How to improve the efficiency of the thermal power plant

Kundan Malani , Charan Singh ,kesahv kumar

B.Tech. final year students
ITM Bhilwara, Rajasthan
INDIA
Email Id: kundanmalani1990@gmail.com
techno_charan@yahoo.in
kumarkeshavee@gmail.com

Abstract — We have been insisting on electricity, so our paper mainly describes

using the non conventional sources like
wind and solar energy etc for a long time
but we are not thinking about what we
are using most and what is the least too,
the fuel based generation and today
approx 70% of the total power is
generated using the thermal power
plants which use the coal as it’s
combustion source, however a thermal
plant gives us only 30% Of our 100%
effort, and all we know that the coal is
not a renewable source so our paper
manly justify the ways to get more
efficient and economic power from
thermal plants, and this paper discuss
that how to utilize the whole rotations of
the turbine.
INTRODUCTION
The unconventional sources are mostly
used energy sources since the inception of
need of electrical energy because these are
reliable sources which we can use
whenever we need to generate energy,
while these are not abundant so we need to
improve in their efficiency, mostly the coal
is being used around the world to generate
the idea which we can implement in our
thermal power plant.
The 50%-60% of total operating cost for a
thermal plant consists of fuel purchasing
and its handling. This can be minimized by
linking the site to the coal provider if
possible this will minimize the
transportation cost also.
The overall efficiency of thermal power
plant which we need to improve is low due
to two things, one of them is the heat losses
in the condenser and the second one is heat
losses occurred in various stages. The
second one can be minimized using the
alternative ways however the minimization
of first one is restricted to some extent
because of the heat transfer.
So the various processes which can play an
important role to improve the efficiency of
thermal power and to use it in more
economical way will be described further in
this paper.
The various ways are listed below along
with the above:
1. Giving some new thoughts to the
thermal energy.
2. To use turbine rotations.
3. to minimize the heat losses in the
condenser, which is approx 50% of
the whole, dry cooling may be a good
one.
4. Reducing losses at various stages.
5. Using the waste material like ash on
the site itself or wherever it could be.
*where and how we can improve our
traditional ways?
1. Thermal power in comparison with
other non conventional:
The unconventional energy sources like
coal are not talked much these days,
however these are the sources which are
being used more than the conventional
ones. Moreover the conventional sources
are abundant but not reliable because we
cannot wait for the sun to shine or wind to
blow, whenever we require to generate
energy or sometimes the intensity of these
are not enough, means these things are not
ones. Which are in control of mankind.
Figure.1 showing the energy
utilization in recent years
 In case of solar energy :
A. It requires large area to generate even a
small amount of electrical power.
B. It cannot be used in cloudy weather or
night.
C. It is uneconomical method because it
uses many reflectors and other circuitry to
absorb the heat.
 In case of wind energy;
A. It gives variable output.
B. Power generated is quite small.
C. It requires batteries as the additional
element to
Figure.2 showing the part of renewable
energy source in compare to coal
2.cascading of alternators :
an interesting fact needs to be noticed is
that when we provide all our efforts to
ratate a turbine then it rotates at approx
8000-10000 rotations per minute,while an
alternator we are using can only be rotated
at 3000 r.p.m. as per this calculation:
Ns=120f/p
Where the abbreviations are as follows:
Ns=synchronous speed
F=frequency (50 Hz)
P=number of poles
For 2 pole generator the maximum
rotations per minute are:
Ns=(120*50)/2=3000 r.p.m.
So the gear box is used to control the
rotations of the turbine means it minimizes
the 8000-10000 rotations per minute to just
3000,this yields that the efforts all we made
to rotate the turbine at 10000 r.p.m. are
wasted, including the combustion of
fuel,condenser,economizer etc.
In the above calculation the number of
poles is minimum, Even if we revisit the
calculation and want to change the number
of poles then the problem remains same as
it was before because the Ns is inversely
proportionally to the number of poles.
To overcome this problem or we can say
better to use the most of the turbine
rotations we can cascaded the two
alternators magnetically coupled to the
turbine shaft,while we don’t suggest to
eliminate the gear box because it may be
useful to control the rotations if we need
further.
3. Using the alternative methods for
condensing process:
A. the recent condensing process may be
replaced by the dry cooling process in
which the steam is condensed using less
water and by natural flow, this thing might
be a good one at the site where there is
scarcity of water, or the water needs to be
used somewhere else.
B.The second method needs to be more
studied by experienced persons however
the idea is briefly described:
The main reason of being such low
efficient (30%) for the T.P.P,is the heat loss
in the condenser where 50% heat is lost of
its original value, while we need the
condenser to use the exhausted steam to
make it more economic, the diagram
showing the path provider to the exhausted
steam suggests us if we can use the already
heated steam if possible, as in the figure the
ex. Steam is given to the chamber from
where it is carried to the steam dry
chamber, after the enough drying process
we can use this steam back to the
economizer.
Path provider to steam
4. Minimizing the losses occurred at
various stages:
The most T.P.Ps are not maintained
periodically so we must revisit the plant to
keep it clean and green. The boiler metal
and of all the pipes, carrying the steam
must be of low heat absorbing.
5. Using the waste material like ash on
the site itself or wherever it could be:
The thermal plant gives us waste materials
like ash etc,so we use the way to use the
wastages as far as we can, as we all know
this is the reuse and recycle era.
Ash can be used at various places like at
land fill sites and for cement producing
companies in a more efficient way we can
use it at the site itself for the constructive
processes.
Conclusion
In the above paper we have described our
thoughts on how can we improve the
efficiency and economy as well of a
thermal power plant. These things need to
be more studied because we are using till
now the thermal energy widely and we
know that we have no substitution for the
coal energy moreover it is limited too.
So to increase the efficiency we have to
find out the better ways to replace our
traditional methods.

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