesel Oil

b)

Heavy fuel oil

c)

Low sulpher heavy stock (LSHS).

The boiler is equipped with equipment for heavy oil firing at elevation AB, CD and EF"
Heavy oil guns are used for stabilizing flame at low load carrying. Warm up oil guns are
used for cold boiler warm up during cold start up and ignitor are used for start up and
oil flame stabilizing.

Coal Burners Coal burners mainly comprise of coal nozzle, steel tip, seal plate and
tilting link mechanism. These are housed in coal compartment in all four corners of the
furnace and connected with coal pipes. Coal nozzle's one end (outlet) is rectangular
and another end is cylindrical. The rectangular end which forms the nozzle is
connected with nozzle tip by pivot pin. The tip can be tilted on this pivot. The nozzle tip
is divided into several sectors to form separate coal and air passages. Again coal and
air passages is divided into sevaral parts for uniform distribution of flow. To seal the air
and coal passage a seal plate is provided.

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Burner Arrangement

There are twenty four pulverised coal burners arranged on the corners at a height of 18
to 25 meters and twelve oil burners provided each in between two pulverised fuel
burners. (Figure 25).

The pulverised coal burners are arranged in such a way that six mills supply the coal to
burners at 4 corners, of the furnace, all the nozzle of the burners are inter linked and
can be tilted as a single unit from +30 deg. to -30 degree.
The oil burners are fed with heavy fuel oil till boiler load reaches to about 25%. There
are four wind boxes fixed at 4 corners of the furnace. There are 13 nozzle in each wind
box 6 for coal and 7 for air.

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10.
10. Fuel Gas System
In this Chapter, attempt has been made to provide information about the
importance, advantages, constructional and usage aspects of two major
equipments located in the flue gas path viz. Air pre-heaters and flue gas cleaning
equipments.

Air Heater

Air heater is a heat transfer surface in which air temperature is raised by transfering
heat from other media such as Hue gas. Since air heater can be successfully
employed to reclaim heat from flue gas at low temperature levels than is possible with
economiser, the heat rejected to chimney can be reduced to higher extent thus
increasing the efficiency of the boiler. For every 20 deg.C drop in flue gas exist
temperature, the boiler efficiency increases by about 1%.
Advantages of Airheaters In addition to increase in boiler efficiency the other
advantages that may result are listed below:

a)

Stability of Combustion is improved by use of hot air.

b)

Intensified and improved combustion.

c)

Permitting to burn poor quality coal.

d)

High heat transfer rate in the furnace and hence lesser heat transfer area
requirement.

e)

Less unburnt fuel particle in flue gas thus combustion and both r efficiency is
improved.

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f)

Intensified combustion permits faster load variation and fluctuation.

g)

In the case of pulverised coal combustion, hot air can be used for heating the
coal as well as for transporting the pulverised coal to burners.

h)

This being a non-pressure part will not warrant shut-down of unit? due to
corrosion of heat transfer surface which is inherent with lowering of flue gas
temperature.

Type of Airheaters Airheaters can be classified as Recuperative and Regenerative

types based on their operating principle.

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In Recuperative type, heating medium is on one side and air is on the other s de of tube
or plate and heat transfer is by conduction through the material which separates the
media. These are of static construction and hence there is only nominal leakage
through expansion joints, access doors, casings etc.

In Regenerative type, the heating medium flows through a closely packed matrix to
raise its temperature and then air is passed through the matrix to pick-up the heat
Either the matrix or the hoods are rotated to achieve this and hence ,leakage through
sealing arrangements at the moving surfaces is high.
Recuperative Airheaters These type of air heaters can further be classified. The
succeeding paragraphs give the details of various types of recuperative air heaters.

Tubular Airheater This usually consists of large number of steel tubes (Ref. Fig 26) of
40 to 65mm dia; either welded or expanded into the tube plates at the end. Either gas
or air may be designed to flow through the tube. Gas through the tube normally requires
higher size tube and vertical flow to reduce fouling. Single or more passes on the gas
side and multipass to and fro on the air side usually fits in with the overall plant design.
Airheater portion at low temperature is designed normally with a shorter tube length so
as to facilitate maintenance of surfaces due to corrosion and fouling. In some cases
instead of using boiler flue gases, separate external firing us used particularly during
starting.

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Plate type Airheater These comprise of parallel plates which provide alternate
passage for gas and air. This type is simple and compact compared to that of tubular
type. The narrow passes between plates make the cleaning tedious but with shot
cleaning method it is improved. But replacement is a major task.
Steam Air Preheater

This does not utilise the heat from boiler flue gas and hence

does not improve boiler efficiency. Normally this is used only during starting when flue
gas temperature entering the regular airheater is low and hence further heat extraction
is not possible and low temperature corrosion prevails. Several designs are there with
oval or round tubes carrying the steam to be condensed. Condenser for this should be
provided with air removal system so that any air entering with steam will not lock and
prevent the operation of airheater. Air outlet temperature can be controlled easily.
Regenerat ive Air Heaters These air heaters, again, can be further subdivided into
different types based on their constructional features. The following paragraphs
describe the various types of these category of airheaters.
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Langsdorm type The heat transfer elements are rotated at a constant speed and they
pass alternatively through gas and air passes. The axis of rotation may be horizontal or
vertical. The drive is normally electrical operated through reduction gear with
compressed air motor as stand-by. The plates forming the elements (matrix) may be
varied in spacing and thickness and cold ends are made of special corrosion resistance
alloy such as corten or enameled to achieve corrosion resistance. This type is very
compact and bends easily for ducting arrangement. Effective cleaning of heater transfer surface by soot blowing is possible (Fig. 27).

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Rothemuhle type This type is the same as the Ljungstorm except that the matrix
element is stationary and the air / gas hoods rotate. Again axis of rotation may be
horizontal or vertical.
Tri sector Air Heater As the name implies, the new preheater (Tri sector) Refer
figure 28) design has three sectors. One for flue gas, one for primary; air used for
drying and transport of coal through mill to the burner) one for secondary air
(additional air for combustion around the burners). This helps in avoiding wastage of
heat pick up by air due to primary air flow and also helps in selecting different
temperatures for primary air and secondary air. Whatever heat is not utilised in
primary air can be picked by secondary air stream. The mechanism of operation of the
tri-sector preheater are similar to those of the basic Ljungstrom design hut with
provision for an additional air stream. The housing of the trisector preheater is
arranged to permit counter flow of hot flue gases. A sealing system separates the flue
gas, the primary air and the secondary air from each other.

As the rotor revolves slowly through the three streams, the surfaces continuously
absorb heat from the flue gas and release it to the incoming primary and secondary
air.

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Flue Gas Cleaning Equipments

This equipment is used in the power plant to achieve maximum cleaning of flue gases.
The objectives of flue gas cleaning are:

a)

To reduce stack emission-

b)

To confirm to statutory requirements

c)

To fulfil a moral obligation and civic responsibility.

d)

To reduce wear on ID fans.

Before selecting emission control equipment the following particulars are to be

considered.

a)

Properties of delivered coal:Amounts of sulphur, ash and other constituents will

have a bearing on the type of equipment to be selected.

b)

Size of boiler plant: This will, of course, help to determine required capacity of
emission control equipment and, in some cases type of equipment.

c)

Type of Firing: This will influence the concentrations and sizes of pollutants that
reach the stack.

d)

Pollution control regulations are also to be considered.

Classification: The cleaning equipments can be classified as mechanical precipitators,

fabric filters, wet scrubbers and electrostatic precipitators. Of the four, mechanical and
electrostatic precipitators have seen the most service in coal-dust removal; however,
filters and scrubbers should see increasing service as concern over SO 2 grows. The
two important mechanical types of precipitators are:

a)

Gravity and momentum separation equipment.

b)

Centrifugal separators.

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Electrostatic Precipitator

The ash content in the Indian coal is of the order of 30% to 40%. When coal is fired in
the boiler, ashes are liberated and about 80% of ash is carried along with the flue gas.
If these ashes are allowed to atmosphere, it will create an air pollution thereby
resulting in health hazards. Hence it is necessary to precipitate the dust from the flue
gas and in this process electrostatic precipitator finds a place in the boiler (in a
200MW boiler, we will be .burning about 110 tons of coal per hour roughly and if the
coal contains 30% ash, the ashes carried along with the flue gas will be of the order of
27 tons/hr.) The additional advantage obtained because of the installation of
precipitator is that the wear of the ID fan blades are reduced due to precipitation of
dust, resulting in reduced maintenance work in ID fan. The electrostatic precipitator is
efficient in precipitation of particles from submicron to large sizes of particles and
hence they are preferred to mechanical precipitators. The efficiency of modem ESP's
is of the order of 99.9%.'

Constructional Details of E.P.: The electrostatic precipitator consists of a large

chamber in which collecting and discharge electrodes are suspended. The collecting
electrodes are made out of steel plates with a special profile
electrodes are made of thin wire (2.5mm dia)
discharge

wound

and

discharge

to a helical form. The

electrodes are kept in between collecting electrodes are arranged

alternatively. A typical cross-sectional arrangement is shown in figure 29.

At the inlet of the chambers, gas distributor screens are provided which are nothing
but perforated steel plate. These are for uniform gas distribution across the section of
the chamber.

The collecting plates at its power portion contains shock bars over which rapping is
provided for discharge or emitting electrodes to dislodge ash from the wire.

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11. Furnace Safeguard Supervisory System (FSSS)

This Chapter enumerates the conceptual, functional and design features of the
Furnace Safeguard Supervisory System supported by the physical arrangement
of this system in detail. The underlying idea is to create an awareness of this
system in its entirety.

Basic Concept of operation of FSSS

FSSS, as a contrast to combustion control, is an independent and discreet digital logic

system specially meant for safety and protection during starting, shut down, low load
and emergency conditions. It does not take part in the regular station operation as in
the case with combustion control which sends out continuous analogue signal to
maintain combustion rate at optimum value to match the demand of the boiler.

In the present BHEL designed boilers tangential firing system has been adopted. in
which air and fuel are admitted on elevation basis located at the corners of the furnace
and arranged to fire tangentially at the centre of the furnace. Ignitors are provided at
appropriate locations to fire directly across the line of admission of the oil stream.
Optical flame scanners are strategically located at different levels. Fuel air and auxiliary
air dampers are continuously modulated to distribute the incoming air for optimum firing
conditions. Wide angle flame scanners monitor the flame in the furnace as single entity.

Functions of FSSS

The furnace safeguard supervisory system has been designed to provide increased
safety, reliability, flexibility and overall performance of the Boiler. This consists of the
following:

a)

Furnace Purge Supervision: Which has interlocks for scanners purge airflow,

drum level and all fuel.

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b)

Secondary air damper control: To automatically m aintain wind box furnace

differential, regulate air to the fuel compartment and control the secondary air
dampers.

c)

Ignitor control supervision : Which has interlocks for ignitor flame, furnace purge,
ignition fuel pressure and ignitor tip valve pos ition.

d)

Heavy Oil Control and Supervision: Which has remote and manual start/stop. It
includes interlocks for heavy oil pressure and temperature, oil gun valve
positions, ignitor energy atomising differential and Iqcal maintenance switches.

e)

Mill and Feed control and Supervision: Which has automatic operation from a
single operator start-stop switch for each mill. Individual switches are also
provided for the operator to control each mill. It also includes interlocks for
ignition energy, primary air-shut off gate position, mill outlet temperature and
proper mill start-stop procedure.

f)

Flame scanners intelligence and checking: Includes automatic checking of each

scanner, scanner couting networks and scanner cabinet.

g)

Overall boiler flame failure protection: Which during light up and low load
operation.

h)

Boiler trip protection which shuts down all fuel in the following events :
i)

Both emergency trip buttons pushed

ii)

Loss of all fuel.

hi)

Turbine trip.

iv)

Air flow less than a minimum preset value (during start-up only)

v)

Tripping of FD/ID Fans.

vi)

Loss of flame.

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Design Features of FSSS:

The system is basically a digital control relay logic system, employing mainly electromagnetic components. Even through the system is basically relay logic, the flame
scanner system unit and coal is functionally divided into unit logic, elevation logic and
comer logic.

The unit logic supervises the overall furnace conditions and monitors all critical
parameters of the fuel system, carries out furnace purge and examines all the preconditions required for safe warm-up prior to the main fuel admission during normal
operation of the boiler, the unit logic continuously monitors the critical feed backs to
ensure safety and will trip all fuel within the preset time limit on abnormal conditions.
Removal of elevation fuel in programmed manner would be initiated by the unit logic in
response to load demand signal. If, however, by decreasing fuel demand the firing
condition approaches the point of unstable operation, additional ignitor support energy
can be automatically initiated. Besides, unit logic also provides intelligence to the
operator on the overall status of furnace conditions and alerts the operator through
alarm for correctness of operation at the appropriate time.

The elevation logic is an intermediate logic which depends on the operator or the unit
logic for initiations of start or stop actions. This also provides essential preconditions
and trip commands to corner logic as necessary depending upon the type of fuel, fired.
For example if the elevation logic is designed for a pulverised fuel, the logic elements
will be designed to suit that particular type of pulveriser and its associated equipment
like feeder, hot air gate, etc. Also since the pulveriser outlet directly feeds the coal
nozzles in the four corners without any remote shut off devices for each comer, there
will not be any comw logic for this fuel. However, in case of oil firing, the comer
sequencing, etc, are performed by the respective elevation logic taken by it.

The Comer logic depends on the elevation logic commands for initiation of an action.
During manual operation the corner logic complete its own permissives based on
ignition energy availability status of various corner devices and other factors for
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sequencing of individual fuel, air, or steam valve operations. In addition, in case of oil
firing, this logic performs an oil scavenging cycle before the gun is allowed to be
retracted. However, emergency trip signals originating in unit logics and transmitted via
elevation logic will bypass corner permissive logic and cause immediate shut down of
the unit.

The logic system is designed to operate on A.C. and D.C. power supplies. A.C.power
supply is backed up by power taken from another A.C source. The change over from
one A.C. supply to another takes place within 0.5 seconds. In case of loss of A.C the
trip function is accomplished by D.C logic components-where a fuel trip valve or a coal
pulverizer is trigged by D.C power. But if loss of D.C is detected, the signal is relayed
directly to the elevation logics because the unit logic trip is on D.C and therefore,
ineffective, in such a case, the corner fuel supply valves are closed, or the coal feeder
stopped by A.C. power. The loss of power trip is delayed by two seconds to allow for
over-riding power dips and transients of short duration.
The components used in the logic system include pneumatic timers with on and off
delay.latch relays, control relays, etc. Latch relays are extensively used as retentive
memory circuits so as to minimise the power consumption of the logic panel and, at the
same time.increase the life of the components.

The power distribution is on an elevation basis and includes monitoring facilities.

Arrangement of FSSS

The FSSS basically consists of the following major parts.

a)

Logic cabinet.

b)

Console insert.

c)

Secondary air damper control.

d)

Mill panel.

e)

Field equipment.

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f)

Interface equipments.

Logic Cabinet The heart of the system is this logic cabinet which includes all the logic
hardware. For a typical relay logic system, this includes the control relays, latch relays,
time delay relays, programme timers, flame scanner amplifier system, panel distribution
and miniature circuit breakers or fuses, all pre-winded to terminal blocks.
Console Insert The console insert contains all the push buttons and indicating lamps
illuminated push-buttons of miniature type are used to reduce the size of the cons ole
insert.

Secondary air damper control Figure 42 shows the wind box assembly of a corner of
a typical tangentially fired boiler which. Consists of a number of dampers located at
various elevations of fuel compartments and dampers in between the fuel
compartments. These dampers are required to modulate as a function of certain
process variables.

The various dampers are divided into two main classifications depending on the type of
modulation they are required to perform.

Those dampers which regulate air surrounding a fuel compartment are termed 'Fuel Air
Dampers' whereas those dampers which regulate air adjacent to a fuel compartment
are termed "Auxiliary Dampers"

Main philosophy of control is that auxiliary air dampers are modulated to maintain a
fixed differential pressure between the wind box and the furnace, whereas the fuel air
dampers are modulated in proportion to the rate of fuel fired in that elevation. The
auxiliary air dampers in all elevation and corners are group-controlled in proportion to
the wind box furnace differential pressure.

Whereas the fuel air dampers of all four corners of one elevation are group-controlled in
proportions of the rate of fuel fired in that elevation.
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Mill panel: Raw coal from the bunker is fed to the mill for grinding through the raw coal
feeder. The flow or lack of flow of coal to the mill is to be monitored so as to give an
alarm when there is no coal flowing to the mill and also when there are other interlocks.
The Coal Flow Alarm performs this.

Field Equipments: Under the above heading, we have the field mounted shut off
devices and signal transmitters.

The field mounted shut off devices include:

a)

Nozzle valves.

b)

Header trip Valves.

c)

Gun advance/retract mechanism

d)

Pulveriser discharge valve.

e)

Hot Air gate.

f)

Secondary air damper drive

g)

Ignitor cabinet.

h)

Flame scanner head assembly.

i)

Local gun maintenance switch box.

J)

Signal initiating devices.

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12. Specification of Boiler Auxiliaries

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13. Main Turbine - Steam Turbine Theory

A turbine, being a form of engine, requires in order to function a suitable
working fluid, a source of high grade energy and a sink for low-grade energy.
When the fluid flows through the turbine, part of the energy content is
continuously extracted and converted into useful mechanical work. Steam and
gas turbines use heat energy, while water turbines use pressure energy. For the
purpose of this Chapter, the description, advantages, principles and classification have been restricted to that of steam turbines and their components
only.
Steam turbine as a Prime mover
The steam turbine offers many advantages over other prime movers, both
thermodynamically and mechanically. From a .thermo-dynamic point of view, the main
advantage of the steam turbine over, say a reciprocating steam engine is that in the
turbine the steam can be expanded down to a lower back pressure, thereby making
available a greater heat drop. If a reciprocating steam engine were to expand the
steam down to a back pressure of the order of an inch or two of mercury, the low
pressure cylinders would have to be a very large to deal with the large volume of steam
resulting from these pressures. The construction of such large cylinders would be
impracticable and uneconomic. In addition the internal efficiency of the turbine is high
so it is able to convert a high proportion of this relatively large heat drop into
mechanical work.

From a mechanical point of view, the turbine is ideal, because the propelling force is
applied directly to the rotating element of the machine -and has not as in the
reciprocating engine to be transmitted through a system of connecting links which are
necessary to transform a reciprocating motion into a rotary motion. Hence since the
steam turbine possesses for its moving parts rotating elements only if the manufacture

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is good and the machine is correctly designed it ought to be free from out of balance
forces.

If the load On a turbine is kept constant the torque developed at the coupling is also
constant. A generator at a steady load offers a constant torque. Therefore, a turbine is
suitable for driving a generator, particularly as they are both high speed machines.
A further advantage of the turbine is the absence of internal lubrication. This means
that the exhaust steam is not contaminated with oil

vapour and can be condensed

and fed back to the boilers without passing through filters. It also means that tin ! c is
considerable saving in lubricating oil when compared with a reciprocating steam engine
of equal power.

A final advantage of the steam turbine and a very important one is the fact that, a
turbine can develop many times the power compared to a reciprocating engine whether
steam or oil.
Operating Principles

A steam turbine's two main parts are the cylinder and the rotor. The cylinder (stator) is
a steel or cast iron housing usually divided at the horizontal centerline. Its halves are
bolted together for easy access. The cylinder contains fixed blades, vanes, and nozzles
that direct steam into the moving blades carried by the rotor. Each fixed blade set is
mounted in diaphragms located in front of each disc on the rotor, or directly in the
casing. A disc and diaphragm pair a turbine stage. Steam turbines can have many
stages. The rotor is a rotating shaft that carries the moving blades on the outer edges
of either discs or drums. The blades rotate as the rotor revolves. The rotor of a large
steam turbine consists of high, intermediate, and low-pressure sections.

In a multiple-stage turbine, steam at a high pressure and high temperature enters the
first row of fixed blades or nozzles through an inlet valve or valves. As the steam
passes through the fixed blades or nozzles it expands and its velocity increases. The
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high-velocity jet of steam strikes the first set of moving blades. The kinetic energy of
the steam changes into mechanical energy, causing the shaft to rotate. The steam then
enters the next set of fixed blades and strikes the next row of moving blades.

As the steam flows through the turbine, its pressure and temperature decreases, while
its volume increases. The decrease in pressure and temperature occurs as the steam
transmits energy to the shaft and performs work. After passing through the last turbine
stage, the steam exhausts into the condenser or process steam system.

The kinetic energy of the steam changes into mechanical energy through the impact
(impulse) or reaction of the steam against the blades. An impulse turbine uses the
impact force of the steam jet on the blades to turn the shaft, a simple impulse stage is
shown in Fig. 31 - (A). Steam expands as it passes through the nozzles, where its
pressure drops and its velocity increases. As the steam flows through the moving
blades, its pressure remains the same, but its velocity decreases. The steam does not
expand as it flows through the moving blades.

A simple impulse turbine is not very efficient because it does not fully use the velocity
of the steam. Many impulse turbines are velocity-compounded. Which means they
have two or more sets of moving blades in each stage. The extra sets of moving blades
make use of the high velocity steam leaving the first set of moving blades. A row of
fixed blades between the moving blades direct the steam into the next set of blades.
Another type of impulse turbine is a pressure-compounded turbine (See fig. 31-B). It
consists of two or more simple impulse stages contained in one casing. The casing
contains diaphragms that connect to nozzles. The nozzles make efficient use of the
steam pressure that remains after the steam flows through the previous stage. The
pressure drops in each stage as steam expands through the nozzles.

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A reaction turbine uses the "kickback" force of the steam as it leaves the moving
blades and .fixed blades have the same shape and act like nozzles (See Fig.32). Thus,
steam expands, loses pressure and increases in velocity as it passes through both sets
of blades. All reaction turbines are pressure-compounded turbines.

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Many large turbines use both impulse and reaction blading. These combination turbines
usually have impulse blading at the high-pressure end, and reaction blading at the lowpressure end. The blade length and size increases throughout the turbine to use the
expanding steam efficiently. Blade rows require seals to prevent steam leakage where
the pressure drops. Seals for impulse blading are located between the rotor the
diaphragm to stop leakage past the nozzle. Seals for reaction blading are located at the
tips of both the fixed and moving blades.
Steam Cycle
The thermal (steam) power plant uses a dual (vapour + liquid) phase cycle. It is a
closed cycle to enable the working fluid (water) to be used again and again. The cycle
used is "Ranking Cycle" modified to include super heating of steam, regenerative feed
water heating and reheating of steam Figure 33 shows this cycle and is selfexplanatory.

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On large turbines, it becomes economic to increase the cycle efficiency by using reheat,
which is a way of partially overcoming temperature limitations. By returning partially
expanded steam. to a reheat, the average temperature at which heat is added, is
increased and, by expanding this reheated steam to the remaining stages of the turbine,
the exhaust wetness is considerably less than it would otherwise be. conversely, if the
maximum tolerable wetness is allowed, the initial pressure of the steam can be
appreciably increased.

Bled Steam Extraction: For regenerative system, nos. of non-regulated extrac tions are
taken from HP, IP and LP turbine.

Regenerative heating of the boiler feed water is widely used in modern power plants;
the effect being to increase the average temperature at which heat is added to the
cycle, thus improving the cycle efficiency.
Factors Affecting Thermal Cycle Efficiency :

Thermal cycle efficiency is affected by following:

Initial Steam Pressure

Initial Steam Temperature

Whether reheat is used or not, and if used reheat pressure and temperature

Condenser pressure.

Regenerative feed water heating.

Classification of Turbines

Steam turbines may be classified into different categories depending on their

construction, the process by which heat drop is achieved, the initial and final conditions
of steam used and their industrial usage. This has been detailed in the subsequent
paragraphs.

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According to the number of pressure stages:

Single-stage turbines with one or more velocity stages usually of small power
capacities, these turbines are mostly used for driving centrifugal compressors,
blowers and other similar machinery.

Multistage impulse and reaction turbines; they are made in a wide range of
power capacities varying from small to large.

According to the direction of steam flow:

Axial turbines in which the steam flows in a direction parallel to the axis of the
turbine;

Radial turbines in which the steam flows in a direction perpendicular to the axis
of the turbine with one or more low pressure stages in such turbines being axial.

According to the number of cylinder:

Single-cylinder turbines.

Double-cylinder turbines.

Three-Cylinder turbines and

Four-Cylinder turbines:

Multi-Cylinder turbines which have their rotors mounted on one and the same shaft and
coupled to a single generator are known as single shaft turbines. Turbines with separate
rotor shafts for each cylinder placed parallel to each other are known as multi-axial
turbines.

According to the method of governing:

Turbines with throttle governing in which fresh steam enters through one or more
(depending on the power developed) simultaneously operated throttle valves.

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turbines with nozzle governing in which fresh steam enters through two or more
consecutively opening regulators.

turbine with bypass governing in which steam, besides being fed to the first stage
is also directly led to one, two or even three intermediate stages of the turbine.

According to the principle of action of steam:

Impulse turbines.

Axial reaction turbines.

Radial reaction turbines with stationary guide blades.

Radial reaction turbines without any stationary blades.

According to the heat drop process:

Condensing turbines with regeneration; In these turbines steam at a pressure

less than atmospheric pressure is directed to a condenser, steam is also
extracted from intermediate stages for feed water heating. The number of such
extractions usually vary from 2-3 to as much as 8-9. The latent heat of exhaust
steam during the process of condensation is completely lost in these turbines.
Small capacity turbines of earlier design often do not have regenerative feed
heating.

Condensing turbines with one or two intermediate stage extractions at specific

pressure for industrial and heating purposes.

Back pressure turbines: The exhaust steam from which is utilised for industrial or
heating purposes. To this type of turbines with deteriorated vacuum, can also be
added (in relative sense); the exhaust steam of which may be used for heating
and process purposes.

Topping turbines: These turbines are also of the back pressure type with the
difference that the exhaust steam from these turbines is further utilised in

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medium and low-pressure condensing turbines. These turbines, in general,

operate at high initial conditions of steam pressure and temperature, and are
mostly used during extension of power station capacities, with a view to obtain
better efficiencies.

Back-pressure turbines with steam extraction from intermediate stages at specific

pressure; turbines of this type are meant for supplying the consumer with steam
of various pressure and temperature conditions.

Low-pressure (exhaust-pressure) turbines in which the exhaust steam from

reciprocating steam engines, power hammers, presses, etc. is utilized for power
generation purposes.

Mixed pressure turbines with two or three pressure stages, with supply of
exhaust steam to its intermediate stages. The turbines enumerated under 'a' and
'h' usually have extractions for regeneration of steam at specific pressures for
other purposes.

According to the steam conditions at inlet to turbines:

Low-pressure turbines, using steam at pressure of 1.2 to 2 ata.

Medium-pressure turbines, using steam at pressure of upto. 40 ata.

High-pressure turbines, utilising steam at pressure above 40 ata.

Turbines of very high pressures, utilising steam at pressures of 170 ata and
higher and temperature of 535 deg. C and higher.

Turbines of supercritical pressures, using steam at pressure of 255 ata and

above.

According to their usage in industry:

Turbines with constant speed of rotation primarily used for driving alter nators:

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Steam turbines with variable speed meant for driving turbo-blowers, air
circulators, pumps etc.

Turbines with variable speed: Turbines of this type are usually employed in
steamers, ships and railway locomotives (turbo-locomotives).

All these different types of turbines described above depending on their speed of
rotation are either coupled directly or through a reduction gear to the driven
machine.

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14. Turbine Components

This Chapter gives the description and constructional features of the various
main sub-assemblies of a typical 200/210 MW steam turbine.

The Main Turbine

The 200/210 MW turbine installed in our power stations is predominantly of

condensing-tandom -compound, three cylinder,- horizontal, disc and diaphragm, reheat
type with nozzle governing and regenerative system of feed water heating and is
coupled directly with A. C. Generator.

The sectional view of the main turbine arrangement is given in Fig 34. The various
main components of the turbine are described in the following sections.
Turbine Casings

High Pressure Casing: The high pressure casing is made of creep resisting Chromium Molybdenum -vanadium (Cr- Mo-V) steel casting. The top and bottom halves of the
casing are secured together at the flange joint by heat tightened studs to ensure an
effective seal against steam leakage. Four steam chests, two on top and two on sides
are welded to the nozzle boxes, which in turn are welded to the casing at the middle
bearing end. The steam chests accommodate four control valves to regulate the flow of
steam to the turbine according to the load requirement. Nozzle boxes and steam
chests are also made of creep resisting Cr-Mo-V steel castings.

Intermediate Pressure Casing: The intermediate pressure casing of the turbine is made
of two parts. The front part is made of creep resisting Chromium -Molybdenum Vanadium steel castings and the exhaust part is of steel fabricated structure. The two
parts are connected by a vertical joint. Each part consists o two helves having a
horizontal joint. The horizontal joint is secured with the help of studs and nuts. These
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nuts and studs are made of creep resisting Cr- Mo-V steel forgings. The control valves
of I.P Turbine are mounted on the casing itself. In the intermediate pressure turbine the
nozzle boxes are cast integral with the casing, The first stage nozzle segment o IPT is
a welded construction like other diaphragms and in mounted directly in the casing. Next
two diaphragms are also housed incasing while other 8 diaphragms are housed in
three liners which in turn are mounted in casing. From the intermediate pressure
turbine, steam is carried through cross-over pipes to the double flow low pressure
cylinder. Each cross over pipe is provided with a compensator for taking care of
thermal expansion and to ensure that no heavy thrust or turning moments are thrown
on to the flanged connections at the intermediate pressure cylinder exhaust and the
low pressure cylinder inlet.
Low Pressure Casing: The L.P.casing consists of three parts i.e one middle part and
two exhaust parts. The three parts are fabricated from weldable mild steel The exhaust
casings are bolted to the middle casings by a vertical flange. The casings are divided in
the horizontal plane through the turbine centre line. The lower half of the L.P. casing
has integral bearing pedestals which houses the following:

Rear bearings of intermediate pressure rotor.

Coupling between IP & LP rotors.

LP front and Rear bearings.

Generator Coupling.

Generator Bearing.

Barring Gear.

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Steam enters the middle casing from top and then divides into twu equal, axially
opposed flows, to pass through four stages. The last but one stages on each side are
'Baumann's stages'. They expand a part of the steam down to the condenser pressure
and allows rest of the steam to expand through the last stages. To protect the I.P.
cylinder against excessive internal pressure, four atmospheric relief valves are provided
in the exhaust hoods. Each valve assembly has 1 mm thick gasket ring clamped
between valve seat and valve disc. If due to some reasons the pressure at exhaust
hood rises to 1.2 abs, then the valve disc tries to lift and thereby rupture the gasket ring,
thus allowing the steam to exhaust into the atmosphere in the turbine hall.
Rotors

High Pressure Rotor: The HP rotor is machined from a single Cr-Mo-V steel forging with
integral discs. The rotor forging is thermally stabilised to prevent abnormal defection/
The blades are attached to their respective wheels by "T" root fastening. In all the
moving wheels, balancing holes are machined to reduce the pressure difference across
them, which results in reduction of axial thrust. First stage has integral shrouds while
other rows have shroudings, rivetted to the blades are periphery. The number of blades
connected by a single strip of shrouding is called a blade packet and the number of
blades per packet is decided from vil (ration point of view.

Intermediate Pressure Rotor: The IP rotor has seven discs integrally forged with rotor
while last four discs are shrunk fit. The shaft is made of high creep resisting Cr- Mo-V
steel forging while the shrunk fit disc are machined from high strength nickel steel
forgings. The blades on the integral disc are secured by "T" root fastenings while on
shrunk fit disc by 'fork root' fastening. Except the last two wheels, all other wheels have
shroundings rivetted at the tip of the blades. To adjust the frequency of the moving
blades, lashing wires have been provided in some stages.

Low Pressure Rotor: The LP rotor consists of shrunk fit discs a shaft. The shaft is a
forging of Cr- Mo-V steel while the discs are of high strength nickel steel forgings.
Blades are secured to the respective discs by rivetted fork root fastening. In all the
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stages lashing wires are providing to adjust the frequency of blades . In the last two
rows satellite strips are provided at the leading edges of the blades to protect them
against wet steam erosion.
Blades

Blades are single most costly element of turbine. Blades fitted in the stationary part are
called guide blades or nozzles and those fitted in the rotor are called moving or working
blades. The following are three main types of blades:

Cylindrical (or constant profile) blade (Ref.Fig. 35-A).

Tapered cylindrical (tapered but similar profile).

Twisted and varying profile blades. (Ref.Fig. 35-B).

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Blades have three main parts (a) Aerofoil: It is working part of blade and is one of
the types described above, (b) Root: It is portion of the blade which is held with
the disc, drum or casing and (c) Shrouds.

Three types of root arrangements are commonly used. They are (1) T-roots: for
small blades; (2) Fir Tree or serrated roots - for longer blades; (3) Fork and Pin
root: for longer blades shrunk on disc type rotors.
Shrouds can be either riveted by tannon to main blade or it can be integrally
machined with the blade. Now-a-days trend is towards integral shroud for
shorter) lades and shrunk filting for larger blades. Some times lacing wires are
also used u dampen the vibration and to match frequencies in the longer blades.
Since in the reaction type machine the pressure drop also occurs across the
moving blades it is necessary to provide effective sealing at the blade tips. This
must be done to prevent leakage steam past the shrouding of the wheel and
consequent loss efficiency particularly at the high-pressure end of the machine.

Now-a-days trend is for precision forged blades for long twisted blades, as it
saves valuable machining time, resulting in reduction in cost.

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Liners and Diaphragms: In reaction turbines, guide blades are directly carried in
the casings and hence liners and diaphragms are not generally used, In impulse
turbines, most of the pressure drop of a stage takes in guide blades resulting in
higher deflection of guide blades. Additional bending strength to guide blades is
provided by diaphragms, Welded diaphragms are used in higher temperature
zones while cast diaphragms are used in low temperature zones. Two to four
diaphragms are housed in a liner, which in turn is housed in the turbine casing,
provide cham ber for bleed steam and at the same time save casing from higher
speed steam erosion. With the use of liners, machining of casing also becomes
much simpler.

Sealing Glands

To eliminate the possibility of steam leakage to atmosphere from the inlet and
exhaust ends of the cylinder, labyrinth glands of the radial clearance type are
provided which provide a trouble free frictionless sealing.

Each gland sealing consists of a number of sealing rings divided into segments,
each segment is backed by two flat springs. The sealing rings are housed in
grooves machined in gland bodies which are in turn housed in the turbine casing,
or bolted to the casing at ends.

Steam is supplied to the sealing chamber at 1.03 to 1.05 Kg/sq.cm abs and at
temperature 130 deg.C To 150 deg.C from the header, where the pressure is
maintained constant with the help of an electronic regulator. Air steam mixture
from the last sealing chamber is sucked out with the help of a special steam
ejector to gland steam cooler.

Provision has been made to supply live steam at the front sealing of H.P. and I.P.
rotor to control the differential expansion, when rotor goes under contraction
during a trip or sharp load reduction.

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Emergency Stop Valves and Control Valves

Turbine is equipped with emergency stop valves to cut off steam supply and with
control valves regulate steam supply. Emergency stop valves (ESV) are provided
in the mainstream line ad Interceptor valves (IV) are provided in the hot reheat
line.

Emergency stop valves are actuated by ser vomotor controlled by the protection
system. ESV remains either fully open or fully close.

Control valves are actuated by the governing system through servomotors to

regulate steam supply as required by the load.
Valves are either single seat type or double seat type Single seat type valves are
preferred though these required higher force for opening or closing.
Couplings
Since the shaft (rotor) is made in small parts due to forging limitations and other
technological and economic reasons, the couplings are required between any
two rotors. The coupling permits angular misalignment, transmits axial thrust and
ensures axial location. The couplings are either rigid or semi flexible The former
neither permits angular nor lateral deflection while the later permits only angular
defection Number of critical speeds depend upon the modes of vibration and
hence the type of coupling provided between rotors. Generally in 200/210 MW
turbines, coupling between HPT and IPT is of rigid type and between IPT and
LPT is of semi-flexible lens type.

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Bearings

Journal bearings are manufactured in two halves and usually consist bearing
body faced with anti-friction tin based habiting to decrease coefficient of friction.
Bearing body match with adjustable seating assembly in the pedestal. Bearings
are usually forced lubricated and have provision for admission of jacking oil.

The thrust bearing is normally Mitchell type and is usually combined with a
journal bearing, housed in spherically machined steel shell. The bearing between
the HP and IP rotors is of this type; while the rest are journal bearings.

Earlier each rotor used to have its own set of bearings, Now with the popularity of
rigid coupling between rotors, it is possible to use only one bearing between two
rotors. This arrangement will lead to more flexible rotors (lower critical speed), for
the same rotor design because span between bearings increases. With reduction
in number of bearings, length of turbine gets reduced resulting in considerable
saving in capital cost.
Barring Gear

The barring gear is mounted on the L.P. rear bearing cover to mesh with spur
gear on L.P. rotor rear coupling. The primary function of the barring gear is to
rotate the turbo-generator rotors slowly and continuously during start-up and shut
down periods when changes in rotor temperature occur.

When a turbine is shut down, cooling of its inner elements continues for many
hours. If the rotor is allowed to remain stand still during this cooling period,
distortion of rotor begins almost immediately. This distortion is caused by flow of
hot vapours to the upper part of casings, resulting in upper half of turbine beings
at a higher temperature, than lower half. Hence to eliminate the possibility of
distortion during shut-down, barring gear is used to keep the rotor revolving until

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the temperature change has stopped and casings have become cool. This also
results in maintenance of minimum inter stage sealing clearances with higher
operating efficiency.

The same phenomena is also observed during starting of the turbine, when
steam is supplied to the sealings to create the vacuum. If the rotor is stationary,
there would be non-uniform heating of the rotor which will result in distortion of
rotors. The barring gear during starting of turbine, would slowly rotate the turbinegenerator rotor, and thereby resulting in the uniform heating of rotor. Thus any
distortion on the rotor would be avoided. During starting period operation of the
barring gear eliminates the necessity of 'breaking away' the turbine generator
rotors from stand still and thereby provides for a more uniform, smooth and
controlled starting.

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15. Data Sheet for Main Turbine

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16. Turbine Auxiliaries

Arrangement Of Turbine Auxiliaries
An endeavour has been made in this Chapter to provide an overview of
the various systems in the Turbine cycle with different connected
auxiliaries, their location and their function.

Arrangement

Figure 36 gives a symbolic representation of the arrangement of various turbine

auxiliaries.

To facilitate proper functioning of turbine the auxiliaries are arranged at different

locations peeping in view the easy installation, proper operation and
maintenance and technical requirements,
The turbine cycle can be viewed in the form of different systems as given in
the following paragraphs

Vacuum System This comprises of

Condenser - 2 per 200MW unit at the exhaust of LP turbine.

Ejectors - One starting and two main ejectors connected to the condenser
located near the turbine.

C.W. Pumps : Normally two per unit of 50% capacity.

Condensate System This contains the following :

Condensate Pumps - 3 per unit of 50% capacity each located near the
condenser hot well.

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LP Heaters - Normally 4 in number with no. 1 located at the upper part of

the condenser and nos. 2,3 & 4 around 4m level.

Deaerator - One per unit located around 18 'M' level in CD bay.

Feed Water System The main equipments coming under this system are:

Boiler Feed Pump : Three per unit of 50% capacity each located in the '0'
meter level in the TG bay.

High Pressure Heaters: Normally three in number and are situated in the
TG bay

Drip Pumps : Generally two in number of 100% capacity each situated beneath the LP
heaters.

Turbine Lub Oil System This consists of Main Oil Pump (MOP) Starting Oil Pump
(SOP), AC standby oil pumps and emergency DC oil pump and Jacking Oil Pump
(JOP) (one each per unit).
Auxiliary Steam System The main 16 ata header runs parallel to BC bay at the level
of around 18 'M'.

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17. Vacuum System

As we begin the recirculating processes, the first system which comes into focus
is the vacuum system. The equipment under this system, as described in this
chapter, strive to maximise the work done of turbine by maintaining the rated
vacuum limits.

Condenser

There are two condensers (Refer Figure 37) entered to the two exhausters of the L.P.
turbine. These are surface type condensers with two pass arrangement. Cooling water
pumped into each condenser by a vertical C.W. pump thru' the inlet pipe. Water enters
the inlet chamber of the front water box, passes horizontally thru'the brass tubes to the
water box at the other end, takes a turn, passes thru' the upper cluster of tubes and
reaches the outlet chamber in the front water box. From these, cooling water leaves the
condenser thru' the outlet pipe and discharge into the discharge duct.

Steam exhausted from the L.P. turbine washing the outside of the condenser tubes
losses its latent heat to the cooling water and is connected with water in the steam side
of the condenser. This condensate collects in the hot well, welded to the bottom of the
condensers.
Ejectors

There are two 100% capacity ejectors of the steam eject type. The purpose of the
ejector is to evacuate air and other non-condensing gases from the condensers and
thus maintain the vacuum in the condensers. A sectional view of an ejector is shown in
Fig. 38.

This is a 3 stage ejector using steam from the deaerator with 11 ata header as the
working medium. The ejector has three compartments. Steam is supplied generally at a
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pressur e of 4.5 to 5 Kg/sq.cm. to the three nozzles in the three compartments. Steam
expands in the nozzle thus giving a high velocity eject which creates a low pressure
zone in the throat of the eject.Since the nozzle box of the ejector is connected to the air
pipe from the condenser, the air and pressure zone. The working steam which has
expanded in volume comes into contact with the cluster of tube bundles thru' which
condensate is flowing and gets condensed thus further aiding the formation of vacuum.
The non-condensing gases of air are further sucked with the next stage of the ejector
by the action of the second nozzle. The process repeats itself in the third stage also
and finally the steam air mixture is exhausted into the atmosphere thru' the outlet.

In addition to the main ejectors there is a single stage starting ejectors which is used for
initial pulling of vacuum upto 500mm ofHg. It consists of nozzle thru' which the working
steam expands: the throat of the nozzle is connected to the air pipe from the
condenser.
C.W. Pumps

The pumps which Supply the cooling water to the condensers are called circulating
water pumps. There are two such pumps for each unit with requisite capacity.

These pumps are normally vertical, wet-pit, mixed flow type, designed for continuous
heavy duty; suitable for water drawn through an open gravity intake channel terminating
in twin-closed ducts running parallel to the main building.

The essential components of the pump (as shown in Fig.39) are the fluid through the
suction bowl/eye provided with streamlined guide vanes, whose function is to prevent
pre-whirl and impart hydraulically correct flow to the liquid. The propeller, in turn,
imparts motion to the fluid. The purpose of the discharge bowl. provided with
streamlined diffuser vanes, is to direct the flow of water into the discharge column.

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Gland steam & Gland steam Cooler

Steam from deaerator or from auxiliary steam header is supplied to the end seal of the
H.P. rotor and L.P. rotor generally at a pressure of 1.01 to 1.03 atm. abs. so as to
prevent ingress of atmospheric air into the turbine thru' the end clearances, This steam
supplied to the end seals is extracted by the gland steam cooler by the action of single
stage steam ejector.

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18. Condensate System

The steam after condensing in the condenser known as condensate, is extracted
out of the condenser hot well by condensate pump and taken to the deaerator
through ejectors, gland steam cooler and series of LP heaters. This form the
condensate system; connected auxiliaries of which are described in this
Chapter.

Condensate Pumps

The function of these pumps is to pumps out the condensate to the deaerator thru'
ejectors, gland steam cooler, and L.P. heaters. These pumps have four stages and
since the suction is at a negative pressure, special arrangements have been made for
providing sealing. This pump is rated generally for 160 cu.m hr. at a pressure 13.2
Kg/sq.cm.

L.P. Heaters

Turbine has been provided with non-controlled extractions which are utilised for
heating the condensate, from turbine bleed steam. There are 4 low pressure heaters in
which the last four extractions are used.
L.P. Heater -1 has two parts LPH-1A and LPH-1B located in the upper parts of
condenser A and condenser B respectively. These are of horizontal type with shell and
tube construction. L.P.H. 2,3 and 4 are of similar construction and they are mounted in
a row at 5M level. They are of vertical construction with brass tubes the ends of which
are expanded into tube plate as shown in Figure 40. The condensate flows in the "U"
tubes in four passes and extraction steam washes the outside of the tubes.
Condensate passes thru' these four L.P. heaters in succession.

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These heaters are equipped with necessary safety valves in the steam space level
indicator for visual level indication of heating steam condensate pressure vacuum
gauges for measurement of steam pressure etc.
Deaerator
The presence of certain gases, principally oxygen, carbon-di-oxide and ammonia,
dissolved in water is generally considered harmful because of their corrosive attack on
metals, particularly at elevated temperatures. One of the most important factors in the
prevention of internal corrosion in modern boilers and associated plant therefore, is
that the boiler feed water should be free as far as possible from all dissolved gases
especially oxygen. This is achieved by embodying into the boiler feed system a
deaerating unit, whose function is to remove dissolved gases from the feed water by
mechanical means. Particularly the unit must reduce the oxygen content of the feed
water to as low a valve as is possible or desirable, depending upon the individual
circumstances, residual oxygen content in condensate at the outlet of deaerating plant
usually specified is 0.005/litre or less (Refer Fig. 41.).

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Principle of Deaeration: The principle of deaeration is based on following two laws.

Henrys law: The mass of gas with definite mass of liquid will dissolve at a given
temperature and is directly proportional to the partial pressure of the gas in
contact with the liquid. This holds within close limits for any gas, which does not
unite chemically with the solvent.

Solubility Law: Solubility of gases decreases with increase m solution

temperature and/or decrease in pressure.

Henry's law merely/defines equilibrium conditions. The actual mechanism involved in

gases going into or out of solution is a result of the continuous movement of the
molecules of the gas and solvent. This movement results in molecules migrating across
the liquid surface and when the migration to and from the liquid is equal, equilibrium is
reached. Reaching equilibrium may be hastened by deaerating the size of water
particles thereby reducing the distance to be travelled by gas molecules and increasing
the surface of mass ratio and by agitation, which brings internal sections of the liquid to
the surface. Obviously, this is a minetic process with time an essential factor in reaching
equilibrium.

A constant pressure deaerator, pegged at 7 Kg/sq.cm. abs is envisaged in turbine

regenerative cycle to provide properly deaerate feed water for boiler, limiting gases
(mainly oxygen) to 0.005 CC/liter. It is a direct contact type heater combined with feed
storage tank of adequate capacity. The heating steam is normally supplied from turbine
extractions but during starting and low load operation the steam is supplied from
auxiliary source.

The deaerator comprises of two chambers:

Deaerating column.

Feed storage tank.

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Deaerating column is a spray cum tray type cylindrical vessel of horizontal construction
with dished ends welded to it the tray stack is designed to ensure maximum contact
time as well as optimum scrubbing of condensate to achieve efficient deaeration. The
deaeration column is mounted on the feed storage tank which in turn is supported on
rollers at the two ends and a fixed support at the centre. The feed storage tank is
fabricated from boiler quality steel plates Manholes are provided on deaerating column
as well as on feed storage tank for inspection and maintenance.

The condensate is admitted at the top of the deaerating column flows downwards
through the spray valves and trays. The trays are designed to expose to the maximum
water surfaces for efficient scrubbing to effect the liberation of the associated gasessteam enters from the underneath of the trays and flows incounter direction of
condensate. While flowing upwards through the trays, scrubbing and heating is done.
Thus the liberated gases move upwards alongwith the steam. Steam gets condensed
above the trays and in turn heats the condensate. Liberated gases escapes to
atmosphere from the orifice opening meant for it. This openi ng is provided with a
number of deflectors to minimise the loss of steam.

Deaerator is provide with the following fittings.

Tubular type gauge glass.

High level alarm switch.

Low level alarm switch.

Pressure gauge.

Straight thermometers with pockets.

Safety valve

Isolating valves for steam pipes.

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19. Feed Water System

This system plays an important role in the supply of feed water to the boiler at
requisite pressure and steam I water ratio. This chapter describes the various
auxiliaries under this system starting from Boiler Feed Pump to Feed
Regulating Station Via HP heaters.
Boiler Feed Pumps

This pump is horizontal and of barrel design driven by an Electric motor through a
hydraulic coupling. All the bearings of pump and motor are forced lubricated by a
suitable oil lubricating system with adequate protection to trip the pump if the lubrication
oil pressure falls below a preset value. (Refer Fig. 42-A for sectional view of a typical
Boiler Feed Pump).
The high-pressure boiler feed pump is very expensive machine which calls for a very
careful operation and skilled maintenance. The safety in operation and efficiency of the
feed pump depends largely on the reliable operation and maintenance. Operating staff
must be able to find out the causes of defect at the very beginning which can be easily
removed without endangering the operator of the power plant and also without the
expensive dismantling of the high pressure feed pump.

The feed pump consists of pump barrel, into which is mounted the inside stator together
with rotor. The hydraulic part is enclosed by the high pressure cover alongwith the
balancing device. The suction side of the barrel and the space in the high pressure
cover behind the balancing device are enclosed by the low pressure covers alongwith
the stuffing box casings. The brackets of the radial bearing of the suction side and radial
and thrust bearing of the discharge side are fixed to the low pressure covers. The entire
pumps is mounted on a foundation frame. The hydraulic coupling and two claw coupling
with coupling guards are also delivered alongwith the pump. Water cooling and oil
lubricating are provided with their accessories.
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Mechanical Seal The use of mechanical seal reduces the loses of feed water in the
stuffing box to a minimum and working ability of the feed pump increases. Cooling of
stuffing box space should be perfect by the use of mechanical seal.Cooling is carried
out by the circulation of water between the stuffing box space and the cooler. Even after
stopping the pump stuffing box cooling should be continued as its cooling circuit is
different from the seal cooler. Coolers are designed to keep the stuffing box space
temperature below .80 deg.C.
Function The water with the given operating temperature should flow continuously to
the pump under a certain minimum pressure. It passes through the suction branch into
the intake spiral and from there is directed to the first impeller. After leaving the impeller
it passes through the distributing passages of the diffuser and thereby gets a certain
pressure rise and at the same time it flows over to the guide vanes to the inlet of the
next impeller. This will repeat from one stage to the other till it passes through the last
impeller and the end diffuser. Thus the feed water reaching into the discharge space
develops the necessary operating pressure.
Balancing Device A small portion of the feed water in the order of about 10% which is
not calculated to the guaranteed delivery capacity is taken of 'f from the space behind
the last impeller for the operation of the automatic balancing device to balance the
hydraulic axial thrust of the pum p rotor. The purpose of the balancing device is to take
up thrust pressure in a similar way as the thrust hearing. It is evident from the function
of the balancing device that behind the balancing disc the pressure must not rise,
otherwise the hydraulic equibilirum will be broken and therefore equilising piping must
have a sufficient flow capacity. A pressure gauge connection is given for the control of
pressure in the equalising piping. For safe operating of the balancing device, the
pressure value on this pressure gauge should be 0.5 to 2 atm, higher than the intake
suction branch pressure. With the pressure rise in the balancing space by 5 atm. above
the suction pressure it is necessary to trip the pump in order to find out the cause of
defect and to rectify it.

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Lubricating System All the bearings of boiler feed pump, pump motor and hydraulic
coupling, are force lubricated. The feed pump consists of two radial sleeve bearings and
one thrust bearing. The thrust bearing is located at the free-end of the pum p. The feed
pump driving motor consists of two radial sleeve bearings. Feed pump is coupled with
its driving motor through hydraulic coupling which serves the purpose of controlling the
speed of feed pump for maintaining a definite delivery head and qualtity of feed water
as per requirement of the boiler.This hydraulic coupling consists of four radial bearings
and two tilting pad bearings.
Booster Pump: Each boiler feed pump is provided with a booster pump in its suction
line which is driven by the main motor of the boiler feed pump. One of the major
damages which may occur to a B.F. pump is from cavitation or vapour bounding at the
pump suction due to suction failure. Cavitation will occur when the suction pressure of
the pump at the pump at the pump suction is equal or very near to the vapour presure
of the liquid to be pumped at a particular feed water temperature. By the use of a
booster pump in the main pump suction line, always there will be positive suction
pressure which will remove the possibility of Cavitation Therefore all the feed pumps are
provided with a main shaft driven booster pump in its suction line for obtaining a definite
positive suction pressure

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Legend For Drawing of Feed Pump

S.No.

Description

1.

Impeller With Wearing Ring

2.

Balancing Disc

3.

Thrust Bearing Disc

4.

Axial Movement Indicator

5.

Mechanical Seal

6.

Complete Bearing Shell

7.

Complete Bearing Shell

8.

Mitchell Bearing Shell

9.

Lubricating Ring

10.

Low Pressure Cover

11.

Stuffing Box Casing

12.

Suction Branch

13.

Discharge Branch

14.

Diffuser

15.

Discharge Cover

16.

Bearing Ring

17.

Bearing Cover

18.

Inlet Stage

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Turbine Driven Boiler Feed Pump

The single cylinder turbine is of the axial flow type. The live steam flows through the
emergency stop valve and then through the main Control Valves (5 nos. (Nozzle
governing) (Refer Fig. No. 42-B). These valves regulate the steam supply through the
turbine in accordance with load requirements. The control valves are actuated by a lift
bar which is raised or lowered via a lever system by the relay cylinder mounted on the
turbine casing.

The journal bearings supporting the turbine shaft are arranged in the two bearing blocks.
The front end-bearing block also houses the thrust bearing, which locates the turbine
shaft and takes up "the axial forces.

There are 14 stages of reaction blading. The balancing piston is provided at the. Steam
admission side to compensate the axial thrust to the maximum extent. Since the axial
thrust varies with the load, the residual thrust is taken up hy the thrust bearing. The leak
off from the balancing piston is connected back to the turbine after 9th stage.

The turbine is provided with hydraulic and electro-hydraulic governing system. A primary
oil pump is used as a speed sensor for hydraulic governing and shall Probes are used as
a speed sensor for electro hydraulic governing.
Whenever steam is drawn from the cold reheat line or auxiliary supply, steam flow is
controlled by auxiliary control valve. During this period the main control valves (4 nos.)
will remain fully opened and the bypass valve across it will remain closed. (Bypass
remains closed for a short period when changeover from IP steam to CRH takes place).

The steam exhaust from the BFP- Turbine is connected to the main condenser and the
turbine glands are sealed by gland steam.

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High Pressure Heaters :

These are regenerative feed water heaters operating at high pressure and located by the
side of turbine. These are generally vertical type and turbine bleed steam pipes are
connected to them.

HP heaters are connected in series on feed waterside and by such arrangement, the
feed water, after feed pump enters the HP heaters. The
heaters form the bleed point of the

steam

is supplied to these

turbine through motor operated valves. These

heaters have a group bypass protection

on the

feed

waterside. In the event f tube

rupture in any of the HPH and the level of the condensate rising to dangerous level, the
group protection device diverts automatically the feed water directly to boiler, thus
bypassing all the 3 H,P. heaters.

As shown in Fig.43 feed water flows through the tube spirals and is heated by steam
around the tubes in the shall of the heaters. These heaters are cylindrical vessels with
welded dished ends and with integrated, desuperheating, condensing and sub cooling
sections. The internal tube system of spirals is welded to the inlet and outlet headers. In
order to facilitate assembly and disassembly, rollers at the side of the header have been
provided. Both feed water and steam entries and exits are from the bottom end of the
heaters. This design offers the advantage to optimise the arrangement of piping and the
location of the heaters at Power Station.
Following fittings are generally provided on the HP heaters :

Gauge glass for indicating the drain level.

Pressure gauge with three way cock.

Air Vent cock.

Safety valve shell side.

Seal pot.

Isolating valves.

High level alarm switch.

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Group Protection device of HP Heaters: In the event of rising of the drain condensate
level in any one of the HP heater, to the emergency high level, the feed water flowing
through the coils of the heaters, is diverted automatically directly to the boiler, thereby all
the group of three HP heaters is bypassed from feed water side as well as from steam
side.

Feed Regulating Station

In order to ensure security of supply it has been considered necessary to provide a

multiple feed-water regulating valve arrangement and on 200 MW units there is a 100%
regulating valve. In addition there are two smaller regulating valves for low load
conditions which can also be used for standby duty.

The three-element feed-flow regulating system has been develop to meet the
requirements of the modern boiler. The essential factors in obtaining the fine degree of
regulation required are the steam flow from the boiler, the feed water flow to the boiler
and the water level in the boiler drum.

To maintain the rate of feed-water input in correct ratio to the steam output under all
conditions of loading, the system measures feed flow and steam -flow and the meter
readings are balanced against each other by means of a differential linkage.
Drip/Drain System

The steam, bleed from the turbine, after condensation is termed as drip/ drain.

The drain is cascaded from H.P.-5 will go to deaerator ofL.P-H.-4 depending on the
shell pressure and load on the machine. The drain ofL.P.H.-2 from where the drain is
pumped back into the condensate line going to deaerator. The drain from L.P.H.-2 can
be regulated to condenser in case the level in L.P.H.-2 rises to a predetermined level.
All the L.P.Heaters drains are having manual by-pass which can be operated in case of

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any individual regulator fail. The drain from L.P.H.-l is only connected to the condenser
by U-tube water seal.
Drip Pumps: Two numbers of sectional multistage centrifugal horizontal pumps per unit
are provided.One will be running and the other is stand-by (100% standby ).These-are
especially suited for the purpose of pumping from the space of high vacuum.
Condensate drip from LP heater No. 2 (which is under vacuum) is pumped again to
main condensate line in between LP heaters.

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20. Turbine Lubricating Oil System

Turbine lub-oil system seeks to provide proper lubrication of turbo-generator
bearings and operation of barring gear. In this Chapter an attempt has been
made to describe the various lub-oil pumps and oil coolers coming under this
system.

Introduction
The recommended working medium for governing and lubrication system of the turbine
is the MO BIL DTE oil medium or turbine oil-14 OF INDIAN OIL COMPANY.
Oil Specification

1.

Specific garvity at 50"C

0.852

2.

Kinematic vicosity at 50"C

28 centistokes

3.

Nutralisation number

0.2

4.

Flash Point

2010C (minm)

5.

Pour Point

-6.60C (maxm)

6.

Ash percentage by weight

0.01%

7.

Mechanical impurities

Nil

Main Oil Pump

This pump is mounted in the front bearing pedestal. It is coupled with turbine rotor
through a gear coupling. When the turbine is running at normal speed i.e 3000 rpm or
the turbine speed is more than 2800 rpm, then the desired quantity of oil to the
governing system at 20 kg/cm 2 (gauge) and to the lubrication system at 1 kg/cm 2
(gauge) is supplied by this oil pump.The oil to the lubrication system at the level of
turbine axis is supplied through two injectors arranged in series. First injector develops
suction pressure for the main oil pump and second injector develops a pressure

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of3kg/cm 2 (gauge) before the coolers. After the oil coolers, the pressure is Ikg/cm 2
(gauge) which goes to lubrication system.
Starting Oil Pump
It is a multi stage centrifugal oil pump driven by A.C
pump is provided for meeting the requirement
starting

of

electric motor. Starting

oil of the

and stopping. It also serves as standby to main

turbo-set

oil

during

centrifugal oil pump. In

starting or when the turbine is running at speed lower than 2800 rpm it supplies oil to
governing system as well as to the lubrication system. For hydraulic testing ot iiugoverning system, oil pipe lines and tightness of flanges joints of oil system this pump
is driven by another A.C. electric motor at 1500 rpm and develops a pressure of41k^
cm 2
Stand-by Oil Pump

This is a centrifugal pump driven by an A.C. electric motor, this runs for 10 minutes in
the beginning to remove air from the governing system and fill the oil system with the
oil. This pump automatically takes over under interlock action whenever the oil pressure
in lubrication system falls to 0.6kg/cm 2 (gauge). Thus this pump can meet the
requirement of lubrication system under emergency conditions.
Emergency Oil Pump

This is a centrifugal pump, driven by D.C. electric motor. This pump has been foreseen
as a back-up protection to A.C.driven standby oil pump. This automatically cuts in when
ever there is failure of A.C. supply at power station and or the pressure in the
lubrication system falls to O.kg/cm 2 (gauge). This pump can meet the lubrication
system requirement under the conditions mentioned above.

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Jacking Oil Pump

This pump enable the main bearing of the complete rotor assembly to be raised or
floated in the bearing during turbine generator start up and during shut down, thus
preventing damage to the bearings when shaft speeds are too low for hydrodynamic
lubrication to take place. This jacking oil pump takes the suction from the main oil tank
and delivers a pressure of 120kg/cm 2 for lifting of rotor. The drain from the bearings is
connected back to the oil tank only.
Oil Coolers
The oil of the lubrication and the governing system is cooled in the oil coolers. The
cooling medium for these coolers is circulating water. The pressure of the cooling water
is kept lower than that of oil to avoid its mixing with oil in the event of tube rupture.

Five oil coolers have been foreseen, out of which four are for continuous operation and
one remains as standby, provided the cooling water temperature is not more than
36C. The oil coolers are in parallel for maintenance purposes, the oil and cooling
water supply to any one of the oil coolers may be cut off.

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21. Auxiliary Steam System

Some of the thermal cycle equipments /system require steam for primary
heating, actuation, sealing etc. This requirement is met by Auxiliary steam
system which has been described in this Chapter.

Introduction

For a 210 MW Thermal Power Unit using coal as basic fuel, auxiliary steam is one of
the important systems. The current practice is to have two different headers:

Turbine Auxiliary Steam Header and

Boiler Auxiliary Header

Steam for turbine auxiliary steam header is normally taken from extraction lines
depending on load on the turbine. Under normal conditions, steam comes from 5th
extraction line. But whenever pressure at 5th extraction line drops, supply of steam is
automatically changes from 5th to 6th extraction line. Steam thus available is taken to
turbine auxiliary steam header where steam pressure can vary within a narrow range.
From this header steam is supplied for the following purposes:

To LP Heater No.4 through a pressure reducing cum control valve for preheating
condensate going to the deaerator at low loads.

To deaerator as pegging steam through a control station-maintaining constant

downsteam pressure at 7 ata. One additional tapping is made in this line after
control valve for Deaerator Storage tank heating.

Steam from deaerator is supplied at 16 ata to the following systems:

Turbine gland sealing

Main air ejector

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Starting air ejectors

Gland steam cooler ejector

One additional provision for steam supply is generally made from the main steam line
after the final superheater. The line is connected with the veriable pressure auxiliary
steam header by a pressure reducing - cum - desuperheating station wherefrom steam
can directly be taken to turbine gland sealing, main ejector, starting ejector, etc. This
line after PRDS is connected by a spring loaded non-return valve which opens out and
allows steam only from the PRDS, whenever steam pressure in the variable steam
header mentioned above drops below 10kg/cm2.

Steam from Boiler Auxiliary steam header is taken from the primary superheater inlet
box and pressure reduced through two pressure reducing stations in series. Steam from
this header does the following work:

Burner atomising, cleaning scavanging etc.

Fuel oil system heating including fuel oil storage tank, suction/delivery pipelines,
fuel oil heaters, burners ring main header, recirculation and drain lines, burner
pump casing, unloading from fuel oil tanker, wagon etc.

Interconnection to other boiler are generally made from this header.

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22. Flange, Stud & Rotor Heating System

This Chapter deals with the system of heating of turbine studs, flanges and
rotor to avoid the differential expansion.

The device for heating flanges and studs of the HP & IP casings is used for quick
starting of the turbine from cold or hot state by reducing the temperature difference of
the metal across the width of casing flanges, and between different points over the
casing section, as also between the casing flanges and studs at their corresponding
points.

The device consists of jackets welded to side walls of casing flanges and special
piping complete with fittings and measuring instruments for steam inlet, outlet, and
drains.

The flanges and studs are heated with live steam bled from pipelines before main stop
valve (MSV) of the turbine in accordance with tlie piping scheme.

Special recesses are provided in the horizontal flanges of the HP & IP casing joint
plane for passage of heating steam to the studs. In the lower half flanges, recesses are
provided and in the upper half of the casing, along the height of stud, there are baffles
for guiding the steam flow over the studs.

Two special pipelines each delivering steam to two separate headers which supply
steam to of flanges and studs have been provided for stud heating steam is supplied
from header to the recess in horizontal joint of HP & IP casing bottom flanges, through
holes in the bottom flange on the right and left side. For flange heating, steam is
supplied for header to the flange jackets and recesses in the HP & IP casings flanges,
steam is collected in the common headers and then flows through the piping of the
condenser steam space.
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The headers, supplying steam to the flanges and studs, are provided with safety
valves and pressure gauges for regulating pressure in the headers.

To check the temperature difference of the metal across the width of casing Han^es
and between flanges and studs of the casing, thermocouples have been provided.

The use of device for heating flanges and studs of the casing is permitted only if a
careful check is kept over the temperature difference across the inetal at the available
reference points. The measuring and recording of temperature differences should be
carried out during turbine starting at least once every 10 minutes
The temperature difference across the width of the casing flange should be within
50C. The temperature of outside flange surface should never exceed that measured
with a thermocouple at a

maximum

depth inside

between the flange and stud temperature should not

the flange. The

difference

exceed 20"C and

the stud

temperature should never be more than that of the flange. When

turbine

starting

the

from cold or hot (temperature of metal of the upper half of the HP- casing

being upto 250C, heating of flanges and studs is permitted provided differential
expansion of the rotor is positive and not expansion of the rotor is positive and not less
than 1 mm. It is not permitted to operate the flange heating device:

If the differential expansion of rotor is less than 1 mm.

If the differential expansion indicating and recording instruments are either out
of order or disconnected.

In order to maintain proper tightening of flange joints, it is necessary to first supply

steam for heating flanges and only then after some time to studs. Separate control of
steam supply for heating of each flange or studs on the left or right .due after initial
adjustment is not permitted.

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Rotor Heating
In case the contraction of HP rotor reaches 0.8 mm and that of IP rotor 1.5 mm. fresh
steam is supplied to the front sealings of HP & IP turbines. In order to control the
contractions of HP & IP rotor the steam is supplied at a higher temperature then that of
the turbine casing at the front sealings till it comes under control. The tapping of the
steam is taken from the main steam line and before the heating is done the concerned
pipe lines should be adequately heated up and blown out by opening the respective
valves. While supplying the steam to the HP & IP front sealing it should be checked up
that the spindle leak of valve should be in closed position under interlock action.

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23. Data Sheet for Turbine Auxiliaries

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24. Special Features Of 200/210 Mw Turbines

Turbine Governing
Governing Systems
2001210 MW Steam Turbine is equipped with a fine response hydromechanical system of automatic governing, to ensures smooth and stable
operation of Turbo-Generator for all load conditions. The System is capable of
sustaining full load dump from general without the operation of protection
system and thus enable quick reloading of the turbo-Generator set. This
Chapter deals with this system and its connected element.

Functions

The control action is of proportional type with a steady state overall speed regulation
(i.e. proportional band) of 4 + 1%. This proportional band is necessary in order to
realize.

Stable speed control in isolated operation of the set, and

The desired degree of load distribution between sets running in parallel.

The dead band of the governing system is within 0.1% at rated speed. All the
operations of the starting and loading of the set can be performed manually by
operating the speeder gear hand wheel located at the front pedestal or by operating
speeder gear motor remotely from unit control panel.

The main sensing element of governing system is speed governor, which transmits the
signal of any speed variation to the speed governor pilot block by means of a hydraulic
link, which in turn after amplification transmits it to the intermediate pilot valve and
Differentiator. Intermediate pilot valve actuates the control valves servomotor, which
operates the control valves by means of rack and pinion arrangements, to meet the
new load conditions.
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Special Features
In the event of generator circuit breaker opening following a full load loss, load throw
off, governing system prevents the over speeding of the set to a dangerous level and
quickly stabilizes the set on house load or no load. However, the electro-hydraulic
transducer receives the signal for two seconds only, after which normal governing
takes over.

The governing system envisages anticipatory overspeed control gear termed

'Differentiator'. The

differentiator causes

anticipatory

closure

of

the control

valves depending upon the magnitude of acceleration being experienced by the

turbine. This action prevents the transient speed rise (TSR) to rise to dangerously high
levels.
Transient speed rise (TSR) is anticipated to be less than 6% range between 30003450 RPM, when set is not synchronized.

Transient speed rise (TSR is anticipated to be less than 6 to 8% over the nominal
speed, even in case of total loss of export load.

Speed governor can control speed at any given level in the range 3000-3450 RPM
when set is not synchronized.

Load limiter has been provided to avoid accidental overloading of the set. The set point
of load - limiter can be chosen over entire range from no load to full load.
Elements of Governing System

The main elements of governing system, as shown in the figure-44 are as follows:

Speed Governor

Speed Governor Pilot Block

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Intermediate Pilot Valve

Control Valve Servomotor

Load Limiter

Differentiator.

Speed Governor It senses speed variation and transforms it into a linear displacement
of sleeve. It is of centrifugal fly weight band spring type and is hinge less. It is mounted
on the shaft of main oil pump. Main oil pump is coupled to Emergency governor
through gear coupling. Any axial displacement of turbine rotor is taken care by the gear
coupling and it does not affect the operation of speed governor. The speed governor
does not have any lower stop and is designed to operate right from zero speed. The
travel of governor sleeve is limited by a stop, when the speed reaches 3600+40 r.p.m.
Total travel is 13mm. The total displacement of sleeve for speed change from zero
r.p.m. to 3000 r.p.m. is 9mm 1mm travel of governor sleeve corresponds to 5.2 0.5%
2800 r.p.m to 3200 r.p.m.
Speed Governor Pilot Block Speed Governor Pilot Block performs multifarious
functions during start up of the turbine and during normal service when turbine is
running in the grid or otherwise. The speed governor pilot block performs these
functions through the following components :

Follow Pilot Valve

Summation Pilot Valve

Load/Speed Control Valve

Speeder Gear

Lever

Follow Pilot Valve Follow pilot valve follows the movement of governor sleeve and
actuates the summation pilot valve through lever. It also provides back up protection
from over speeding beyond 114 to 115%.

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Summation Pilot Valve It receives signal from follow pilot valve through lever and it
actuates differentiator and intermediate pilot valve.
Load/Speed Control Valve It is instrumental in converting mechanical signal from
speeder gear into hydraulic signal. Hydraulic signals transmitted to emergency
governor pilot valve, emergency stop valve servomotor and interceptor valve
servomotor. It actuates the summation pilot through lever and performs the following
functions

To bring the main pilot spool of emergency governor pilot valve (EGPV) in operative
position after turbine trip out. This process is called charging of EGPV.

To open emergency stop valves and interceptor valves during start up.

To control speed while set is at no load.

To assist in synchronization of set through auto-synchronizer.

For changing the load on the set while the turbine is working in parallel with
other turbines in the grid.

Speeder Gear

It essentially actuates the load/speed control pilot valve. The speeder

gear can be. actuated by either operating the hand wheel at the front pedestal or by
remote operation from UCP.
Lever It interconnects the load/speed control pilot valve, follow pilot valve and
summation pilot valve.
Intermediate Pilot Valve The intermediate pilot valve amplifies the hydraulic signal
from summation pilot valve, differentiator, electrohydraulic transducer and emergency
governor pilot block. The amplified signal in turn is transmitted to the control valve
servomotor.

By adjusting the throttle valve we can change the regulation of the system. Control
valve Servomotor
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The servomotor receives hydraulic signal from intermediate pilot valve and initial steam
pressure unloading Gear (ISPUG) and actuates all the control valves of high pressure
and intermediate pressure turbine through racks, pinions and cams arrangement.
Control valve servomotor consists of following :

Control valve servomotor pilot valve

Control valve servomotor.

Control valve servomotor feed back pilot.

Control valve servomotor pilot valve receive signal from intermediate pilot valve cind it
controls the oil supply and oil drainage from servomotor. Control valve servomotor feed
back, pilot provides negative feed back signal to pilot valve and helps to stabilize the
control valve servomotor. The design of main servomotor is such that the piston slows
down as it approaches lower stop thus avoiding the banging of piston against casing
and thus minimising impact forces on control valves seats.

Servomotor position at its lower stop corresponds to '0' on scale and indicates full
closure of control valves of high pressure turbine and intermediate pressure turbine.

Load-limiter Load-limiter avoids the accidental overloading of the set beyond the set
point by mechanic ally arresting the motion of summation pilot valve. The set point can
be varied over entire load range. Continuous operation of the turbine on load limiter is
not recommended as it would interfere in to participation of the set in frequency control
and would make system insensitive.
Differentiator The differentiator is designed for accelerated closure of control valves
when generator load is thrown off by more than 50%. The transient rise is kept down to
safe values. Thus preventing emergency governor tripping. This is achieved by sensing
rate of change of speed by differentiator and closing control valves in anticipation in
case this rate corresponds to more than 50% load dump.

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Actuation of Governing System

The turbine is prevented from dangerous over speeds by provision of emergency

governors, which trip the turbine and cut off the steam supply, if the over speed exceed
11 to 12%. This protection is backed up by an additional protection in the follow pilot
valve, which trips turbine and cuts off the steam supply if over speed exceed 14 to 15%.
Protection system functions by combination of mechanical, electrical and hydraulic
signals on various elements. Necessary transducers are provided to protect the turbine
from prohibitive axial shift of rotor, failure of condenser pressure, failure of lubrication
system and drop in live steam temperature.

The turbine can also be tripped either locally by pressing the knob of turbine shutdown
switch located at the turbine front pedestal or by remote control from the unit control
panel (UCP). Protection system operates and trips out the turbine in unlikely event of
the following hazards:

Speed rise upto 111 to 112%

Speed rise upto 114 to 115% (Back up protection)

Impermissible (beyond + 1.2 mm and - 1.7mm)axial shift of turbine rotor.

Lubrication oil pressure dropping to impermissible value (below 0.3 atg).

Vacuum in condenser dropping to impermissible value (below 540 mm Hg).

Main steam and reheat steam temperature dropping to impermissible value

(below 540C.

Drip level in high pressure heater rising to impermissiblevalue.

Operation of generator protection.

Manual tripping of turbine can be done by pressing the knob of turbine shut
down switch.

Governing system comprises of the following elements:

The protection system comprises of the following elements:

Emergency Governors.

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Emergency Governors Pilot Valves.

Emergency stop valve (ESV) Servomotors.

Interceptor valve (IV) Servomotors.

Turbine shutdown switch.

Electro - hydraulic, transducer.

Initial steam pressure unloading gear.

Emergency Governor In the unlikely event of speed increasing to 111 to 112% of

nominal value, emergency governor (unstable centrifugal type) strikers fly out of the
emergency governor body to trip the set through levers and other hydraulic circuit by
closing emergency stop valves, interceptor valves and control valves. It is
recommended that the emergency governor strikers should be tested periodically
during normal service by disengaging emergency governor levers and by injecting oil
under the strikers. Strikers return to its normal position on 101 to 102% of normal
speed, but to restart the turbine, EGPV has to be charged.
Emergency Governor Pilot Valves (EGPV) It is an intermediate element to convert
mechanical signal received from emergency governors through lever into a hydraulic
signal. It also receives hydraulic signals from follow pilot valve (back up protection and
turbine shut down switch. Hydraulic signal is transmitted to emergency stop valves
servomotors, interceptor valve servomotors and control valves servomotor to trip the
set. After tripping emergency governor pilot valves do not come to its normal position
when speed returns to normal' values. It is brought to normal position with the help of
load/speed control gear and this process is known as charging EGPV.
Emergency Stop Valves Servomotors Two emergency stop valves servomotors
have been provided (one each for each ESV) to totally cut off steam supply to high
pressure turbine in case of emergency conditions. The emergency stop valves remain
in fully open position, when turbine is in service. ESVs can be opened either by hand,
wheel provided on the servomotor or by operating load/speed control gear either from
front pedestal or from U.C.P. by remote control.

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A damper has been provided to give cushioning effect when ESV servomotor
aproaches its upper stop. The total strike of ESV stem is 95mm, while ESV servomotor
piston compresses the spring of damper.
Interceptor Valves' Servomotors Two interceptor valve servomotors have been
provided (one each for a IV) to totally cut off the steam supply to the intermediate
pressure turbine in case of emergency conditions. The servomotors remain fully open
when turbine is in normal service.

TV's can be opened either by hand wheel provided on the servomotor or by load/speed
control gear either from front pedestal or from UCP by remote control.
Turbine Shut Down Switch The turbine shut down switches equipped with an electromagnet, the actuation of which results in the closure of emergency stop valves,
interceptor valves and control valves through EGPV and respective servomotors of
valves. Electromagnet is energised under the emergency conditions 3 to 8 listed earlier
in this write-up. The turbine can also be tripped locally by pressing the knob of turbine
shutdown switch located at front pedestal.
Electrohydraulic Transducer It is instrumental in converting electrical signal derived
from generator circuit breaker into hydrualic signal which in turn is transmitted to
intermediate pilot for closure of all control valves. The duration of signal is 2 seconds
and during this period all control valves are fully closed. Meanwhile normal governing
system takes over the speed control. Electro-hydraulic transducer comprises of two
main elements:

Electro-magnetic transducer: It converts electrical signal from generator circuit

breaker into mechanical signal.

Hydraulic Amplifier: It converts the mechanical signal of electro-magnetic

transducer into amplified hydraulic signal which is transmitted to intermediate
pilot-valve.

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If, for some reason or the other, it is desired to isolate electrohydraulic transducer from
the rest of system, the same can be accomplished by means of isolation valve so
provided.
Initial Steam Pressure Unloading Gear (ISPUG) ISPUG essentially reduces load on
the turbine in case of initial steam pressure falling below 90+2% of the rated value
(117+2 ata). It is achieved by partial closure of control valves. ISPUG completely
unloads the turbine when pressure fall to 70+2% rated value (90+2) ata. In between
these two pressures unloading is proportional.

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25. H.P. - L.P. By Pass System

For matching of live steam and turbine metal temperatures for a quick start up,
by-pass stations have been provided, which dump the steam to the condenser
through pressure reducing station and desuperheaters, during the period steam
parameters at the boiler are being raised. These stations, in addition to the
quick start of turbine and low noise level, also economise the consumption of
D.M. water. This Chapter describes this system with its advantages and
functions.

Advantage

With the use of turbine by-pass station it is possible to buildup the matching steam
parameters at the boiler outlet during any regime of starting, independent of the steam
flow through turbine.The steam generated by boiler, and not utilised by the turbine
during start up or shutdown, is conserved within the power cycle and thus losses of
steam into the atmosphere is cut down to the barest minimum. By pass system enables
to shorten the start-up time.
HP/LP by pass system can be broadly classified in two groups (Ref. fig. 45).

HP bypass station This is utilised for the following tasks.

To establish flow at the outlet of superheater (SH) for raising boiler pa rameters
during start-up.

To maintain or control steam pressure at per-set value in main steam line during
start-up.

To warm up the steam lines. To control steam temperature down stream of HP

Bypass at the preset value.

To dump steam from boiler into condenser in case the generator circuit breaker

opens.
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LP bypass station The same is utilised of the following tasks.

Control of steam pressure after reheater.

Establish flow of steam from reheat lines to condenser by its opening,

proportional to the opening of HP bypass valves.

Release of steam entrapped in HPT and reheater circuit in case generator circuit
breaker opens.

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The interconnections of the above stations with the turbine power cycle ar e as under :

Description

Up stream steam
Connection

Down stream
Steam connection

HP bypass
station

Main steam lines

ahead of MSV

Cold reheat line

LP bypass

Hot reheat lines

ahead of IV

Steam throw
device build in
Condenser

off

Feed water is used as cooling water for H.P. bypass station and condensate is used as
cooling water for LP bypass station.

Control

The control components are located in a control cabinet in unit control board (UCB).
Each positioning loop may be controlled separately from the central control desk. For
Supervision of the control loops, the position and control deviation are indicated on
mosaic insert of the control desk.
Oil Supply Unit The oil supply units for the high pressure bypass ai d the low-pressure
bypass are connected in parallel. Manostats control the oil pressure in the
accumulators and signal alarm 'PRESSURE TOO HIGH or PRESSURE TOO LOW
appear in UCB if the pressure in not in order. If the oil pressure should fall below the
minimum in both accumulators, positioning actuators will be blocked, and thereon the
signal 'ACTUATOR BLOCKED' shall appear in UCB which simultaneously changes the
operation of positioning loops from automatic to manual.

Startup Procedure Operation

With the start up of the boiler, the pressure set point has to be adjusted manually. If too
large a deviation between the measured pressure and the set- point shall occur, the
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alarms will be given. The deviation will be given for a positive as well as a negative
difference.

The HP bypass station controls and maintains the upstream pressure at the desired
preset value when in operation. As soon as the entire steam available from the SH
outlet is swallowed by HP Turbine, the HP bypass station shall get closed under
automatic controller action. The HP bypass, once closed shall cut in under pressure
impulse only if the generator circuit breaker opens.
Interlocks

The HP-bypass system are influenced by the following interlocks :

Generator circuit - breaker

Condenser vacuum too low

HP-valve-position

a C 2%
b 7 2%

Temperature too high at down stream of LP bypass station

Following interlocks are produced by the bypass system and given to the other
positioning loops.

HP valve position more than 2%

'Close'- signal for spray water pressure control valve.

Generator ^Circuit Breaker The HP Bypass station shall come into operation at the
moment the logic signal 'GENERATOR CIRCUIT BREAKER CLOSED' disappears.
However, this does not imply that the HP bypass station shall be out of service if the
logic signal 'GENERATOR CIRCUIT BREAKER CLOSED'.

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Condenser Vacuum Too Low The HP bypass station shall close immediately in case
of too low condenser vacuum (500 mm Hg-CoL). This interlock holds a first priority for
the controller.

HP bypass valve position less than 2%

When turbine is running or not running and the control of HP bypass valve is on
manual, the memory will get closing signal through AND logic, if the valve
position is less than 2%.

When turbine is running and control of HP bypass valve is on auto, the memory
will get closing signal through AND logic, if valve position is less than 2%.

When turbine is not running and control of HP bypass valve are on auto, there is
no closing signal to memory whatever is the position of the valve and thus
pressure control loop will actuate valve.

Temperature too high If the temperature after the outlet of the HP or LP bypass
station ' ecomes 'TOO HIGH' the closing signal to HP bypass

valves is forwarded

and simultaneously positioning loops changes from automatic to manual mode, The
interlock for this case will be provided by the temperature supervising monitor.

HP bypass valve position more than 2%: If any of HP Bypass valves are opened more
than 2% (which is initiated by a part of voltage monitor or if the position demand signal
is equivalent to more than 2%, valve opening (which is initiated by a voltage monitor a
signal is available through or logic to indicate the valve is open and the same signal is
used to change the control of valves from manual to auto if their control was on manual.

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26. Automatic Turbine RunRun-up System (ATRS)

When a turbo-Generator is being started up or shut down, the operators have
innumerable-number of functions to perform. It is essential that all these
functions be carried out swiftly, in correct sequence and where applicable after
establishing the appropriate process status. This is required if the turbine life is
to be protected and economic operation achieved. There are distinct possibilities
of human failure in carrying out the above mentioned tasks accurately at all
times. Therefore, it is essential that the important components of the turbines
that are involved in start -up and shutdown are integrated into an automatic
system. Such a system has been described in this Chapter.

Description

The ATRS system divides the turbine plant into two main areas, viz, 'Turbine Oil
System' and 'Turbine'. Each of these areas are managed by a subgroup controller. The
start up & shutdown logics for each of these areas have been built up in to these sub
group controller system. These controller systems are essentially a sequential binary
control system.
Function of the Sub-group Controller

The main task of the sub-group controller 'Oil' during a start up programme are:

(a)

Establishing lube oil, control oil, and jacking oil supply

(b)

Putting the turbine on barring gear

(c)

Taking off the jacking oil pump when appropriate turbine speed is achieved

(d)

Taking off the ACPs when turbine main oil pump has taken over

(e)

leaving the various sub loop controllers of oil systems in automatic regime so
that the logics built up in this sub loop controllers will take care of the
requirement of the individuals systems. The sub loop controller of any system

essentially serves to provide an auto start/stop command when certain present

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conditions are fulfilled. The feature can be included or excluded by manual push
button command or by subgroup controller. During a shut down programme this
sub group controller essentially serves to bring the turbine to a standstill and
switch off the oil system.

The main tasks of the subgroup control 'turbine' during a start up programme are (a)
Warming of the admission pipe lines and stop and control valves (carried out by the
warm up controller in conjunction with the turbine stress evaluator); (b) Warming up of
the turbine at 640 RPM (carried out by electro-hydraulic speed controller, in conjunction
with the turbine stress evaluator); (c) Acceleration of the turbine to synchronous speed
carried out by the turbine stress evaluator, (d) Synchronise the machine to the grid
(carried out by the auto synchroniser); and (c) block loading of the machine.

In addition, the subgroup controller also switches on the sub loop controller drains
during the course of its programme for warming up of casing pipe lines and other
valve bodies

During a shutdown programme the subgroup controller Turbine' essentially does

the task of; (a) deloading the machine and switching on sub loop controller
drains, (b) setting the load controller to its minimum valve and lowering the speed
reference valve of the speed controller, (c) tripping of the machine.

The combination of the two subgroup controllers will provide a turbine start up in the
following sequence:

Prepare turbine for start-up.

Start oil supply system and turning gear.

Start condensing plant.

Start seal steam system.

Warm up main steam line.

Warm up turbine.

Accelerate turbine to rated speed.

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Synchronize and block generator.

Shut-do^vn Operation

The shut-down is carried out in the following sequence:

Reduce turbine load.

Ensure by pass operation.

Reduce turbine load to less than 5% of rated capacity.

Switch off generator.

Trip turbine and check if AOP is in operation.

Shut down steam generator.

Close main steam valve of boiler.

Depressurizes main steam line.

Close detains of main steam line.

Shut down condensing plant.

Start turning gear.

Modes of Operation

ATRS can be operated in the following three modes:

Automatic:/In this mode all the specified operations are carried out in appropriate
sequence automatically.

Step Mode: This mode has been envisaged to allow the operator to bypass any
criteria if the operator finds that a criteria is not being obtained bacause of the
malfunctioning of any instrument or transducer.

Operation Guide Mode: In this mode the ATRS does not issue any commands.
The commend outputs are blocked and have to be issued only by hand. This

mode allows correct fulfilment of' the criteria and satisfactory progress of the
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subgroup control system to be tested during commissioning and at other times.

This mode can also be used as a training aid for the operators.

The ATRS system, as any modern system, has features like running time monitoring,
logics to run back to a safe state when protective conditions arise and also has certain
in built self-check features like power -supply availability, card insertion monitoring etc.
The lamp guidance system helps during a programme run to know on what step the
programme is. If the programme stops due to any discrepancy the system helps in
knowing at what step the programme has stopned and the criteria responsible for
stopping the programme.

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27. Generator And Auxiliaries

Generator
Generator Fundamentals
The transformation of mechanical energy into electrical energy is carried out
by the Generator. This Chapter seeks to provide basic understanding about the
working principles and development of Generator.

Working Principle

The A.C. Gener ator or alternator is based upon the principle of electromagnetic
induction and consists generally of a stationary part called stator and a rotating part
called rotor. The stator housed the armature windings. The rotor houses the field
windings. D.C. voltage is applied to the field windings through slip rings. When the rotor
is rotated, the lines of magnetic flux (viz magnetic field) cut through the stator windings.
This induces an electromagnetic force (e.m.f.) in the stator windings. The magnitude of
this e.m.f. is given by the following expression.

4.44 /O FN volts

Strength of magnetic field in webers.

Frequency in cycles per second or Hertz.

Number of turns in a coil of stator winding

Frequency = Pn/120

Where P

Number of poles

revolutions per second of rotor.

From the expression it is clear that for the same frequency, number of poles increases
with decrease in speed and vice versa. Therefore, low speed hydro turbine drives
generators have 14 to 20 poles where as high speed steam turbine driven generators
have generally 2 poles. Pole rotors are used in low speed generators, because the cost
advantage as well as easier construction.
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Development

The first A.C. Generator concept was enunciated by Michael Faraday in 1831. In 1889
Sir Charles A. Parsons developed the first AC turbo-generator. Although slow speed
AC generators has been built for some time, it was not long before that the high-speed
generators made its impact.

Development contained until, in 1922, the increased use of solid forgings and improved
techniques permitted an increase in generator rating to 20MW at 300rpm. Upto the out
break of second world war, in 1939, most large generator;- were of the order of 30 to 50
MW at 3000 rpm.

During the war, the development and installation of power plants was delayed and in
order to catch up with the delay in plant installation, a large number of 30 MW and 60
MW at 3000 rpm units were constructed during the years immediately following the war.
The changes in design in this period were relatively small.

The economic case for the development of very large turbo generators was
indisputable, and the designer was faced with problems of increasing the rating in the
face of limitations of size and weight which can be easily transported. Substantial gain
could not be achieved from magnetic materials and it became evident that there was no
choice but to raise the current load of the machines so that increased power rating
could be achieved without proportionate increase in size and weight. Raising of the
current load greatly increased the copper losses in both stator and rotor windings and
these losses could not be adequately dissipated by use of conventional air cooling. Air
as a coolant was, therefore, superseded by hydrogen and increase in generator rating
upto 275 MW were obtained bypassing the hydrogen through passages in stator and
rotor conductors. The direct cooling eliminated the high temperature gradients across
the slot insulations, along stator and rotor teeth, and from the iron surfaces to the
cooling medium. Further development was made possible by the use of water instead of
hydrogen for cooling medium.

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The first-cooled generator, a 60MW machine, was installed in UK in 1949. This was a
conventionally cooled generator wherein hydrogen replaced air as cooling medium. The
hydrogen in the machine frame was at a pressure O.lKg/cm 2 to obviate the risk of air
leaking into the machine frame and forming an explosive mixture. It was soon found that
the power output from a given frame size could be increase by increasing the hydrogen
pressure and within a short time 3 Kg/cm 2 had become standard pressure. In 1955 the
first 100MW generators were commissioned and from the same design followed the 120
MW machines which came into service from 1958.

The 200 MW generators were installed in 1959. In these machines there was a
complete departure from the conventional method of cooling, instead of removing heat
from the external surfaces within the machine the stator and rotor conductors were
directly cooled by causing hydrogen to flow within the slot generators upto 275 MW
rating were built in accordance with this principle. The development opened the way to
higher rated machines because it virtually eliminated the large temperature difference
which existed between cooled surface and the winding conductors in the conventional
cooled machines. The advantages of direct cooling were further emphasised when
hydrogen was superseded by the use of water for cooling the stator windings, and
ratings of generators rapidly increased from 275 MW to 500 MW.

The next decisive stage must be the development of single shaft generators in output
range 750-1000 MW. There are still a number of electrical, mechanical and thermal
problems to be solved. Electrically, the progress to higher
largely by the

short- circuit

ratio and

rated machines is governed

transient reactances which

machines stability during sudden load changes. Mechanically,

influence the

rotor diameters wil

certainly need to be increased from present 115 cm generally used in 500 MW

generators. This will result in a marked increase in dynamic stresses acting in the rotor
of which end rings will be the most severely effected. A marked increase in the strength
of materials used for rotor end-rings appears unlikely at present but two avenues are
being explored :

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The development of new end-ring material having a lower specific weight the
forgings available now, thereby reducing the considerably self-stress exerted by
the rings;

New ways to fix the rotor end-windings so that centrifugal force exerted by them
on rings is reduced. Generally rotor winding ventilation needs to be improved.
Direct-cooling is now the accepted practice, hydrogen still being the main
coolant. Direct liquid cooling must therefore be developed.

The advances in generator development also included the production of high quality
steel alloys in forgings for rotor body and end-rings and stator core laminations. The
development of magnetic steel alloys was towards high saturation induction and high
permeability steel to give higher flux and Excitation Power per unit of material. The
steel laminations must also be of high resistance and low hysterisis loss so that
generator iron loss can be progressively reduced. In a typical 500 MW generator, the
iron loss is only 6-7% of total machine losses.

Development of suitable insulating materials for large turbo-generators is one of the

most important tasks and need continues watch as size and ratings of machines
increase. The present trend is the use only class "B" and higher grade materials and
extensive work has gone into compositions of mica; glass and asbestos with
appropriate bonding material. An insulation to meet the stresses in generator slots must
follow very closely the thermal expansion of the insulated conductor without cracking or
any plastic deformation. Insulation for rotor is subjected to lower dielectric stress but
must withstand high dynamic stresses and the newly developed epoxy resins, glass
and/or asbestos moulded in resin and other synthetic resins are finding wide
applications.

The rotor bearing of a generator must be substantial enough to carry the load imposed
upon them. But losses in bearings account for 8-10% of the generator total loss and at
present there is extensive research into the hydrodynamics of bearing operation to
establish the most efficient parameters.
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The excitation currents for typical 500 MW generators range from 3700 to 5100 amps
and sliding electric contracts and components need frequent attention and maintenance
due to heating caused by brush friction and brush losses. Present trends are towards
eliminating the slip-rings and brush gear entirely and use what are now called brushless
exciters.

In any development programme the. costs of material and labour involved in

manufacturing and erection must be a basic consideration. Coupled very closely with
these considerations is the restriction is size and weight imposed by transport
limitations.

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28. Generator Components

This Chapter deals with the two main components of the Generator viz. Rotor,
its winding & balancing and stator, its frame, core & windings.

Rotor

The electrical rotor is the most difficult part of the generator to design. It revolves in
most modern generators at a speed of 3,000 revolutions per minute. The problem of
guaranteeing the dynamic strength and operating stability of such a rotor is complicated
by the fact that a massive non-uniform shaft subjected to a multiplicity of differential
stresses must operate in oil lubricated sleeve bearings supported by a structure
mounted on foundations all of which possess complex dynamic be behaviour peculiar to
themselves. It is also an electromagnet and to give it the necessary magnetic strength
the windings must carry a fairly high current. The passage of the current through the
windings generate heat but the temperature must not be allowed to become so high,
otherwise difficulties will be experienc ed with insulation. To keep the temperature down,
the cross section of the conductor could not be increased but this would introduce
another problems. In order to make room for the large conductors, body and this would
cause mechanical weakness. The problem is really to get the maximum amount of
copper into the windings without reducing the mechanical strength. With good design
and great care in construction this can be achieved. The rotor is a cast steel ingot, and
it is further forged and machined. Very often a hole is bored through the centre of the
rotor axially from one end of the other for inspection. Slots are then machined for
windings and ventilation.
Rotor winding

Silver bearing copper is used for the winding with mica as the insulation between
conductors. A mechanically strong insulators such as micanite is used for lining the
slots. Later designs of windings for large rotor incorporate combination of hollow
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conductors with slots or holes arranged to provide for circulation of the cooling gas
through the actual conductors. When rotating at high speed. Centrifugal force tries to lift
the windings out of the slots and they are contained by wedges. The end rings are
secured to a turned recess in the rotor body, by shrinking or screwing and supported at
the other end by fittings carried by the rotor body. The two ends of windings are
connected to slip rings, usually made of forged steel, and mounted on insulated
sleeves.
Rotor balancing

When completed the rotor must be tested for mechanical balance, which means that a
check is made to see if it will run upto normal

speed without vibration. To do this it

would have to be uniform about its central axis and it is most unlikely that this
will be so to the degree necessary for perfect balance. Arrangements are therefore
made in all designs to fix adjustable balance weights around the circumference at each
end.
Stator

Stator frame : The stator is the heaviest load to be transported. The major part of this
load is the stator core. This comprises an inner frame and outer frame. The outer frame
is a rigid fabricated structure of welded steel plates, within this shell is a fixed cage of
grider built circular and acial ribs. The ribs divide the yoke in the compartments through
which hydrogen flows into radial ducts in the stator core and circulate through the gas
coolers housed in the frame. The inner cage is usually fixed in to the yoke by an
arrangement of springs to dampen the double frequency vibrations inherent in 2 pole
generators. The end shields of hydrogen cooled generators must be strong enough to
carry shaft seals. In large generators the frame is constructed as two separate parts.
The fabricated inner cage is inserted in the outer frame after the stator core has been
constructed and the winding completed.

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Stator core: The stator core is built up from a large number of 'punchings" or sections of
thin steel plates. The use of cold rolled grain-oriented steel can contribute to reduction
in the weight of stator core for two main reas ons :

a)

There is an increase in core stacking factor with improvement in lamination cold

rolling and in cold buildings techniques.

b)

The advantage can be taken of the high magnetic permeance of grain-oriented

steels of work the stator core at comparatively high magnetic saturation without
fear or excessive iron loss of two heavy a demand for excitation ampere turns
from the generator rotor.

Stator Windings

Each stator conductor must be capable of carrying the rated current without
overheating. The insulation must be sufficient to prevent leakage currents flowing
between the phases to earth. Windings for the stator are made up from copper strips
wound with insulated tape which is impregnated with varnish, dried under vacuum and
hot pressed to form a solid insulation bar. These bars are then place in the stator slots
and held in with wedges to form the complete winding which is connected together at
each end of the core forming the end turns. These end turns are rigidly braced and
packed with bloc ks of insulation material to withstand the heavy forces which might
result from a short circuit or other fault conditions. The generator terminals are usually
arranged below the stator. On recent generators (210 MW) the windings are made up
from copper tubes instead of strips through which water is circulated for cooling
purposes. The water is fed to the windings through plastic tubes.

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29. Generator Cooling And Sealing System

The 200/210 MW Generator is provided with an efficient cooling system to
avoid excessive heating and consequent wear and tear of its main components
during operation. This Chapter deals with the rotor-hydrogen cooling system
and stator water cooling system along with the shaft sealing and bearing
cooling systems.

Rotor Cooling System

The rotor is cooled by means of gap pick-up cooling, wherein the hydrogen gas in the
air gap is sucked through the scoops on the rotor wedges and is directed to flow along
the ventilating canals milled on the sides of the rotor coil, to the bottom of the slot where
it takes a turn and comes out on the similar canal milled on the other side of the rotor
coil to the hot zone of the rotor. Due to the rotation of the rotor, a positive suction as
well as discharge is created due to which a certain quantity of gas flows and cools the
rotor. This method of cooling gives uniform distribution of temperature. Also, this
method has an inherent advantage of eliminating the deformation of copper due to
varying temperatures.
Hydrogen Cooling System

Hydrogen is used as a cooling medium in large capacity generator in view of its high
heat carrying capacity and low density. But in view of its forming an explosive mixture
with oxygen, proper arrangement for filling, purging and maintaining its purity inside the
generator have to be made. Also, in order to prevent escape of hydrogen from the
generator casing, shaft sealing system is used to provide oil sealing.

The hydrogen cooling system mainly comprises of a gas control stand, a drier, an liquid
level indicator, hydrogen control panel, gas purity measuring and indicating instruments,
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valves and necessary instruments necessary for controlling and the inter -connecting
piping

The system is capable of performing the following functions :

Filling in and purging of hydrogen safely without bringing in contact with air.

Maintaining the gas pressure inside the machine at the desired value at all the
times.

Provide indication to the operator about the condition of the gas inside the
machine i.e its pressure, temperature and purity.

Continuous circulation of gas inside the machine through a drier in order to

remove any water vapour that may be present in it.

Indication of liquid level in the generator and alarm in case of high level.

Stator Cooling System

The stator winding is cooled by distilate. which is fed from one end of the machine by
teflon tube and flows through the upper bar and returns back through the lower bar of
another slot.

Turbogenerators require water cooling arrangement over and above the usual hydrogen
cooling arrangement. The stator winding is cooled in this system by circulating
demineralised water (DM water) through hollow conductors. The cooling water used for
cooling stator winding calls for the use of very high quality of cooling water. For this
purpose DM water of proper specific resistance is selected. Generator is to be loaded
within a very short period if the specific resistance of the cooling DM water goes beyond
certain preset values. The system is designed to maintain a constant rate of cooling
water flow to the stator winding at a nominal inlet water temperature of 40 deg.C.

As it is closed loop working, the cooling water is again cooled by water which is also
demineralised to avoid contamination with any impure water in case of cooler tube

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leakage. The secondary DM cooling water is in turn cooled by clarified water taken from
clarified water header. Refer Fig. 46 for the cooling water circuit.

Description and working of the system : The closed loop cooling system consists of the
following :

a)

2 x 100% duty AC motor driven stator water cooler pumps.

b)

2 x 100% duty DM/DM water coolers.

c)

2 x 100% duty mechanical filters.

d)

2 x 50% duty magnetic filters.

e)

expansion tank with water jet ejectors.

f)

2 x 100% duty AC driven DM water pumps.

g)

2 x 100% duty DM/ clarified water coolers.

h) DM water make-up tank.

i)

Associated panel and instrumentation.

Normally one pump, one cooler and one mechanical filter are in operation and the
second set acts as stand-by for emergencies. The DM water is supplied through the
feed header mounted inside the generator casing towards turbine end. Feed headers
are connected to individual upper and lower bar conductors of the stator with the help of
teflon houses. Water passes through lower bars along the length to the other end
returns through the upper bars of another slot and drain into drain header mounted on
the turbine side.

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The stator water cooler pumps drive DM water through the coolers, filters and windings.
This water is ultimately discharged into a separate compartment known as expansion
tank. The drain from stator winding is showered in the hermetically sealed compartment
of the expansion tank, which is mounted at a level 5M above generator center line and
maintained at a vacuum of 250 to 300mm of mercury to expel the air or any trace of
hydrogen coming with the drain water. For maintaining the vacuum in the expansion
tank, one water jet ejector has been provided. The water from the expansion tank is
again drawn by the pum p, cooled in coolers and circulated through stator winding.

The closed circuit DM water is cooled by DM water supplied from Station DM water
plant. The use of DM water on secondary side eliminates contamination of the closed
circuit DM water which can cause the tripping and shut down of the units.
Generator Sealing System

Seals are employed to prevent leakage of hydrogen from the stator at the point of rotor
exit. A continuous film between the rotor collar and the Seal Liner (in the case of
THRUST TYPE Seals) is maintained by means of the oil at a pressure which is about
O.Satm. above the casing hydrogen gas pressure. The thrust pad is held against the
collar of rotor by means of thrust oil pressure, which is regulated in relation to the
hydrogen pressure and provides a positive maintenance of the oil film thickness (Refer
Figure 47).

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The surface of the Seal liner babbited and the radial canals are milled to provide
the Stability of the film under various conditions and also to avoid the whirling of
the oil. The flow through the film is Sufficient to maintain the temperature of oil
within limits and the temperature is monitored continuously by means two
capsule type resistance thermometers. In order to prevent the circulation of the
induced current, the Seal Body of the exciter is insulated from the Stator.

The shaft sealing system consists of the following main components :

a)

AC oil pump.

b)

DC oil pump.

c)

Oil Injector.

d)

Differential pressure regulator.

e)

Damper tank.

During normal operation, the oil is drawn from governing oil as well as lubricating
oil system to obtain the required quantity of seal oil at required pressure. The
pressure and flow of oil at the outlet of the injector can be controlled by regulating
the oil supply from the governing oil system into the injector with the help of a
differential pressure-regulating valve.

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Bearings

Antifriction bearings are used for small alternators but oil lubricated bearings are
more in use for larger ones. Self contained ring-oiled bearings are used for
horizontal shafts. But for heavy applications and high speeds, ring oiling is
supplemented by recirculation of externally cooled oil. An emergency supply of
oil is also maintained in such systems as a stand by for failure of main supply.
Load based babbits are used for journal bearings. Tin base is used for heavy
duty application.

Bearing supports are designed to afford some degree of alignment of bearing

bushing but they are sufficiently rigid so as not to affect the critical speeds of
shaft system.

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30 Excitation System
The electric power generators require direct current excitation magnets
for its field system. The excitation! field system must be reliable, stable
in operation and must respond quickly to excitation current
requirements. This chapter deals in details about such a system.

Characteristics

Nominal exciter response is defined as the rate of increase of exciter voltage in

volts per second.

Nominal excitation of the generator in fig.48 in the excitation voltage require) for the
generator rated voltage at a rotor temperature of 75C and ADE is the ex< ":?
voltage/ time characteristic with origin at A.
Then, slope of line AC

AB/AF Volts/sec
AF = 0.5 sec -as specified
then AC = 2AB
And nominal exciter res ponse
2AB/OA

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It is sometimes considered that exciter response in terms of the generator no-load

excitation voltage may introduce errors when dealing with response under load
conditions. Exact values can be obtained only by testing and results of tests done indicate
that exciter response under loaded generator conditions is not markedly different from the
value under no-load conditions.

The excitation system of a generator comprises of :

The main exciter

The pilot and auxiliary exciters

The voltage control system

Development of Excitation System

Initially the DC Excitation system was being used. The development of improved
techniques resulted in the increased capacity of generators, which in turn raised the
demand of excitation power. But it was found that DC excitation could not meet the
demands of large capacity turbo-generators due to the following reasons:

High excitation currents at comparative low voltage were required and these would entail
a large number of brushes operating on the exciter commutator. This will create difficulties
in operation and will require extensive maintenance of commutator and Brush Gear.

The other disadvantage of DC exciter is that commutator may be satisfactory during

steady state but during load fluctuations, there is a risk of flash over at the commutator.
The maximum pheripherial speed of commutator for proper operation should not be more
than 45 meters per second.

Reliability is one of the main requisites of excitation system of the generator. This
accelerated development of AC excitation system, where AC generator alongwith rectifier
system is used for field excitation. In India practice is to use DC excitation system for
100/110 MW system and AC excitation for higher capacity turbogenerators.
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DC Excitation System

Direct current excitors are shut wound machines and compounding can be included to
improve response. The open-circuit characteristics and basic diagram of a self excited
compounded shut wound exciter are shown in
the unstable voltage region HB on the open

fig.

49 (a and b ). It is important to note

circuit characteristic of the exciter.Since OE

is the excitation current when voltage BE is across the shunt field. BE/OE is the value of
the critical resistance of the circuit. The line of this

critical resistance coincides with

slope of the voltage characteristic therefore, the voltage is indefinite and

can

vary

freely between the valve M due to the exciter permanent magnetism, and value B the
voltage due to field current OE. Even small temperature increases in the field winding will
contribute to voltage in stability. A method of overcoming this effect is to insert a
saturation liner behind each pole piece. Because of reduced magnetic section the liner is
saturated much sooner than the pole body; thereby introducing the required non-linearity
in the open circuit characteristic. One adverse effect of the saturation liner however, is to
depress the ceiling voltage of the exciter.
Ceiling Voltage and Current

These are the maximum on load values that can be sustained under field forcing (i.e. field
boosting ) conditions. Except for small generators the main exciter is usually separately
excited from a pilot exciter. The advantages of this system ;ne:

Quicker response

Stable operation at low voltages i.e it will excite stably at high values of field
resistance.

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GENERATOR

Fig No.-50

MAIN EXCITER

PILOT EXCITER

Basic Schematic Diagram of D.C. Excitation System

Exciter field windings can comprise two or three separate windings. The main field
winding are often duplicated to provide parallel current paths to reduce contact wear and
field rehostat wear.

The provision of a negative field gives a negative bias in the exciter by which response is
improved when load is thrown off. It also improves the lowering response of the exciter
system following as external fault clearance and reduces the range of main exciter field
current needed for a given change in exciter voltage. But this negative field constitutes a
constant load on the pilot exciter and necessitates a more powerful positive main field
than would be the case without negative bias. These disadvantages are justified.
However, on the ground of improve exciter performance, it should be noted that negative
excitation like this cannot be achieved in present AC exciter/rectifier systems.

Based on the principle detailed above, the basic schematic diagram of DC Excitation
system has been given in Fig -No. 50.

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AC Excitation System

The AC exciter for large units gained favour because it was possible to use 2 or 4 pole
revolving field type machines possessing all the robustness associated with the
generator. Commutator and DC brushgear were eliminated giving place to the simple
rotor slip-rings and associated brushgear. A pilot excitor is a necessary piart of the ac
excitor system. It is common practice to have pilot excitor, itself an a.c. machine. The pilot
excitor can also be a permanent magnet generator. The main a.c. excitor is generally a
turbo-type generator. It must operate over a wide voltage and current range with ceiling
valves considerably greater than the rated full load valve. Further more the excitor output
must respond quickly to excitation changes at its own rotor terminals. The basic scheme
is given is fig No. 51. The excitation is controlled by the AVR.The excitation for the pilot
excitor is obtained from a permanent magnet of excitor where output is rectified. The pilot
output, which excites the field of AC main excitor, is controlled by Automatic voltage
regulator. The rectified output of the main exciter than energises the rotor of the
synchronous generator. In lieu of main exciter the A.C. supply can be taken from the grid,
or generator itself rectified and given to the generator field. This is called static excitation.
In India for 200/210 MW the following two excitations system have been adopted:

High frequency Excitation system with an AC exciter, permanent magnet pilot exciter and
an un-controlled rectifier.
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Generator potential fed static Excitation system with controlled rectifiers (SCR) and a
rectifier transformer.

In addition the following salient features are incorporated in the design of excitation
system:

Rapid de-excitation

Contactless field forcing

Reactive load sharing for parallel operation

Transformer drop compensation

Follow-up circuit for smooth change over from auto to manual

Error detection-proportional type

Stabilizing feed back

Rotor current limiter and over excitation limiter with time delay, in static and

AC machine excitation respectively.

Slip stabilizer for static excitation system only.

High Frequency Excitation

The high frequency excitation system, adopted in 200/210 MW TG is based on the

principle of separate excitation with the help of a 500 C/S A/C main and 400 C/S pilot
exciter in conjunction with the static rectifying unit. Both the exciters are directly mounted
on the TG shaft. The main exciter HFEX is an inductor type generator which has three
phase AC windings and four field windings on the stator and no winding on the rotor
which enhances its reliability and maintenance. The pilot exciter (PEX) is a permanent
magnet type and serves as a source of stable supply to the power magnetic amplifiers
ofAVR and the manual excitation of flux at various operational conditions. The rectifying
unit is water -cooled, three phase static converter, which rectifies the HFEX output and fee
the turbo-generator fields. The fig 52 gives the principle scheme for 200/210 MW, turbogenerators.

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1CB

V ML
Fig No.-52

Principal Scheme of High-Frequency-Excitation system

High Frequency Induction Alternator The DC excitation winding is housed in the stator
and is coaxial with the stator core. The construction is symmetrical about the DC
windings. The rotor and stator are slotted. There are two stator slots for each rotor slot.
The flux path is as shown i.e all the rotor teeth on one side are poles ' and all the other
teeth on the opposite side S-poles. The output is obtained by variation of the stator teeth
flux caused by variation of the reluctance of the air gap caused by the movement of the
rotor teeth.

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31. Automatic Voltage Regulation

The Automatic Voltage Regulation (AVR) system consists of two main parts viz.
Compounding device and Electro Magnetic Voltage Corrector. This chapter
describes these parts along with AVR stability aspects and regulation of
excitation.

AVR Components

Compounding Device : The compounding device produces excitation in addition to the

one produced by the generator exciter, depending upon the load current. This device
consis ts of three phase auxiliary compounding transformer (Aux T corn) and a group of
selenium rectifiers (PCI) connected in three phase bridge scheme. The compounding
device is directly connected through g.c.s switch to the main field winding of the
generator exciter. The compounding current setting is adjusted by means of three phase
rheostat (RhI). On a.c. side the compounding device is connected to the current
transformers rated for 5A secondary current. Output current of compounding device
appear after a certain value of current which is called threshold current in the generator
stator. This threshold current for compounding depends upon-excitor voltage and also
upon RhI setting. At BTPS compounding does not affect the generator excitation till a
minimum of stator current (=1200A) has reached. After compounding coming into
operation output current of this device practically remains proportional to the generator
stator current. When stator current increases, output of it increases, this additional feed
to the excitation winding of exciter will raise exciter voltage and this in turn leads to the
rise of generator rotor current and in this way compounding device accomplished the
generator excitation regulation.

Electro Magnetic Voltage Corrector : Electro magnetic voltage corrector produces on an

additional field current depending upon the generator voltage. This additional field
current is supplied to the additional field winding of the main excitor.
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The electro-magnetic voltage corrector incorporates a measuring element and a

magnetic amplifier with function as power element. A three-phase saturable transformer
(T meas) serves as a measuring element, the primary current of which shows strong
non linear dependence upon generator voltage while secondary voltage shows a linear
dependence upon generator voltage. The current in the control winding of the magnetic
amplifier is determined by the difference between the voltage drop across the adjustable
rheostat (Rh3) and the voltage across the secondary winding of the measuring
transformer. The above voltage drop results from the current variations in the primary
winding of the transformer. Hence a decrease in the generator voltage will result in a
non-linear decrease of the primary current of the measuring transformer. Therefore, a
reduction of the voltage drop across the adjustable rheostat will be much stronger than
the change of the secondary voltage of the measuring transformer. Due to this fact the
control current of the magnetic amplifier will show a rise thereby increasing it output
current.

On the other hand when the generator voltage rises the voLage across the reclifier RC 4
fed from the secondary winding of measuring transformer will become less than that
across the adjustable rheostat, therefore RC4 become unc onductive. The reverse
polarity current will flow through the control winding of magnetic amplifier, thus reducing
the output current of the magnetic amplifier and in turn the excitation current of exciter.
The generator voltage is brought to the normal condition. A corrector transformer (T cor)
is connected to the output of the magnetic amplifier. It serves to match the corrector
output with the excitation winding by changing the transformation ratio.

In order to reduce the corrector output current with in the range of higher voltage, which
may cause unstable operation of AVR, the corrector transformer has a compensating
winding connected in opposition to the primary one and in series with non linear choke.
Stability

In high-sensitivity automatic voltage regulating system it is necessary to in corporate

some means of insuring stability otherwise 'hunting' of voltage & 'over shoot' occur.
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The method employed depends on transient feed back of the exciter armature voltage
into magnetic amplifier. The exciter armature is connected to control winding stabilizing
transformer (St-T).

The primary winding of the stabilizing transformer is connected to the exciter output
voltage though additional resistance (ARSI) to limit the current at 3A. The secondary
winding is connected to a special magnetic amplifier control winding which .serves as a
stabilizing one.

Another means of improving the stability is to increase in statism of the corrector. The
statism is controlled by means of the three phase rheostat (Rh 2 > of if necessary by
changing the transformation ratio of Auxiliary.
Regulation of Excitation

The turbo generator field regulation is achieved by varying the main exciter (HFEX)
voltage. Excitation of the HFEX is varied by means of a transistorised automatic voltage
regulator (AVR) having power magnetic amplifiers at its output stage or with the help of
a field rheostat (IFRH)under manual regulation (MR). The AVR is quick acting and has
zero dead band. The AVR provides the excitation requirements of HFEX for both steady
state as well as transient operational conditions of the turbogenerator.

The AVR provides the maximum limit of field forcing to two times the rated field voltage
and current of the turbo-generator when the drop in terminal voltage as 5% or more of
the present terminal voltage value. Regulation of reactive current is provided in the
range of 0 to 4% of the turbo-generators rated voltage value.

The manual excitation regulation is carried by the field rheostat IFRh with remote control
of the smooth automatic change over of excitation control from AVR to manual, in case
of AVR failure, is achieved with the help of matching circuit, Field forcing is not provided
with manual regulation.

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Magnetic amplifiers at its output stage or with the help of a field rheostat (HFRh) under
manual regulation (MR).

The automatic voltage Regulator (AVR) is quick acting and has zero dead band. The
AVR provides the excitation requirements of HFEX for both steady state as well as
transient operational conditions of the turbo generator. The AVR provides the maximum
of field forcing to two times the rated field voltage and current of the turbo generator is
5% or more of the present terminal voltage value.

Regulation of reactive current drop is provided in the range of 0 to 4% of the turbo

genrators rated voltage value. The annual excitation regulation is carried out by the field
rheostat IFRh with remote control. The smooth automatic change over of excitation
control from AVR to manual is carried out in case of AVR failure.

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32. Data Sheet of Generator and Auxiliary

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33. Electrical Side Of A Power Station

Transformers
Transformer is a static (or stationary) piece of apparatus by means of which
electric power in one circuit is transformed to electric power of the same
frequency in another circuit. It can raise or lower the voltage in a circuit but with
a corresponding decrease or increase in current. This Chapter deals with the
basic theory, constructional features and types of major transformers found in a
power station.

Principle

In its simplest form, it consists of two inductive coils, which are electrically separated by
magnetically linked through a path of low reluctance as shown in Fig 53. The two coils
possess high mutual inductance. If one coil is connected to a source of alternating
voltage, an alternating flux is set up in the laminated core and it produces mutually
induced e.m.f. If the second coil circuit is closed, a current flows in it and so electrical
energy is transferred from the first coil to the second coil. The first coil, in which electric
energy is fed from the a.c supply mains, is called primary winding, while the second coil
is known as secondary winding.

The necessity of the transformer arises when voltages are required to be changed. For
example, the generated voltage of the alternators will be around 15 KV. It is not
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economical to have transmission and distribution systems at this voltage as, for the
same power transmitted, the current will be more when compare to high voltage
transmission i.e., as the transmission voltage increases, for the same power transmitted,
the current through the conductor is reduced and thereby copper losses are reduced. As
the current through the conductor is reduced the conductor diameter can be reduced
resulting in saving on the cost of conductor material and on the weight of the support
structures. Thus for stepping up of voltage from the generating voltage to transmission
voltage we need a step up transformer. There are situations where the voltages will
require stepping down also.
E.M.F. Equation of a Transformer

Let

N1

No. of turns on primary

N2

No. of turns on secondary

maximum flux in core

frequency

The EMF induce in primary - El = 4.44 FN1 m

EMF induced in secondary = E2 = 4.44 fN 2 m
In an ideal transformer ''V 1= El " and "V2= E2
Therefore, E2/E1=V2/V1=K=N2/N1
'k' is called the transformation ratio.

Again for an ideal transformer input VA= output VA. Therefore V1 I1 / V2 I2=1/K.
Hence currents are in the inverse ratio of the transformation ratio.

The efficiency of the transformer is very high as there are no moving parts and so there
are no mechanical losses. The only losses in a transformer are (a) Iron losses due to
eddy current and hysterisis in the magnetic core and (b) copper losses in the primary
and secondary windings.

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Transformers- Constructional Features:

The simple elements of a transformer consist of two coils and a laminated steel core.
The two coils are insulated from each other and the from the steel core. Other parts are
a) suitable container for the assembled core and windings b) suitable medium for
insulating the core and its windings from its container and (c) suitable bushings for
insulating and bringing out the terminals of the windings from the tank.

In all types of transformers, the core is constructed of sheet steel lamination to provide
continuous magnetic path with a minimum of air gap. The steel used should have high
permeability and a low hysterisis loss at the usual operating flux densities. The eddy
currents loss is minimised by laminating the core with the laminations being insulating
from each other by a high coat of core plate varnish or by an oxide layer on the surface.
The thickness of laminations vary from 0.30 mm to 0.5mm

The transformers are of two general types ; distinguished from each other by the
manner in which the primary and secondary coils are placed around the laminated steel
core. They are (a) shell type and b) core type.

Steel surrounding the coils is shell form type of construction (Refer fig 54) coils
surrounding the steel is core form type of construction (fig 55).

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In the simplified diagram for the core type transformer (Fig 55), the primary and
secondary windings are shown located on the opposite legs of the core. But in acutal
construction, they are always interleaved to reduced leakage fluxes. This is half the
primary and half the secondary windings will be placed side by side or concentrically on
each limb; not primary on one limb (or leg) and the secondary on the other.

In both core and shell type transformers, the individual laminations are cut in the form of
strips of E's,L's -i n order to avoid reluctance at the joints where the laminations are
butted against each other, the alternative layers are stacked differently.

Core Type Transformers

The windings of transformers are made of copper wire or strip Heavy current capacity
requires conductors of large cross section. To reduce the eddy-current losses within the
conductors, several small wire or parallel strips are preferable to one large stip The coils
used are form wound and are of the cylindrical type. The general form of these coils
may be circular or rectangular. But for large size core-type transformers, round or
circular cylindrical coils are used which are so wound to fit over a uniform core section.
The circular cylindrical coils are used in most of the core type transformers because of
their mechanical strength. Such cylindrical coils are wound in helical layers, with the
different layers insulated from each other by paper, cloth etc., Figure 56 shows the
general arrangement of these coils with from the core and from each other. Since the
low voltage windings are easiest to insulate it is placed nearest to the core.

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Core/Coil Clamping

The thin core laminations vibrate at twice the power frequency when the transformer is
live. The phenomenon is known an magnetostriction. This movement if not adequately
restricted will be responsible for high transformers noise and also can cause short
circuit in core laminations due to the damage to inter lamination insulation.

In smaller cores, core bolts are used for clamping purposes and glass fibres reinforced
plastic tapes for larger core.

Electromagnetic forces that are present in the coils due to the interacting or flux in the
core and current in the coils act to crush the inner windings and burst the outer
windings. The movement of coils, thus, needs to be restricted to prevent any damage.
This is done by installing clapping structure at top of coils with wooden/ metal blocks
and clamping bolts.

Transformers insulation

Minor insulation Like inter turn insulation, is achieved using cellulogic paper.

Major insulation

Between primary and secondary, phase to phase and inner coil to

core. This is achieved by Bakelite, wooden blocks, cellulogic paper cylinders.

Transformer Oil This is a derivative or petroleum crude. This has good dielectric
strength and inproces the dielectric strength or transformer when filled under vacuum
by displacing air from all cavities. This is also a good cooling medium and absorbs heat
from the windings in transformer. There are passages provided feature windings,
windings to core, in between the coils for adequate movement of the cooling medium :

Thus mineral oil has a flash point of 140C and 160C five point. This also 'can Sustain
the combustion with its own energy, once it catches fire. Thus this is unsuitable for the
transformer located indoors.
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The indoor transformers are filled with a synthetic liquid known as silicate liquid. This is
fire assistant and has flash point well above 300C. As hauls polychloinated Biphenyls),
which were quite popular with indoor transformers earlier have since been banned all
over the would due to their bioaccumulating properties.

Coil when it comes in contract with air at its cooling temperature detonates faster and if
only the air babble air trapped in the windings they can cause partial discharges and
insulation failures. Hence it is necessary to exercise great care while filling the
transformer as well as during any maintenance activity.

Shell Type Transformers

In this case also, the coils are form wound but are multilayer disc type. The different
layers of such multilayer discs are insulated from each other by paper. The complete
winding consists of stacked discs with insulation spaces between the coils with the
spaces forming horizontal cooling and insulation ducts. A shell Type Transformer may
have a simple rectangular form as showin in Fig 57.

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Transformer Accessories

Conservator With the variation of

temperature

there

variation in the oil volume. To account for this, an

is

expansion

corresponding
vessel called

conservator

is added to the transformer with a

connecting pipe to the

In

transformers

open

smaller

dehydrating

br eathers

(to

is

to

atmosphere

main tank.

this

vessel

through

keep

the air dry). In larger transformers, an air bag is

mounted inside the conservator with the inside of bag open to atmosphere through the
breathers and the outside surface of the bag in contact with the oil surface.

Breather

Both transformer oil and cellulosic paper are highly hygroscopic. Paper being more
hygroscopic than the mineral oil The moisture, if not excluded from the oil surface in
conservator, thus will find its way finally into the paper insulation and causes reduction
insulation strength of transformer. To minimise this the conservator is allowed to
breathe only through the silicagel column, which absorbs the moisture in air before it
enters the-conservator air surface.

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Pressure Relief Device/Expansion vent

Transformers tank is a pressure vessel as the inside pressure can group steeply
whenever there is a fault in the windings and the surrounding oil is suddenly vaparised.
Tanks as such are tested for a pressure with stand capacity of 0.35 Kg/ cm". To
prevent bursting of the tank and thus catastophy, these tanks are in addition provided
with expansion vents with a thin diaphragm made ofbakelite/copper/glass at the end. In
present day transformers, pressure relief devices are replacing the expansion vents.
These are similar to safety valves on boilers (spring" loaded).
Buchoiz's Relay

This has two Floats, one of them with surge catching baffle and gas collecting space at
top. This is mounted in the connecting pipe line between conservator and main
tank.This is the most dependable protection for a given transformer.

Gas evolution at a slow rate, that is associated with minor faults inside the transformers
gives rise to the operation or top float whose contacts are wired for alarm. There is a
glass window with marking to read the volume of gas collected in the relay. Any major
fault in transformer creates a surge and the surge element in the relay trips the
transformer.size of the relay varies with oil volume in the transformer and the
mountingangle also is specified for proper operation of the relay.
Temperature Indicators

Most of the transformer (small

transformers

indicators

temperature

that

displace

thermometers pockets

oil

provided

in

have

only

OTI)

are

provided with

and winding temperature.

the tank

There are

top cover which hold the sensing

bulls in them. Oil temperature measured is that of the top oil, where as the winding
temperature measurement is indirect. This is done by adding the temperature rise

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due to the heat produced in a heater coil (known as image coil) when a current
proportional to that flowing in windings is passed in it to that or top oil. For proper
functioning or OTI & WTI it is essential to keep the thermometers pocket clean and
filled with oil.
Cooling of Transformers

Heat is produced in the windings due to current flowing in the conductors (I- R) and in
the core on account of eddy currents and hysterises losses. In small dry type
transformer heat is dissipated directly to the atmosphere. In oil immersed transformers
heat is dissipated by thermo-syphon system action. The oil serves as the medium for
transferring the heat produced inside the transformer to the outside atmosphere.
Thermo-syphon action refers to the circulating currents set up in a liquid because of
temperature difference between one part of the container and other. When oil becomes
hot it becomes lighter and therefore rises up, drawing in its wake colder oil from below.
The rising current of oil takes the heat away from the roil surfaces to the top of the tank,
from there it passes down the radiator tubes where the heat is radiated out in to the
atmosphere. As the oil gets cooled it becomes heavier and sinks to the bottom.

As the size of the transformer becomes large, the rate of oil circulating by thermo
syphon action becomes insufficient to dissipate all the heat produced and an artificial
means of increasing the circulation have to be adopted; namely forced oil circulation by
electric pumps, providing large radiators with forced air draft, cooling by electric fans
which are automatically switched on and off depending upon the loading of
transformer. In very large transformers special coolers with water circulation may have
to be employed.

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Major transformers in a Power Station

Generator Transformer

The generator is connected to this transformer by means of isolated bus ducts. This
transformer is used to step up the generating voltage of around 15KV to grid voltage.
This transformer is generally provided with OFAP1 cooling. IT is also provided with off
circuit/on load taps on the high voltage side. This transformer has elaborate cooling
system consisting of number of oil pumps and cooling fans apart fr6m various
accessories.

Unit Auxiliary Transformer

The UAT draws its input from the

main bus-duct connecting generator to the

generator Transformer. The total KVA capacity of unit auxiliary transformer required
can be determined by assuming 0.85 power factor and 0.9 efficiency for total auxiliary
motor load. It is safe and desirable to provide about 20% excess capacity than circulate
so as to provide for miscellaneous auxiliaries and possible increase in auxiliary load.
With higher unit ratings and higher steam conditions, the auxiliary power required also
increases and limitations imposed by the switchgear voltages available, indicate the
maximum size of unit auxiliary transformer which can be used.

For large units, it has become necessary to use more than one auxiliary transformer. In
selecting a unit auxiliary transformer, care has to be taken that the percentage
impedences of the transformers for the proposed unit should satisfy the following
conflicting requirements.

The maximum short circuit currents on auxiliary bus should be limited within the
maximum switchgear rating available.

The maximum permissible voltage dip while starting the largest single auxiliary motor,
usually boiler feed pump, shall remain within acceptable limits.
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Any reduction in unit auxiliary transformer impedance to reduce voltage dip results in
increase in switchgear duty and vice versa. The maximum voltage dip which can be
permitted on starting the largest motor is normally limited to 15 to 20%. If the voltage
dip is higher than the permissible unit, the transformer impedance has to be reduce
and the consequent increase in short circuit duty may require the use of higher rated
switchgear. Therefore, to create balance between these two conflicting conditions, for
larger units, it becomes imperative to use more than one unit auxiliary transformer or to
increase the service voltage. The on load, off load taps are provided to cater to the
operational requirements.
Station Transformers

The station transformer is required to feed power to the auxiliaries during start ups.
This transformer is normally rated for the initial auxiliary load requirements of unit. In
typical cases, this load is of the order of 60% of the load at full generating capacity. But
in large stations where more than one units are operating, the station transformers
should have sufficient capacity to start two units at a time in addition to feeding the
common auxiliaries. It is also provided with on load tap changer to cater to the
fluctuating voltage of the grid.

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34. Motors
Motors form the single largest prime movers found in a power station and are
used for multifarious purposes. The objective of this Chapter is to give an
insight into the fundamentals of motor operation and starting.

Fundamentals of AC Motor Operation

Three phase induction motor": A three phase induction motor stator connected to a
three phase supply produces a rotating magnetic field. Speed of rotation is
proportional to mains frequency and inversely proportional to the number of pairs of
poles.

N syn -

60 x supply frequency
Pairs of poles

Stator can have concentric single layer windings with each coil side occupying one
stator slot. In practice many types of stator winding may be encountered. Two of the
most common types are illustrated in Fig. 58. They are:

Distributed winding : Each winding is distributed over a number of stator slots.

Double layer winding : Each stator slot contains sides of two separate coils.

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Squirrel cage and wound rotor motors : Squirrel cage and wound rotor motors have
the same basic mode of operation. Rotor
magnetic field, an e.m.f. is induced

(inductors cut

the rotating

across rotor windings, current

stator

flows, a rotor

magnetic field is produced, which interacts with the stator field causing a turning
motion. The rotor does not rotate at synchronous speed, its speed will vary with the
applied load. The slip speed being just enough to enable sufficient induced rotor
current to produce the power dissipated by motor load and motor losses. The torque
at any speed can be a maximum by arranging for the ideal situation to be' achieved.

RR = S x Xs (Where RR is Rotor Resistance , still Reactance). S is the slip and Xs is

Rotor stand

Offload, the induction motor has poor efficiency and power factor (mainly inductive
reactance). On full load a typical efficiency of 85% and power factor of 0.8 can be
achieved. Fig. 59 shows a simplified squirrel cage motor.

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Fig No.-59 Squirrel Cage Motor

Fig No.-60 Cylindrical Wound. Motors

Synchronous Motors Conventional three phase stator, speed of rotation dependant

on the number of pairs of stator poles. Rotor winding is D.C. excited or of variable
reductance. True synchronous motor is not self starting, squirrel cage or wound motor
required to accelerate it to near synchronous speed. Rotor 'pulls in' and rotates with
stator field. On load, the rotor has a 'load angle' with respect to the rotating magnetic
field. The speed of the rotor is constant over the load range of the motor. As the load
increases, load angle increases and power drawn from the supply increases. When
on excessive overload, rotor 'pulls out' of synchronism. When operating at
synchronous speed the power factor of the motor can be changed by varying the
degree of excitation. A conventional cylindrical wound rotor is as shown in figure 60.
Motor Starting

The methods employed in starting a motor are extremely varied, being dependent
upon size, type, starting repetition and environm ent etc. Probably the simplest and
most common method is to connect the supply directly to the motor and allow it to
accelerate normally to its running speed. This method is referred to as Direct-on-line
Starting (D-O-L).

Direct-On-Line Starting: The choice of this method may depend upon a number of
conditions.

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If for example the load has high inertia, then D.O.L. would not be ideal because the
prolonged starting current could be six times the normal running current. This in turn
(assuming that the switch used could carry this large current) would put an excessive
"drain" upon the supply system. In fact, for large horse power motors the supply
authorities will not usually permits D.O.L starting.

D.O.L. staring is however used extensively in modern power stations one reason
being that it is less expensive than other methods. Excessive current surge is more
tolerable in power stations than on consumer premises.
Direct -On Line-Starters The simplest electric motor drive consists of a squirrel-cage
motor switched direct-on-lone, and an associated automatic motor starter consists
basically of a contactor to connect the motor to the supply and an overload relay to
prevent over-heating of the motor.
Reduced Voltage Methods When it is necessary to limit the starting current drawn
by a motor, reduced voltage starting methods may be considered. The methods
available are star/Delta, Auto-transformer, and primary resistance. Of these, Star/
Delta is by far the most common. It must be remembered however, that reduced
voltage also means reduced torque, and in the case of star/delta starting, the initial
torque is only one third of that available with D-O-L starting. This is adequate for most
drives.
Star/Delta starters This method involves starting the motor from rest, with the stator
windings connected in star configuration. In this condition the effective voltage across
each winding is 1/3 of the line voltage, or 59%. The current and torque are reduced to
33% of the values obtained if the motor was started D-O-L. After a period of
acceleration the supply is removed from the motor, and by a suitable switching
process the windings are connected in delta configuration. Before the motor has
chance to decelerate, the supply is re-established with full voltage across each
winding. Some deceleration does takes place in practice, and mechanical shock is

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introduced to the drive on re-connection at full voltage. This would not be practical on
large units but can be accepted on many small and medium drives. (Refer Fig-61).

Fig No.-61

Star/Delta (with resistance): By switching resistances in conjunction with the s.ator

windings it is possible to reduce transient currents which may occur under a normal
star/delta system, due to disconnection and reconnection of the windings.
(ReferFig.62).

The switching sequence is as follows :

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Motor connected in 'star'.

Transition stage :
i)

Resistances connected in parallel with motor phases, followed immediately by :

ii)

Opening of 'star' contactor leaving the motor connected in 'delta' but with
resistances now in series with each motor phase.

Resistances are short circuited to put motor in full delta connection.

The scheme needs four contactors, plus short time rated resistances but it is not
cheaper than auto-transformer starting. Star/Delta starting can only be used with
machines having both ends of each winding brought out to a six- terminal connection
block.
Auto-Transformer Starters In

its simple form the motor is initially started at

reduced voltage by connections to a tapped

auto-transformer. The

transformer

isusually provided with three sets of tapping which allow site adjustments to suit
most applications. Typical values are 50%, 65%, and 80%. Because the transformer
is short rated, the number of starts is usually limited to five per hour. The method
involves disconnection of the motor from supplies before reconnection is made at full
line voltage. Connections are arranged as shown below (Fig. 63).

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The switching sequence is as follows:

Contactor I close, connecting motor to autotransformer tapping. When motor

has achieved suitable speed, contactor I open.

Immediately following this, contactor II closes to connect the motor to full line
voltage.

Due to the open circuit transition from starting to running position it is possible to
obtain transient currents of between twenty and thirty times f.l.c. when making the
running connection, the heaviest transients occurring when the starter is on the high
tap position (80%). An improved method of starting without open transition is
described next.

Lator-Rotor Starters : A starter for slip-ring (wound rotor) motors is known as a stator rotor starter. Where load conditions are too heavy for squirrel-cage motors to give
satisfactory starting an increase of starting toque can be obtained by using a wound
rotor and inserting resistance into the rotor winding circuit. The resistance has the
effect of improving the rotor power factor so that good starting torque is possible
without excessive current. As the motor accelerates the resistances are cut out until,
at full speed, no extra resistance is included (Refer Fig 64).

STARRED
EXTERNAL
RESISTANCE
Fig No.-64

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Precautions must be taken to ensure that the motor is not started unless maximum
external resistance is connected in the rotor circuit. This is nearly always achieved, on
modern starters, by some interlock system. Stator -rotor starters can he employed as a
means of speed control where cost of power is not a major consideration.
Induction Regulators It is worth a consideration that induction regulators, whilst
being, primarily, speed controllers, can be used to provide a smooth voltage variation1
from about 60% to full voltage, ensuring a smooth and gradual start without
transients. The frequency of starts is limited and the devices are very expensive for
ordinary staring purposes. It is not proposed to discuss them at this stage but they will
be dealt with in further text under "motor speed control"
D.C. Starters: As a general case a D.C. Starter consists of a variable resistance
place in series with the motor armature, which is gradually reduced to zero as the
speed rises. As the motor accelerates a back e.m.f. is produced which limits the
current so that at running speed the motor requires no external resistance (Refer Fig.
64-A).

The value of resistance is usually varied in small steps by a manually operated wiper
arm, When the "Full on" position is reached an electromagnet attracts the arm holds it
against spring tension. This is known as the hold in coil and if the supply fails or drops
below a certain value, the magnetic field is insufficient to hold the irm, which returns to
the "off" position

Fig No.-64-A
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Industrial Motor

There are various types and sizes of motors used in a power station. These are used
for various purposes as prime movers. Apart from the simple motors used in different
areas, there are HT Motors used in conjunction with various heavy-duty equipments.
These are FD,ID, PA and other fans, Boiler Feed pumps, CW pumps etc. These
motors have certain special features like cooling, auto starting, interlocks and
controls.

Critical auxiliaries have stand-by's driven by DC motors, speed control, wherever

required is achieved using either hydraulic couplings, eddy current couplings or
double frequency power controllers,
Failure or motors & causes

No of motor failures have taken place due to.

high no of starts in an hour

Incorrect setting of thermal overload relays/other motor predictive relays.

The use of incorrect fuses.

The failure to switch on the space heaters when the motors are made off
(cooling two motors especially)

Incorrect oil levels in fluid couplings.

Non calibration of protective relays as pre schedules.

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35. Electrical Switchgear

If we talk in a simple language a switchgear is one which makes or breaks an
electric circuit. This definition straight away does not attract much curiosity
nor does it show any finding of the enormous considerations required in
designing a switchgear. Numerous problems encountered in erection, testing
and commissioning of the switchgear and various precautions are to be taken
in operation and maintenance of the switchgear. This chapter describes the
various types of switchgear and their usage.

What are Switchgears?

The equipment whic h normally fall in this category are

Isolators

Switching Isolators

Circuit Breakers

Load Break Switches

Earth Switches

An Isolator" is one, which can break an electric circuit when the circuit is to be
switched on no-load. These are normally used in various circuits for the purposes of
isolating a certain portion when required for maintenance etc.

"Switching Isolators" are capable of

Interrupting transformer magnetized currents :

Interrupting line charging current; and

load transfer switching.

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Its main application is in connection with transformer feeder as this unit makes it
possible to switch out one transformer, while the other is still on load.

A " Circuit breaker" is one, which can break or make the circuit on load and even on
faults. The equipment is most important and is a heavy-duty equipment mainly utilised
for protection of the various circuits and operation at load. Normally circuit breakers
are installed accompanied by isolators.

" Load break switches" are those interrupting devices which can make or break ckts.
at 8 x rated current. These are normally installed on the same circuit or on the circuits
which are backed up by circuit breakers.

" Earth switches" are devices which are normally used to earth a particular system to
avoid accident, which may happen due to induction on account of live adjoining circuit.
These do not handle any appreciable current at all.

Detailed description and connected factors relating to the above switchgear has been
detailed in the following sections.
Isolators

The most common form of isolators is the rotating centre post type in which each
phase has three insulators post, with the outer posts carrying fixed contacts &
connections while the centre post having the contact arm which is arranged to move
through 90 on its axis. However in some cases two post design is used wherein earth
fault carries a half length contact arm linked together with the ability to rotate through
909 in opposite directions. This design was introduced so as to economise on
insulation but has been found to occupy a greater area than the three post type and
necessitates making the base structure extremely rigid to avoid deflection of insulation
under load. The modern trend is again to return back to the three post type. It has
been possible to reduce the isolator size by limiting the moving contact blade to move
to a fully open position of 70" to the axis of the phase of the isolator instead of 90 as
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previously. The rotating centre post is still constrained to rotate through 90 but last
20 of movement is used to rotate moving contact in its own axis, while the full
diameter of the contact is presented to the fixed contact fingers so that necessary
contact pressure is achieved. The concept of using that last 20" of movement of the
rotating centres post to turn the moving contacts through this angle about their own
axis enables very high contact pressure to be achieved without the need for a very
powerful operating mechanism.

The isolators are driven by an operating mechanism box normally installed near the
ground level. The box has the operating mechanism in addition to its control ckt. And
auxiliary contacts, the operating mechanism may be solenoid operated pneumatic or
simple motorised system. Motorised operating mechanism generally consists ofA.C.
three phase motor or D.C.motor transmitting through a sturdy spur gear to the
torsional shaft of the isolator.

The pneumatic operated mechanism is compact and is supported on the structure

itself. Pair of cylinders and pistons is used; one to drive the mechanism and the other
to dampen to shock the linear motion of piston is transferred into rotary motion by the
rack and pinion mechanism.

Electromagnetic valve is provided consisting of tripping mechanism and coil if the coil
is excited, the valve opens and the air goes into the cylinder. When the coil is deenergised the valve gets closed and the air in the cylinder is exhausted The
contrivance sustains the air supply by holding the electrical circuit which energised the
coil. The self holding contact is mechanically linked to the tripping mechanism magnet
of electro-magnetic valve.

A limit switch is provided which de-energises the coil at the end of operation.
The following interlocks are provided with isolator:

Isolator cannot operate unless the breaker is open.

Bus I & II isolators cannot be closed simultaneously

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This interlock can be by-passed in the event of closing of of bus coupler

breaker.

No isolator can operate when corresponding earth switch is on

Only one bay can be taken on bypass bus.

Circuit Breakers

Categorisation There arc different ways of classifying circuit breakers. These have
been enumerated in the following paragraphs.

One way of classification is by the medium/methods used for are quenching in the
following way :

Bulk Oil circuit breakers

Minimum oil circuit Breakers

Air Blast Circuit Breakers

Sulphur hexa- fluoride Circuit Breakers.

The types of breakers can also be divided on account of operating mechanism, viz.

Spring operated circuits

Solenoid operated CB

Pressure operated

The breakers can also be divided into two broad categories on account! of its
operation. These are) Fixed trip type and b) trip free type. "Fixed trip type breakers
are those breakers which can be closed on faults and the breaker shall trip only after
completing the closing operation. While " trip free type" of CBs are those circuit
breakers which do not compete closing operation if tripping signal on account of a fault
exists, the breaker shall start tripping operation before the contacts actually meet.
Arc Interruption
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Before going ahead for discussing circuit breaker we will quickly discuss the principle
of ace- interruption. The main requirement of circuit breakers is that it shall be capable
of making and breaking the current associated with any damage. These currents may
be either symmetrical or asymptotical. This requirement; s met by " interrupters". The
following types of interrupters are in use.

Air Blast interrupters Oil

interrupters

The principles of Air Blast interrupters: The power for extinguishing the arc is drawn
from an external source and its magnitude must be such as to interrupt the maximum
current. As such if the magnitude of fault is less, the same should be interrupted even
before the current reaches its natural zero, here heat is conducted away from the arc
until' current zero, causing very rapid de ignition and ultimately replacing arc path by a
column of compressed air of very high die-electric strength. Figure 65 shows the
principle of air extinction in an ABCB.

Oil Breaker interrupters

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Here the principle of arc extinguishing is quite different. In this type extinguishing
power is obtained from the arc itself. The arc decomposes the oil and vapourises it
into hydrogen, acetylene and small proportion of other hydrocarbons. Hydrogen,
because of its high thermal conductivity and deignising properties, assists in cooling
the arc at the same time as the pressure, within the enclosure is built up due to the
restricted venting. Thus final arc extinction is achieved by rapidly cooling and
deignising of the gas and expelling the arc products from the control device; resulting
in a rapid build up of de-electric strength. Here the build up of di-electnc stength is
much faster than in case of Air Blast interrupter unit. It increases with the increase of
fault current. It can be seen that for low fault current, the arc duration may be such that
some additional force may be required. Figure 66 shows a tank type OCB's (plain
break type and with Arc control device), and fig 67. a simplified changing of minimum
oil circuit Breaker.

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Oil Circuit Breaker

These circuit breakers normally are of single break type. These normally comprised of
two sections.

One upper compartment containing the arc control device and fixed

and moving contacts and a

lower

supporting

compartment. The are' control

device is contained in a bakelised paper enclosure which is in turn housed in a

porceldin insulator. Support for this compartment is provided by porcelain or bakelised
paper support insulators. An insulating link passes through the support chamber and
drives the moving contact.

Air Blast Breakers In case of air blast circuit breakers also, the interrupters are
insulated from earth, by means of porcelain insulators the number being determined
by the system voltage. The number of interrupters per phase also depends on the
rating of the breaker. Normally support insulators may car ry up to four interrupter
units. The air supply blast pipe to the interrupter unit is placed inside the support
insulators. The interrupter units may be mounted one above the other and fed via
bypass blast pipes or on branches from a common point at the top of the support
insulator. A large diameter blast valve controls the flow of air from the local air receiver
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to the interrupter units. The whole of the operating mechanism of the circuit from an
electrically operated trip coil. Isolation in this type of circuit breaker is achieved by
keeping the interrupters open' and the contact gas is permanently pressur ised the loss
of air in pressurised circuit breaker will result in either its reclosure or loss or dielectric
strength across th&open contacts. Such an occurrence could prove disastrous to the
system and it, has therefore been arranged that an isolator associated with the
pressureised circuit breaker

opens automatically after the circuit breaker has been

tripped. The advantage of this type of breaker is that its performance under fault
condition is excellent because high pressure air is immediately available at the
contacts. Refer fig 68 for a simplified illustrious of a ABCB.

Sulphur Hexafluoride Circuit Breaker

This type of circuit breaker is of similar construction to the dead tank bulk oil volume
type of circuit breaker but the principle of current interruption is similar to that of an air
blast circuit breaker it does not, therefore, represent a new conception of circuit
breaking but simply employs a new arc extinguishing medium namely sulphur
hexafluoride. The success of the circuit breaker depends solely on the high arc
interrupting performance of this gas i.e when it is broken down under electrical stress
it will very quickly reconstitute itself. It is five times heavier than air and has
approximately twice the di-electric strength. The circuit breaker is completely sealed
and operates as a closed system which means that no flame is emitted during
operation and the noise level is considerably reduced.
Interlocks for circuit Breakers

Interlocks requirement is different for the different breakers.

In case of breakers installed in the main switch yard in a generator feeder, main
interlocks normally required are :

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Breaker should not close until permission from the check synchronising relay is
available to ensure that the Generator is connected to the end only after proper
synchronisation.

Breaker should not close unless contacts of Master trip relays are reset, to avoid a
spurious tripping.

Breaker should not close unless field breaker is closed to avoid motoring of the
generator.

One of the main interlocks requirement of6.6KV and 415 V switchgear systems is
normally:

The reserve incoming supply breaker of particular bus should close if the main
incoming supply breaker is tripped to make sure than the bus remains energised.

Breaker on the low voltage side should trip if the breaker installed on the HV side of
the transformer trips, to facilitate the restoration of supply.

LV side breaker of the transformer should not close unless HV side breaker is closed
to avoid back feeding of the breaker.
Earth switches

Earth switches in the switchyard are simple mechanically operated switches, the
purpose of which is to earth the bus if required for the purpose eliminating induced
voltage in the particular bay on account of parallel running live conductors. It is always
accompanied by an Auxiliary switch to provide interlock and indication contact.
Switchgear failure & causes : No of failures in switchgear have taken place due to

Poor dielectric strength of oil in MOCB.

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PIR contact failing of open before the opening of main contact (MOCB SFG &
CBS).

Low SF6 gas pressure and the breaker opens.

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36. Switchyard & Transmission Equipments

This Chapter endeavors to describe the various equipments commonly found in a
switchyard and also the main components of a transmission line system.

Sub-Stations

The sub-station may be a step-up sub-station or step down sub-station. The

transmission lines emanate from a step-up station and terminate in a grid substation.
The step-up station steps up the generating voltage to a higher voltage whereas the
step-down station steps down the higher voltage to a lower voltage for further
distribution to the consumer premises. A Sub-station comprises of the following
equipment :

Transformer

Isolators

Circuit Breakers

Lightening Arresters

Current Transformer

Potential Transformer

Bus bars and clamp fittings

Supporting structures for the hanging buses

Control relay panels

Control Room

Fire fighting equipment etc.

Power cables and control cables.

Some of the above equipments have already been described in detail in the previous
chapters. The remaining switchyard equipments have been described in the succeeding
paragraphs.
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Station type "lightening arresters" are provided at the terminals of the transformers for
protection against lightening or any surges developing in the system. The practice is
also to install lightening arresters at the incoming terminals of the line. Shielding of the
sub-station from the direct lightening stroke is provided through earth wires located at
structures' peaks. Recently masts are also being considered for the purpose of shielding
the sub-station.

The " current transformers" are single phase oil immersed type. The secondary current
is generally 1 amp, but also 5 amp, in certain cases.

The "Capacitor voltage transformers (CVTS)" are used at 220 KV and above. For the
lower voltages,electro-magnetic type of voltage transformer are mostly used. The
secondary voltage is 110/3 volts.

The bus bar arrangements used are single bus single main and transfer bus, main I and
main II with transfer bus. The type of arrangements to be adopted depends upon the
reliability of supply from the substation.

The bus bar supporting structures are generally of steel latticed type. Recent trend is to
adopt RCC structures for supporting the buses. These are very economical and are
finding wide acceptance in the country.

The earthing resistance of the sub-stations is generally kept of the order of 0.5 ohms,
'vhereas for the transmission line the earthing resistance varies from 10 ohms to 20
ohms. Earthing of the sub-station is normally done by laying mat in and around the
switchyard area. Normally, ungalvanised mild steel flats are used for earthing and for
risers. The size of the flats depends upon the fault current. Separate earthing electrodes
are provide for earthing the lightening arresters whereas the remaining equipment are
earthed by connecting their earth leads to the risers of the ground mat.

Soak pits are provided in respect of all the transformers where the quantity of oil
exceeds 2000 liters. Besides, portable type of fire fighting equipment such as dry
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powder type, chemical foam type are also provided in adequate quantities for protection
of the electrical equipment. For large sub-stations, automatic type of mulsifire system
have also been used for the protection of the transformer against fire.

The control room building for the sub station includes the panels, PLCC equipment, DC
battery, LT Board Etc. The control cables are of armoured type and ar e normally laid in
trenches covered with RCC covers or steel covers. These trenches are also for housing
the power cables.
Transmission Line Equipment

Transmission lines are required for transmitting power form generating stations to the
load centres. The important components of the transmission lines are:

Conductor and accessories

Supporting structure and accessories

Insulators and hardwares

Earth wire and accessories

The quantum of power and the distance over which power is to hi1 iransmitlcd
determine the voltage of the line. The following empirical relationship ^ivcn ph.i-^i' to
phase voltage of the transmission line :

5.5 0.62 L + P/100

Where
U

Phase to phase voltage in KV. And

Length of the line in KM

Power (o be transmitted i n KW

The optimum voltage is determined purely from techno economic considerations. The
voltage 'standardized for the -transmission line in the country are 66.132.220) and
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400KV The optimum power and distance over which these voltages an adopted an as
given below :
MW

KM

66KV

10 13

50 - 100

132KV

40 50

100 - 120

220KV

120 150

200 250

400KV

500 600

500 - 650

The permissible voltages regulations are + 6 to 9%( for HV lines and + 12% f'or EHV
lines.
Conductors & Accessories The lines may be single circuit or double circuit it either in
vertical or horizontal configurations. A double circuit line carries double the power than
that of a single circuit line. The conductors used for the transmission lines are aluminum
conductors steel reinforced, conforming to IS-398.

The size standardized for the transmission lines are 'Dog' ACSR (0.1 sq inch copper
equivalent ) for 66KV line 'Panther' ACSR(0.2 sq inch copper equivalent) for 132 KV
line''Zebra''ACSR ( 0.4 sq inch copper equivalent) for 220KV line and twin 'Moose'
ACSR (2 x 0.5 sq inch copper equivalent) for 400 KV lines. All aluminum conductors are
used at 11 KV and lower voltage lines For 33 KV lines ACSR conductors are used.

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Insulator & Hardware

The steel structures support these conductors attached through insulator strings. The
string consists of a number of hard wares namely suspension tension clamps, socket
clevis, ball clevis, anchor shackles, etc, Under standard atmospheric conditions, for
66KV lines 5 to 6 discs insulator are used for 132 KV lines, 9 to 10 and for 220 KV lines
13 to 14 whereas for 400 line 21 to 22 discs are employed. The higher number indicates
the number of discs are required for tension locations. The electro-mechanical strength
of the discs insulator used for these transmission lines are 5000 Kg, 7500 kg 11500 kg
and 16500 kg respectively depending upon the maximum working tension of the
conductors used.
Supporting Structure & Accessorie s

The Supporting structures are normally of bolted steel lattice type. Angle sections are
bolted together to form a square base lattice structure. The structures are provided with
cross arms through which insulator strings are hung for supporting the conductors.
The base of these towers may vary from 2.5 meters to 6 meters. The maximum
distance from the ground is normally maintained in accordance with the stipulations
made in the Indian Electricity Rules. These clearances are as follows:

66 KV line

18 ft.

132 KV line

28 ft.

220 KV line

23 ft.

400 KV line

28 ft.

The super structures are placed at an interval called the span length the maximum span
in a line is influence by (i) strength and size of conductor, (ii) height and strength of the
structure, (iii) wind pressure, (iv) maximum temperature and (v) spacing and circuit
configuration. The span lengths normally adopted are 250 m for 66 KV, 330 m for
132KV, 350, for 220 KV and 350 - 400 m for 400 KV lines.

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The phase to phase distances are about 2 m for 66 KV, 4 m for 132KV,5 m for 220 KV
and 7.8 m for 400KV.

These structures are used for the straight run as well as for the points where the line
deviates from the straight run. The structures used in deviation points are called. Angle
towers. Experience has shown that 4 types of deviations viz upto 2", from 2 to 15,
from 15 to 30" , from 30" to 60" and for the dead end location.

The structures are designed for the maximum wind loadings occurring in that region and
also for the maximum and minimum tem peratures in that region. The design loadings
and the permissible loadings for those structures are covered in the Indian standard IS
802- 1973.
Earth wires & Accessories

Earth wire is provided for giving protection to the transmission line against lightning
strikes. These wires are supported in such a manner as to provide a shield angle of 30
to the conductors For 400KV lines, 2 ground wires are used with reduced shield angle
of 20. These earth wires are of galvanised stranded steel, high tensile steel quality.
Earth wire is connected to the tower steel. The tower footings are further earthed
thorough a suitable earthing arrangement.

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Switchyard & Transmission Equipments

Failures and causes

Bus faults in switchyard have taken place due to

Loose contact in isolators.

While bus switching of feeders.

Attributable to improper setting or auxiliary contacts or isolates.

Loose sheets from boiler roof and other high rise structures near to switchyard flying in
dust storm and land on the live posts in the switchyard.

An uncleared fault on a live bus is quite serious as it has potential to cause grid collapse
and in order to avoid such an occurrence, in addition to following proper and adequate
maintenance practices, it is essential not to bypass the bus bar protection "provided for
the purpose".

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37. AC Supply For Auxiliaries

Electrical scheme is the heart of a power station as these maintain supply to the
auxiliary equipment. Hence, maximum efforts are made to choose an extremely
reliable system. This Chapter endeavours to provide an insight into the
importance, classification, choice of voltage and selection of this system.

Importance of Electrical System for Auxiliaries

Auxiliaries form nucleus for the efficient running of generating unit and the total load on
auxiliaries in a power station is of the order of 7% to 9% of the plant capacity or the
actual power generated, depending on station load factor. The generating plant is no
more reliable than its auxiliaries and as such for high availability of plant auxiliaries; it is
essential that reliability of electric supply should be ensured for feeding these
auxiliaries.

Further total reliability of this system is a function of the inherent reliability of individual
equipment, the main scheme of auxiliary power supply including standby supply,
schemes of electric protection and schemes of thermal / technological control.
Classification of auxiliaries

The auxiliaries in a thermal power station can be broadly divided into two parts :

Unit Auxiliaries and

Station auxiliaries

Unit auxiliaries are those which are directly associated with the generating unit such as
ID & FD fans, boiler feed pumps, coal mills, fans, circulating water pumps etc.

Station auxiliaries are those which are required for general station services such as coal
and ash handling system, lighting system, water purifying system etc.
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Principles of dividing the auxiliary motor of a thermal power Station into two parts i.e unit
and station, is based on the criteria that for the auxiliary motors connected on the unit
bus, the interruption of the supply should not be there, while for the auxiliary motors for
the station bus, interruption of supply for a short duration can be tolerated.
Choice of Voltage for Auxiliaries

The voltage selected for an auxiliary

system

(6.6 KV or 3.3 KV)

with the fault level and current ratings obtained in

is

closely linked

the economical design and

manufacture of switchgear. With the present day fault levels being experienced in our
auxiliary system, 6.6KV voltage level is more advantageous than 3.3 KV voltage level
for the reasons listed below:

6.6KV, 250MVA switchgear is less costly compared to 3.3KV.250 MVA switchgear the
normal current ratings of breakers, bus etc. would he half of the corresponding
components of 3.3 KV.

The momentary current ratings in case of3.3KV and 6.6KV circuit breakers are 110 KV
and 55KV respectively. For the same type of contacts and extinguishing arrangements,
the 6.6 KV circuit breakers are going to be less costly than 3.3 KV circuit breaker.

Cost of cabling is appreciably reduced in case of 6.6 KV

Copper losses are very much reduced in 6.6 KV systems.

The cost of 6.6 KV motors is more than 3.3 KV motors but from the point of view of selfrestraining it is observed that 6.6 KV motors are in advantageous position in comparison
with 3.3 KV motors.

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System Earthing

Some designers prefer to keep the 6.6 KV system totally insulated from ground by
providing delta connected winding unit auxiliary transformer. This affords possibility of
maintaining continuity of supply in the event of a ground fault; which is the most
common type of fault experience on the systems. Indication in the form of annunciation
of earth fault is provided by means of an open delta winding of a three phase 6,6 KV PT
provided on the bus.

This concept is based on the criteria that unwanted interruptions should not have any
repercussions on the unit running and surge protective devices installed on the turbo
generator would take care of transient over voltages during earth faults. Limitations of
this system are the difficulties encountered in locating the fault and occurrence of a
second ground fault before the first fault has not been cleared. On the other hand,
designers following American and CEGB practice, provide a star connected 6.6 KV
system with high resistance neutral grounding to reduce transient over voltages and
damage resulting from ground faults remaining on an ungrounded neutral system. Thus
stress is laid on positive detection and immediate isolation.
Selection of Auxiliary Supply system and switchgear

6.6 KV system: The choice of a circuit breaker is normally limited by load current
and fault MVA the total fault MVA on the auxiliary bus is due

to the fault MVA of the

system plus fault MVA contribution due to motors where the motor load predominates.
The induction motors contribute a fault cur rent of short duration due to the effect of
residual magnetism. Soviet and continental practice for taking care of this induction
motor contribution, for arriving at 6.6 KV breaker parameters, differ in approach, though
the end result is almost identical. Further for the choice of scheme of connections,
utmost reliability is the main criteria.

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0.415 KV System

Different practices are being followed in the country in operating the 415 V auxiliary
systems viz earthed or un-earthed system. 6.6 KV unit and station auxiliary systems are
stepped down to 415 V by installing appropriate capacity distribution transformer. This
system can have separate or combined inputs for used in main powerhouse building
ancillary buildings and station lighting.
AC emergency Power supply system

Critical auxiliaries like scanner air fan on boiler side, seal oil & tub oil pumps on TG side
are fed from emergency AC switchgear that has an altenate source in the form of DG
set in case of Blackout in the station.
Failures & Causes

Auxiliary AC supply normally, protections on individual feeders ensure that the power
disruptions is limited to the faulty feeder alone. But in cases where there is no check on
entry or rodent rate rats into the busbar chamber causing bus faults

Where there is no proper coordination of the incoming protections with those of

downstream ones,

Failure of supply to entire board has been known to take place.

Emergency AC Supply

Failure to take start by DG set inevitably associated with inadequate change in the
batteries. These batteries need special attention to prevent suc h a calamity when there
is normal AC supply failure. DG set trial start has to be carried regularly as per
schedule.

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38. DC Supply System

Battery backed D.C supplies are required in power plants for those critical
applications which call for a security level higher than that of A.C. auxiliary
power supply system The D.C. power is supplied by the batteries which
normally float with the battery charger and caters to the load requirement in
the event of A.C. supply failure.

Types of Batteries

For power plant application, there are two main types of stationary batteries namely
lead-acid and nicked-cadmium. The latter type have a longer life , are more robust
require less attention and maintenance, have a better short-time performance and
have a higher energy/weight ratio. However, these are much costlier and are not
available in our country. On the other hand, lead acid batteries are readily available in
the country and are cheaper and hence extensively used in power plant application.
The lead-acid batteries have two types of cells, plante and tubular. For the same
standby capability, planet cells are more costly as compare to tubular but the life
expectancy of tubular cells is only 8-10 years in comparison to plante cells, which
expected life of cells is 15 years.
D.C. Requirement The d.c supply requirement can be classified in two categories
depending upon the type of loads, these are:

(a)

For emergency auxiliaries which are not in operation while the unit is running
but have to be switched on in case of A.C. supply Failure. The requirement for
d.c. tub oil pump, seal oil pump, jacking oil pump, scanner air fan etc. along
with d.c. emergency lighting can be classified in this category.

(b)

loads in which continuous supply is required control and protection supply for

switchgear, indications, annunciation system, communication systems and data

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acquisition system etc are in this category. The commonly used voltage levels
are 220 ^T for motors, for controls & protections schemes & 48V for
communication.
Design Philosophy

Float charger is sized to supply the continuous DC load in addition to the Float current
requirement of batteries. The batteries in case of DC motor operation meet current
requirement. In case of AC supply failure the battery system will automatically feed
the load. To charge the batteries initially or in case of complete discharge of (after
feeding DC load during AC supply failure), the batteries are required to be charged
with boost charger, the boost changer is capable of meeting High voltage/ current
requirements of batteries. In addition to this the periodic equalizing charge
requirement is also met by boost chargers It is essential to disconnect the batteries
from load prior to boost charging so as to avoid the damage to DC equipm ents due to
high voltage supplied by boost charger.
D.C Supply Failure

There have been instances of 'D.C failure, sometime coupled with A.C. Supply
Failure. To prevent excessive damage to power plant equipments under such
situations instructions by each site have been prepared. These instructions are very
elaborate and coyer all the possible consequences of AC/DC failure and suggest the
required action. These instruction should be carefully read and understood prior to
start up of the equipment.

Maintenance of D.C System

Since the power plant contains lot of dust and ash particles, it is very essential to
canyout preventive maintenance and cleaning of DC system which covers cells,
DCDB and DC equipments, the preventive maintenance of cells is to be done in such
a way as to cover every individual cell once in 10 days. For this cells having no 1,mi PMI, NTPC

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11,21-.. etc. Should be checked on day 1, cells with no 2,12,22- etc. may
be checked on day 2 and so on.

To 'improve the DC system reliability further, A.C. and DC. Cables are laid separately
throughout the cable route. This ensures availability of DC supply in case of fire in the
A.C. cables. If care is not taken on this aspect both A.C. and D.C supply maybe lost
simultaneously in case of cable fire which may lead to major disaster.
Earth Fault in'D.C. System Earth Fault in a D.C. System is dangerous as it may
causes mal operation of any protections leading to unit trip. To detect the earth fault in
DC system a suitable earth fault relay is provided. The earth fault should be removed
at the earliest to avoid any mishap. The earth fault can occur anywhere on the cables,
switches, relay terminals etc. for which the faulty DC a feeder is to be indemnified.
This can be done with the help of earth fault locator, which are available at each
station. In case of non-availability of earth fault locator, the faulty feeder can be
identified.

By switching off the DC feeders one by one and observing the earth fault-monitoring
relay. One important point about operation of earth fault relay is that it needs 220 V
A.C aux power supply to make it functional.

There have been improvements in the design of DC system over a period of time. In
some of the 500 MW stations and gas stations, control and protection supply for
switchgear panels has been duplicated. Also DC DBs have been segregated into two
parts with independent batteries of half the rating. This will ensure more reliability and
shall meet the shut down requirements.

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39. Control And Instrumentation

Measuring Instruments
Instruments
In any process the philosophy of instrumentation should provide a
comprehensive intelligence feed back on the important parameters viz.
Temperature, Pressure, Level and Flow. This Chapter Seeks to provide a basic
understanding of the prevalent instruments used for measuring the above
parameters.

Temperature Measurement

The most important parameter in thermal power plant is temperature and its
measurement plays a vital role in safe operation of the plant. Rise of temperature in a
substance is due to the resultant increase in molecular activity of the substance on
application of heat; which increases the internal energy of the material. Therefore
there exists some property of the substance, which changes with its energy content.
The change may be observed with substance itself or in a subsidiary system in
thermodynamic equilibrium, which is called testing body and the system itself is called
the hot body.
Expansion Thermometer

Solid Rod Thermometers A temperature sensing - Controlling device may be

designed incorporating in its construction the principle that some metals expand more
than others for the same temperature range. Such a device is the thermostat used
with water heaters (Refer Fig. 69).

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Fig No.-69

Rod Type Thermostat

The Bi-Metallic Strip Bi-metal strips are composed of two metals, as the name
implies, whose coefficients of linear expansion are dissimilar. These two metal plates
are welded together as a sandwich. When heated, both metals expand, but the metal
with greatest coefficient of linear expansion will expand more causing the sandwich to
curl up or down depending on the position of this metal. (Refer Fig. 70).

GLASS ENVELOPE

BAYONET
CONNECTOR
Fig No-70

Helical Bi-Metal Strip

Liquid in Glass Thermometers The coefficient of cubical expansion of mercury is

about eight time greater that of glass. Therefore, a glass container holding mercury,
when heated, will expand far less than the mercury it contains. At a high temperature
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the mercury will occupy a greater fraction of the volume of the container than it will at
a low temperature.

Under normal atmospheric conditions mercury normally boils at a temperature of

(347C). To extend the range of a mercury in glass thermometer beyond this point the
top end of a thermometer bore opens into a bulb which is many times larger in
capacity than the bore. This bulb plus the bore above the mercury, is then filled with
nitrogen or carbon dioxide gas at a sufficiently high pressure to prevent boiling at the
highest temperature to which the thermometer may be used.
Mercury in Steel The range of liquid in glass thermometers although quite large,
does not lend itself to all industrial practices. This fact is obvious by the delicate
nature of glass also the position of the measuring element is not always the best
position to read the result. Types of Hg in Steel Thermometers are:

Bourdon Tube
Most common and simplest type (Refer Fig. 71)

Spiral type
More sensitive and used where compactness is necessary

Helical Type
Most sensitive and compact. Pointer may be mounted direct on end of helix
which rotates, thus eliminating backlash and lost motion.

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Fig No.-7I Lufuid Expansion Thermometer with ''C Bourden

Thermometer Bulbs The thermometer bulb may take many forms dependent on the
application (Refer Fig.72). For example; if the temperature of a large enclosure is to
be measured the bulb may be in the form of a U or of a considerable length of small
tube into a spiral. This type of bulb presents the surface area necessary for measuring
the temperature of a gas and is therefore used in this application.

A. PLAIN BULB
B. UNION BULB;
C. POCKET BULB D. WALL MOUNTING
E. SHORT COtL. F. LONG COIL; G. FINNED STRAIGHT
H.WATCH CAPSULE

FigNo.-72
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285

Thermometer- Wells. Pockets or Sheaths: Plant conditions, quite often, necessitate the
use of wells, pockets or sheaths, in order to protect the bulb, also to facilitate removal
of the bulb without detriment to plant operation. The materials, from which these
protective elements are manufactured, are dependent upon the nature of the protection
required, i.e. anti-corrosive, anti-abrasive etc.

Gas Thermometers As already stated, in Effect of Heat, the volume of a gas. at

constant pressure, will change with relation to temperature change, and that at
constant volume the pressure changes in relation to temperature. Therefore, if a bulb,
capillary and bourdon tube enclose a certain volume of gas and the both of that
assembly is subjected to heat, or change of the same, the changes of pressure,
effected by the heat, within the system, can be directly related to temperature. The
later will, of course be shown though the movement of the free end of the bourdon
tube.
Principle of Thermoelectric Effect

SEEBECK discovered in 1821 that when a junction of Bismuth and Copper was heated
an e.m.f. was produced. The direction of the current was from the Bismuth to the
Copper. This discovery led to the later development of the thermocouple, a suitable
combination of two materials capable of producing an e.m.f. the magnitude of which is
related to temperature. The ranges covered are from a few degrees absolute to
3000C. Seebeck produced a list of materials the order of which is important. An
extract from the list is given below:
BISMUTH

___________

HIGH

PLATINUM
COPPER

Current flowed from high to low i.e. Copper to Iron.

LEAD
TIN
SILVER
ZINC
IRON

_____________

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Thomson e.m.f: this is temperature gradient along a piece of wire, e.g a piece of Fe
wire when heated . (Refer Fig.73) Again heat energy provides electrons with an extra
force with which to migrate from atom to atom.

There are two general classes of thermocouples:

Rare Metal

Base Metal

Rare metal thermocouples, because of their cost, are used for laboratory work and
high precision industrial use as they have a high resistance to oxidation and corrosion
and are largely free from parasitic currents.

Potentiometer Circuit: It is not proposed to discuss the fundamental principles ot the

potentiometer, but to explain how it is used in thermocouple work, the basic circuit is
shown in Fig 74.

Fig No.-74

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287

The e.m.f. due to the couple is balanced against the voltage drop along the slide wire
S until the instrument G reads zero.The position of the contact arm D is then a
measure of the thermocouple e.m.f. and, hence, the temperature.
Resistance Type Thermometers:

The other main system used to measure temperature relies on the fact that as a wire
is heated its electrical resistance increases in proportion to the temperature. We must,
therefore, find a method to measure a changing resistance and display this on a
recorder or indicator.

The rapid variation of resistance with temperature certain semiconductors is employed

in the thermally sensitive resistor or thermistor to measure temperature.
Pressure Measurement

The U-Tube or Manometer: Liquid contained in a tube bend in the form of a U will
respond to a difference in pressure across the two limbs. A glass tube of uniform
cross-sectional-area is bent to form a U and partly filled with a liquid of known density
'd' p.s.l.

Measurement of Atmospheric Pressure: Atmospheric pressure will support calcium of

Mercury approximately 30 inches in a U-tube provided a good vacuum is maintained
in one limb. Ifa U-tube is replaced with a straight limb about 35 inches long, one end
closed, then being filled with clean, dry mercury and then inverted in a container of
mercury open to the atmosphere (Fig.75), the mercury would fall in the tube forming a
good vacuum above it.

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Single Tube Manometer This is used for measuring low pressure and for testing and
recalibration low-pressure instruments of all types. If the ratio of the area of one tube
is considerably greater than other, then practically all the movement takes place in the
small manometer tube and for all practical purposes only the one limb need be read.
Kenotometer The low pressures produced in steam condensers are usually
measured in inches of mercury, marking downwards from atmospheric pressure. A
high working vacuum of 29.5 inches of mercury is the same as an absolute pressure
of 0.5 inch of mercury, or approximately 0.25 p.s.i (absolute). One device for
measuring the absolute pressure in a condenser is the Kenotometer.
Bourdon Pressure Gauge: This is the most commonly used of all pressure
measuring devices. (Range 10- 80,000 p.s.i). Here, a tube of oval section is bent into
a circular arc. One end is sealed and the other end fixed to a solid block into which the
applied pressure is fed. The tube will "uncurl" as the pressure (operating Force)
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increases, or will 'Curl up' as the vacuum increases; so giving a movement of the free
end which is proportional to the change in pressure. The Controlling Force will depend
upon the thickness of the tube and the material from which it is made (Refer Fig.76)

Special Types Of Pressure Gauges

Spiral Tube: This type is used for low-pressure indication and recording when a Cshaped Bourden tube is not suitable and where power is required. By making the oval
tube in the form of a spiral an enlarged movement of the free end is achieved and thus
the tube becomes more sensitive over pressure ranges below 10 p.s.i.

Helical Tube: For higher pressures the tube is wound in the form of a helix and is often
used in pressure recorders.
Range 0-80,000 p.s.i.

Critical Type: This is used in boiler houses to enable distant reading of the steam
pressure to be made to the nearest 1 p.s.i over a range of say 15 p.s.i. The
movement of a pressure sensitive element is transmitted to a pointer and scale via
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linkages, which only allow the pointer to operate over a selected range of pressure to
either side of the normal steam pressure. (Refer Fig No.77)

Fig No-77

Dewrance Critical Pressure Gauge

Measurement of Level

Direct Methods

'Sight Glass' is used for local indication on closed or open vessels. A sight glass is a
tube of toughened glass connected at both ends through packed unions and vessel.
The liquid level will be the same as that in the vessel. Valves are provided for isolation
and blowdown.

"Float with Gauge Post" is normally used tor local indication on closed or open
vessels.

"Float Operated Dial" are used for small tanks and congested areas. The float arm is
connected to a quadrant and pinion which rotates the pointer over a scale.

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Pressure operated types Since the pressure acting on any area at the bottom of a
tank depends only upon the depth and density of the contained liquid, a measure of
this pressure is proportional to the liquid level.
Bourden Pressure Gauge A Bourdon pressure gauge calibrated in any fact head is
often connected to a tank at or near the datum level.

"Mercury Manometer" is used for remote indication of liquid level. The working
principle is the same as that of a manometer one limp of a U-tube is connected to the
tank, the other being open to atmosphere. The manometer liquid must not mix with the
liquid in the vessel, and where the manometer is at a different level to the vessel, the
static head must be allowed in the design of the manometer.

'Diaphragm Type' is used for remote level indication in open tanks or docks etc. A
pressure change created by the movement of a diaphragm is proportional to a change
in liquid level above the diaphragm. This consists of a cylindrical box with a rubber or
plastic diaphragm across its open end as the level increases .the liquid pressure on
the diaphragm increases and the air inside is compressed. This pressure is
transmitted via a capillary tube to an indicator or recorder incorporating a pressure
measuring element.

Sealed Capsule Type The application and principle is the same as for the diaphragm
box. In this type, a capsule filled with an inert gas under a slight pressure is exposed
to the pressure due to the head of liquid and is connected by a capillar y to an
indicator. In some cases the capsule is fitted external to the tank and is so arranged
that it can be removed whilst the tank is still full, a spring loaded valve automatically
shutting off the tapping point.
Air Purge System This system provides the simplest means of obtaining an indication
of level, or volume, at a reasonable distance and above or below, the liquid being
measured. The pressure exerted inside an open ended tube below the surface of a
liquid is proportional to the depth of the liquid. (Refer Fig.78).
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The Measurement of Flow

Two principle measurements are made by flow meters viz. quantity of flow and rate of
flow. 'Quantity of flow' is the quantity of fluid passing a given point in a given time, i.e.
gallons or pounds. ' Rate of flow' is the speed of. a fluid passing a given point at a
given instant and is proportional to quantity passing at a given instant, i.e. gallons per
minute or pounds per hour. There are two groups of measuring devices: -

Positive, or volumetric, which measure flow by transferring a measured quantity of fluid

from the inlet to the outlet.

Inferential, which measures the velocity of the flow and the volume passed is inferred,
it being equal to the velocity times the cross sectional area of the flow. The inferential
type is the most widely used.
Measurement of Fluid Flow Through Pipes :

"The Rotating Impeller Type" is a positive type device which is used for medium
quantity flow measurement i.e., petroleum and other commercial liquids. It consists of
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two fluted rotors mounted in a liquid tight case. The relative position between these
rotors being controlled by two helical timing gears. The movement of the rotors is
caused by the fluid flow and transmitted to a counter.
Rotating Oscillating Piston Type This is also a positive type device and is used for
measuring low and medium quantity flows, e.g. domestic water supplies. This consists
of a brass meter body into which is fitted a machined brass working chamber and
cover, containing a piston made of ebonite. This piston acts as a moving chamber and
transfers a definite volume of fluid from the inlet to the outlet for each cycle.
Helical Vane Type For larger rates of flow, a helical vane is mounted centrally in the
body of the meter. The heli chamber may be vertical or horizontal and is geared to a
counter. Usually of pipe sizes 3" to 10" Typical example is the Kent Torrent Meter.
Turbine Type This like the helical Vane type is a inference type of device used for
large flows with the minimum of pressure drop. This consists of a turbine or drum
revolving in upright bearings, retaining at the top by a collar. Water enters the drum
from the top and leaves tangentially casings to rotate at a speed dependent upon the
quantity of water passed. The cross sectional area of the meter throughout is equal to
the area of the inlet and outlet pipes and is commonly used on direct supply water
mains,
Combination Meters This is used for widely fluctuating flows. It consists of a larger
meter (helical, turbine or fan) in the main with a small rotary meter or suitable type in a
bypass. Flow is directed into either the main or bypass according to the quantity of flow
by an automatic valve. By this means flows of 45 to 40,000 gallons per hour can be
measured.
Measurement of Fluid Flow Through Open Channels:

The Weir If a fluid is allowed to flow over a square weir of notch, The height of the
liquid above the still of the weir, or the bottom of the notch will be a measure of the rate
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of flow. A formula relates the rate of flow to the height and is dependent upon the
design of the weir.
Venturi Flumes The head loss caused by the weir flow meter is considerable and its
construction is sometimes complicated, therefore the flume is sometimes used. The
principle is same as that of venture except that the rate of flow is proportional to the
depth of the liquid in the upstream section. It consists of a local contraction in the cross
section of flow through a channel in the shape of a venturi. It is only necessary to
measure the depth of the upstream section which is a measure of the rate of flow.This
may be done by pressure tappings at the datum point or by a float in an adjacent level
chamber.
Pressure Difference Flowmeters These are the most widely used type of flow meter
since they are capable of measuring the flow of all industrial fluids passing through
pipes. They consists of a primary element inserted in the pipeline which generates a
differential pressure, ^he magnitude of which is proportional to the square of the rate of
flow and a secondary element which measures this differential pressure and translates
it into terms of flow. (Refer fig. 79).

Fig. No-79

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Primary elements Bernoulli's theorem states that the quantity of fluid or gas flowing is
proportional to the square root of the differential pressure. There are four principal
types of primary elements (or restrictions) as enumerate below:

Venturi; This is generally used for medium and high quantity fluid flow and it consists of
two hollow turncated cones, the smaller diameters of which are connected together by
a short length of parallel pipe, the smallest diameter of the tube formed by this length
of parallel pipe is known as the throat section and the lower of the two pressures, (the
throat, or downstream pressure) is measured here.
Orifice Plate This is the oldest and most common form of pressure differential device.
In its simplest form it consists of a thin metal plate with a central hold clamped between
two pipe flanges. In the meter ing of dirty fluids or fluids containing solids the hole is
placed so that its lower edge coincides with the inside bottom of the pipe. (Refer
Fig.80) It is essential that the leading edge of the hole is absolutely sharp rounding or
burring would have a very marked effect on the flow.

Fig No.-80

Typical Orifice Plate Pressure Tapping

Flow Nozzle This is in fact a very short venture, the entrance cone is bell shaped and
there is no exit cone. Both corner D and D/2 tappings are used .(Refer. Fig.8.1).

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Upstream Connection"
Fig No.-81

Downstream Connection
Typical Flow Nozzle

Pitot Tube This is used mainly for experimental work to determine the flow in pipes or
ducts prior to making a permanent installation. If a tube is placed with its open and
facing into a stream of fluid then the fluid impinging on the open end will be brought to
rest and its energy of motion will be converted to pressure energy.
Secondary elements These are methods of measuring differential pressure and
converting it into measurement of flow: The differential pressure measuring portion of
the instrument must have a suitable range for the particular operation, it must be
capable of withstanding the static pressure of the fluid in the main to which it is applied
and it must be sensitive to small changes of differential pressure. The differential
pressure produced by any primary element is proportional to the square of the flow so
a flow meter may have a scale which opens out as the flow increases or a more
complex system which corrects for the square law and uses a linear scale. A U-tube
manometer is the simples form of secondary element. Here the liquid must be denser
than the fluid being measured. The scale will be a square law scale. (Refer Fig.82).

Fig Ate.-82
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Low Differential Head Flow Meters The "Bell Type" Flow meter is a typical example
under this category. Here, the moving element consists of a bell suspended on a
spring with the open end downwards in a sealed chamber partly filled with a liquid
which forms a seal between the inside and outside of the bell. The bell movement due
to the differential pressure is transmitted to the exterior through a segmental lever and
chain, or similar device, and a spindle rotating in a pr essure tight gland. These are
used for low pressure gas flows down to a maximum differential head of 1/2" w.g.
Medium and High Differential Head Flow Meters The following are some of the
instruments coming under this category.

"The mercury Manometer" Consists of two metal chambers joined together by a small
bore pipe to form a U-tube which is partly filled with mercury. Pressure tappings are
made in the top of each chamber and is usual to fit air vent valves, isolating valves
and an equalising valves.

"Bellows Flowmeter" is capable of measuring liquid and gas How up to the highest
known static pressures normally found in industry and are tending to superseded the
manometer type flowmeter. In this type of flowmeter the liquid seal is replaced by
some form of flexible diaphragm of bellows which form a partition in a pressure tight
casing. The differential pressure produced by the primary element is applied across
the bellows which is displaced. The bellow's movement is controlled by a spring.
(Refer Fig.83).

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Variable Aperture type Flowmeters These are used to meter all types and rates of
flow, e.g. water 0.5 to 40,000 gallons/hour, Air 0.01 to 300 cu. ft./min. It consists of a
tapered tube forming an upward passage with its smallest diameter at the bottom
containing a tapered float having an outside diameter which just clears the bore of the
tube in its lowest position where it rests on stop. As the flow increase the float rises to
a position of equilibrium between the pressure loss, across the orifice and the weight
of the float and any mechanism attached to it. The distance of the float from the stop
will be a measure of the rate of flow. (Refer Fig.84).

Electromagnetic Flowmeter This is used for measurement of liquids and slurries

through circular pipes where a restriction would be impracticable, when a conductor
moves through and at right angles to a magnetic field an e.m.f. is set up in the
conductor. The magnitude of the e.m.f. depends upon the field strength, the length
and the velocity of the conductor.
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40. OnOn-Load Leak Sealing Work Record Sheet

(To be retained in NTPC record at the location)

LOCATION :

SECTION 1 : To be completed by NTPC designated engineer.

NTPC ENGINEER PLEASE NOTE : IF THERE IS ANY REASON TO DOUBT THE

INTEGRITY OR STRENGTH OF A COMPONENT THEN LEAK SEALING MUST
NOT BE ATTEMPTED.

Date :

Reference:

COMPONENT DETAILS :

Type : e.g Flange, Cover, Valve Bonnet, or Valve Gland Location on Plant:

Location of Leak on Component :

Operating Pressure

: Operating Temperature:

Number of studs or Bolts Per Assembly

: Bolt PCD:

Nominal Bolt Diameter

: Thread Type

Bolt Material :

If the component is a valve gland which incorporates a "pressure seal" then record:

a)

StuMng box inside diameter:

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b)

Stuffing box outside diameter:

c)

Stuffing box material :

Number of previous injections or leak sealing attempts:

Signature of Designated Engineer ..................................
SECTION 2 : To be completed by the leak sealing contractor.

Date :

Contractor :

Name of person in charge:

Names of other team members:

CONTRACTORS PLEASE NOTE: -

1.

When sealing glands in valves which employ a "pressure seal" or mild steel
gland follower studs then advice on the allowable hydraulic injection pressure
must be obtained from the contractors technical department.

2.

IF bolt material is not know then mild steel properties must be assumed and the
appropriate restrictions applied.

3.

IF THERE IS ANY REASON TO DOUBT THE INTEGRITY OR STRENGTH OF

A COMPONENT THEN LEAK SEALING MUST NOT BE ATTEMPTED.

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Component

Flange, cover or Bonnet

Stage *

A
Back

B
fill

Operation

compound
Injection

Valve gland

repressuris to

effect seal

ation of the

Leak sealing
or repacking

seal

Start Time
and Date

Maximum
Pressure
Used

Compound Type
Number of
Cartridges Used

End Time
and Date

Pause time between stages =15 mins.

**

If more than one compound is used record each type and number of
cartridges used.

***

State whether gland follower bolt nuts were backed off during leak
sealing process and if so at what stage.

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MAJOR C&I SYSTEMS INCLUDED UNDER MAIN PLANT PACKAGES, i.e., SG &
TG

The SG/TG C&I systems are based on state of the art microprocessor technology with
CRT /KBD operation facilities. Operation through back up conventional control devices
is also possible. These C&I systems are procured under the respective main plant
package, i.e., SG/TG packages
THE SG- C&I SYSTEM

The SG-C&I system includes the following microprocessor based systems:

i)

Furnace safeguard supervisory system for purging, automatic firing, flame

monitoring, sequential start-up and shut down of mills, etc.

ii)

Secondary Air damper control system.

iii)

Auxiliary PRDS control system.

Each of these functional blocks is provided as independent system. All these functional
blocks are connected together through redundant system bus to achieve integrated
CRT/KBD operation & monitoring. For this purpose, 2 control CRT's and one no. dot
matrix printer are provided for SG C&I system operation. Provision is also made, to
connect the SG C&I system bus with DDCMIS system bus for monitoring of the SG C&I
system through DDCMIS CRT/KBD's However, all the interlocking and protection
inputs are hardware to DDCMis from SG C&I system.

In addition to the above microprocessor based system the following systems are also
provided :

i)

Soot Blower control system

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ii)

Coal feeder controls

iii)

Control of Electrometric safety valve

iv)

Furnace temperature probes.

THE TG- C&I SYSTEMS

The TG C&I system includes the following functional blocks:

i)

EHG control system

ii)

Automatic turbine Run Up System (ATRS)

iii)

HP-LP bypass control system.

iv)

Turbine Stress control system (TSCS)

v)

Automatic Turbine Testing system (ATT)

vi)

Turbine protection system

vii)

Turbine supervisory Instruments (TSI)

viii)

Generator auxiliaries control system.

Each of these functional blocks are provided as independent system. All these
functional blocks (except for TSI) are connected together through redundant system
bus to achieve integrated CRT/ KBD operation and monitoring. For this purpose, 2 nos.
control CRT's and one number dot matrix printer for TG-C&I sys tems and one CRT
each for TSI & TSCS, monitoring are provided. Provision is made, to connect the TG
C&I system bus with DDCMIS system bus for monitoring of the TG C&I system through
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DDCMIS CRT/KBD's. However, all the interlocking and protection inputs are hardware
to DDCMIS from TG C&I system.
STEAM & WATER ANALYSIS SYSTEM (SWAS)

Recognising the importance of water chemistry in power plant operations, a

comprehensive steam & water analysis system (SWAS) is provided. This system
includes a sample conditioning system for temperature and pressure reduction and
conditioning of various sample streams and necessary analysers for on line analysis of
parameters like conductivity, ph, dissolved oxygen, residual hydrazine, silica, sodium,
phosphate, chloride, etc., at all critical points in condensate, feed water and steam
cycle. The SWAS have three panels namely; sample conditioning panel, analyser panel
and recorder panels, which are physically separate from each other. This system helps
the plant Chemistry in making the necessary adjustment in water treatment system so
as to avoid deposits/accumulations in heat exchanger tubes, corrosion of power cycle
equipment and damage due to carry over.
ELECTRIC POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM (U.P.S.)

There are number of C&I systems and equipment which have to be powered in a plant.
These include DDCMIS, FSSS, SADC, ATRS, Annunciation system, back up
secondary instrument in unit control room, computer peripherals, etc. These systems
and components are procured from various different suppliers like SG supplier, TG
supplier, C&I supplier, etc. The majority of C&I systems & equipment are for solid-state
electronic type (mostly microprocessor based) requiring DC supply only. There

are

exceptions like FSSS, which require DC as well as AC, power supplies. Further, the
computer peripherals, the recorders on back-panel, etc., require only AC power, which
has to be reliable and good quality. This reliable and good quality AC power supply can
only be provided by uninterrupted power supply system.

Another important aspect which has to be kept in mind while finalising the electrical
power supply philosophy is the importance of segregation of the power supplies so as
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to avoid common mode failures on account of power supplies, faults. In view of this, the
following electric power supply system are provided.

i)

Uninterrupted power supply (UPS) system to feed the important C&I package AC
loads including DDCMIS, back up secondary instruments, annunciation system,
oxygen analysers etc. In addition to the C&I package loads, the peripherals for
SG package C&I system, and TG package C&I system are fed from this UPS.
The UPS consists of 2x100% chargers & 2x100% Inverters, 100% battery banks,
2x100% DC distribution & 2x100% AC distribution boards.

ii)

DC Emergency backup power supply system is provided for CLCS & OLCS
hardware consisting of 100% battery bank, 2x100% chargers & 2x100% DC
distribution boards.

iii)

Separate and Independent 24V DC power supply system for TG package C&I
system comprising 2x100% chargers and 2x100% battery banks with 2 nos. DC
distribution boards.

iv)

Separate and Independent DC power System for SG package C&I system

comprising 2x100% chargers and 2x100% battery bank and 2 nos. DC
distribution boards.

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41. Distributed
Distributed Digital Control Monitoring and
Information System
The distributed Digital Control Monitoring & Information System are the state
of the art microprocessor based latest technology.These are closed and open
loop system man machine interface and many other important features. This
chapter covers all the related aspects of the Control System.

INTRODUCTION

The DDCMIS employs state - of - art microprocessors and is based on latest proven
technology. It performs the functions of sequence and modulating controls, plant start
up/shut down, in all regimes of plant operation including emergency conditions.

The DDCMIS consists of Close Loop Control System (CLCSO, open Loop Control
System (OLCD), Man Machine Interface System and Plant Information (MMIPIS),
Measurement System. Sequence of Events Recording System (SERS) and Slave
Clock System functional blocks.

BASIC FEATURES OF DDCMIS

Seven (7) numbers of colour CRT's are connected to MMIPIS functional block, for
Control system operation, plant monitoring and information functions & alarm
monitoring functions.

Each of the color CRT's is 100% interchangeable (any control/monitoring/alarming

function for any part of the plant can be performed from any colour CRT) and provides
complete control, monitoring, supervis ory and display functions for control system
variables and control system status. The displays include all control related displays,
bar graph displays, group displays, system alarms and real time trend display. These
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displays are available on control CRT's for the measurement signals as well. The
system is configured so as to enable efficient plant operation in all modes of operation
viz. start up, normal operation, shut down, etc. through control CRT's and Keyboards.
The monitoring/ supervision functions are designed as on-line system which process,
display and store information to provide the operator, either automatically or on
demand, relevant information of complete plant. The monitoring/ supervision functions
include performance calculations, displays, logs, alarm monitoring & Retrieval. Two
colour graphic printers, one line and three dot matrix printers are provided for logs,
reports and alarms. In addition to this, one magnetic cartridge tape unit for historical
storage and retrieval system and two numbers of 6 pin microprocessor based trend
recorders for trending of points are provided. One console each is also provided with
respective dot matrix printers for Gen. Manager, Dy. Gen. Manager and Shift
supervisor.

100% hot redundant controllers are employed both for CLCS and OLCS. Hardware for
CLCS and OLCS are separate and independent of each other. In CLCS, the inputs of
multiple measurements are wired to separate input modules to avoid single point
failure. All modulating drives are accessible directly through conventional hardwired
backup A/M stations mounted on UCB and are independent of the availability of
redundant controllers. IN OLCS, redundant input modules are provided. All the OLCS
drives are interfaced through redundant drive modules to OLCS controllers. Maximum
number of drives which can be clubbed together in one set of such redundant drive
control modules are restricted to a maximum of 4. If drive control modules are not at all
available with the supplier,then redundant 0/P modules are provided with max. no. of
drives per set of such 0/P modules restricted to 4 only. Wherever push buttons are
provided for OLCS drives the operation through these push buttons is independent of
the availability of redundant controllers.

The OLCS, for the major equipment like boiler, turbine,

generator auxiliaries, power

operated valves and dampers, etc. is designed to give maximum degree of protection
while maintaining sufficient simplicity to ensure reliability, maintainability and minimum
of nuisance shut down. In case of failure of system bus or CRT/ KBD, the manual
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operation of about 10% of total drives,!.e., drives through back up push buttons. The
unit is provided through back up push buttons. The basic important protections of the
drives is available at all times even on the failure of OLCS controllers. The system is
based on the design aspect that it would continue to operate without any loss of
function or safety feature in case of failure of a single device/component.

The changes in system configur ation, turning constants and similar engineering and
maintenance functions are not allowed of view, these functions are allowed only from
Engineer's/Programmer's console in CER under lock and Key operation. Separate
consoles are provided for programming/modification in MMIPIS and Control System
alongwith respective periherals.

A separate stand alone microprocessor based system is provided for sequence of

events monitoring functions to enable analysis of trippings. The system monitors the
SOE inputs with a resolution of one millisecond. The SERS have, its own dedicated
dot matrix printer for printing reports. The system is also provided with its dedicated
historical storage and retrieval system to store all the SER logs & reports.

One PC-AT is provided with erasable optical disk and drive interfaced with system bus
for on line storage of plant data. Necessary hardware and software is provided to
achieve data transfer in requisite format.

One master and slave clock system is also provided to ensure uniform timing
throughout the unit & plant. The master clock is time synchronised with DDCMIS and
SERS.

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42. Turbovisory Instruments

The turbine supervisory instrument system is an aid which enables processing
of information regarding various parameters of the turbine for its safe and
proper operation. This Chapter enumerates, in detail, these aspects.

Introduction

The main parameters which are processed under this system are :

Speed of turbine rotor

Axial shift of rotor

Differential expansion of rotor and cylinder

Shaft eccentricity

Casing expansion

Control valve servomotor position

Speeder gear position

Bearing vibration

Seal interference

Turbine metal temperature

Turbine speed

Monitoring of turbine speed is necessiated especially during start up till the TG set is
synchronised. The speed measurement system provided in the turbine supervisory
instrumentation being supplied perform a dual function of measuring the turbine speed
and actuating an alarm signal in case of over speed. Its indicators provide

Remote indication when the rotor is rotated by the barring gear.

Remote as well as local digital indication of the turbine speed

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Alarm signals at 10 and 16 percent over speed.

The speed detector consists of slotted disc with 60 radial slots distributed around its
periphery and a magnetic probe mounted facing the slots. Rotation of the disc
generates voltage pulses in the search coil. The output is fed to the speed measuring
unit, local as well as remote.

The measuring unit consists of a zero crossing detector, a pulse shaper, and an
electronic counter with latch, recorder and display. The spare output for 'data logger'
is provided by a standard

digital to analogue converter having an output of 4-20

MA. The annunciations at 10 and 16 percent overspeed are provided for recording till
synchronization. At barring speed the speed display is blanked and indication is
through an indicating lamp.

The voltage from the detector proportional to turbine speed are preamplified and
transmitted to the measuring module in which it is fed the zero crossing detector and
pulse shaper. The output of the pulse shaper is a train of pulses of definite amplitude
and width, the frequency of which is proportional to the speed of the rotor. The train of
pulses is then by a differentiator cum negative supressor, converted to a train of very
narrow spikes of width of the order of nine-seconds to avoid any counting error. The
number of spikes are counted with a sampling time of one second, recorded and
displayed in four 0.7 LED's. The display of the counted value is through a series of
latches to avoid continuous blinking of all the digits. The range of measurement is from
20-4000 rpm. with a revolution of 1 rpm.

Another type of speed measurement used in older units is by means of a permanent

magnet tachno generator coupled to the main shaft of the turbine through gears of
speed ratio 1 :1 thus the output voltage of this techno-generator is proportional to the
speed of the turbine. This voltage is rectified and measured by a d.c. voltmeter
calibrated in terms of speed.

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Axial Shift of Rotor

This thrust bearing is the another point of the rotor with the stator in the axial direction.
Due to axial thrust, the thrust collar is either on the working pads or on the surge pads
depnding on the direction of axial thrust. The measurement system indicates the
position of the thrust collar with respect to the working pads. The indication determines
the extent of wear of thrust pads. It is imperative to continuously monitor the position of
thrust collar as axial shift beyond permissible limits could lead to mechanical
iterference and severe rubbing.
This service provides

Protection of turbine in case of excessive axial rotor shift towards the generator or
towards the front caused by wearing out of thrust bearing pads.

Remote digital indication and annunciation of the rotor position in the thrust bearing
when the operating condition are changing.

Continuous recording of the rotor position in the thrust bearing.

The detector used is a two element variable reluctance type transducer connected in a
bridge confriguration which is excited by highly stabilised 10V r.m.s. 1953 Hz supply.

The measuring unit consists of amplifier active rectifier, linerarizer amplifier, and
comparators for annunciations. The axial shift in the rotor alters the bridge output
which is a amplified and fed to the linerizing circuits after rectification. The linearzing
circuits linearizes the inherent non linearity of the reluctance type transducers to
enable interchangeability of the detectors and repeatability of measurements. This
further facilitates reasonable tolerance in mechanical mounting of the detectors. The
linearises output is amplified and then fed to the recorder, the annunciation circuits
through present comparators and to analogue to digital converts for display. A
separate 4-20 analogue current output is provided for hooking up data logger circuit.
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The design of this service, prevents any spurious tripping signal due to failure of
excitation or power supply as long as the actual axial shift is not high enough for
tripping. The range of measurement is from (-2) to (-1.5) mm of axial shaft.

Variable reluctance type transducers excited by low frequency (50 cycles/sec.) power
supply connected as a linear variable differential transformer was in use till very
recently. Here also eddycurrent pick ups mounted facing the collar axially measures
the gap and gives the axial position of the rotor. Measure of the oil pressures on both
sides of thrustcollar will als o give a relative position of the rotor. Also temperatures of
thrust pads on both sides gives the position of the shaft.

Differential Expansion of Rotor And Cylinder

The rotating and stationery parts of the turbine undergo different rates of expansion
under various conditions of operation. This is mainly due to inherent difference in
thermal inertia between rotating and stationery parts. Therefore, any sharp
temperature fluctuation would result in different magnitudes of expansion / contraction.
The difference of axial expansion, between the rotor and casing is termed as
differential expansion. A standard convention is follows that if the shaft expands more
than the casing it is said to be a positive expansion.

On the other hand if the shaft contacts or casing expands more than the shaft it is said
to be negative expansion. A high positive expansion is foreseen under :

Start up conditions

After extended period at no load/low running load followed by sudden loading.

When the exhaust temperature is too high.

Restraint of casing sliding/expansion

A high negative expansion occurs

During cooling down /shut down

After extended period of full load running followed by load/low load running.
When exhaust hood temperature is too low.

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The turbine supervisory instrument system monitors the differential expansion at any
instant and initiates alarm should the parameter exceed its permissible limits. This
facilitiates the operator to take corrective actions.

This service provides

Remote digital indication of the differential expansion of HPTJPT and LPT.

Continuous recording on recorder.

Annunciation in case of impermissible values.

The detector here is also a two-element variable reluctance type transducer connected
in a bridge configuration, which is excited by the common 1953 Hz excitation.

The measuring units consist of amplifier, active rectifier; line arising circuits, amplifier
and comparators for annunciation. The measurement principle is the same as in the
case of axial shift-service. Trip, as has been envisaged in axial shift service, is not
provided here.
Shaft-Eccentricity

Eccentricity is the deviation of mass centre from the geometrical centre of the bearing
journal, Eccentricity is the very important parameter, because it gives the warning
about the set for vibration even when the machine is on barring gear or on lower
speed. Non-uniform heating and cooling of turbine rotor during start-up, load change
and shut down may lead to rotor deflection. The rotor deflection shifts the centre of
gravity of the rotor resulting in unbalance rotating mass, which, in turn, generates
excessive vibration. Eccentricity monitoring system enables the operating personnel to
keep conditions of operations of turbine. This service provides.

Remote digital indication of eccentricity

Continuous recording of eccentricity.

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The detector comprises of one active and one passive magnetically separate
reluctance type transducer both mounted inside the turbine casing to prevent any error
due to environmental changes. The two elements are connected in an initially
unbalanced bridge configuration which is excited by 10 r.m.s 1953 Hz supply.

The measuring unit comprises of demodulator, low pass active filter, amplifier and
amplitude detective cum D.C suppressor. In case of an eccentricity, the bridge output
is modulated by percentage proportional to the amount of

eccentricity

modulating frequency proportional to rotor speed. The bridge output is

with a

demodulated

and then filtered in a fourth order active filter to obtain the modulating signal. This
further amplified and fed to the special amplitude detector with built in electronic gate
and gate timers which avoids any charge in indication, due to sudden change in
absolute rotor position or its speed. The design envisages the detection of positive and
negative peaks of the modulating signal and its difference. This processed signal is
than fed to the digital panel meter through analogue/digital converter. The parameter is
continuously recorded in a single channel recorder. A separate analogue current output
of 4-20A is provided for data logger circuit.

The unique design of the detector allows a wide mounting tolerance in the air gap
setting. The range of measurement is 0 to 500 microns.

Casing expansion

The turbine is anc hored near the middle of LP casing and is free to expand on either
directions from the anchor point. Expansion measured at front pedestal is the
cumulative expansion of the casing from the anchor point and thus indicates the
degree of thermal soaking of the casing. Expansion is also measured at the middlebearing pedestal. This service provides:

Remote digital indication

Continuous recording of the parameter.

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The detectors are indicating type and are located on the' plates of bearing pedestals.
The linear motion of the casing is converted to the rotary motion-through a suitable
rack and pinion arrangement. The sensing element for remote indication is a rotary
potentiometer. The potentiometric circuits excited by 12V stabilized D.C supply and
variable output is converted by analogue digital converter and fed to the digital panel
meter. The casing expansion is also recorded in a multipoint recorder. A separate 4-20
MA analogue current output is available for data logger back up. The range of
measurement is 0 to 50 mm
Control Valve Servo meter Position

Upon synchronization, the speed of the turbine rotor remains more or less unaltered
and the change in load is reflected through the variation in control valve servo meter
position. It is therefore imperative to monitor the control valve servo meter position
continuously after synchronization. This service provides:

Remote digital indication

Continuous recording of the parameter after synchronization.

The detector consists of a wire wound potentio metric in a metal case. The slider shafts
is supported by a ball bearing and is Coupled with the servometer stem through
mechanical linkage and gear train.

The principle of measurement is similar to the casing expansion service. The display is
on digital panel meters and the recording on a single channel recorder. A separate 420 m analogue current output is available for data logger backup. The range of
measurement is 0 to 300 mms.
Speeder Gear Position

The speeder gear position is continuously monitored to facilitate the operator to keep a
watch on the opening condition of the valves. This service provides:
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Remote digital indication

Initiation of two logic input for switching of the speeder gear meter at extreme
positions to avoid over travelling.

The detectors similar to that of the control valve servometer position and is
coupled with load/speed control pilot spool through a gear train.

The principle of measurement is similar to the casing expansion service. The

display is on digital panel meters and the recording of the parameter is not
necessary. A separate analogue current output of 4-20mA is envisaged for data
logger hookup.

The speeder gear has been provide with a free clutching mechanism which
prevents the damage due to over travel of the speeder gear. However, as a
backup protection two switching circuits have been designed to sense the zero
and maximum position of the speeder gear position which switches of the
speeder gear meter in these extreme positions.

Bearing Vibration

Bearing vibration is one of the most vital parameters to be monitored in the turbine.
Vibration is the back and forth motion of the machine of machine part under the
influences of oscillatory forces caused by dynamically unbalanced masses in the
rotating system. Vibration can be the cause of trouble, the result of trouble, the
symptom of trouble or a combination of all the, three. Excessive vibration may lead to
mechanical failure of the turbine components and calls for extremely reliable
monitoring system. The measurement is made on the bearing pedestal.
This system provides:

Remote digital indication of the parameter.

Continuous recording of the parameter sensed by different detectors.

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Annunciation in case of impermissible values.

The detector consists of two permanent magnets rigidly fixed to the casing with coils
arranged as seismic mass. The two magnetic coils assemblies are arranged to sense
vibration to mutually perpendicular directions. The measurement system is designed to
operate satisfactorily over a vibration frequency range of 10 Hz to 150Hz with an
acceleration not above 6g.

The measuring unit comprises of preamplifier integrator, special amplifier, and rectifier.
The transformation of mechanical vibrations into electrical signal is made in a seismic
sensor, which works according to the permanent dynamic method applying the puager
coil principle. A voltage is induced in the coil due to relative movement between the
plunger coil and magnet, which is proportional to the vibration velocity. The induced
voltage is preamplified, integrated to obtain the amplitude of vibration and further
amplified in special amplifier. It is then rectified and the parameter is displayed on
digital panel meter through analogue/digital converter. The parameter is also recorded
in the multi point recorder. A separate analogue current output of 4-20 mA is available
in each channel for data-logger hook-up.
Seal Interference

During the start-up and coasting down gland seal rubbing may occur in the event of
high differential expansion/contraction and bowing rotor. Consequently monitoring of
rubbing of gland seals is considered necessary during this period.
This service provides:

Remote audio alarm through a common speaker and also a headphone

The detector comprises of an electro-dynamic microphone with built in preamplifier and filter.

The measurement unit comprises of an audio amplifier, a speaker and a headphone

with a jack in plug, selector switch. In case of a gland seal rub, a high frequency noise
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from direct metal-to-metal contact is produced which the detector senses. This signal is
pre-amplified and through a high pass filter fed to the measuring unit. It is amplified in
the audio amplifier and fed to the speaker. Each channel is selected through the
selector switch to identify the exact faulty gland seal.
Turbine Metal and Steam Temperature

Metal temperature of the turbine is the most essential parameter to be monitored since
it directly reflects the amount of stress on the various components.
This service provides :

Continuous recording of absolute metal and steam temperature.

continuous recording of differential metal temperature

Audio visual annunciation in the event of impermissible differential metal

temperature.

The detector comprises of duplex type chromel alumol thermocouple with stainless steel thermowell fixed at different locations of the turbine body.

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43. Computerised Data Acquisition System (DAS)

The main purpose of the Data Acquisition System (DAS) is to acquire sensor
data and to produce useful output information for plant operators in the form of
displays and hard copies. These system combine special hardware and software
to facilitate interfacing between plant and operator. In addition to data
acquisition these system perform plant performance calculations and process
monitoring. This chapter details the configuration of DAS.

Introduction

In the thermal units of 200 MW size, the flow of data coming from the process is very
large due to lot of instrumentation involved in this data reduction becomes very simple by
adding a digital computer to a Data Acquisition System due to its computational
capabilities. The data which are not directly in a usable form can be acquired. Processed
and presented to the operator in a desired form by the computer. In the past,
conventional instruments were used for plant operations by acquiring data. Later on,
more and more complex instruments were designed to reduce the data in a form suitable
for use.

The computer based data acquisition system which acquired data at lower cost and with
less complex instrument has become more attractive than conventional instruments for
the following advantages :

The data acquisition multi channel scanning, analog to digital conversion and digital
processing are all possible at higher speeds with greater precision.

The date generated can be much more selective and arranged in a form that facilitates
further processing.

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The reliability of the data can also be improved because the computer can error check
measurements.

The periodic data logging can be replaced by logging only in abnormal situations and in a
form suitable to the operator to take the corrective actions as and when required.

Objectives of data acquisition system are

Monitor process operation to maintain on line safe operation. Enhance plant life by
helping identifying problem areas.

Increase efficiency of operation.

Increase the reliability and availability of the process.

Provide proper historical records of plant operation for review.

Provide plant performance figures evaluating the sam e using on-line real time data.

Provide facility for easy monitoring and proper tuning of automatic controls.

Salient Features of the Computer System

Real Time Computer Characteristics: A computerized DAS is a real time system and the
computer selected for this application must be designed for real time essentially this
means that the computer hardware features and must have a proven and efficient realtime operating system. Some of the hardware features that have been found to be
important for DAS are as follows:

Memory cycle time of 1 microsecond or lower.

Multiple external interrupt structure with a fair number of interrupts.

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Fast access disk in the order of less than 20 milli seconds access time.

Multipart memory banks with provision for interleaving.

Memory expandability to at least 64 K words or equivalent.

Direct Memory Access (DMA) with multplexer for several peripherals sharing the
DMA channel.

Floating point hardware

Internal interrupts for various trap conditions.

Internal real time clocks.

Watchdog timer.

The actual performance of a computer system for the same hardware depends upon the
configuration, the operating system and the software design.

Computer configuration : A typical configuration of a computerised data acquisition

system is given in Fig. 85 to meet the above objectives. The system is configured around
a mini-computer having fairly large capacity high speed main memory, The other
hardware requirements obviously include analog and digital input subsystems; analog
Output sub-system digital Output sub-system, mass storage devices output devices and
a system console with a CRT and keyboard. A real time clock is used to keep track of
time and to perform time dependent system functions.

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The system software is designed to facilitate the operator to interrogate the interact
with the process in order to monitor and control it in optimum manner. It comprises a
real-time operating system with memory management to handle all the real time and
multiprogramming activities and application software such as data acquisition and
validation, conversation of engineering units, alarm processing, logging and
performance calculations etc. The various programmes would be disc. resident and
loaded in to memory when required.

The real time operating system : Superior hardwares features in a computer system do
not necessarily guarantee good performance unless used effectively and to the overall
system advantage by the real time operation system. A good real time operating
system is one which car ries out its functions without unduly impairing system
response. The less overhead the operating system takes, the betters for the response.
Overhead is incurred and hence response is affected when ever there is a shared
resource. Main memory, the I/O channels, subroutines and files are shared resources.
Operating systems differ in the way they manage these resources. These are key
features of an operating system which should be investigated and understood and
should also be considered in software design.

Main memory is a critical resource in a real time computer which must be shared by
the programmes. Typical, main memory is divided into several areas or partitions
areas are certain occupied by the resident portion of the real time operating system
tables, interupt processors and buffers; other areas are dedicated to the data base, the
data acquisition software and to other resident for ground programmes. Another area
may be allocated for background processing. Whatever area is left is called the nonresident foreground area and is used for running foreground programmes which reside
in bulk memory and must be loaded into main memory for execution. The aggregate
size of the foreground area in memory. Since not all programmes have to run at the
same time the concept of memory management is the allocation of the foreground
area among the several programmes that have to run. Task scheduling is part of the
memory management function. Activated to alert the plant personnel. In all cases,

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however the alarm is to the plant personnel and no automatic corrective action is
taken.
Data Logging System

Another function of the system is data logging. This after a critical event or periodically
on a printer in appropriate engineering units for the operator understanding. The types
of various logs are described below.

Turbine Run on log - Starts by turbine roll off

Boiler start up log - Printed at reselected intervals.

Hourly log.

Summary log.

Turbine and generator diagnostic log.

Post trip analysis log - This records data for the period immediately before and

After of the tripping.

Maintenance log - This records operating information of certain equipment.

Tubrine Recall Log.

Turbine shut down analysis log.

Operator request Summary log.

Performance log.

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Special log - includes vibration input bad inputs trend of analog inputs etc.

In short, the plant monitoring is done by constantly scanning the Inputs and checking
them against the alarm limits. If any input is out of limits, very commonly a message is
printed, or a light or audible annunciator is activated to alert the plant personnel. The
system prints several logs there are presently two approaches to memory
management function. The first approaches involves foreground check pointing or
swapping. This means that a programme in memory must be rolled out to disk if a
higher priority programme overlaps the memory location of the first programme. After
the high priority programme has completed execution the first programme will be rolled
backup provided no other high priority programme is contending for some of the same
memory space. The other approach to memory management is to divided the nonresident foreground area into fixed partitions, not necessarily of equal lengths. A
hardware interrupt priority level is assigned to each partition serves as an overlay area
for a group of programmes. As many programmes may be in memory as there are
partitions. A programme in a partition runs to completion without swapping out for a
higher priority programme.
Memory Management System

There are some systems where the memory management scheme is the so called "
dynamic memory allocation". The basic concept, however, is that the operating system
searches for an area in memory large enough to run a programme. Dynamic memory
allocation also does swapping on the basis of programme priority.
It is evident that the needs of memory management of what event type plus I/O
request that programmes make heavily burden another cirtical shared resource the I/O
channel. This has to be watched in system design and during operation. First of all the
operating system should not do more I/0's for memory management than is necessary.
Secondly, the software design and priority structure should be thought out carefully
with the objectives of minimising access to bulk memory.

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44. Off - Site Facilities

Coal Transportation & Handling
As Coal, is the prime fuel for a thermal power plant, adequate emphasis
needs to be given for its proper handling and storage. Also, it is equally
important to have a sustained flow of this fuel to maintain uninterrupted
power generation. This Chapter describes the existing systems of coal
transportation and handling.

Coal Transportation System (MGR)

Each of the NTPC project requires transportation of large quantity of coals from the
coal mines to the power station site of the order of 30,000 tones per day for a typical
2,000 MW station. This enormous coal requirement is being met from open cast
mines. Each super Thermal Power Project has been linked to a particular coal mine to
meet its coal requirements for the span of its entire operational life. Techno-economic
study conducted for coal transportation from mines to power station has revealed that
captive merry-go-round (MGR) rail transportation system is most economic and is also
reliable. This system calls for high-speed load- outstation at the mines, which have the
following advantages:

High loading enables loading of trains quickly thus achieving high turn over of wagons
and reduction in rolling stock requirement.

Top open railway wagons are loaded with maximum possible load consistently and
accurately.

Simple loading arrangement at a single point avoids the need for a big marshalling
yard with cumbersome operational system.

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The high speed load outstation consists of one or two loading silos depending upon
the coal requirement of the linked power station. The holding capacity of the loading
silo is such that is adequate to fall at least one complete rake of wagon and in some
cases two rake. The capacity of the silos for the NTPC project varies between 2400
ton/4000 ton. The silos are cylindrical and are of RCC construction being fed by twin
belt conveyors. The capacity of the conveyors is based on peak daily coal
requirement of the power station linked to mine. 100% standby conveyor capacity is
provided for complete reliability of feeding arrangement to the silo. For accurate
weighing of coal, two in-motion weight bridges (one before the loading silo and
another after the silo) are provided for registering the tare and gross weight of the
wagons. Hydraulically operated horizontal snap gates are provided at the mouth of
silos to control the feed of coal to wagons. The run of mine coal is sized to 200 mm by
the primary crushing arrangement at the mine end. A sampling unit suitable for 20 mm
size coal is provided at the feed point of the loading silo to collect samples for quality
analysis.

Since there is generally only one source of coal to the power plant, and independent
closed circuit is provided for transporting coal. It is entirely independent of the
conventional of the railway system. Dedicated unit trains are deployed to transport
coal from mines to power stations. The loading operation of the coal rake takes place
while it is moving under the silo at a present speed of 0.8 k.m. per hr. The loading
time for each wagon is one minute. Wagons are provided with bottom discharge
hoppers fitted with pneumatically operated automatic door actuating mechanism. For
unloading of coal from wagons and under ground track hopper is provided at the
power station end. Line side equipment is installed by the track hopper for initiating
the opening of doors in groups of 10-14 wagons. The unloading operation of 60 tonne
per load wagon takes about 20/30 seconds.

The track hopper is designed to have an effective minimum holding capacity of the
train load and is normally of 200-250m length. The complete operation of loading,
unloading and running of trains is dovetailed is such a manner that there is no holdup
in the operation of the MGR system. The capacity of reclaim conveyors installed
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below track hopper is such that the track hopper is evacuated before the arrival of the
next train.
Coal Handling System

In the coal handling system of NTPC stations, three coal paths are normally available

Path A - direct conveying of coal from track hopper to boiler bunkers

Path B - from track hopper to stockyard

Path C - from stockyard to boiler bunkers.

The storage facilities at the stockyards have been provided only for crushed

coal.

The coal handling system is designed to provide 100% standby for all the equipment
and conveyors. The conveyor capacities are determined by the fact that a single
steam of conveyors shall meet the daily MCR coal requirement of all the units in 12-14
operation hours per day. The coal handling system is designed such that both the
steams can be operated simultaneously, if required. In the case of Singrauli Power
Project, an independent coal handling plant is provided for each stage of the project,
having 1000 MW capacity. However, in the case of the Korba and Ramagundam
power projects the coal handling plant is designed for the ultimate plant capacity of
the station and based on 16-17 operating hours per day. This has been done to
optimise the initial capital cost of the plant.

The capacity of the coal handling system for the present NTPC super thermal stations
varies from 1200 to 2000 t/h, normally, for a stage of 1000 MW, the conveyor
capacities are rated 1200-1700 t/h depending upon the gross calorific value of the
coal. The gross calorific value of typical power grade Indian coal is normally in the
range 2700-4300 kcal/kg.

A typical schematic representation of a coal handling system has been shown in

Fig.86.
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The 200mm coal as received at the track hopper is fed to the crusher house through a
series of conveyors. In the crusher house, four crushers of 50% capacity are provided
and these are preferred to two crushers of 100% capacity because of increased
reliability and possible higher availability.

A series of parallel conveyors thereafter are designed either to carry crushed coal
directly to the roller bunkers or to divert it to the stockyard. To feed coal into bunkers,
mobile trippers have been provided over bunker conveyors.

The coal mills and, therefore also, the bunker conveyors of the 200 MW units of the
earlier projects are provided between boiler and turbo-generator building. However,
for better mill maintenance, accessibility, and to reduce coal dust nuisance in the
turbine plant area, coal mills and bunker conveyors are now being place between
boiler and electrostatic precipitator. The mills for 500 MW units are located on both
sides of the boiler.

Coal handling System - Equipments

The various equipments involved in the coal handling system have been described in
this section and they are i) idlers, ii) pulleys, iii) Conveyor belt, iv) drive Unit, v) takeups, vi) Skirt board, vii) scrapper, viii) crushers, ix) vibrating screen, x) Stacker-cumreclaimer, xi) magnetic separators, xii) plough feeder, xiii) ring-granulator, xiv) Eliptex
feeder, xv) motorised tripper.
Idlers Idlers consist essentially of rolls made out of seamless steel tube enclosed fully
at each end and fitted with stationary shaft, antifriction bearing and seals. The roll is
sealed by seal assem bly to keep the lubricant dust free. The following types of idlers
are in general use :

Troughing Idler

Troughing trainer

Return trainer

Impact Idler

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Return Idler

In case ofthroughing idler rolls are mounted on brackets which are fixed to the idler
base frame. The return idler brackets are directly mounted on the conveyor stringers
and the pulley roll is supported in the brackets. The idlers support the belt and enable
it to travel freely without much frictional losses and also keep the belt trained pr operly.
The proper training is achieved on the principle that the belt will move towards the roll
which touches the belt first in the direction of travel. Thus slight adjustment of the one
side of idler base in the direction of belt travel will move the belt towards the opposite
side since the pulley roll on opposite side will come in contact with the belt first due to
swivelling of the idler caused by adjustment of the base.

Troughing trainers and return trainers work on the same principle and keep the belt
automatically trained after the initial training of the belt is done.
Impact idlers These are provided with rubber discs for cushioning effect at the
loading points and protect the belt from damage which may be caused otherwise due
to heavy impact of m aterial falling on belt.
Return Idlers Rubber disc return idlers are suitable when materials are damp or
sticky or tend to build up on conventional tube type return idler thus causing the off
centre travel of the belt. These are also preferred where abrasive materials rapidly
deteriorate metal rolls or when moisture tends to freeze on the belt surface.
Pulleys Pulleys are made of mild steel. Rubber lagging is provided to increase the
friction factor in between the belt and the pulley.
Conveyor Belt

The conveyor belt consists of layers or plies of fabric duck,

impregnated with rubber and protected by a rubber cover on both sides and edges.
The fabric duck supplies the strength to withstand the tension created in carrying the
load while the cover protects the fabric carcass. Heat resistant belting is always
recommended for handling materials at a temperature over 66 deg C.
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Drive Unit This comprises of motor coupled to reduction gear box with the help of
flexible couplings on the high speed shaft of the gear box. For inclined conveyors,
bold backs are incorporated in the gear boxes to prevent running back of the conveyor
under loaded condition. With the provision of the fluid coupling on the input side, the
motor starts under no load conditions and the conveyor moves only when the motor
reaches its full speed. This also eliminates the starting shock on the conveyor
components.
Take Ups All the conveyors are provided with take up which facilitate the effective
functioning in the following ways:

To maintain a slack side tension necessary for the drive to operate the belt.
To keep sag of belt between idlers at a point where require horsepower will be at a
minimum and load will move with least disturbance over idlers.
Skirt Board Skirt boards are used in conjunction with chutes at the trail end. They
guide the materials centrally on the belt while loading until it has settled down on the
belt. It consists of a Fabricated Frame mounted along the conveyor length with the
necessary supports. The skirt rubber is attached at the bottom keeping uniform
pressure on the belting.

Scrapper Conveyors are provided with scrapers at the discharge pulley in order to
clean the carrying side of the belt and avoid the wear of return idlers due to the built
up material on idler rolls. It is important that care should be taken to ensure that the
scraper is held against the belt with the pressure sufficient to remove material without
causing damage to <"be belt due to excessive force exerted by wiper. In case of
counter weighted & spring loaded scrapers the pressure is altered by adjusting the
weights on the arm or by adjusting the springs respectively. Wherever there is any
danger of spilled material getting wedged between the tail pulley and the belt, a V
plough scraper is mounted a little ahead of tail pulley on the return run of the belt.

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Following categories of scrapers are in common use :

Steel blade scraper.

Rubber or fabric blade scraper. Nylon brush scraper.

Compressed air blast scraper.

Crusher The role of crusher is to crush the coal from 200 mm to 20 mm size of coal
received from the vibrating screen. This is accomplished by means ot granulators
Refer Fig. 87 for a simplified cross-sectional view of a crusher. Inese granulators are of
ring type and there are about 37 crushing elevations. In each elevation, there are four
granulators; two of plain type and two of tooth type. These have been arranged in such
a way that the two of the same type are not side-by-side. The granulators are of
manganese steel because of their work hardening property.

The coal enters the top of the crusher and is crushed between rotating granulators and
fluid cage path. This crushed coal through a chute falls on belt feeder. Normally these
crushers have a capacity of around 600 tons per hour.
Vibrating Screen The function of the vibrating screen is: -

To send the coal having size of less than 20mm to belt feeder through the bypass
chute bypassing the crusher and

To send the coal of more than 20mm size to the crusher. The screen is operated by
four V-belt connected to motor. The purpose of the vibrating screen is such that when
the unbalanced shaft is rotated with motor the coal particles travel along the screen.
The vibration on the screen are damped by four springs mounted below the screen.
The coal on the screen, while in running condition, comes into the crusher. Generally in
each crusher there are four vibrating screens having a capacity of around 600 tons per
hour.
Stacker-cum-reclaimer This is used for stacking and reclaiming the coal from stock
yard. Generally two stacker claimers have been provided at each of the NTPC's
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projects. Their normal capacity is 200 tons per hour and maximum design capacity is
450 tons per hour.

Figure 88 shows a picturial representation of a stacker-cum-reclaimer. The stacker

reclaimer generally consists of (a) bucket wheel or digging wheel (b) boom conveyor.
While the belt conveyor carrying the coal for the stock yard is in the same direction but
the direction of the boom conveyor with respect to stacking and reclaiming is opposite.
Digging Wheel The digging wheel is use for cutting and lifting the coal from the stock
yard to the belt used for transfering coal from the yard. The above transfer takes place
in case of reclaiming the coal only.

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During stocking operation, the coal from the crusher house is diverted towards tne
stockyard conveyor at a transfer point. The above conveyor discharges coal to the
boom conveyor through a discharge chute. The boom conveyor, running in the forward
direction, creates coal stacks.

During reclaiming, coal from the stock yard falls on the boom conveyor \ ' -h the help of
the bucket wheel and the boom conveyor, during this period, rotates in backward
direction. The coal from central chute falls on the covneryor belts used for transferring
the coal from the stock yard. By this way, the coal moves on the underground conveyor
belts connected to the main belts.

A 6.6 KV motor is used for running the stacker-cum-reclaimer and has a cable reeling
drum on which flexible cable is wrapped.
Magnetic Separators

This is an electromagnet placed above the conveyor to attract magnetic materials.

Over this magnet there is one conveyor to transfer these material to chute provided for
dumping at ground level. Because of this, continuous removal is possible and also it is
not necessary to stop the electric supply to the magnetic separators for removal of
separated materials.
Plough Feeder

The plough feeder is normally installed under slot bunkers or hoppers. It is imperative
that the feeder is fed properly allowing even feed of material to the rotor blades. There
must be adequate means of controlling the excessive feed from the slot bunker or
hopper and this is normally achieved by adjustable lip plates fixed along the discharge
lip of slot bunker or hopper. These feeders used in power station are generally rotory
type.

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The rotory plough feeder consists of a main carriage frame, the top of which is
connected the main body. The carriage, frame consists of a fabricated structure on four
wheels, two of the wheels driven through chains from a counter shaft. The drive for
traversing is by electric motor through a warm reducer. As saddle with eight sets of
either impact or troughing idlers is connected from the carriage frame. Thus, a
travelling loading point is automatically created as the plough feeder traverses on the
rails. The main body consists of a fabricated frame on which is mounted the vertical
double reduction worm gear. At the end of the output shaft a rotor is fitted which can
rotate at the required speed. A bibby coupling is fitted on the output side
ofthedynodrive and connected to the input side of the main gear reducer. The rotor
speed can be varied by means of dynodrive.
Vibrating Feeder

It is used for throwing the coal on the underground conveyor belt from where coal goes
to the bunker. Coal from the stockyard, with the help of bulldozer, is taken to the
vibrating feeder via reclaimed

hopper and under ground conveyor belt. In case the

bunker requirement is more that the capacity of crusher or stacker reclaimer, then with
the help of bulldozer the coal is sent to the bunker from the stock yard, through these
feeders.

Trippers The tripper is provided in the conveyor to stack the material at desired
location on either side or along the conveyor with the help of chute/chutes fitted with
the tripper itself. The tripper is provided with wheels, which moves on rails, parallel to
conveyor. These trippers have a rigid welded steel frame to resist shock and minimise
distortion. There are mainly three type of trippers. They are a) Motorised tripper b) Belt
propelled-manually operated tripper c) winch driven tripper.
Motorised Tripper Motorised tripper, propelled by independent motor, is used where
continuous and uniform distribution .of material along the conveyor is required or where
the tripper is to be moved or reversed frequently. It can be automatically reversed at
end of its travel with the help of limit switches carried on the tripper.

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Belt propelled-manually operated tripper The belt propelled tripper is used where
travel distance and direction will be manually conrolled. Power to move the tripper is
obtained from conveyor belt and is transmitted from the pulley shaft to the tripper wheel
through the spur gear, bevel gear, floating shaft and the reduction gear box.
Winch Driven tripper This tripper is driven by a motorised winch drum located either
at the head or at the tail to suit the requirement. In this arrangement elaborate power
feeding arrangement is not required, as the drive is located at a fixed place. The tripper
can have a push button control for operation either at the drive location or at a remote
place as required.

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45. Fuel Oil System

In thermal Power plants with coal fired Boiler, the Fuel Oil plays a vital role
in initial firing of the Boilers and running it upto 25-30% of its rated load
capacity. The fuel oil is also used as a stabilising fuel in the pulverised fuel
fired boilers till the coal flame stabilises in the furnace and for proper coal
burning while the load is reduced in the boiler for a shut down. This Chapter
deals with the handling system of fuel oil.

Heavy Oil Handling System

Heavy oil is received at the site in railway tankers of 20 tonne capacity each. An
unloading header by the side of rec eiving railway tankers has been laid in the
underground trench and is provided with number of receiving points so that a number
of wagons can be unloaded at a time. The unloading header of approximately 200
meters in length and of 450 mm in dia. is generally laid on the supports in the
underground trench situated between the two railway lines. Unloading arrangement is
such that number of railway tankers can be placed on either side of header on the
railway lines and connected at a time to the header. The connections between loading
header and tankers are through rubber flexible hosepipes.

Railway tankers are supposed to be equipped with steam heating coils for oil heating.
For this purpose, steam lines are laid upground on both sides of oil unloading header .
The condensate is collected in the condensate main line.

"Oil transfer Pumps" for steam jacketed type, are provided for transferring oil from
collecting header to storage tanks or from storage tanks to service oil tanks. A set of
basket type strainer with steam jacketing are also provided before the pumps in order
to prevent the dirt or any suspended foreign particles/matter present in oil, from
entering the pumps.
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Oil from discharge end of pumps can be stored in any of the tanks through the help of
plug valves provided in the inlet lines to storage tanks. All the main storage tanks are
generally interconnected to the suction side of unloading pumps so that oil from one
tank can be transferred to another for the purpose of any maintenance. Work arising in
any of the tanks. The main storage tanks are equipped with Mangnetic type float
switches and Mechanical type float level indicators to measure the quantity of oil stored
in the tank.

In order to keep the visocity of oil in main storage tank low. it is essential to keep the oil
warm between 50 to 70 deg C so that the oil from storage tanks can be transferred to
service tanks for normal/daily utilization of fuel oil for the firing. For this purpose a
steam floor heating coil has been laid at the bottom of the tank. Thermostatic
temperature controller installed at the inlet of steam heating coil, controls the
temperature of oil tank at the desired point selected between 50 to 70 deg C

Heavy fuel oil from service tank is led to the fuel oil pumps located in the pump house
at a pumpable temperature of 40 deg C to 60 deg C. The heavy fuel oil passes through
the oil strainer on the suction side of the high pressure screw pump and gets
pressurised to high pressure required for oil atomisation.

Heavy oil pumping unit consists of oil suction strainers & screw pumps each coupled
through flexible coupling and mounted on a common frame. The strainers and pumps
are inteconnected by piping with necessary valves and fittings and arranged over an oil
tight drip tray. Oil strainer is provided to prevent the mechanical impurities reaching the
small clearances and intricate passages in the screw pump. The oil strainers are
provide with shut off valves before and after for necessary air release. Steam jacket
and drain valve ar e also provided on each strainer. One strainer is open to the oil line
during operation and the other serves as a standby. When the strainer in operation
becomes clogged, the standby strainer can be put into operation by opening the shut
off valves before and after the clogged strainer. The change over of the strainers can
be effected during operation of the pump.

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The screw pump, when connected to an induction motor with constant speed, is a
constant quantity pump and valves in the delivery line control the delivery pressure.
When only a small quantity of oil is fired, the excess oil from the pump discharge
should be bypassed. This is done automatically by electrically operated, pressure
maintaining valve bypassing the excess quantity through the return oil line to storage
tank and the delivery pressure of oil is maintained constant at the pump outlet,
whatever be the quantity of fuel oil.

Heavy oil from the delivery side of the heavy oil-pumping unit enters the heavy oil preheater where it is heated from pumping temperature to a temperature corresponding to
an atomizing viscosity. The outlet temperature of heavy oil from the heat exchanger is
automatically maintained at a constant value by the automatic temperature-regulating
valve, mounted on the steam supply line to heaters. The temperature-regulating valve
controls the quantity of steam to the heater according to the outlet temperature of the
oil from the heater.

Light oil Transfer & Pumping System

Light oil is used as the fuel for the igniters. Light oil is also required for warming up oil
guns to start up the boiler from cold condition when steam is not available for heating
heavy fuel oil. Due to low viscosity at ambient temperature it does not require heating
and atomization is done by air.

Road tankers discharge oil into a common receiving header through flexible hosepipes.
There is provision to unload number of tankers at a time. Oil from the receiver is
pumped into the light oil storage tank by light oil transfer pumps of rated capacity. The
transfer pump is provided with two simple type coarse filters at the suction.

From storage tank, oil is pumped to burners by light oil pressure pumps at rated
pressure. Pressure of oil at the pump discharge is kept constant by automatic pressure
regulating valve. Fine filter has been provided at the suction of each pump.

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The light oil pumping unit located in the pump house near the day tank draws light oil
from day tank and delivers through common piping to the boilers. The light oil pumps
are of screw, positive displacement type coupled to electric motors through flexible
couplings and mounted on a common frame. At the pump suction there are basket type
strainers with suitable vents and drains.

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46. Ash Handling Plant

The ash produced in the boiler is transported to ash dump area by means of
sluicing type hydraulic ash handling system, which consists of Bottom Ash
System, ash Water System and Ash Slurry System. This Chapter attempts to
provide an insight into these systems.

Bottom Ash System

In the Bottom ash system the ash slag discharged from the furnace bottom is collected
in two water impounded scraper troughs installed below bottom ash hoppers. The ash
is continuously, transported by means of the scraper chain conveyor, on to the
respective clinker grinders which reduce the lump sizes to the required fineness. The
crushed ash from the clinker grinders falls into the ash sluice trench provided below the
bottom ash hopper from where the ash slurry is further transported to ash slurry sump
aided by the ash sluice channel. If the clinker grinder is not in operation, bottom ash
can be discharged directly into the sluice channel through the bifurcating chute bypass
the grinder. The position of the flap gate in the bifurcating chute is to be^ manually
changed.

The main types of hoppers used in power stations are described below :
Water Filter Hoppers This consists of a tank made of steel plate. The bottom ash from
the boiler falls into water filled tank and is immediately quenched large pieces of ash
break up due to thermal shock, thus the ash collected will be of fairly small size and
during the disposal not much difficulty in terms of crushing aspects will be encountered.
These hoppers may or may not be lined with refractory. The lined hoppers present
difficulties with regard to the maintenance of refractory which goes off too frequently
due to temperature variations. The unlined hoppers have problems on corrosion for
which special coating are recommended.
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Quencher Cooled Ash Hopper This uses a series of quenchers located near the top
of the hoppers which provide fine spray of water. This ensure that the ash is cooled
sufficiently to prevent after combustion and simitering within the hopper. The spray
water also keeps the refractory lining of the hopper cool. (Refer Fig. 89). The quencher
type hoppers are not very effective so far as the breaking up of ash due to thermal
shocks is concerned. If there is a tendency of slag accumulation of large pieces clinker
grinders are normally used.
Fly Ash System
The flushing apparatus are provide under E.P.hoppers (40 nos), economisr hopper (4
Nos), airpreheater hoppers (4 Nos) and stack hoppers (2 nos). The fly ash collected in
these hoppers drop continously to flushing apparatus where fly ash gets mixed
with flushing water and the resulting slurry drops into the ash sluice channel. Low
pressure water is applied through the nozzle directing tangentially to the section of pipe
to create turbulance and proper mixing of ash with water. For the maintenance of
flushing apparatus plate valve is provided between apparatus and connecting chute.

Fig No.- 89 Quencher Cooled Ash Hopper

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Ash Water System

High pressure water required for B.A. hopper quenching nozzles, B.A. hoppers window
spraying, clinker grinder sealing scraper bars, cleaning nozzles, B.A. hopper seal
through flushing, Economizer Hoppers flushing nozzles and sluicing trench jetting
nozzles is tapped from the high pressure water ring main provided in the plant area.

Low-pressure water required for bottom ash hopper seal through makeup, scraper
conveyor makeup, flushing apparatus jetting nozzles for all F.A. hoppers

excepting

economiser hoppers, is tapped from Low pressure water ring mains provided in the
plant area.
Ash Slurry System

Bottom ash and fly ash slurry of the system is sluiced upto ash slurry pump along the
channel with the aid of high-pressure water jets located at suitable intervals along the
channel.

Slurry pump suction line consisting of reducing elbow with drain valve, reducer and
butterfly valve and portion of slurry pump delivery line consisting of butterfly valve, pipe
and fittings has also been provided.

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47. Circulating Water System

Water is required in the thermal power station for various purposes. Filtered
water is used for bearing cooling drinking and other general uses, whereas
ordinary unfiltered raw water is suitable for condenser cooling and ash
disposal purposes. This chapter deals with this system along with its
connected elements.

Water Requirements of a Power Station

Bulk requirement of water is used in thermal plants for the purpose of cooling the team
in condensers. The requirement of water for this purpose is of the order of 1.5-to2.0
cusecs/MW of installation. The purpose of condensation is best served by running cold
water if it is used one through without the necessity of recalculating the same water for
cooling again and again.

Second item of major consumptive use of water is the sluicing out ash that is produced
by burning the coal. Of the total quantum of coal consumed in the boiler the
percentage of ash may be of the order of 30 to 45%.

Depending on the type of plant, a substantial quantum of water is required in the coal
handling plant for the purpose of dust suppression. Since spraying is involved, it is
necessary to ensure that the water is reasonably free from silt and other fibrous
suspended material.

Lastly, water is also required for various purposes like bearing/equipment cooling and
various make-ups in the power station.

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Sources of Water Supply

Main sources of water supply are river, reservoirs, natural lakes, canals, wells for small
stations, and the ocean for coastal plants.

After working out the total requirement of water for cooling and other purposes.
hydrological studies are carried Out for the source to find the reliable discharge
available. Dry and wet bulb temperature (Humidity), water temperature, hydrographs of
rivers of various years are prepared and the maximum and minimum water level is
found out to make techno-economic studies for adopting the type of circulating water
system.
Direct Circulation Cooling System

From a River In this system, after studying the hydrological data of the river, if the river
water is sufficient to meet the demands of the circulating water system, this method is
adopted for cooling. The minimum flow in the main river should not be less than the
ultimate requirement of water under all circumstances.
Intake Structure Intake structure is located at such a point where the main channel of
the river huge the intake structure bank. Intake structure should not endanger the
foundations. The floor level of intake structure should be higher than maximum flood
level of the river. Silting at the entrance should be avoided. Techno-economic studies
are carried out to fix the capacity of the pump. Suitable trash racks are needed at the
entrance of leaves, trees, logs, animals etc. Water drawn through such intake
structures can be carried in an open channel or RCC ducts/pipes upto the powerhouse
depending on techno-economic studies and site condition with respect to location of
the condenser.

Sometimes two stages pumping may become necessary in case of excessive length
and head in the condenser system. From the condenser, not water is taken through a
pipe to the RCC ducts and then to the open channel. The location of the discharge
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point should be so fixed that hot water does not cut short to find its way into the intake
structure again. Inflow of hot water should not increase the temperature of raw water
appreciably and endanger marine life.
From the Ocean Direct circulation can be done from the sea where is no other
economical source for a water circulation system. Maximum and minimum tide level is
found out and geological studies are also carried out to assess problems to drift
deposit. Intake and discharge structures are constructed on separate bays or at
adequate "distance apart to avoid short circuit. These structures are constructed
generally of precast concrete pipes etc. laid from barges and are loaded with stone.
The problem connected with open ocean intake area (i) land movement or unstable
bottom, (ii) marine growth control, (iii) problems connected with destruction of fish or
clogging of streams by fish and marine life. Thermal shock treatment or addition of
chlorine is adopted for checking marine growth. The fish problem can be reduced by
the construction of velocity caps which change the direction of flow from vertical to
horizontal.
From reservoirs or Pick-up Weirs The design of intakes from a reservoir or pick-up
weirs and for direct circulation is in principle, similar to any intake structure for irrigation
or hydel channel intake. Apart from desalting when the silt content is high, clarification
is also required to be done at least in some cases. Depending on location, advantage
can be taken of the symphonic head available for drawl of water. It has to be noted
that there may not be much advantage in the capital cost on installation of a pump, but
there is definite saving of electric energy by utiliz ation of a symphonic head.
Closed Circulating System

Closed circulating water system can be sub-divided into two types

Where the water supply in scarce (by cooling tower spray pond) and

Where the water supply is ample and hot water can be cooled by surface
evaporation from a lake.

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In this system of cooling, the same water will be circulated again and again: water
which gets hot is cooled by a cooling tower or by lake spread cooling system before
being re-used. The quantity of soluble salts in circulating water will increase in case of
cooling towers. Generally, arrangements are made to provide for taking the blow down
discharge. Substantial quantum of water is lost by evaporation and drift in the process
of cooling. This is required to be made up by fres h supply.
Intake Structure The principle of design and construction of intake structure for
make-up water is the same as that for once-through direct circulation intake, excepting
for the fact that the volume handled in this case is smaller. This makeup water is led to
the cooling tower basin. Water is drawn from the cooling tower basin by RCC duct.
Proper arrangement of stop log and trash rack is made at the entrance of the water
intake channeV RCC ducts. Intake ducts are taken along the length of the main
powerhouse and entry to the units is made in between the column. The capacity for
RCC duct is fixed on 1.1 to 1.5 cusecs/MW. The velocity of water should not be less
than 3 ft/sec, and not more than 8 ft/sec. Generally, 5 ft/sec, to 6 ft./sec. velocity is
adopted for design of RCC duct. Suitable gates or stop logs should be provided in
intake channels to isolate them from the units not under operation and for necessary
maintenance and repairs.
Lake Cooling This system can suitably be adopted when a natural lake is available or
an artificial lake can conveniently be constructed by construction of a dam and when
surface area of such lake even under draw down condition is adequate for the
required quantum of cooling. Water is pumped or drawn from one end of the source to
condensers and hot water is discharged at the other end into the source at a suitable
location so that hot water is not drawn again. Hot water gets cooled in the reservoir by
coming in contact with cooler water and air and evaporation. Extent of cooling of hot
water depends on :

Surface area of water

Ambient temperature

Reservoir water temperature

Wind velocity

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Dry and wet bulb temperature i.e. humidity

Inflow and outflow discharge from reservoir/lake.

Location of intake structure and arrangement : Intake structure is located on the fringe
of the reservoir so that the distance from main power house to intake structure is
minimum. Elevation of condenser and elevation of minimum water level has a great
bearing on the circulating water system. Power houses can be so located that the
grade level of power house is about 8 to 10 ft. above high flood level of lake or
reservoir. Water is drawn by open earthen channel or by RCC ducts and pumped to
the condenser from where it should be able to discharge into the lake at maximum
water level by gravity.

But when the layout is so adjusted that the condenser is located below grade level, the
cost of intake pumping can be reduced; but the power house has to be protected
against seepage of water and flood level of reservoir.
Cooling Towers

Cooling towers are important components of thermal plants where a limited supply of
make-up water only is available. Cooling towers thus provide flexibility for selection of
sites for thermal power stations even though capital investment and running costs are
generally on the high side.

Broadly speaking cooling towers are of two types: i) Mechanical draft cooling towers
and ii) natural draft cooling towers. Mechanical draft cooling towers are of two types
viz. a) forced dr aft-cooling towers and (b) induced draft-cooling towers.
Forced draft-cooling tower In this case, motor driven fans located at the base, i.e.
ground level, below air into the tower from the sides. The top of the tower is open to
the air vapour discharge. The main drawback in this type of tower is that exit velocity
is low and this results in recirculating hot air into the fan intake. Thus, the efficiency of
the tower is reduced. The other disadvantages of forced draft cooling towers are '
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High velocity from the fan located at the base makes it difficult to distribute air evenly
over the whole of packing.

Low height, low velocity of air and low wind velocity generally result in reciruclation of
hot air. This results in rise of cold water temperature and reduction in efficiency.

It is the experience that there is rapid growth of fungus inside cooling towers and
eliminator which is required for the removal of droplets from the air stream. This
results in clogging and the efficiency of the tower is reduced.
Induced Draft Cooling Towers These days, it is preferred to use induced draft
cooling towers where the fan is located at the top and air enters from the openings
located at ground level. Air, mixed with vapours, is discharged through a fan stack
located at the top of the tower. In this case, moist air is discharged higher in the
atmosphere thereby dispersing to a greater distance from the tower. There is a
cylindrical RCC structure supported on RCC columns. Hot water is taken to the top of
the tower by steel pipes and discharged on the packing with distribution system of
precast RCC trough and tubes. Eliminators of asbestos are provided at the top to
arrest the droplets. The fan is located at the top to draw air from the cylinder for
dispersion. Hot water is cooled by the induced air travelling up. Cold water is collected
in the pond located below the cooling tower where make-up water is also discharged.
Hyperbolic Natural Draft Cooling Towers These are hyperbolic RCC structures
supported on RCC columns. Most of structure is empty shell but the lower portion
contains a cooling stack over which hot water is distributed by RCC channel or pipe
system. The lower portion of shell is open to allow the air to go to the cooling stack
supported on the RCC columns, whic h are designed for horizontal load due to wind. A
pond is constructed below the tower to catch the cooled water and make-up water for
circulation. As the warm water falls in the stack, it gives its heat to the air there, which
becomes lighter than the ambient air and a draft is created due to chimney action. In
this case, cooling is dependent on dry bulb temperature i.e. being better in humid
conditions. Natural draft cooling towers are normally adopted near coastal areas
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where humidity is generally very high. But the capital cost of natural draft cooling
towers is about 60% more than that of mechanical draft cooling towers. While making
techno-economic study, the power consumption for running the fan and rapid
maintenance of fan switchgear etc. Should also be taken into consideration.
Spacing of cooling Towers

Natural draft cooling towers are so located that air may pass freely into the base of
these cooling towers. Generally, these are spaced at three dia. centre to centre at
ground level. But clear distance should not be less than 30 to 40 m in any case.

In case of mechanical draft cooling towers, there is possibility of recirculation of

heated air discharged from cooling towers. This effect of recirculation can be reduced
by spacing cooling towers widely apart. Generally, in case of large thermal power
station, these are kept at about 100 m apart. It indicates clearly that more area is
required for mechanical draft cooling towers than natural draft cooling towers.

Cooling towers should be away from main and auxiliary buildings, so that they stop
circulating air or spray water on buildings. They should not near the switch-yard as this
will affect the working life of the structure. In case cooling towers are located near the
main national highway, it is likely that there may be fog near the road due to cooling
towers. This is likely to affect the traffic on roads.
Auxiliary Cooling Water System

Usually a part of the water to condenser is tapped off and supplied for the following
sub-systems :

Turbine lub oil and gas cooler directly from CW pump discharge

Bearing cooling system

D M plant

General services and miscellaneous cooling

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48. Water Treatment Plant

The objective of water treatment is to produce a boiler feed water so that there
shall be (a) no scale formation' causing resistance to passage of heat and
burning of tube (b) no corrosion and (c) no priming or foaming problems.
This will ensure that the steam generated shall be clean and the boiler plant
will provide trouble free uninterrupted service. This chapter details the system
for production of such water in a power plant.

As the types of boiler are not alike their working pressure and operating conditions
vary and so do the types and methods of water treatment. Water treatment plants
used in thermal power plants are designed to process the raw water to a water with
vary low in dissolved solids known as " demineralised water". No doubt, this plant has
to be engineered very carefully keeping in view the type of raw water to the thermal
plant, its treatment costs and overall economics.
Actually, the type of demineralisation process chosen for a power station depends on
three main factors :

The quality of the raw water.

The degree of deionisation i.e. treated water quality

Selectivity of resins.

Figure 101 shows a schematic diagram of water treatment process which is generally
made up of two sections :

Pretreatment section

Demineralisation section

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Pretreatment section

Pretreatment plant removes the suspended solids such as clay, silt, organic and
inorganic matter, plants and other microscopic organism. The turbidity may be taken
as of two types of suspended solids in water. Firstly the separable solids and secondly
the non-separable solids (colloids). The coarse components, such as sand, silt etc,
can be removed from the water by simple sedimentation. Finer particles however, will
not settle in any reasonable time and must be floculated to produce the large particles
which are settleable. Long term ability to remain suspended in water is basically a
function of both size and specific gravity. The settling rate of the colloidal and finely
devided (approximately 001 to 1 micron ) suspended matter is so slow that removing
them from water by plain sedimentation is tanks having ordinary dimensions is
impossible. Settling velocity of finely divided and collidal particles under gravity also is
so small that ordinary sedimentation is not possible. It is necessary, therefore, to use
procedure which agglomerate the small particles into larger aggregates, which have
practical settling velocities.

The term " Coagulation" and "flocculation" have been used indiscriminately to describe
process of turbidity removal. "Coagulation" means to bring together the suspended
particles. The process describes the effect produced by the addition of a chemical Alg
(SP^)g to a colloidal dispersion resulting in particle destablization by a reduction of
force tending to keep particles apart. Rapid mixing is important at this stage to obtain
uniform dispersion of the chemical and to increase opportunity for particles to particle
contact. This operation is done by flash mixer in the clarifloculator. Second stage of
formation of settleable particles from destablised collidal sized particles is termed a
"flocculation". Here coagulated particles grow in size by attaching to each other. In
contrast to coagulation where the primary force is electrostatic or interionic,
"floculation" occurs by chemical bridging. Floculation is obtained by gentle and
prolonged mixing which converts the subm icroscopic coagulated particle into discrete,
visible & suspended particles. At this stage particles are large enough to settle rapidly
under the influence of gravity and may be removed.

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If pretreatment of the water is not done efficiently then consequences are as follows :

SiOg may escape with water which will increase the anion loading.

Organic matter may escape which may cause organic fouling in the anion
exchanger beds. In the pre-treatment plant chlorine addition provision is
normally made to com bat organic contamination.

Cation loading may unnecessary increase due to addition of Ca (OH)g in

excess of calculated amount for raising the pH of the water for maximum floe
formation and also AKOrDg may precipitate out. If less than calculated amount
of Ca(OH), is added, proper pH floculation will not be obtained and silica
escape to deminerahsation section will occur, thereby increasing load on anion
bed.

Demineralisation

This filter water is now used for demineralising purpose and is fed to cation exchanger
bed, but enroute being first dechlorinated, which is either done by passing through
activated carbon filter or injecting along the flow of water, an equivalent amount of
sodium sulphite through some stroke pumps. The residual chlorine which is
maintained in clarification plant to remove organic matter from raw water is now
detrimental to cation resin and must be eliminated before its entry to this bed.

Normally, the typical scheme of demineralisation upto the mark against an average
surface water, is three bed system with a provision of removing gaseous carbon
dioxide from water before feeding to Anion Exchanger. Now, let us see, What happens
actually in each bed when water is passbd from one to another.

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Resins, which are built on synthetic matrix of a styrene divinely benzene copolymer,
are manufactured in such a way that these have the ability to exchange one ion for
another, hold it temporarily in chemical combination and give it to a strong electrolytic
solution. Suitable treatment is a so given to them in such a way that a particular resin
absorbs only a particular group of ions. Resins, when absorbing and releasing cationic
portionof dissolved salts, is called cation, exchanger resin and when removing anionic
portion is called anion exchanger resin.

The present trend is of employing strongly acidic cation exchanger resin and strongly
basic anion exchanger resin in a DM Plant of modern thermal power station. We may
see that the chemically active group in a cationic resin is SOx-H (normally
represented by RH) and in an anionic resin the active group is either tertiary amine or
quanternary ammonium group (normally the resin is represented by ROH). The
reaction of exchange may be further represented as below :
Cation Resin

RH + Na >

R Na

+ H2 SO,

HC1

Ca

Ca

HNO3

Mg.

Mg.

In the form of

(Resin in H2 CO 3 -

Removed by

chloride sulp-

exhausted

aeration in

hate, nitrate or

form)

degassing tower

or bicarbonate)
Anion Reain

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ROH +

H 2 SO4 > RSO 4 + H2O

HC1

C1

HNO 3

NO 3

(mineral acids ob-

(Resin in exhausted

tained from cation exchangers)

form)

360

Recharging the exhausted form of resign i.e. regeneration employing 5% of acid/

alkali as below :
Cation Resin Na
R

HCP > RH +

NaC1

Ca

KC12

Mg

CaC12
MgC12

Exhausted
resin
Anion Resin :

R SO4

(fresh
resing)
+ NaOH --------> R OH +

(removed by
rising)
Na2

Cl

NaCl

NO3

NaNO3

SO4

(exhausted

(fresh

(removed by

resin)

resin)

rinsing)

As seen above the water from the ex-cation contains carbonic acid also sufficiently,
which is very weak acid difficult to be removed by strongly basic anion resin and
causing hindrance to remove silicate ions from the bed. It is therefore a usual practice
to remove carbonic acid before it is led to anion exchanger bed. The ex-cation water
is trickled in fine streams from top of a tall tower packed with rasching rings, and
compressed air is passed from the bottom. Carbonic acid break into CO^ and water
mechanically (Henry's Law) with the carbon dioxide escaping into the atmosphere.
The water is accumulated in suitable storage tank below the tower, called degassed
water dump, from where the same is led to anion exchanger bed, using acid resistant
pump.
The ex-anion water is fed to the mixed bed exchanger containing both cationic resin
and anionic resin. This bed not only takes care of sodium slip from cation but also
silica slip from anion exchanger very effectively. The final output from the mixed bed is
an exfira-ordinarily pure water having less than 0.2/Mho conductivity, H 7.0 and silica
content less than 0.02 ppm. Any deviation from the above quality means that the
resins in mixed bed are exhaused and need regeneration, regeneration of the mixed
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bed first calls for suitable back washing and settling, so that the two types of resins
are seperated from each other. Lighter anion resin rises to the top and the heavier
cation resin settles to the bottom. Both the resins are then regenerated separately
with alkali and acid, rinsed to the desired value and air mixed, to mix the resin again
thoroughly. It is then put to final rinsing till the desired quality is obtained.

It may be mentioned here that there are two types of strongly basic anion exchanger.
Type II resins are slightly less basic than type I, but has a higher regeneration
efficiency than type I. Again as type II resins are unable to remove silica effectively,
type I resins also have to be used for the purpose. As such, the general condition so
far prevailing in India, is to employ type II resin in anion exchangers bed and type I
resin in mixed bed (for_the anionic portion). It is also a general convention to
regenerate the above two resins under through fare system i.e. the caustic soda
entering into mixed bed for regeneration, of type I anion resin, is utilised to regenerate
type type II resin in anion exchanger bed. The concept of utilising the above resin and
mode of regeneration is now a days being switched over from the economy to a more
higher cost so as to have more stringent quality control of the final D.M. Water.
Internal Treatment

This final D.M effluent is then either led to hot well of the condenser directly as make
up to boilers, or being stored in D.M. Water storage tanks first and then pumped for
make up purpose to boiler feed.

As the D.M.Water has a good affinity to absorb carbon dioxide and oxygen, and both
are extremely harmful to metal surfaces for their destruction like corrosion, these have
to be removed before it is fed to boiler. This is being done in deaerator. Still the
residual oxygen which is remaining in the water is neutralised by a suitable doze of
hydrazine, at the point after deaerator. To have further minimum corrosion, the pH of
feed water is to be maintained at around 9.0 for which purpose ammonia in suitable
doze is added to this make up water at a point alongwith hydrazine as stated above.

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49. Compressed Air System

There are two types of compressed air system exiting in a Thermal Power
Station. They are Instrument Air System or control air system and Station
Air System. This Chapter deals with both these system and related
equipments.

Introduction

Instrument air is required for operating various dampers, burner tilting, devices,
diaphragm valves etc., in the 210 MW Units. Station air meets the general
requirement of the power station such as light oil atomising air, for cleaning filters and
for various maintenance works. The control air compressors and station air
compressors have been housed separately with separate receivers and supply
headers and their tappings.
Control Air System

Control air compressors have been installed for supplying moisture free dry air
required for instrument used. The output from the compressors is fed to air receivers
via. non return valves. From the receiver air is passed through the dryers to the main
instrument air line which runs alongwith the boiler house and turbine house of 210
MW unit. Adequate number of tappings have been provided all over the area.

There is one interconnection between service air and instrument air headers just at
the inlet of air drying units. This connection has been provided as an emergency
provision to meet the requirement of instrument air in case of non-availability of
instrument Air Compressor. The line connecting the service air header with instrument
air header is provided with two isolating valves, one oil separator, one activated
carbon filter, one non return valve and one regulating valve. Oil and dust free air is
supplied to the instrument air header which is then passed through air drier units.
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Instrument air compressors are of the double acting horizontal cross head type of two
opposed cylinder. The compressors are driven by electric motor through V belts. Gear
wheel type lubricating oil pump is provided to feed the main bearing. connecting rod
bearing and cross heads of one side, i.e. to the opposite side of the crank shaft
rotation piston. The cylinders ar e self-lubricated as they are fitted with teflon rings.
Plate type valves are provided at suction and delivery. The compressor is equipped
with water cooled inter cooler or header, pressure regulator to load and unload the
compressor and safety valves for first and second stages. The suction air filter is at
the middle of the cylinder so that air can enter

at

both ends of the piston. After

compression the air passes through the delivery valves to the Inter-cooler

where the air is considerably cooled and enters the H.P. cylinder. The entrapped air in
HP side is compressed in a similar manner as in L.P.Cyinder to the required pressure
and enters the header connected to the H.P. cylinders through the delivery valves and
then finally to the air receiver.

Air-Drying Unit :

Air contains moisture which tends to condense, and causes trouble in operation of
various devices by compressed air. Therefore drying of air is accepted widely in case
of instrument air. Air drying unit consists of dual absorption towers with embedded
heaters for reactivation. The absorption towers are adequately filled with specially
selected silica gel and activated alumina. While one tower is drying the air, the other
tower is under recativation. Thus the unit maintains continuous supply of dry air for
plant requirement. This system is completely automatic.

Service- Air Compressor :

The station air compressor is generally a slow speed horizontal double acting double
stage type and is arranged for belt drive. The cylinder heads and barrel are enclosed
in a jacket which extends around the valve also. The inter cooler is provided between

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the low and high pressure cylinder which cools the air between stage and collects the
moisture that condenses.

Air from L.P. Cylinder enters at one end of the inter cooler and goes to the opposite
end wherefrom it is discharged to the high pressure cylinder, cooling water flows
through the nest of tubes and cools the air. A safety valve is set at rated pressure.
From the high pressure cylinder compr essed air is led through water cooled " after
cooler" which is provided with inlet and outlet water connection and a drain. The "after
cooler" cools the compressed air, condensing the water vapour. A moisture separator
with a drain trap and a filter are pr ovided to remove moisture and dust particles from
the compressed air. The air is then led to the air receiver via a non-return valve. The
receiver is located out side the compressor house. Receiver is provided with a
pressure gauges safety valve and drain valve.

Two selector switches one with positions Auto load/unload and Auto unload and
another with positions Auto start-stop, non-stop have been provided on the control
panel of the compressor. In auto-start-stop position the compressor will start when the
receiver pressure drops down to 'Cut in' pressure and will stop when the receiver
reaches the 'cut out' pressure.

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50. Hydrogen Plant

Hydrogen gas is used for generator cooling. So supply of pure hydrogen in
power station is essential for generator filling and maintaining of hydrogen
gas pressure inside the generator casing. This Chapter explains the process
of Hydrogen generation.

Introduction

Hydrogen is prepared by electrolysis of pure demineralised water. When D.C. current

is passed through water it decomposes the water into two elements, one volume of
oxygen and two volumes of Hydrogen. Pure distilled water is a bad conductor of
electricity but if acid, alkali or salt is added it becomes a good conductor. To make
economical use of the electrolysis of water, a solution termed as electrolyte has to be
used which is prepared by adding NaOH or KOH with pure water. When current is
passed through the electrolyte, hydrogen is given off at negative electrode, while
oxygen is evolved at the positive electrode.

Description of Arrangement

A.C. Power at 400/440V, 3 phase, is changed to D.C.Power in a Transformer and

rectifier. D.C. output of the plant is controlled by means of a regulator. D.C.from the
terminals of the rectifier is supplied to the cells through busbars. Gas production is
directly proportional to Direct Current passing through the solution of caustic potash
and D.M. water.

D.M water of high purity is collected in a storage tank from where it is fed by gravity to
the cell bank for make up. An automatic float valve is mounted in gas washing tank to
provide a continuous supply of water in proportion to usage. The gases, after leaving
the cells, pass upwardly to the collection headers and then through a water seal to
atmosphere or to the gas holder as the case may be.
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Cooling water is supplied to the water seal, which regulates the pressure head against
which the cells operate and also prevents any backward flow from the gasholder when
the plant is not in operation. Valve is provided in between the gas washing tank and
gasholder for greeting the flow to atmosphere when desired.

Hydrogen gas flows from the gas-washing tank to a low-pressure wet seal gasholder.
From the gasholder it flows to a compressor, which compresses it to rated pressure.
After the compressor it flows through carbon filter and through a silica gel dryer. The
dry Hydrogen is

then stored in storage cylinders from where it goes to the power

station for generator use. Hydrogen gas is normally sent to H.P. compressors from the
gas holder where it is compressed to a rated pressure. From the H.P. compressors,
Hydrogen flows through a "After Cooler" Which has moisture separator columns and
then to a point filling station where It is filled in portable cylinders.

Oxygen produced in the process is let off to atmosphere.

Gas Holders :

The gas holder should be leak proof. It should float at a pressure of 4" water
column, counter weights may be added if necessary. Valves are provided at the
lowest points on the lines entering and leaving the gas holder so that any condensate
may be drained. Initially the system is purged with CO 2 for expelling air. If for any
reason the pressure in the gas holder drops below atmospheric pressure repurging
should be carried out in case air has entered. After CO 2 purging H2 may be introduced
into the gas holder from the cells to eliminate CO 2

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51. Introduction to 500 MW Power Plant

This Chapter seeks to provide a overview of 500 MW units alongwith the
details of various equipments used in the system. This chapter also features
the major difference between 200 MW and 500 MW units. Detailed
specifications of various equipments are also given in the end.

Boiler

The boiler is a radiant reheat; controlled circulation single drum, dry bottom type unit.
The boiler units are designed for the following terminal conditions (MCR):

Evaporation

a) SH Outlet

1,725 t/hr

b) RH Outlet

1,530 t/hr

Working Pressure after stop

178 Kg/cm 2 (g) valve

Steam Temperature at SH outlet

540 deg C

Steam Temperature at RH Inlet

344.1 deg C

Steam Pressure at RH Inlet

45.85 kg/cm 2 (g)

Steam Pressure at RH outlet

43.46 kg/cm 2 (g)

Feed water Temperature at EGO Inlet

256 deg C

Furnace Design Pressure

+/- 660 mm we (g)

The boilers are of single furnace design, circulating pumps to provide assisted
circulation.
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Each Boiler corner is fitted with tilting tangential burner boxes comprising four high
energy arc ignitors, four ligh-up heavy oil fired burners and eight pulverised coal
burners. The angle of tilt from the horizontal is about -30 deg to +30 deg.

Feed water to the boiler passes through HP feed heaters

the

economiser

and then to the steam drum

from

furnace wall circuits via the

three boiler circulating pumps, returning to the steam

drum

where

into

it flows into the suction manifold and

as a water/steam mixture. This mixture is separated in three stages the first

two stages are incorporated into the turbo separators and the final stage takes place
at the top of the drum just before the steam enters the connecting tubes comprising of
first stage superheating.

Within the steam circuit there are further four stages of superheating, making five in
total. There are also three stages of reheat.

Superheater temperature link between the superheater low temp. pendant outlet
header and the superheater division panel inlet headers.
Pulverised Coal System

The system for direct firing of pulverised coal utilises bowl mills to pulverised the coal
and a tilting tangential firing system to admit the pulverised coal together with the air
required for combustion (Secondary air) to the furnace.

As crushed coal is fed to each pulveriser by its feeder, primary air is supplied from the
primary air fans which dries the coal as it is being pulverised and transports the
pulverised coal through the coal piping system to the coal nozzles in the wind box
assemblies.

The pulverised coal and air discharged from the coal nozzles is directed towards the
centre of the furnace to form firing circle.

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Fully preheated secondary air for combustion enters the furnace around the
pulverised coal nozzles and through the auxiliary air compartments directly adjacent
to the coal nozzle compartments. The pulverised coal and air streams entering the
furnace are initially ignited by a suitable ignition source at the nozzle exit. Above a
predictable minimum loading condition the ignition becomes self sustaining.
Combustion is completed as the gases spiral up in the furnace.
Primary Air System

The primary air (P.A.) draught plant supplies hot air to the coal mills to dry and convey
pulverised coal to the burners. Coal air ducts, however, are included in the system to
regulate mill temperature and seal mill components against any ingress of coal dust.

The P.A. system comprises two

(SCAPH) and two

regenerative

P.A. fans,
type

two

primary

Steam

Coil Air Preheaters

air preheaters. Each fan, which is

of sufficient rating to support 60% MCR load, discharge through a SCAPH into a
common bus duct that has four outlets, two directing

air

into the

primary air

preheater for heating, two direct cold air straight to the pulverising mills. On the other
side of the primary air preheaters the outlet ducts combine to form a hot air crossover
duct which outlets to the mills at the L.H.S. and R.H.S. of the boiler furnace. This
arrangement of bus duct and cross over duct ensures continued plant operation even
if one fan and/or one primary air preheater is out of service. The SCAPHs located in
the fan discharge ducts, ensure that the primary air preheaters combined cold end
temperature (gas leaving temperature plus air entering temperature) does not below
the specified minimum to avoid 'Cold End Corrosion'.

Seal air fans boost up the primary air pressure and are provided for supplying sealing
air to each mill to maintain sufficient differential between primary air and seal air
thereby safeguarding the lub oil from being contaminated by coal dust.

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Secondary Air System

The secondary air draught plant supplies the balance of air required for pulverised
coal combustion, air for fuel oil combustion, and overfire air to minimise the production
of nitrous oxides (NOX)

The secondary air system, comprises two forced draft (F.D.) fans, two steam coil air
preheaters (SCAPH) and two regnerative type secondary air preheaters. Each fan,
which is of sufficient rating to support 60% boiler MCR load, discharges through a
SCAPH into a common bus duct that has two outlets each directing air through a
secondary air preheater. Hot air from secondary air preheater is sent to wind boxes at
each side of the boiler furnace for proper combustion as secondary and overfire air.
Overfire air can be admitted to the furnace through the upper levels of furnace
windbox nozzles to assist in reducing the amount of NOx formed in the furnace.
Control of unit air flow is obtained by positioning the FD fan blades while the
distribution of secondary air from wind box compartment to furnace is controlled by
secondary air dmapers.

The SCAPHs are located in the FD fan discharge ducts to ensure that the secondary
airpreheaters combined cold end temperature (gas leaving temperatures plus air
entering temperature ) does not fall below the specified minimum to protect against
cold end corrosion.
Flue Gas Handling System

The flue gas handling plant draws hot flue gases from the furnace and-discharges,
them to atmosphere through the chimney. During its passage to the chimney, flue gas
is passed through a feed water economiser and four regenerative air preheaters to
improve boiler efficiency, and through four electrostatic precipitators to keep dust
emission from chimney within prescribed limits.

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Flue gases travel upward in the furnace and downward through the rear gas pass to
the boiler outlet (boiler rear gas pass below the economiser). It then passes through
the primary and secondary air preheaters, the electrostatic precipitators and induced
draught (I.D.) fans to the chimney. Since primary and secondary streams are provided
with separate bisector-regenerative air heaters, control dampers at the outlet of the air
preheaters are provided to regulate the gas flow through these streams to get same
gas outlet temperature.

Three I.D. fans each of which is of sufficient rating to support 60% boiler MCR load.
are served by a common inlet bus duct to ensure that plant operation continue even
when two fans are out of service. During normal usage two I.D. fans will be
operational and one available as standby.
Soot Blowing System

On load, gas side cleaning of boiler tubes and regenerative air heaters is achieved
using 126 electronically controlled soot blowers which are disposed around the plant
as follows:

88

Furnace Wall Blowers

Steam

34

Long Retractable Soot Blowers

Steam

Air heater Soot Blowers for Pri-

Steam

mary and secondary Air heaters

The boiler water wall panels are provided with suitable wall boxes for future
accommodation of an extra sixteen furnace wall blowers and twenty four long
retractable soot blowers for upper furnace, arch and rear pass zone, if necessary.

Steam for soot blowing is taken from division panels superheater outlet header.
Steam is then passed through a pressure control valve where the steam pressure is
reduced to the required limit of soot blowing. However, to soot blow the regenerative

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air preheaters during boiler start up, a separate connection is also provided from the
auxiliary Steam System.
Furnace Safeguard Supervisory System

The Furnace Safeguard Supervisory System (F.S.S.S.) is a major component of

station safety monitoring equipment. It permits the remote (Control Equipment Room)
and partly local (adjacent to the boiler) light-up and shut down of all oil burners and
ignitors together with continuous monitoring, fault detection and associated shut down
of any or all burners upon fault disclosure.

The system als o incorporated the logic sequences required for enforcing proper
purging of the steam generator and for tripping the master fuel relay system.

The pulverised coal burners and their associated mills are controlled by a separate
mill control sequencing system which is provided with essential information regarding
milling plant status from local instrumentation as well as start and run permissive for
each mill system from the F.S.S.S.

Both system integrate with the Analogue Control System (A.C.S.) to provided full online firing safety, optimum operational control and in-depth system awareness.
Turbine
a.
Type
b.
Stages
c.
Nominal Rating
d.
Rated Steam Flow
e.
Peak Loading
f.
Initial Steam Parameters
g.
I.P.inlet parameters
h.
No. of Extractions
i.
Type of Governing
j.
No. of Bearings
General Description

PMI, NTPC

3 cylinder, reheat, condensing turbine.

HP 18, IP 14x2, LP 6x2
500 MW
1568 T/m.
536.7 MW
170 kg/cm 2 537 deg C
40.5 kg/cm 2, 537 deg C
6
Throttle
4

373

The turbine is a single-shaft machine with separate HP,IP and LP parts, the HP part
being a single-flow cylinder and the IP and LP parts double-flow cylinders. The
individual turbine rotors and the generator rotor are connected by rigid couplings.

The HP cylinder has a throttle control. The initial steam is admitted before the blading
by four combined main steam stop and control valves. The lines leading from the two
HP exhaust branches to the reheater are provided with swing check valves which
prevent hot steam from the reheater flowing back into the HP turbine.

The steam coming from the reheater is passed to the IP part via four combined reheat
stop and control valves. Crossover pipes connect the IP and LP cylinders. Bleeds are
arranged at several points of the turbine.
HP Turbine, Barrel Type Casing

The outer casing of the HP turbine is of the barrel

nor a radial flange. This prevents mass

type

and

has neither an axial

accumulation with high thermal stresses.

The almost perfect rotational symmetry permits moderate wall thickness of nearly
equal

strength

at

all

sections. The

guide blade carrier is axially split and

kinematically supported. As only slight pressure differences are effective, the

horizontal flange and connection bolts can be kept small. The barrel type casing
permits of load even at high initial steam conditions.
IP Turbine

The IP part is of double-flow construction. Attached in the Axially-split casing is an

inner casing supported kinematically and taking the guide blades. The reheated steam
is admitted to the inner casing through the top and bottom centre of the casing. The
arrangement of an inner casing confines the high steam inlet conditions to the
admission branch of the casing, while the joint of the outer casing is only subjected to
the lower pressure and lower temperature at the exhaust of the inner casing.

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LP Turbine

The casing of the double-flow LP cylinder is of three-shell design. The shells are
axially split and of rigid welded construction. The inner shell taking the first rows of
guide blades, is attached kinematically in the middle shell. Independent of the outer
shell, the middle shell, is supported at four points on longitudinal beams. Two rings
carrying the last guide blade rows are also attached to the middle shell.
Blading

The entire turbine is provided with reaction blading. The guide blades and moving
blades of the HP and IP parts and the front rows of the LP part with inverted T-roots
and shrouding are milled from one piece. The last stages of the LP part consist of
twisted, drop-forged moving blades with fork tee roots inserted in corresponding
grooves of the rotor and guide blade rows made of sheet steel.

Bearing

The HP rotor is supported by two bearings, a journal bearing at the front end of the
turbine and a combined journal and thrust bearing directly adjacent to the coupling
with the IP rotor. The IP and Lp rotors have a journal bearing each at the end of the
shaft. The combined journal and thrust bearings incorporates a journal bearing and a
thrust bearing which takes up residual thrust from both directions. The bearing
temperatures are measured by thermocouples in the lower shell directly under the
white metal lining. The temperature of the thrust bearing is measured in two opposite
thrust pads.
The front and rear bearing padestals of the HP turbine are placed on baseplates. The
pedestals of the LP part are fixed in position, the front pedestal and the pedestal
between the HP and IP parts are able to move in aixal direction.

The brackets at the sides of the HP and IP parts are supported by the pedestals at the
level of the machine axis. In the axial direction the HP and Ip parts are firmly
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connected with the pedestals by means of casing guides, without restricting radial
expansion. Since the casing guides do not yield in response to axial displacement, the
HP and IP casings as well as the associated bearing pedestals move forward from the
front LP bearing pedestal on thermal expansion.
Shaft Glands And Blade Sealing Strips

All shaft glands sealing the steam in the cylinders against atmosphere are axial-flow
labyrinths. They consist of a large number of thin sealing strips which in the HP and IP
parts are alternately pressed into grooves in the shafts and surrounding sealing rings.
The sealing strips in the LP part are only pressed into the sealing rings. The sealing
strips in the LP part are only pressed into the sealing rings. These rings are split into
segments which are force radially against a projection by helical springs and are able
to yield in the event of rubbing. Sealing strips of similar design are also used to seal
the radial blade tip clearances.

Valves

The HP turbine is fitted with four initial steam stop and control valves. A stop and
control valve with steams arranged at right angles to each other are combined in a
common body. The stop valves are spring-operated single-seat design, have diffusers
to reduce pressure losses.

The IP turbine has four combined reheat stop and control valves. The reheat stop
valves are spring loaded single-seat valves. The control valves, also spring loaded,
have diffusers. The control valves operated in parallel and are fully open in the upper
load range. In the lower load rang, they control the steam flow to the IP turbine and
ensure stable operation even when the turboset is supplying only the station load.
Both the main and reheat stop and control valves are supported kinematically on the
foundation ceiling below the machine floor before the turboset. All valves are actuated
by individual hydraulic servomotors.

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Turbine Governing System

The turbine has an electro-hydraulic governing system. An electric system measures

and controls speed and output, and operates the control valves hydraulically in
conjuction with an electro-hydraulic converter. The electro-hydraulic governing system
permits run-up control of the turbine up to rated speed and keeps speed swings
following sudden load shedding low. The linear output frequency character istic can be
very closely set even during operation.
Turbine Monitoring System

In addition to the measuring instruments and instruments indicating pressures,

temperatures, valve positions and speed, the monitoring system also includes
measuring instruments and indicators for the following valves :

Absolute expansion, measured at the front and rear bearing pedestal of the HP
turbine.

Differential expansion between the shafting and turbine casing, measured at

several points.

Bearing pedestal vibrations, measured at all turbine bearings.

Relative shaft vibration (bearing pedestal shaft) measured at all turbine

bearings.

Aboslute shaft vibrations, obtained from bearing pedestal vibration and relative
shaft vibration by calculation.

The fixed points of the turbine are as follows :

The bearing housing between the I.P. and L.P. turbines

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The rear bearing housing of the L.P. turbine.

The longitudinal beam of the L.P.turbine.

The thrust bearing in rear bearing casing of H.P.turbine.

Casing Expansion

The front and rear bearing housings of the H.P. turbine can slide on their base plates
in an axial direction. Any lateral movement perpendicular to the machine axis is
prevented by fitted keys. The bearing housings are connected to the H.P. and I.P.
turbine casings by guides which ensure that the turbine casings maintain their central
position while at the same time allowing axial movement. Thus the origin of the
cumulative expansion of the casings is at the front bearing housing of the L.P. turbine.
The casing of the L.P.turbine is located axially in the front area of the longitudinal
beam by fitted keys cast in the foundation. Free lateral expansion is allowed. The
centre guides for this casing are recessed in the foundation crossbeams. There is no
restriction on axial movement of the casings.

However, when there is a

temperature rise,

the

outer

casing

of the

I.P.

turbine expands from its fixed point, towards the generator. Differences in expansion
between the outer casing and the fixed bearing housings to which the housings for the
shaft glands are attached are taken up by bellows expansion joints.
Rotor Expansion

The thrust bearing is incorporated in the rear bearing housing of the H.P. turbine.
Since this bearing housing is free to slide on the base plate the shafting system
moves with its. Seen from this point, both the rotor and casing of the H.P. turbine
expand towards the front bearing housing of the H.P. turbine. The rotor and casing of
the I.P. turbine expand towards the generator in a similar manner.

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The I.P. turbine rotor is displaced towards the generator by the expansion of the
shafting system from the thrust bearing. The magnitude of this displacement,
however, is reduced by the amount by which the thrust bearing is moved in the
opposite direction by the casing expansion of the I.P. turbine.
Differential Expansion

Differential between the rotors and casings results from the difference between the
expansion originating from the bearing housing behind the H.P. turbine and that from
the thrust bearing. This means that the maximum differential expansion of the H.P.
and I.P. turbine occurs at the end furthest from the thrust bearing.

Differential expansion between the rotor and casing of the L.P. turbine results from the
difference between the expansion of the shafting system, originating from the thrust
bearing, and the casing expansion originating from the fixed point of the L.P. casing
on the longitudinal beam members.
Generator

a.

Type

THDF 115/59

b.

Cooling Stator Winding

Directly Water Cooled

c.

Stator Core & Rotor

Directly Hydrogen Cooled

d.

Apparent Power

588 MVA

e.

Active Power

500 MW

Power factor

0.85 (lag)

g.

Terminal Voltage

21 KV

h.

Stator Current

16200 Amps.

i.

Hydrogen Pressure

4 Kg/cm 2

j.

Short Circuit Ratio

0.48

k.

Class and type of Insulation

Miscalastic

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The two-pole generator used direct water cooling for the Stator winding, phase
connectors and bushings and direct hydrogen cooling for the rotor winding. The
losses in the remaining generator components, such as iron losses windage losses
and stray losses, are also dissipated through hydrogen.

The generator frame is pressure-resistant and gas tight equipped with one Stator end
shield on each side. The hydrogen coolers are arranged vertically inside the turbine
end Stator end shield.

The generator consists of the following components :

Stator
Stator frame
End shields
Stator core
Stator winding

Rotor
Rotor shaft
Rotor winding
Rotor retaining rings
Field connections

Hydrogen Coolers

Bearings

Shaft seals

The following additional auxiliaries are required for generator operation :

Oil system

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Gas System

Primary water system

Excitation system

Cooling System

The heat losses arising in the generator interior are dissipated to the secondary
coolant (raw water, condensate, etc.) through hydrogen and primary water.

Direct cooling essentially eliminates hot spots and differential temperatures between
adjacent components which could result in mechanical stresses; particularly to the
copper conductors, insulation, rotor body and Stator core.
Hydrogen Cooling Circuit

The hydrogen is circulated in the generator interior in a closed circuit by one multistage axial-stage axial-flow fan arranged on the rotor at the turbine end. Hot gas is
drawn by the fan from the air and delivered to the coolers, where it is recooled and
then divided into three flow paths after each cooler.
Flow Path -I

Flow path-I directed into the rotor at the turbine end below the fan hub for cooling of
the turbine end half of the rotor.
Flow Path-11

Flow path-II is directed from the coolers to the individual frame compartments for
cooling of the Stator core.
Flow path-Ill

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Flow path-III is directed to the Stator end winding space at the exciter end through
guide ducts in the frame for cooling of the exciter end half of the rotor and of the core
end portions.

The thr ee flows mix in the air gap. The gas is then returned to the coolers via the
axial-flow fan.

The cooling water flow through the hydrogen coolers should be automatically
controlled to maintain a uniform generator temperature level for various loads and
cold water temperatures.

Cooling of Rotor

For direct cooling of the rotor winding, cold gas is directed to the rotor end windings at
the turbine and exciter ends. The rotor winding is symmetrical relative to the generator
centre line and pole axis. Each coil quarter is divided into two cooling zones. The first
cooling zone consists of the rotor end winding and the second one of the winding
portion between the rotor body end

and the

mid-point

of the rotor. Cold gas is

directed to each cooling zone through separate openings directly

before the rotor

body end. The hydrogen flows through each individual conductor in closed cooling
ducts. The heat removal capacity is selected

such

that

temperatures are obtained for all conductors. The gas of

discharged from the coils at the
the pole area below the end

approximately identical
the first cooling zone is

pole center into a collecting

winding.

compartment

within

From there the hot gas passes into the air

gap through pole face slots at the end of the rotor-body. The hot gas of the second
cooling zone is discharged into the air gas at mid-length of the rotor body through
radial openings in the hollow conductors and wedges.
Cooling of Stator Core

For cooling of the Stator core, cold gas in admitted to the individual frame
compartment via separate cooling gas ducts.
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From these frame compartments the gas then flows into the air gap through slots in
the core where it absorbs the heat from the core. To dissipate the higher losses in the
core ends, the cooling gas slots are closely spaced in the core end sections to ensure
effective cooling. These ventilating ducts are supplied with cooling gas directly from
the end winding space. Another flow path is directed from the Stator end winding
space past the. clamping fingers between the pressure plate and core end section into
the air gap. A further flow path passes into the air gap along either side of the flux
shield.

All the flows mix in the air gap and cool the rotor body and stator bore sur faces. The
gas is then returned to the coolers via the axial-flow fan. To ensure that the cold gas
directed to the exciter end cannot be directly discharged into the air gap, an air gap
choke is arranged within the range of the Stator end winding cover and the rotor
retaining ring at the exciter end.
Primary Cooling Water Circuit in the Generator

The treated water used for cooling of the Stator winding, phase connectors and
bushings is designed as primary water in order to distinguish it from the secondar y
coolant(raw water, condensate, etc.) The primary water is circulated in a closed circuit
and dissipates the absorbed heat to the secondary cooling water in the primary water
tank and delivers the water to the generator via the coolers. The cooled water flow is
divided into two flow paths as described in the following paragraphs.
Flow Path-I

Flow path-I cools the Stator windings. This flow path first passes to a water manifold
on the exciter end of the generator and from there to the Stator bars via insulated
hoses. Each individual bar is connected to the manifold by a separate hose. Inside the
bars the cooling water flow through hollow strands. At the turbine end, the water is
passed through similar hoses to another water manifold and then returned to the
primary water tank. Since a single pass water flow through the Stator is used only a
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minimum temperature rises is obtained for both the coolant and the bars. Relative
movements due to different thermal expansions between the top and bottom bars are
thus minimised.
Flow Path-II

Flow path-II cools the phase connectors and the bushings. The bushings and phase
connectors consist of thick walled copper tubes through which the cooling water is
circulated. The six bushings and the phase connectors arranged in a circle around the
Stator end winding are hydraulically interconnected so that three parallel flow paths
are obtained. The primary water enters three bushings and exits from the three
remaining bushings.

The secondary water flow through the primary water cooler should be controlled
automatically to maintain a uniform generator temperature level for various loads and
cold water temperature.
Stator Frame

The Stator frame consists of a cylindrical center section and two end shields which
are gas -tight and pressure resistant.

The Stator end shields are joined and sealed to the Stator frame with an 0 ring and
bolted flange connections. The Stator frame accommodates the electrically active
parts of the Stator. i.e the Stator core and the Stator windings. Both the gas ducts and
a large number of welded circular ribs provide for the rigidity of the Stator frame. Ringshaped supports for resilient core suspension are arranged between the circular ribs.
The generator cooler sections arranged vertically in the turbine side Stator end shield.
In addition, the Stator end shields contain the shaft seal and bearing components.
Feet are welded to the Stator frame and end shields to support the Stator on the
foundation. The Stator is firmly connected to the foundation with anchor bolts through
the feet.
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Stator Core

The Stator core is stacked from insulated electrical sheet steel laminations and
mounted in supporting rings over insulated dovetailed guide bars. Axial compression
of the Stator core is obtained by clamping fingers, pressure plates and non-magnetic
through-type clamping bolts, which are insulated from the core. The supporting rings
form part of an inner frame cage. This cage is suspended in the outer frame by a large
number of separate flat springs distributed over the entire core length. The flat springs
are tangentially arranged on the circumference in sets with three springs each, i.e two
vertical supporting springs on both sides of the core and one horizontal stabilizing
spring below the core. The springs are so arranged and tuned that forced vibrations of
the core resulting from the magnetic field will not be transmitted to the frame and
foundation.

The pressure plates and end portions of the Stator core are effectively shielded
against stray magnetic fields. The flux shields are cooled by a flow of hydrogen gas
directly over the assembly.
Stator Winding

Stator bars, phase connectors and bushings are designed for direct water cooling. In
order to minimize the Stator losses, the bars are composed of separately insulated
strands which are transposed by 540 deg C in the slot portion and bonded together
with epoxy resins in heated molds. After bending the end turns are likewise bonded
together with baked synthetic resin fillers.

The bars consist of hollow and solid strands distributed over the entire bar crosssection so that good heat dissipation is ensured. At the bar ends, all the solid strands
are jointly brazed into a connecting sleeve and the hollow strands into a water box
from which the cooling water enters and exits via teflon insulating hoses connected to
the annular manifolds. The electrical connection between top and bottom bars is
made by a bolted connection at the connecting sleeve.
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The water manifolds are insulated from the Stator frame permitting the insulation
resistance of the water -filled winding to the measured. During operation, the water
manifolds are grounded.
Miscalastic High-voltage Insulation

High-voltage insulation is provided according to the proven Miscalastic system. With

this ins ulating system several half-overlapped continuous layers of mica tape are
applied to the bars. The mica tape is built up from large area mica splittings which are
sandwiched between two polyester backed fabric layers with epoxy as an adhesive.
The number of layers, i.e. the thickness of the insulation depends on the machine
voltage. The bars are dried under vacuum and impregnated with epoxy resin which
has very good penetration properties due to its low viscosity. After impregnation under
vacuum , the bars are subjected to pressure, with nitrogen being used as pressurizing
medium (VPI process). The impregnated bars are formed to the required shape in
MOULDS and cured in an oven at high temperature. The high voltage insulation
obtained is nearly void-free and is characterized by its excellent electrical, mechanical
and thermal properties in addition to being fully waterproof and oil-resistant. To
minimize corona discharges between the insulation and the slot wall, a final coat of
semiconducting varnish is applied to the surfaces of all bars within the slot range. In
addition, all bars are provided with an end corona protection to control the electric field
at the transition from the slot to the end winding and to prevent the formation of
creepage spark concentrations.
Bar Support System

To protect the stator winding against the effects of magnetic forces due to load and to
ensure permanent firm seating of the bars in the slots during operation the bars are
inserted with a side ripple spring, a hot-curing slot bottom equalizing strip, and a top
ripple spring located beneath the slot wedge. The gaps between the bars in the stator
end windings are completely filled with insulating material and cured after installation.
For radial support, the end windings are clam ped to a rigid supporting of insulating
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material which in turn is fully supported by the frame. Hot-curing conforming fillers
arranged between the stator bars and the support ring ensure a firm support of each
individual bar against the supporting the bars are clamped to the support ring with
pressure plates held by clamping bolts made from a high-strength insulating material.
The support ring is free to move axially within the stator frame so that movement of
the windings due to thermal expansions are not restricted.

The stator winding connections are brought out to six bushings located in a
compartment of welded non-magnetic steel below the generator at the exciter end,
Current transformers for metering and relaying purposes can be mounted on the
bushings .
Rotor Shaft

The rotor shaft is a single-piece solid forging manufactured from a vacuum casting.
Slots for insertion of the field winding are milled into the rotor body. The longitudinal
slots are distributed over the circumference so that two solid poles are obtained. The
rotor poles are designed with transverse slots to reduce twice system frequency rotor
vibrations caused by deflections in the direction of the pole and neutral axis.

To ensure that only high-quality forgings are used strength tests, material analyses,
and ultrasonic tests are performed during manufacturing of the rotor.

After completion, the rotor is balanced in various planes at different speeds and then
subjected to an overspeed test at 120% of rated speed for two minutes.

Rotor Winding

The rotor winding consists of several coils which are inserted into the slots and seriesconnected such that two coil groups form one pole. Each coil consists of several
series-connected turns, each of which consists of two half turns which are connected
by brazing in the end section.
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The rotor winding consists of silver-bearing de-oxidized copper hollow conductors

with two lateral cooling ducts.

L-shaped

strips of laminated epoxy glass fiber

with Nomex filler are used for slot insulation. The slot wedges are made of highconductivity material and extend below the shrink seat of the retaining ring. The seat
of the retaining ring is silver -plated to ensure a good electrical contact between the
slot wedges and rotor retaining rings. This system has long proved to he ;i good
damper winding.
Retaining Ring

The centrifugal forces of the rotor end windings are contained by single-piece rotor
retaining rings. The retaining rings are made of non-magnetic high-strength steel in
order to reduce stray losses. Each retaining ring with its shrink-fitted insert ring is
shrunk into the rotor body in an overhung position. The retaining ring is secured in the
axial position by a snap ring.

Field Connections

The field current is supplied to the rotor winding through radial terminal holts and two
semicircular conductors located in the hollow bores of the exciter and rotor shafts. The
field current leads are connected to the exciter leads at the exciter coupling with
Multikontakt plug-in contacts which allow for un-obstructed thermal expansion of the
field current leads.
Hydrogen Cooler

The hydrogen cooler is a shell and tube type heat exchanger which cools the
hydrogen gas in the generator. The heat removed from the hydrogen is dissipated
through the cooling water. The cooling water flows through the tubes, while the
hydrogen is passed around the finned tubes.

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The hydrogen cooler is subdivided into identical sections, which are vertically
mounted in the turbine-end stator end shield. The cooler sections are solidly bolted to
the upper half-stator end shield, while the attachment at the tower water channel
permits them to move freely to allow for expansion.

The cooler sections are parallel connected on their watersides. Shut off valves are
installed in the lines before and after the cooler sections. The required cooling water
flow depends on the generator output and is adjusted by control valves on the hot
water side. Controlling the cooling water flow on the outlet side ensures an
uninterrupted water flow through the cooler sections so that proper cooler
performance will not be impaired.
Bearings

The sleeve bearings are provided with hydraulic shaft lift oil during startup and turning
gear operation. To eliminate shaft currents, all bearings are insulated from the stator
and base plate, respectively. The temperature of the bearings is monitored with
thermocouples embedded in the lower bearings sleeve so that the measuring points
are located directly below the babbitt. Measurement and recording of the tem perature
are performed in conjunction with the turbine supervision. The bearings have
provisions for fitting vibration pickups to monitor bearing vibrations.
Shaft Seals

The points where the rotor shaft passes through the stator casing are provided with a
radial seal ring. The seal ring is guided in the seal ring carrier which is bolted to the
seal ring carrier flange and insulated to prevent the flow of shaft currents. The seal
ring is lined with babbit on the shaft journal side. The gap between the seal ring and
the shaft is sealed with hydrogen side and air side seal oil. The hydrogen side seal oil
is supplied to the seal ring via an annular groove in the seal guide inside the seal ring
this seal oil is fed to the hydrogen side annular groove in the seal ring and from there
to the sealing gap via several bores uniformly distributed on -the circumference. The
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air side seal oil is supplied to the sealing gap from the seal ring chamber via radial
bores and the air side annular groove in the seal ring. To ensure effective sealing the
seal oil pressures in the annular gap are maintained at a higher level than the gas
pressure within the generator casing, the air side seal oil pressure being set to
approximately the same level as the hydrogen side seal oil pressure. The oil drained
on the hydrogen side of the seal rings is returned to the seal oil system through ducts
below the bearing compartments. The oil drained on the air side is returned to the seal
oil storage tank together with the bearings oil.

On the air side, pressure oil is supplied laterally to the seal ring via an annular groove,
this ensures free movement of the seal ring in the radial direction.

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52. Data Sheet for Main Boiler (500 MW)

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53. Data Sheet for Boiler Auxiliaries

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54. Data Sheet for Main Turbine

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55. Data Sheet for Turbine Auxiliaries

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56. Data Sheet for Generator

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57. Major Differences Between 210 MW & 500

MW Units Boiler

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58. Gas Power Plants

An endeavour has been made in this chapter to provide an overview of
functioning of various systems in gas based power plants including the
thermal cycle with' different connected auxiliaries, their location and their
functions.

Introduction

In the power Sector, the use of gas turbine driven generators has just started and will
go a long way in meeting the country's requirements.

Gas turbines range in size from less than 100 KW up to about 140,000 KW. The gas
turbine has found increasing application due to the following potential advantages
over competitive equipment.

Small size and weight per horsepower

Rapid loading capability

Self-contained packaged unit

Moderate first cost

No cooling water required

Easy maintenance

High reliability

Waste heat available for combined cycle application.

The function of a gas turbine in a combined cycle power plant is to drive a generator
which produces electricity and to provide input heat for the steam cycle.

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Combined Cycle

Combined cycle power plant integrates two power conversion cycles namely, Brayton
Cycle (Gas Turbines)and Rankine Cycle (conventional steam power plant with the
principal objective of increasing overall plant efficiency.

Brayton Cycle

Gas Turbine plants-operate on this cycle in which air is compressed in a compressor

(process 1-2, in P-V diagram of Figure-91), this compressed air is heated in the
combustor by burning fuel, where part of compressed air is u 'd for combustion also
(process 2-3) and the combustion product is allowed to expand in the turbine (process
3-4) which is coupled with the generator.

In the combined cycle mode, the Brayton Cycle is chosen as the- topping cycle due to
high temperature of the exhaust of the gas turbine (point 4 in the P-V diagram). In
modem gas turbines the temperature of the exhaust gas is in the range of 500 to 550
deg C.

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Rankine Cycle

The conversion of heat energy to mechanical (or electrical) energy with the aid of
steam is carried out through this cycle. In its simplest from the cycle works as follows
(Fig. 103).

The initial state of the working fluid is water (point-3) which, at a certain
temperature, is compressed by a pump (process 3-4) and fed to the boiler.

In the boiler the compressed water is heated at constant pressure (process 45-6-1).

Dry saturated steam (generated at point-1) is expanded in the turbine (process

1-2) which is coupled with a generator.

Modern steam power plants have steam temperature in the range of 500C to 550C
at the inlet of the turbine.

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Combining Two Cycles To Improve Efficiency

We have seen in the above two cycles that gas turbine exhaust is at temperature
of 500-550C and in Rankine Cycle heat is required to generate steam at the
temperature of 500-550C. So, why not use the gas turbine exhaust to generate
steam in the Ranking cycle and save the fuel required to heat the water
Combined Cycle does just the same.

If, the efficiency of Gas Turbine cycle is 30% and, the efficiency of Rankine Cycle
as 35% then the overall efficiency comes to 48%.

Types of Combined Cycles

It is basically of two types, namely unfired Combined cycle and Fully Fired
combined cycle.

Unfired Combined Cycle

The basic system is shown is Figure-93. In this system the exhaust gas is used
only for raising steam to be fed to the steam turbine for power generation.

Conventienal fossil fuel fired boiler of the steam, power plant is replaced with a
Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG). Exhaust gas from the gas turbine is
led to the HRSG where heat of exhaust gas is utilised to produce steam at
desired parameters as required by the steam turbine.

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However, non-reheat steam turbine is the prefered choice for adopting this type
of system as usually the live steam temperature from (HRSG) will be solely
controlled by the gas turbine exhaust temperature which is usually around 500C.

In recent developm ent, with the introdcution of Dual Pressure Cycles more heat
is recovered in the HRSG and steam with higher pressure and temperature can
be generated. But higher capital investment and sometimes necessity of
supplemental firing system makes the system complex and costly.
Fully Fired Combined Cycle.

Figure - 94 shows the basic schematic of this cycle. In this system the heat of
exhaust gas from gas turbine is used for two purposes as described below :

Heat contained in exhaust gas is used to heat feed water to desired

temperature at the inlet to the boiler. This leads to reduction or elimination
of the extraction steam requirement from the steam turbine. In case, the
steam turbine has larger steam swallowing capacity to generate more
power the amount of steam which was to being extracted from steam
turbine for regenerative feed heating could be made to expand in the

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turbine to increase its base load capacity and improve the overall
efficiency.

In case the steam turbine does not have the capacity to swallow extra
steam available due to cutting down of extraction, the fuel being fired
in the boiler can be cut down to generate less steam by an amount
equivalent to steam required for extractions and thus improving the overall
efficiency due to less cons umption of fuel.

Gas turbine exhaust contains about 14 to 16% oxygen (by weight) and car. be
used as hot secondary air in the conventional fossil fuel fired furnaces. So the
heat required to heat the secondary air will be saved and can be used for other
purposes. FD fan power consumption will also be reduced to a great extent.

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Fuels

Gas turbines are capable of burning a range of fuels including naptha, distillates,
crude oils and natural gas. Selection of fuel(s) depends on several factors
including fuel availability, fuel cost and cleanliness of the fuel.
Natural gas is an ideal fuel because it provides high thermal efficiency and
reliability with low operation and maintenance costs. Liquid fuels, particularly
heavy oils, usually contain contaminants which cause corrosion and fouling in the
gas turbine. Contaminants which cannot be removed from the fuel may leave

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deposits in the gas turbine which reduce performance and add to maintenance
costs.

Duel fuel system are commonly used, enabling the gas turbine to burn back-up
fuels when the primary fuel source is unavailable . Duel fuel systems can also be
designed to fire both fuels simultaneously.
Advantages of Combined Cycle Plants

Apart from the higher overall efficiency, the combined cycle power plants have
following advantages :

Low Installation Cost : The insallation Cost of a combined cycle power plant is
approximately 70% of a conventional coal based power plant of same capacity.
Low Gestation Period : Power from a combined cycle power plant can be
obtained in two phases, i.e two third power, obtainable from gas turbines, is
available within 16-18 months and the balance in next 1 months. This is much
lower than the gestation period for conventional thermal power plants which is
around 48-60 months

Better Reliability : Combined cycle power plants are considered to be highly

reliable with a reliability factor of 85-90% as compared to 60-65% for
conventional coal Fired Power Plants.

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59. Data Sheet for Gas Projets

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60. Comparison Between

Between Gas Turbines at
Anta & Auraiya

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61. Steam Turbine (K.W.U Design)

5.1

DESCRIPTION

5.1.1 General
210 MW output turbine is of Kraft Work Union design is condensing,
tandem compounded, horizontal, reheat type, single shaft machine. In has
got separate high pressure, intermediate and low pressure parts. The HP
part is a single cylinder and IP & LP parts are double flow cylinders. The
turbine rotors are rigidly coupled with each other and with generator rotor.

HP turbine has throttle control. The steam is admitted through two

combined stop and control valves. The lines leading from HPT exhaust to
reheater have got two cold reheat swing check NRVs. The steam from
reheater have got two cold reheat swing check NRVs. The steam from
reheater is admitted to IP turbine through two combined stop and control
valves. Two cross-over pipes connect IP and LP cylinder.
i.

Binding

The entire turbine is provided with reaction blading. The moving

blades of HPT, LPT and front rows of LPT have inverted T roots
and are shrouded. The last stages of LPT are twised, drop forged
moving blades with fir-tree roots. Highly stressed guide blades of
HPT and IPT have inverted T roots. The other guide blades have
inverted L-roots wityh rivetted shrouding.
ii.

Bearings

The TG unit is mounted on six bearings HPT rotor is mounted on

two bearings, a double wedged journal bearing at the front and
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combined thrust/journal bearing adjacent to front IP rotor coupling.

IP and LP rotors have self-adjusting circular journal bearings. The
bearing pedestals of LPT are fixed on base plates where as HPT
front and rear bearing pedestals are free to move axially.

The brackets at the sides of HPT are supported by pedestals at

machine level. In axial direction, HP & IP parts are connected with
the pedestals by means of a casing guide. Radial expansion is not
restricted. HP & IP casings with their bearing pedestals move
forward from LPT front pedestal on thermal expansion.

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5.1.2 HP Turbine

HPT is of double cylinder construction. Outer casing is barrel type without any
axial/radial flanges. This kind of design prevents any mass accumulation and
thermal stresses. Also perfect rotational symmetry permits moderate wall
thickness of nearly equal strength at all sections. The inner casing is axially split
and kinematically supported by outer casing. It carries the guide blades. The
space between casings is filled with the main steam. Because of low differential
pressure, flanges and connecting bolts are smaller in size. Barrel design
facilitates flexibility of operation in the form of short start-up times and higher rate
of load changes even at high steam temperature conditions. Refer to Fig. 5.2.
5.1.3 IP Turbine

It is of double flow construction. Attached to axially split .out casing is an inner

casing axially split, kinematically supported and carrying the guide blades. The hot
reheat steam enters the inner casing through top and bottom centre. Arrangement
of inner casing confines high inlet steam condition to admission breach of the
casing. The joint of outer casing is subjected to lower pressure/temperature at the
exhaust. Refere to Fig. 5.3.

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5.1.4 LP Turbine

Double flow LP turbine is of three shell design. All shells are axially split and are
of rigid welded construction. The inner shell taking the first rows of guide blades is
attached kinematically in the middle shell. Independent of outer shell, middle shell
is supported at four points on longitudinal beams. Two rings carrying the last
guide blade rows are also attached to the middle shell. Refer to Fig. 5.4.
5.1.5 Fixed Points (Turbine Expansions)

a.

Bearing housing between IP and LP

b.

Rear bearing housing of LP turbine

c.

Longitudinal beam of LP turbine

d.

Thrust bearing.

Front/rear housing of HPT can slide on base plates. Any lateral movements
perpendicular to machine axis are prevented by fitted keys. Bearing housings are
connected to HP-IP casings by guides which ensure central position of casings
while axially expanding and moving. The LPT casing is located in centre area of
longitudinal beam by fitted keys cast in the foundation cross beams. Axial
movements are not restricted. The outer casing of LP turbine expands from its
fixed points towards generator. The differences in expansion between the outer
casing and fixed bearing housing are taken by bellows expansion couplings.
Hence HPT rotor & casing expands towards bearing no (1) while IPT rotor
expands towards generator. The LPT rotor expands towards generator. The
magnitude of this expansion is reduced by the amount by which the thrust
bearing is moved in the opposite direction due to IPT casing expansion.

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5.1.6 Oil Supply

In the 200 MW KWU

turbine single

bearings, control oil for governing and

start-ups, aux. oil pump

(2 Nos.)

turbine

than

(M.O.P.)

speed
takes

is more

oil is

used for

lubrication

of

hydraulic turbine turning gear. During

supplies

90%

over. It draws oil from

the control oil. Once the

of rated,
main

oil

the

main oil

pump

tank. The lubricating

oil passes through oil cooler (2 nos.) before can be supplied to the bearing.
Under emergency, lub oil can be supplied by a DC oil pump. Before the turbine is
turned or barred, the Jacking Oil Pump (2 nos.) supplies high pressure oil to jackup the TG shaft to prevent boundary lubrication in bearing. Refer to Fig. 5.5.

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The oil systems and related sub-loop controls (SLCs) can he started or stopped
automatically by means of SGC oil sub-group of automatic control system. The
various logics and SLCs under SGC oil arc given at the end of this chapter.
5.1.7

Turbine Turning Gear

The turbine is equipped with a hydraulic turning gear assembly comprising two
rows of moving blades mounted on the coupling between IP and LP rotors.

The oil under pressure supplied by the AOP strikes against the hydraulic turbine
blades and rotate the shaft at 110 rpm. (220 rpm. under full vacuum conditions).

In addition, provisions for manual barring in the event of failure of hydraulic

turning gear, have also been made. A gear, machined of the turning gear wheel,
engages with a Rechet & Pawl arrangement operated by a lever and bar
attachement.
5 1.8

Turbine Gland Sealing

Turbine shaft glands are sealed with auxiliary steam supplied by an cleetrohydraulic controlled seal steam pressure control valve. A pressure of C.Oil
Kg/cm 2, (g) is maintained in the seals. Above a load of 60 MW the turbine
becomes self-sealing. The leak off steam from HPT/ IPT glands -is used for
sealing LPT glands. The steam pressures in the header is then maintained
constant by means of a leak-off control valve which. is also controlled by the
same electro-hydraulic controller, controlling seal steam pressure control valve.
The last stage leak-off of all shaft seals is sent to the gland steam cooler for
regenerative feed heating. Refer- Fig 5 6

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5.2.3.

Alarm and Limiting Values of some Important Parameters

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62. Once Through Boiler

When all the water flowing through water wall gets converted into team in one
circulation, it is called once through Boiler. In this case, circulation ratio is one and there
is no Boiler drum for storing water as buffer stock. The water comes directly from Boiler
Feed Pump, via HP heaters, Feed Regulating Station and Economiser. Unlike
conventional Boiler, the water enters into water wall directly without being stored in
Boiler drum and enter SHs directly after being converted into steam. Thus, Boiler drum
plays no role in a Once through Boiler.

The water How through water wall, in a Once through Boiler, is same as steam flow
minus SH spray. Thus, water flow through water wall, in a Once through Boiler, is one
fifth that of a conventional Boiler. As the flow through each water wall lube, in this case,
is very less, the orientation of tubes is changed from vertical to spiral. This is done to
make enclosure of the First Pass of the Boiler with less number of water wall tubes so
that water flow through each tube can be increased adequately.

In a spiral shaped water wall, each tube passes through all the four walls, i.e.. front wall,
rear wall, left wall and right wall. As a result of this, each water wall tube has the
potential to pick-up same amount of heat. Hence, in the case of a Once through Boiler,
it is extremely essential to equalise water flow through all the water wall tubes for which
orifices are installed.

It is interesting to note that orifices, in the case of a conventional Boiler, are installed to
make water flow non-uniform through water wall tubes, whereas, these are installed in a
Once through Boiler to make water flow uniform through all the water wall tubes. This is
because the potential to pick-up heat for each water wall tube, in a conventional Boiler,
is different as it originates from as well as terminates to the same wall.
A Once through Boiler can be both sub-critical as well as super-critical. Normally. Once
through Boiler are super-critical Boilers but what we have in stage-I Talcher Super
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Thermal Power Station are Once through sub-critical Boilers the rating of which is given
below:Rating of Oncethrough Boiler at Stage-1 TSTPS

Design & Supply

M/s. Stein Industries, France

Type

Tower type Once through Circulation Direct pulverized coal

fired. Balanced draft furnace, Single reheat radiant, dry
bottom type.

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A small Boiler drum placed vertically is used in a Once through Boiler upto 30% of its
capacity. This is required to ensure a minimum water flow of 30% as this is a prerequisite for start-up of a Once through Boiler.

As there is no Boiler drum in a Once through Boiler, solid chemical treatment is not
possible as there is no provision of blowdown in this case. It is due to this that "All
volatile Treatment" is practiced in a Once through Boiler.

Another important feature of a Once through Boiler is that metal temperature of all the
water wall tubes is religiously monitored for which thermo couples are installed. This
kind of monitoring is not required for a conventional Boiler as minimum 80% of the total
flow is water and its presence in all the parts of the water wall completely ensures that
the temperature of water -steam mixture never exceeds the saturation temperature.
Thus, the metal temperature of water wall tubes, in a conventional Boiler, will never
exceed saturation temperature plus temperature gradient across the tube wall.

A Once through Boiler can be both Tower type as well as two-pass Boiler.

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63. Hydro Power Plant

1.0

POWER HOUSE

1.1

The power house is essentially required to have machine hall, service bay,
auxiliary equipment floors and control rooms etc, and depending on the layout
these can be

Surface power house

Underground power house

Shaft power house

The selection of a particular type of power house is governed by topography, site

conditions and geology of the area where they have to be located.
1.2

Surface power house

1.2.1 Surface power house may be the best choice when :

Sufficiently wide terrace is available to accommodate the powerhouse

without requiring very deep excavation.

Rock is not sound and is likely to need heavy steel supports for the
powerhouse cavity.

1.2.2

While laying a surface power house care is taken to see that:

It is not situated on bends especially inner concave

It is not located in the flood plain of the valley into which it discharges

It is so oriented, that the excavated slopes have maximum possible

stability and

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1.3

The tail race joins the valley tangentially.

Underground power house

1.3.1 An underground power house may be considered for adoption where there is no
terrace for location of the surface power house, the power house is located near
steep sloping gorges and where the rock is sound, massive and competent.

1.3.2 With improved methods of tunneling and excavations available

today, the

construction of underground power house has become faster and more

economical as :

It can be located if the canyon is very steep

Construction of tunnels, shafts, vaults and erection work can go on

unimpeded by climatic consideration round the year

It can be located where valleys are narrow and are subjected to land
slides and rockfalls

The arrangement permits for providing penstock through rock which need
comparatively thinner liner.

Less effect of seismic forces

Better protection against aerial attacks

Does not interfere with the overground and scenic beauty features

Establishing an increased net-head may be possible.

Chief disadvantages are in the provision of costly approaches, ventilation and

cable tunnels and artificial lighting.

1.3.3 While providing an underground power house care has to be taken to see that
-

Sufficient cover is available on all sides of the cavity

There is no danger of excessive seepage

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The rocks around the cavity are competent or can be made competent by
suitable treatment, and

1.4

The cavity is so excavated that it has the greatest possible stability

Shaft power house

1.4.1 Often it has been experienced that, given deep settings of the turbines below
minimum tail water level condition and the high flood stage much above this, the
surface power house involves quite substantial rock excavation and elaborate
flood protection measures. Underground power house, as an alternative, to
surface power house, involves the basic geo-technical requirement of sound
geology and sufficient rock cover is competent strata. In addition, execution of
these underground structures are always prone to geological surprises and
uncertainties with consequent time, and cost overruns. In such cases a 'SHAFT
TYPE OF POWER HOUSE' a semi-underground type of struc ture in the form of
vertical shaft driven in rock has proved to be an economical and time saving
solution. This concept of locating the major part of the power house in deep
shafts is rather a new concept in power house layout and is of unique nature.
1.5

Design concepts

1.5.1 The power house structure is of complex shape and has three dimensional
problem of load application and distribution. The first step in the design of power
house, particularly the surface power house, is the stability analysis of the power
house as a whole, and the factors to be considered in the stability analysis are :

Overturning

Sliding

Floatation

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After carrying out the overall stability of the power house structure, the individual
members of the various structures have to be designed. In order to facilitate
references to particular location, the various components to be designed are
grouped as

1.

Substructures

2.

Intermediate structures and

3.

Superstructures

The substructure and the intermediate structure include the draft tube, drainage
and dewatering galleries, scroll case, generator foundation and generator barrel.

The super structure includes the structures above the generator floor and
includes the powerhouse frame, gantry girder and other auxiliary floors.

1.5.2 Design of sub structure and intermediate structure

The structural function of these structures is to safely carry the loads of the
machines and other structures over the cavities and to act as a transition
foundation member to distribute heavy loads due to plant, water superstructure
and other forces on to the foundation such that the ground pressures are within
safe limits. In case of rock foundation, there may not be any settlement problem
on account of its high strength. In case of soils, however, a raft foundation may
have to be provided. In addition to the structural design, the substructure and the
intermediate structures have to be checked for the vibrations.

1.5.3 Super structure

In general the superstructure of a power house consists of framework of columns

which supports the gantry crane, panel walls and roof. Design of the
superstructure is more of a frame analysis for the various loads and the design

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has to be checked for the seismic loads.

1.6

Gantry columns and beam and the power house roof which form the main
component of the superstructure may either be of steel or concrete or both. The
selection of particular type depends upon construction equipment facility,
construction schedule, availability of materials and aesthetics.

2.0

Tail Race System

Tail race forms the last part of the water conductor system leading the releases
from the power house to the river channel or any other body of water. This may
be an open channel, cut and cover conduit, tunnel or a combination of the above.
The tail race ensures a draft tube seal in the case of Francis/ Kaplan turbines,
recovers some velocity head and a properly designed tail race has a minimum
head loss.

2.1

Hydraulic Design

The Tail race water level varies from a minimum to a maximum controlled by the
water level in the river/water body and the losses occurring in the system.
Minimum water level at the power house is significant as the setting of the turbine
will be decided based on this level and the maximum water level is important in
the design of the power house structure. In some power houses the maximum
water level is very high due to flash flood conditions in the river. Open channel is
commonly adopted for surface power houses and a tunnel is required in few
cases dictated by topography. In underground power houses, the tail race is a
tunnel either free flow or pressure flow and in the later case a suitably designed
surge tank would be required. On a Pelton wheel, the discharges from the unit
into the pit are led safely as a free flow in the tail race. When the tunnels flows
freely and transient conditions make it full flow, adequate air escape shall be
provided.. Minimum tail water level is the level in the pool when one unit is at no-

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load speed. Normal tail water level corresponds to the full discharge when all the
units are under operation.

Required water levels in the race are maintained by providing a weir control
where the channel takes off from the tail race pool. The tail race weir can be
formed in the natural bed rock/ concrete weir lining. The size and shape of the tail
race pool plays a vital role in achieving uniform flow pattern with less of return
currents and building up of back pressure at the draft tube. Connecting slopes u/s
and d/s if the control weir are kept as IV:6H and IV:5H respectively for ensuring
good hydraulic conditions and minimum head losses. Width of the weir at the top
shall be at least equal to 0.7 times the design head on the weir to ensure
development of critical velocity across the crest. Crest elevation is decided from
the minimum tail water level to be maintained for the machine. Generally, the weir
operates in a submerged condition.

2.2

In case of dam power house located a the toe of the dam and adjacent to the
spillway training wall, the profile and length of the training wall are determined
from the spillway discharge and its profile. The tail race channel of the power
house is carefully decided and adequate bank protection is provided by a short
wall to prevent spill channel eroded materials do no enter the tail race channel,
thus choking the same. Return flows of the spillway discharge during high flood
states into the tail race channel from its junction is also studied on the model, so
as to ensure smooth discharge/ operation of the tail race channel subsequently
and at all stages of river flow without strong eddies/ waves forming in the tail race
affecting the turbine performance.

2.3

Tail Race Tunnels and Surge Tanks

In the case of an underground power house with Francis type of units, tail race
tunnels flow under pressure and, when these tunnels are long, tail race sure
tanks are required. The minimum area of the surge chamber shall satisfy Thoma

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criteria. Other aspects of design of the tunnels and surge chamber are similar to
the head race system which has already been covered. When surge tanks are
provided both upstream and downstream effect of their combined operation shall
be examined.

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64. Hydro Civil Design

1.0

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Prospering of any civilized society requires energy in various forms, to

provide necessary stimulus to various system in the from of machinery,
vehicles, illumination and heating etc, of all the forms electrical power has
the most vital role to play in the development of human civilization. There
are various modes of power generation in vogue namely, Thermal power,
power from nuclear reactor, Gas based thermal power plants and Hydel
power. The hydro power projects are considered most environment
friendly and are run based on renewable energy resource i.e. water. In
India first hydro power station was sat up in 1897 in Darjeeling District of
west Bengal and recently centenary celebrations were also organised by
various for and institutions involved in development of this sector.
However, it is a matter of great concern to the engineering community that
even after a complete century has passed since the first hydro power
station was installed no tangible achievement has been made in this
sector so for. Out of total hydro power potential of about 84, 000 Mw ATT
60% load factor only 25,148 MW has been exploited so far. Besides the
conventional hydro power-schemes, pumped storage power development
schemes are also being conceived in order to expedite the power
development and meet/ peaking load requirements. It has a total potential
of about 93,920 MW. However, only six pumped storage power generation
schemas are in operation as on date and 4 similar schemes are under
construction, having installed capacities 1424 MW and 3250 MW
respectively. When seen with the potential available this a paltry progress.
In view of very large gap between the potential available and potential
exploited the schemes/ projects of this sector shall need acceleration not
only because of inherent merits but also due to the present demands of

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the power and very limited opportunity from other sectors of power
generation. It has become all the more important due to the limited
availability of fossil fuels i.e. coal, gas and diesel etc.
In the hydel power sector relatively more convenient sites have already
been exploited, the emphasis in future would therefore be in respect of
planning of projects at locations where the water conductor system and
the

power

house

are

likely

to

be

located

in

the

sub-surface

tunnels/cavities. Similarly the pumped storage schemes which require

very large head are likely to have installations mostly in underground
power house caverns. The power house caverns which are primarily used
to house the generating equipment, operating valves, chambers,
transformers and surge chambers, warrants considerations with utmost
care for its geometric design.

As is well known hydro power is generated by utilizing the head available

between two points, along a water system, which my either be in the same
valley or in the adjacent valley and the various structures, right from the
u/s point where water is diverted or ponded up to the d/s point where it is
released after abstracting its potential energy are known as 'HYDRO
POWER STRUCTURES' for the safe, efficient and economical functioning
of an hydro power scheme, it is essential that these structures are
optimally planned, designed and constructed. Primarily, the design
concepts relate to hydraulic and structural aspects of the various
components and these have been discussed in brief.

To start with, it is essential to discuss the types of hydro power

development since the associated structures and their design concepts
are specific to the particular type.
2.0

HYDRO POWER SCHEMES

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The Hydro power schemes can be broadly classified into following

categories:

2.1

1.

Run-of-River scheme

2.

Storage Reservoir schemes

3.

Pumped storage scheme

4.

Canal Head / fall power scheme

Run-of River scheme

In a run-of-river scheme, a relatively small dam or barrage or drop inlet

weir is built across a stream, to divert the river water into the intake from
where the water is led to the power house through a water conductor
system.

In this case, advantage is taken of the drop in the river bed by cutting
across the bends or the loop of the river, or cutting across the ridge/water
shed and dropping the tail water into the adjacent valley / stream,

No appreciable storage is provided u/s of the dam or the barrage and the
power generation depends on the flow stages of the river. In such cases
the diversion structure gets silted up to the creast within a short period.
Therefore the storage available is only within the gate height or in
separately constructed balancing ponds which are normally provided to
meet diurnal variations and peaking requirements.

Depending on the head, these schemes can be further classified as

2.2

1.

Low Head

2.

Medium Head

3.

High head scheme

Storage reservoir schemes

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In case of storage reservoir schemes, the head for power generation is

created by construction of a high storage dam across the river. The river
water is stored throughout the year and a regulated discharge is passed
through the power house for power generation. These could be classified
as medium head schemes where the power houses are located at the toe
of the dam or high head schemes where the water is carried through long
water conductor system.
2.3

Pumped storage scheme

Pumped storage schemes are planned where the water potential is limited
and its reused is desired for peaking purposes. In a pumped storage
power plant, water after generation is stored in a lower reservoir and
pumped back to the upper reservoir when surplus power is available. The
pumping and generation are usually accomplished by the same machine
using a reversible pump turbine / motor generator.
2.4

Canal head / fall power schemes

This type of development is done by locating the power house at canal offtake/ regulator utilizing the head variations in the reservoir or utilizing the
existing falls in irrigation canal system. These are generally low head
schemes using even heads as low as 2 to 3 meters and have proved to be
very useful for providing power locally to isolated villages.

Main features of such development is provision of a bye pass

arrangement taking off from u/s of the fall structure and joining further
downstream with the main canal. Depending on the proximity of the falls,
number of them could be combined together to gain maximum potential.
The power house is located in the main or bye pass channel with suitable
automatic control gates in the channel for operating during load rejection.

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3.0

STRUCTURES ASSOCIATED WITH HYDROPOWER SCHEMES

The civil structures that are generally associated with the different types of
hydro power schemes discussed above, with particular reference to the
run-of-river schemes are as under:

1.

Diversion structure: Trench weir, barrage or dam

2.

Intake works

3.

Desalting basin

4.

Water conductor system : open channel, pressure tunnels cut and

cover section heed relic tuned

5.

Fore bay/surge tank

6.

Penstock/pressure shaft

7.

Power house : surface, underground, shaft type

8.

Tail race channel / tunnel

The "BASIC DESIGN CONCEPTS" involved in the layout and design of

these structures are discussed in the following paras.
4.0

DIVERSION STRUCTURE

4.1

The diversion of water into the power channel or the water conductor
system, for power generation, from the natural stream can be in the
following three forms.

i.

Lateral diversion

ii.

Drop inlet diversion

iii.

Frontal (direct) diversion

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The location of the diversion structure is usually governed by the

topographical and geological considerations i.e.

4.2

i)

The width of the river at the site should be narrow.

ii)

Foundations and abutments should be geologically sound

iii)

The site should be easily approachable and

iv)

The required river training works should be minimum

The phenomenon of spiral flow around the bends in the sediment carrying
streams can be very conveniently used to isolate the sediments entering
the power off take. The effect of spiral flow manifests itself in the bed load
being carried through the curved section and kept off the concave bank.

A number of experiments have been carried out to investigate condition of

sedimentation in case of intakes from curved watercourse.

4.3

Lateral Diversion

The most common type of water withdrawal from river is the lateral
diversion. Almost invariably the intake head works are located adjacent to
the diversion structure, which may be in the form, of a weir, a barrage or a
dam with or without sluice. As already discussed above the lateral intakes
have to be designed such that a flow pattern near the bed is generated
having velocity

component away from intake. Such conditions exist in

bend reaches on convey side. However, such a secondary flow has to be

artificially generated or induced in straight river reach by appropriate
training works.

In case of wide and comparatively shallow streams, guide walls, divide

walls, and bottom guide vanes in front of the canal head works can be
helpful in reducing the amount of silt or sediment entering the canal.

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4.4

Drop inlet diversion

Drop inlets have proven to be an economical and practical facility to divert

water from steep mountain streams for diverting upto about 15-17 nr^/sec.
This type of structure is less expensive to construct than diversion dams
with specially designed head gates. The drop inlet structure is built into the
bed of stream and consists of: -

A hopper like through covered by a coarse grid or trash rack

slopping in the direction of flow.

A flushing canal or pipe returning to stream bed equipped with a

valve or gate.

4.5

The diversion canal or pipe equipped with a gate or valve.

Summary

Structures for the diversion of water from sediment carrying streams have
been designed and constructed in a number of types and forms. However
there is still no generally applicable quantitative design available. Every
intake structure has to be adopted to the unique conditions of a given site
in a given river.

However, the basic principles of planning and design are qualitatively

known. Thery are three main guidelines :

i)

In case of lateral diversion, the flow layers near the river bed with
their hig: i sediment concentration must, by means of secondary
currents, be separate-1 from the relatively sediment free upper

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region. Such secondary currents do exist in river bends. In straight

river reach, they have to be induced by appropriate training works.
ii)

In case of the drop inlet, the

mixture passe over

iii)

coarser

part

of the sediment

the structure. Only the finer sediment

grains enter the intake. A

flushing:

sediments before

the

entering

power

device
offtake

removes the
discharge

Direct diversion requires a parallel uniform flow. The upper part

flows straight into the intake, the lower sediment layers are drawn
underneath a sluice gate.

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5.0

INTAKES

5.1

An intake is provided to let water from a pond or a reservoir created by a

diversion structure, into the water conductor system. These are designed
to :

Regulate and control the entry of water from the river / reservoir
according to schedule of utilisation.

Prevent entry of floating material and bed load sediments into water
conductor system as they have damaging effect on the water
conductor and the turbines and

Ensure smooth hydraulic conditions at the intake and to minimize

the head loss.

5.2

Types of intakes

The various types of intakes can be broadly grouped into two classes i.e.

a)

Low pressure intakes and

b)

High pressure intakes

Low Pressure intakes are generally associated with run-of-the-river

evelopment, the intake are usually associated with reservoir types of
schemes.

In the run-of-the-river development, the intake structure draws supply from

the continuous river inflows without appreciable fluctuations in the water
conductor and location of power house. These intakes are

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5.3

i)

Intake in the body of concrete or masonry dams.

ii)

ii)

Intake in the reservoir.

Types of intake structures

Some of the most common type of intake structures are :

1.

1)

Semi circular type

2)

Straight type

3)

Tower type

Semi circular type of intake

In this type of intake the trash rack supporting structure is placed in a semi
circular plan in front of the conduit such that no part of the trash rack falls
within a radius of 1.1428 bg or 0.8 hg from the face of the opening. This
type is adopted when-

A reservoir is formed by a concrete / masonry dam and penstock feeding

the powerhouse is embedded in the body of the dam.
The topography and geology permit almost vertical face at tunnel inlet
portal. The head variation over intake is large.

2.

Straight type of intake structure

In this type the trash rack supporting structure is straight with a vertical or
inclined face in front of conduit or opening. This type is adopted when: -

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The reservoir is formed by earthen dam and conduit is laid below it,
and

The intake is subjected to low head variation as in the case of runof-the-river or canal powerhouse schemes.

3.

Tower type intake structure

In this type the trash rack supporting structure is cylindrical and rests on a
circular vertical shaft and is adopted when:

The intake is located at a distance from the u/s face of dam.

Reservoir is formed by earthen dam and the tunnel/penstock is laid

below it.

the intake is subjected to large head variations resulting in

complete submergence of the" large head variations resulting in
complete submergence of the structure.

5.4

Components of intake structure

The main components of an intake structure are:

(i)

Bell mouth opening/ entrance

(ii)

Transition from rectangular opening to circular section

(iii)

Trash rack metal work

(iv)

Trash rack supporting structure and

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(v)
5.5

Gate slot enclosures with air vent.

Design of intake

5.5.1 Bell mouth opening & transition

(a)

Shape

The penstock and conduit/ tunnel entrance is given a shape of the natural
contraction of a free jet issuing from a sharp edged orifice so as to reduce
the losses through the opening to minimum.

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Of opening: - To prevent vertices and entry of air into the penstock/ tunnel,
the minimum water cover over the upper edge of the opening should be
0.3h^.

In case of horizontal penstock/tunnel at the intake i.e. when q = 0, the

center line should be minimum 0.8 h below the minimum water level
(MDDL).

5.5.2 Trash rack

At the entrance of practically all intakes screens or trash racks are

provided to prevent the entry of any trash that would not pass through the
smallest opening in the turbine.

The shape of trash rack structure is adopted to suit the requirements, for
example, of high dams with vertical u/s face a semi circular trash rack is
generally preferred.
;
Hydraulic design considerations

No part shall be with in 0.80 h from center point of intake.

The piers and rib beams of the trash rack supporting structure shall
be streamlined.

The normal velocity of flow through the net area between the bars
shall be 0.6 to O.Qm/sec. Even under 50% clogging it should not
be more than 1 m/sec.

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Spacing of the trash bars shall be less than the minimum opening
between turbine blades so that there is no blockade and damage to the
runner blades.
Structural design considerations

a)

Differential head

The metal work is designed to withstand loads equivalent to a differential

head of

T.V.A. practice

1.52 m

U.S.B.R. practice the head above racks subject to a Maximum of 6m

For small velocity

3 to 6m

Through trash bars

(uptolm/sec)
(b)

Allowable Stresses

Since the bars have little lateral support, they are designed to fail at a
lower stress

S = failure stress = Y.P. (1.23 - 0.0153 L/t)

(c)

Vibrations

From the point of view of vibrations caused due to flowing water, the L/t
ratio shall be limited to

L/t = 75

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Where L = Spacing of the horizontal members of the trash rack metai work
and
t = Thickness of the vertical bars.
6.0

DESILTING BASIN

6.1

The

presence

of

suspended

sediments,

especially

sharp

edged

sand/quartz particles, in the water feeding the power station is of major

concern in the hydro power development, particularly run-of-river scheme,
because of their damaging effect on the turbines and the water conductor.
Desilting basin is a structure, essentially a still pond, to remove this
suspended silt load from the water that enters the water conductor through
the intake structure. These are designed to settle particles of a size than a
particular size, considered detrimental to the particular system.
6.2

Location and layout

The desalting tanks are

usually

provided in the head reach of the

water conductor system just 4/5 or d/s of the intake structure and
depending on the topographic conditions. These can either be provided on
the surface or underground the layout of the desalting basins at the inlet
side should be such as to have a proper and equitable distribution of flow
along the entire width of the basin. For this, transition sections of suitable
length of proper design have to be provided. In addition
transition, the water conductor upstream
a

should

be

to the
straight

inlet
for

length equal to 10 times the bed width of the channel to achieve

uniform flow into the desilting basin.

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6.3

Size of silt particles

The extent of sediment load removal necessary depends, among others,

on the sediment characteristics and their concentration, the design and
construction material of the machines and their operation head. At
medium head plants, the removal of particles larger than 0.2mm to 0.5mm
is generally specified. At high head plants, particle size of 0.1 mm may be
objectionable. The settlement of 0.1 mm size particles, however, is very
difficult under normal conditions and as such it is usual to remove silt
particles of 0.15mm and above size for high head power plants.

Apart from the particle size, the hardness of the particles and its shape are
also important from considerations of turbine abrasion. Smaller particles of
high hardness with angular shapes are more dangerous than particle of
larger size but less hard and with rounded shape.

6.4

Hydraulic design of desilting chambers

The main principle of the design basin is to reduce the flow through
velocity to a low enough value to allow silt particles greater than the
permissible diameter to settle down. This is achieved by increasing the
cross section area of the main water conductor.

The length of the basin is governed by the consideration that water

particles entering the bas in and sediment particles conveyed by them, with
equal horizontal velocity should reach the end of the basin after a period
longer than the settling time. Thus, even the smallest settling particle
should strike the bottom of the basin within the settling zone.

The various steps involved in working out he size are :

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Critical flow through velocity

V =a d

Where
d = minimum diameter of silt particles to be removed.
a = Constant depending on the diameter of particles to be removed
a = 36 for d > 1 mm
a = 44 for 1mm < d > 0.1mm
a = 51 for 0.1mm > d

Area of C/S of tank = A = Q/V and A = B x H

Where
B = Width and
H = height of tank

If 'w' is the settling velocity of silt particle

Then

L = Length of the tank = H/wxV

6.4.1 Effect of turbulence on settling velocity

The settling velocity, as given in the graph or as calculated from stokes

law is applicable to the velocity of settlement in standing or still water. In
practices, however, water in the desilting basin is in running condition.
This running/flowing water creates turbulence, which retards the settling
velocity of silt particles and, as such, affects the size of desilting tank.

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6.4.2 Practical significance of turbulence and efficiency of desilting tank

It has been observed that som e of the desilting basins had been designed
had been designed ignoring the effect of turbulence did not perform quite
satisfactorily, as their size was inadequate. On the contrary, desilting
tanks that have been designed using the above formula of reduction in
settling velocity have given 100% silt removal and have proved to be
some what conservative. In practice it is advisable, therefore, to design
the desilting tanks after proper model tests. However, in case of small
projects which cannot afford the model tests, it is always better to consider
the effect of turbulence even if it is slightly conservative.
7.0

WATER CONDUCTOR

7.1

Water conductor is the life line of a Hydro Power Project and is provided to
carry the silt free water from desilting basin upto the forebay or surge tank
or a balancing reservoir. For the efficient functioning of the scheme it has

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to be carefully planned & designed. The water conductor system can be in

any of the following forms :

1) Openpowerchannel

2)

Tunnel - either pr essure or free flow

3)

A combination of open channel, cut and cover conduit and tunnel

Before discussing these various types, it is essential to know the basic

criterion for fixing the alignment of water conductor system.
7.2

Alignment criteria

The water conductor system should be so aligned such that:

it makes the optimum possible use of water head

it involves minimum loss of head in friction, bends etc.

it needs min, maintenance and provides for maximum ease for

such maintenance

7.3

it affords maximum possible safety

consistent with above requirements, effects maximum economy

Open channel

7.3.1 Where the topography permits an open channel in the form of a contour
canal is provided from desilting basin up to the balancing reservoir or the
foreby. Over sufficiently uniform terrain the power channel may be
designed with an open cross section through cuts, over fills and in cut and
fills.

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In addition to the topography and geology of the areas, the following points
have to be kept in mind while opting for an open channel.

1)

The permissible slope of banks and embankments

2)

The depth of the cut and the height of the fill

3)

The dimensions and foundations of canal walls, backfill if required.

4)

The extent and quality of lining

7.3.2 Cross section

The type of cross section of an open channel is greatly influenced by

topographic conditions, chiefly by the steepness of the hill side. On steep
mountain sides, the construction of fills or hill parts of cut and fill section is
uneconomic al or sometimes impossible. In such cases, the valley side
embankment should be secured by rock fills or retaining walls. Further
more it may sometimes by economical to apply flumes of reinforced
concrete.
7.4

Tunnels

7.4.1 Where the country is rugged and construction of contour canal is not
possible, under such conditions, the water for power generation is
conveyed through tunnels. These area underground passage made
removing the overlying rock or soil and constitutes the most important and
challenging component in the present day hydro power development
particularly in the run-of-river schemes in the Himalayas.

7.4.2 These tunnels can either have pressure flow or free flow or both and are
generally of the following shapes

Circular section

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D-shaped section

Horse shoe section

Modified horse shoe section

The particular cross section to be adopted depends on the following factors :

Geologic conditions along the alignment

Hydraulic requirements

Structural considerations

Functional requirements

Circular Section

The circular section is most suitable from hydraulic and structural

considerations. However, it is difficult for excavation, particularly where the
cross sectional area is small. In case, where the tunnel is subjected to
high internal pressure but does not have good quality of rock and/or
adequate rock cover around lit, circular section is considered to be most
suitable.
D-shaped section

D-shaped section is found to be suitable in tunnels located in good quality

rocks. The main advantages of this section over horse-shoe section are
the added width of the invert which gives more working floor space in the
tunnel during driving. The added invert width also permits the use of
concurrent lining of the tunnel which may not be possible for circular and
horse shoe tunnels of the same dimensions.

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Horse shoe and modified horse shoe section

The horse shoe and modified horse shoe sections are compromise
between circular and D-shaped sections. These section are structurally
strong to withstand external rock and water pressures. Where flatter
inverts are required for constructional ease, modified horse shoe sections
are advantageous. These modified horse sections also afford easy
change over to circular sections with minimum, additional cost in reaches
where rock quality is poor or rock cover is inadequate.
7.5

Economic Diameter Studies

After finalising the alignment and the geometric shape of the tunnel, the
next step is to work out the economic diameter of the tunnel. The following
factors should be considered while working out the economic diameter:

a)

Velocity requirements

b)

Head loss in tunnel

c)

Interest on capital cost of tunnel

d)

Annual maintenance charges

For making economic diameter studies, a permissible velocity is assumed

in the tunnel and the following losses that generally occur in a tunnel are
calculated

a)

Friction loss

b)

Trash rack loss

c)

Entrance loss

d)

Transition loss

e)

Bend and junction loss

f)

Gate loss

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g)
7.6

Exit loss

Tunnel support and concrete lining

In order to prevent progressive loosening of the jointed rock mass in which

the tunnel has been excavated and thus prevent rock falls, the rock mass
surrounding the tunnel opening may require supports such as that
provided by steel rib, rock bolt or shotcrete. Estimation of the rock loads
and the design of these support systems can be easily made with the help
of

1)

Empirical methods

2)

Analytical methods

3)

Graphical methods and

4)

Observational methods

8.0

FOREBAY/ SURGE TANKS

8.1

As already stated, the water conductor channel/ tunnel end up in a

forebay/ surge shaft. Their basic function is twofold; namely:

1)

To absorb the water hammer or elastic shock waves coming from

he downstream pr essure pipe line due to opening/ closing of
turbine gates and load changes.

2)

To supply/ store additional water during load acceptance / rejection

until the upstream, conduit has accelerated/ decelerated to a new
stedy state value.

In preliminary analysis, water hammer pressure waves and surge

oscillations could be treated independently since the former oscillation

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periods are too quick and get damped out whereas the latter extends over
a longer period of time.

Forebays are simple open tanks with adequate capacity to provide water
during load acceptance and the load rejection surge are safely diverted
over suitably designed side spillways. Since their analysis and design are
simpler, only the surge tanks are discussed further in the following
paragraphs.
8.2 Types of surge tanks

Hydraulic, geologic and topographic factors influence the choice of the ty ^

or surge tanks. They are :

1)

Simple Surge

2)

Restricted orifice

3)

Differential

4)

Air cushion

5)

Surge tank with expansion chambers

Simple surge tank where the diameter is constant right up to the tunnel ei
t Ifcvel.

Restricted orifice surge tanks where the entry to the tank above is throttled,
improved damping of mass oscillations by offering increased resistance to
flow by which maximum and minimum surge levels get controlled. The
restriction of the orifice area is desirably limited to 75% of the area of flow
of the water conductor

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Differential surge tank is also a throttled tank with an addition of ris; pipe for
achieving quicker head control and the large area providing the required
volume control.

Air cushion surge tank is one in which is variations in head inside th tank
are controlled by appropriate injection of air pressure into the system,
which elirninates the need for extending the surge tank excavation over the
entire range of surge water level variations.

Multiple surge tanks where number of tanks function simultaneously

Surge tanks with upper/ lower expansion chambers or both where the
topographic does not permit surge oscillations control by uniform cross
section for -e Sank
8.3

Design consideration of surge tank

The design concept could be basically divided into:

hydraulic design to determine the shape, size and water functions.

Structural design covering the excavation and supporting system,

including lining.

8.3.1 Hydraulic design

Area of cross section :

For hydraulic stability of surge tank, its area is governed by Thomas

criteria'.

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Where K is the ratio of the power generated by the station to that of the
grid.

In order to achieve rapid damping of oscillations, a safety factor of 1.6 for

restricted orifice tank and 2.0 for simple surge tank are adopted.
Maximum and Minimum surge :

In a simple surge tank, surge height corresponding to change is discharge

neglecting the-'effect of friction and orifice would be :

While computing the maximum upsurge following a load rejection, we use

a "smooth tunnel" assumption with roughness coefficient as 0.12 or 0.13.

hup = Z* +1/3 hf from steady state level

When calculating maximum drawdown during load acceptance, a 'rough
tunnel' assumption is made with roughness coefficient as 0.16 to 0.18.
hdown = Z* + 1/9 h, from reservoir steady state level
In the case of a restricted orifice tank,

hup=Z* 1/3 (hf hor)

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Where Cd varies of oscillation

While the above are useful for preliminary studies, for specific cases, the
dynamic equation and continuity equations are solved by numerical
methods using computer by solving the second order equation.

Computer aided analysis is preferred to graphical methods because these

are more accurate. Height of the surge tank provided shall be at least
1.5m above the highest water level and 2.0m below the lowest water level.
It shall be ensured that there is no vortex formation at the lowest water
level in the tank and the water cushion shall be adequate.

8.3.2 Structural design

Design loads

The surge tank, being an open excavated cylindrical chamber topography

and geology play a vital role in deciding its shape and rock supporting
system. Side rock cover shall be adequate to resist the internal hydrostatic
pressure (CL = h). Design loads correspond to maximum dynamic water
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level for internal water pressure and external water pressure when the
tank is empty. External pressures develop due to existing water table or
the saturation level in the rock around the surge tank.
Lining

Surge tanks are invariably lined with concrete, the thickness of which is
determined both from internal pressure and external loads by using
Lame's thick cylinder theory. A minimum thickness of0.3h unit is required.
Steel reinforcements are designed with usual permissible stresses under
direct tension in water retaining structures and allowable stresses
increased upto 33% for emergency conditions. The shrinkage and
temperature effects are considered in the design. The shrinkage and
temperature effects are considered in the design. The interface bond
between concrete and rock are ensured by contact grouting at suitable
external grout under pressure.
8.4

Off-takes for pressure shafts

The water conductor tunnel brings the water into the surge tank and the
off-take for pressure conduits could be multiple openings. These are
provided with gate controls and transitions at off-take point to ensure
smooth entry of water and less chances of vortex formation.
9.0

PENSTOCKS/ PRESSURE SHAFTS

9.1

Water from the foreby or a surge tanks is carried under pressure to the
power house through a pressure conduit. This conduit provided between
the scroll case and the first open water surface U/S from the turbine is
called penstock or pressure shaft, depending upon whether they are laid
on the surface or provided underground. Adoption of a particular type of

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this pressure conduit is mostly governed by topography and geology of the

area, the type of power development scheme and the type of power house
i.e. whether surface or underground.

Both these types of water conveyance systems are described in brief in

the following paras.
9.2

Penstock

Penstocks are generally of concrete or steel or a combination of both. The

strength and flexibility of steel, however, makes it best suited for the range
of pressures and pressure fluctuation in the turbine operation.
9.2.1 Types of penstocks

Depending upon the method of fabrication the penstocks are classified as:
Riveted or Flange Botted penstocks:-

These are more or less obselete now. However flange bolted pipes are
still sometimes used for small diameter penstocks and where site
conditions render fields welding difficult.
Welded penstock :

With the advancement in welding techniques and development of higher

heads, all welded steel penstocks are most commonly used. The pipes
are formed by butt welding the longitudinal and circumferential joint.

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Multilayered penstock :

This type of penstock consists of several layers of thin plates wrapped

around the pre-fabricated central core pipe by special machines. The
internal water pressure is resisted by the interaction of layers. The use of
these plates eliminates the costly process of stress relieving of thick plate,
but the cost of fabrication is high.
Banded or Hooped Penstocks:-

In this type of penstocks, steel bands are slipped over thin walled
penstock pipe by cold process or hot process. These bonds induce pre
stress in the pipe as a result of which high operating heads can be carried
by comparatively thin plates.

The various types of penstocks as mentioned above further classified as

Surface penstock:-

Where the steel conduit is laid exposed and is supported above ground by
saddles or Ring Girder Supports.
Embedded penstocks:

Where the steel conduit is embedded in large mass of dam concrete or

laid in trenches and embedded in concrete.
Buried penstocks:

Where the conduit is laid in open trenc hes and backfilled with earth.

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9.2.2 Layout of penstocks :-

The layout and arrangement of penstock depends upon type of

development, site conditions, topography and relative location of intake
structure and power house.
When the power house is located at the toe of a dam, the penstocks are
generally short and embedded in dam, concrete.

When power house is located a little further away from the dam and
depending on the utility of space between dam and power house, the
penstocks are generally encased in concrete before burying in earth.

In case of run-of-river schemes where water is conducted from dam by an

open channel or a tunnel upto forebay or surge tank upto a suitable point,
the penstock is generally laid as a surface penstock. However, where the
temperature conditions during winter are sub-zero, the penstock is buried
under soil from temperature considerations.

Sometimes the penstock may be laid both as surface penstock in the

initial reaches and as underground near the powerhouse.

9.2.3

Penstock support and anchorage system

Surface penstock require appropriately designed support system primarily

for transferring loads to the foundation and permitting longitudinal
movements due to temperature variations. The system comprises of
saddles for small diameters upto 3 to 3.5m and ring girder supports
mounted on rockers for larger diameters. Anchor blocks are provided at
change in direction of penstocks and at intermediate locations where the
straight reach is very long.

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9.2.4 Penstock specials

While accommodating the requirements dictated by topography and type

of scheme, penstock may have to be provided with the following special
components:

Bends (simple or compound) to accommodate vertical or horizontal

angular change in profile.

Expansion joint to allow for longitudinal movements

Sleeve couplings where vertical movements are anticipated

Man holes for inspection and maintenance eof the penstock interior

Bifurcation/ Trifurcation for branching of the main pipe

Reducer piece to connect the diameter of scroll case

9.2.5 Economic studies of penstock

A.

Number of penstocks:

The number of penstocks to be provided for any hydro-electric installation

depends upon

Size for handling, fabrication and transportation

Cost of civil works such as saddles, ring girder supports, anchor

blocks etc.

Thickness of plates and

Flexibility of operation

A comparison of single penstock to multi-penstock arrangement for

identical velocity or identical head loss is summarised below :

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Items

Single

Penstock

'n'

Discharge

Q/n

Q/n

Diameter

d/n

d/n2 /5

Velocity

v/n1 /5

Head loss

hn1/2

Wall thickness

S/n1/2

S/n2/5

Total Weight

G/n1/5

number

of

penstocks

B.

Economical Diameter of Penstock

Economical diameter of the penstock is the diameter for which annual

cost, which includes the cost of power lost due to friction and charges for
amortization of construction cost, maintenance, operation is minimum.

The economic diameter is calculated by evaluation annual power loss,

annual cost of maintenance etc. and equating first derivative w.r.t. D=0.

Cc

unit cost of concrete lining in Rupees/m

Ce

unit cost of excavation Rupees/m

Cp

cost of 1 Kwh of energy in Rupees

Cs

cost of steel in Rupees/kg;

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diameter of the penstock;

overall efficiency of plant;

ej

joint efficiency of penstock;

head on penstock including water hammer in m;

percentage by which steel in penstock is overweight due to

provision of stiffeners, corrosion allowance, etc;

Rugosity coefficient in Manning's formula;

ratio of annual fixed operation and maintenance charges to

construc tion cost of penstock

pt

annual load factor; and

discharge through penstock in m 3/s

Empirical methods of calculating economical diameter

1.

Sarkaria formula

Economic dia in metre

rated net head in metre

rated capacity of turbine in H.P. (metric)

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2.

Donalds formula

9.2.6 Structural design of penstock

Penstock shall be designed to resist the total head consisting of static and
water hammer pressure.

If the penstock is burried or subjected to outside pressures, the thickness

as calculated above shall be checked for buckling under these external
pressure.
Allowable stresses:-

Under normal conditions of operation which include static water head

water hammer head due to normal operation of the machine, the allowable
stress for design of plate thickness of penstock shell, shall be 2/3 of
minimum yield point stress or 1/3 of minimum ultimate tensile strength
whichever is lower.
Design of penstock shell:-

The surface steel penstock is generally designed for the stresses caused
due to internal water pressure including water hammer head

p.D / 2.s.e. + corrosion allowance

Pr. of water

Diameter of penstock

allowable stress in steel

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joint efficiency

plate thickness

Corrosion allowance = 1.5 to 2.0m

In addition to the hoop stresses the penstock is subject to longitudinal

stresses due to beam action and temperature variation and circumferential
stresses at supports due to bending caused by internal pressure. These
stresses are however small as compared to the hoop.

When the penstock is subjected to external water pressure or the earth

pressure as in the case of embedded/burried penstock, the thickness of
the penstock provided from internal water pressure point of view should be
checked for buckling pressures.

Table below gives critical buckling pressures as a function of slenderness

for various yield point stresses.
9.2.7 Handling thickness of penstock

Notwithstanding the thickness of penstock as obtained from internal

pressure consideration, a minimum thickness as given below shall be
provided from the point of view of providing necessary rigidity during
transport and handling.

t in cms

D + 50 / 400

Dia in cm

min plate thickness

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9.2.8 Bends/ reducers in penstock

From hydraulic consideration, it is common practice to adopt a bend

radius 3 to 5 times the diameter of the penstock. The convergence angle
of reducer piece is limited to 5 to 10 degrees.

Design of other specials such as expansion joint, man holes and y-pieces
are not covered in this as they require separate detailed analysis and
design philosophy.
9.3

Pressure Shaft

As already stated, the pressure conduit can be provided underground

horizontal, inclined, vertical or in combination as dictated by particular type
of development. The design of pressure conduits in rock is influenced by
the available rock cover and the characteristics of roc k mass. When the
overlying rock is competent and of adequate cover, the conduit can be
provided with simple or reinforced concrete lining mainly from hydraulic
considerations. In other situations, steel liner is provided to take part
internal pressure depending on the rock participation. These steel liners
are checked for buckling due to external hydrostatic pressers that may
develop due to ground water conditions particularly when the shaft is
empty.
However, in exceptional circumstances where the rock mass is competent
with adequate cover, unlined pressure shafts have been adopted in power
stations elsewhere.
9.4

Pressure transients

Transient phenomena may be caused by change in guide vane/ needle

valve operation at the turbine resulting in pressure waves in the water

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conduit. The compressibility of the fluid and the elasticity of the conductor
affect the velocity of the wave travel. Initial acceleration or sudden
deceleration is influenced by inertia of the water and leads to negative or
positive pressure gradients. The pressure rise on abrupt closure T = 0 is
given by

H = aV^ /g

where a is the wave velocity

H = a D V/g

for any change in velocity flow

The penstock time constant would be

Tr = Lvo / gHo

which is generally 1

Reflection time of the pressure wave would be T = 2L/A and higher values
would involve governing problems. In actual case, time of closure T is a
few seconds, the value depending on the type of machine. In general
application, the ratio of

DH / Ho = Tr /Tc

is kept as 1 : 10 for

Optimal governing of the system.

Pressure rise computations are made by step-by-step method taking

smaller time interval t and gate closure characteristics.

The equations involved are:

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