Taqdees Ahmad Lab session 3 2015-ME-161

STEAM TURBINE POWER PLANT

PROCESS FLOW DIAGRAM

MAJOR COMPONENTS IN A STEAM TURBINE POWER PLANTS

BOILER:
It is a device that changes the physical form of a substance from its liquid state to its gaseous state.
The resultant product may be in supersaturated or superheated form. Chemical energy from the
combustion chamber is utilized in this process to increase the temperature of the working fluid. It
consists of set of tubes in which one fluid flows through the tubes and another fluid passes through
the shell. Depending upon the passage of hot and cold fluid, it is mainly classified as fire tube and
water tube boiler. The boiler in which hot fluid flows inside the tubes and cold fluid passes through
the outer shell is called fire tube boiler. The boiler in which the hot fluid passes through the shell
and cold fluid or water flows through the inner tubes is called water tube boilers

CALORIMETER:
It is used to check the dryness fraction of the steam exiting the boiler. This helps to determine the
heat content and energy carried by the steam. Depending on the moisture content, the steam is sent
back to the boiler or superheater to increase its temperature or into the turbine for power extraction.
It may be of throttling or separating type. If the value of dryness fraction is high, throttling
Taqdees Ahmad Lab session 3 2015-ME-161

calorimeter is used and is the steam is wet, separating calorimeter is used before throttling the
steam.

SUPER HEATER:
The saturated fluid (generally water) is converted into its superheated form by heating it in a super
heater. It comprises of parallel mounted steel tubes that are bended and welded which heats the
steam to its superheated form. The resultant superheated steam is then utilized in power generation
in the turbine. Moreover, the exhaust steam form the turbine is then fed into the super heater for
reheating. This increasing the efficiency and output of a power plant.
It may be of the following three types:
 Radiant
The super heater is placed in the vicinity of the furnace near the water fall and heat is
absorbed by radiation.

 Convection
The super heater is located in the convective zone of the combustion chamber, ahead of
economizer.

 Separately fired
The super heater is placed outside the boiler and have a detached furnace. Additional
burners may be used to increase the efficiency of the superheating. Nonetheless, it is
inefficient.

STEAM TURBINE:
It is a thermo-mechanical device that extracts the kinetic and thermal energy from the incident
pressurized steam and converts it into rotary motion of the blades. This rotation rotates the output
shaft connected to the turbine and runs the electric generator. The modern steam turbines exploit
its multi stage feature to completely extract the energy from the steam, approaching the ideal
reversible expansion process as its thermodynamic efficiency increases.
It can be axially exhausted or downward exhausted. The former cuts hood losses which increases
efficiency as compared to the latter. Moreover, a compact frame single welded turbine can
significantly diminish the construction cost as well as time required for inspection and
maintenance.
Steam turbines are also classified as condensing or reheat turbines. They both are found in
electrical power plants. The exhaust of the former is partially condensed steam with a dryness
fraction of almost 90%. Its pressure is well below the normal atmospheric pressure. While in case
of the latter type, the exhaust steam is passed through a high pressurized region and is again fed
into the boiler where it is heated to its superheated state. After which, it is returned to the turbine
for further expansion. This increases the amount of energy extracted from the steam.
Taqdees Ahmad Lab session 3 2015-ME-161

Sometimes, a clutch is used between the turbine and generator that eliminates the need of cooling
steam at the start-up of the plant. This reduces the auxiliary boiler capacity and improves the ease
with which the plant is started.

CONDENSER:
It is a mechanical device which increases the pressure of the fluid by compressing it into the
required volume.
The main types of condensers used are:
 Rotary
 Screw
 Scroll
 Reciprocating
 Centrifugal

PUMP:
A pump in steam power plant cycle is usually referred to as Boiler Feedwater Pump. Its main
purpose is to pump feedwater into the boiler for steam generation. The water pumped may be fresh
water or the condensate from the boiler. These are high pressure multistage components that may
be positive displacement pumps or centrifugal pumps. An electric motor is used to run the pump
that build up enough pressure in the pump so as to overcome the resistive pressure in the boiler. If
the electric motor runs on a constant RPM, a minimum flow device is coupled with the pump to
avoid over pressurizing of the fluid at low flowrates and the minimum flow is returned to the tank
or deaerator.
The pump suitable for the operation depends upon the capacity of the boiler. It may operate in a
discontinuous or uninterrupted manner, depending upon the liquid level of the boiler. Multistage
centrifugal pump is most commonly used.
The main parts of the pump are impeller, volute, drum, disc, stage pieces, shaft and gland packing.

GENERATOR:
The resultant torque produces electricity in the generator by converting the input mechanical
energy into electrical energy. It can be AC or DC generator depending upon the type of current
required. The main components of a generator are rotor and stator. The rotor produces an
alternating magnetic field by its rotation. This induces an electromotive force in the surrounding
coils.