Sliding Pressure Mode

• The key benefits of the sliding pressure method of operation is that it enables a significant reduction in the thermal
stresses to which critical components - of the turbine principally - are subjected during start-up, in comparison with the
alternate and not uncommon scenario of the boiler being brought up to rated pressure and temperature before rolling
the turbine.
• The operational life of steam turbine components is not infinite, and like every physical component in the universe -
each component of a steam turbine has a finite limit with respect to the number of cycles of mechanical or thermal
stress that it will absorb before eventually failing due to fatigue. The number of cycles that can be tolerated is
dependent upon the severity of the individual cyclic stress events to which the part is exposed. The sliding pressure
technique is intended to prolong the operational life of steam turbine components (those that are most highly stressed
in particular, such as the area of the turbine rotor in the radius between the shaft and the first stage wheel), by
mitigating thermal stress cycles.
• Therefore, if a steam turbine generator in a utility power plant is initially rolled with steam at temperatures
significantly lower than rated temperature (500 F rather than 1050 F for instance) and then both subsequently brought
to rated temperature gradually over time, controlling the rate of temperature change to a defined gradient (300 F per
hour for instance) the magnitude of the thermal cycle thus imposed can be dramatically lower than in the case of the
alternative - that of warming and then warming a cold turbine with steam at or near rated temperature.
• As in all things, there are compromises to be made. Sliding pressure operating strategies need to be developed
carefully and implemented knowledgeably, with the characteristics of each specific steam turbine in mind. Prolonged
operation at excessively low temperatures can lead to other adverse effects, such as erosion damage due to excessively
wet steam flowing through the latter stages of the unit.
Sliding pressure Mode Operation
Turbine works on two modes:
1.Constant pressure mode: Here pressure upstream of control valves is kept constant
and change is made by changing the position of control valves.
• Variable Pressure mode / Sliding pressure mode: Here control valves are in full
open position and pressure upstream of control valves varies proportionately with
the load requirement. Note: Response of Constant pressure Mode is much faster
than Variable pressure mode, but Constant pressure leads to more losses (throttling
losses). This is an alternate control mode for controlling the pressure to the steam
turbine without using the turbine control valves.
• The turbine control valves are left in the ‘wide open’ position thus avoiding any
valve throttling losses and the boiler is instead used to control the steam pressure to
the steam turbine.