Front. Energy Power Eng. China 2008, 2(2): 187193 DOI 10.

1007/s11708-008-0030-5

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Weizhong FENG

1000 MW ultra-supercritical turbine steam parameter optimization

E

Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag 2008

Abstract The 2 6 1000 MW ultra-supercritical steam turbine of Shanghai Waigaoqiao Phase III project, which uses grid frequency regulation and overload control through an overload valve, is manufactured by Shanghai Turbine Company using Siemens technology. Through optimization, the steam pressure is regarded as the criterion between constant pressure and sliding pressure operation. At high circulating water temperature, the turbine overload valve is kept closed when the unit load is lower than 1000 MW while at other circulating water temperatures the turbine can run in sliding pressure operation when the unit load is higher than 1000 MW and the pressure is lower than 27 MPa This increases the unit operation efficiency. The 3D bending technology in the critical piping helps to reduce the project investment and minimize the reheat system pressure drop which improves the unit operation efficiency and safety. By choosing lower circulating water design temperature and by setting the individual Boiler Feedwater Turbine condenser to reduce the exhaust steam flow and the heat load to the main condenser, the unit average back pressure and the terminal temperature difference are minimized. Therefore, the unit heat efficiency is increased. Keywords ultra-supercritical, turbine, the overload valve, sliding pressure operation, parameter optimization

Taizhou. The turbine in Yuhuan uses Siemens technology while that in Zhouxian and Taizhou use Japanese technology developed by Hitachi and Toshiba, respectively. Considering the abundant references and comprehensive technical advantages of Siemens in the development of 1000 MW tandem steam turbines and the excellent performance of the 26900 MW Siemens turbine [1] in Waigaoqiao Phase II project [2], the Siemens turbine which was introduced by Shanghai Electric Group Co., Ltd was finally adopted in the Waigaoqiao Phase III project.

Selection of main parameters

The same parameters as those in the 1000 MW unit in Yuhuan, were adopted in the design of the turbine in the Waigaoqiao Phase III project. The turbine model and the design parameters are as follows:
Model: Tandem compound, reaction stages, once reheat, four cylinders and four exhaust hoods (five cylinders and six exhaust hoods as option), non control stage, single fulcrum bearing, two different backpressures. 1146 mm last stage blading length (977 mm as option). rated output main steam flow (rated/maximum) 1000 MW 2.733 6 106 kg?h21/2.955 6 106 kg?h21 main steam/reheat steam pressure 26.25 MPa/6.4 MPa main steam/reheat steam temperature 600uC/600uC exhaust pressure 4.19 kPa/5.26 kPa design heat rate 7312 kJ/kWh overload control mode overload valve maximum output 1060 MW (overload valve wide open)

Introduction

The construction of the 2 6 1000 MW ultra-supercritical power generation units with introduced technology for the Shanghai Waigaoqiao Phase III project started in 2006 and these units will be put into operation in 2009 as scheduled. Prior to this, projects of 1000 MW-scale were under construction in Yuhuan, Zhouxian and
Translated from Journal of Power Engineering, 2007, 27(3): 305309, 331 [: ] Weizhong FENG (*) Shanghai Waigaoqiao No. 3 Power Generation Co Ltd, Shanghai 200137, China E-mail: 002@wgq3.com

For the convenience of further technical optimizations, it is stipulated in the bidding document that after the technical investigation, the tenderer shall not charge more if the final main steam pressure is less than or equal to 27 MPa. At the main equipment bidding of Waigaoqiao Phase III project, the basic model submitted by the Shanghai Turbine Company (Siemens) was the same as that of Yuhuan (hereinafter referred to as the tendered model). After a thorough study of the performance, the parameters and the

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operation modes of this turbine and a comparison with the design characteristics of the 900 MW unit of Waigaoqiao Phase II project, it was found that the steam parameters and operation modes could still be further optimized for better technical and economical performance.

3 Optimization of main steam parameters and operation modes

3.1 Non governing stage with sliding pressure operation

It is proven both in theory and practice that large capacity supercritical units of non governing stage with sliding-pressure operation are better than the units with governing stage design with respect to the operation economy over the full load range [3]. After the governing stage is cancelled, a great number of additional technical advantages will be obtained which is the reason why it is adopted by Siemens in its large supercritical steam turbine sets. However, the units run in pure sliding pressure mode with no throttling pressure loss. Therefore, the best operation economy can be achieved but the grid frequency response of this kind of units is very poor. To give consideration to both primary grid frequency regulation and operation economy, different sliding operation and frequency regulation modes can be set based on different customer requirements. 3.2 Frequency regulation mode of Waigaoqiao 900 MW model The 900 MW supercritical steam turbines in Waigaoqiao Phase II project supplied by Siemens adopts the so called modified sliding pressure operation mode without overload valve. Under steady load condition, a throttling pressure drop of 5% main steam pressure is reserved by the main steam control valves. When load variation is required, the fast response is first realized by changing the throttling pressure drop of the control valves and then the boiler thermal load and steam pressure are regulated by the coordination control system to recover the pressure drop on the control valves. When the load increases from TMCR to VWO, the control valve decreases the reserved throttling pressure drop gradually during which the steam flow increases and the main steam pressure remains unchanged as shown in Fig. 1. With this regulation mode, the control valve throttling pressure loss occurs at any stable load except for VWO. The reserved throttling pressure drop gradually decreases after TMCR until it reaches zero at VWO. The operation pressure at TMCR-VWO is the norm of the unit, the system design pressure and the boiler design pressure. When the range of frequency regulation is not too high and the 5% throttling margin of the control valve is sufficient, the average throttling of the control valve also

Fig. 1 unit

Sliding pressure operation of Waigaoqiao 900 MW

remains unchanged because of the symmetry of the increasing and decreasing load requirement of frequency regulation. Therefore, the throttling loss of the control valve for this model does not increase because of its involvement in frequency regulation. 3.3 Frequency regulation mode of tendered 1000 MW model The tendered model is different from the 900 MW model of Waigaoqiao Phase II project in that, in the HP casing, except for the extraction port for the HP heater, there is an additional overload valve admission which is located after the fifth moving blade. Between the main steam stop valve and the above-mentioned admission port there is an overload valve. When the unit operates under the design load (the circulating water temperature is 20uC) at stable condition with rated output lower than or equal to 1000 MW, the overload valve remains closed. When the unit operates above the design load of 1000 MW, the overload valve opens gradually until the maximum output is reached. This corresponds to VWO condition. The load increases from the opening of the overload valve to VWO condition and the steam flow also increases but the main steam pressure remains unchanged. Consequently, under stable condition, the main steam control valves will open wide at all loads above minimum constant pressure operation point pmin. Therefore, the unit is in pure sliding-pressure operation mode from pmin to the design rated power but it will be in constant pressure operation mode at and above the design rated power as shown in Fig. 2. Different from the frequency regulation mode of the 900 MW model, both the main steam control valve and the overload valve of the tendered model participate in frequency regulation. Whenever the load demands, the overload valve opens first to ensure a quick load response and then the cooperation control system increases the boiler thermal load until the overload valve completely closes. As the load decreases, the main steam control valve

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begins to close first, and then the boiler reduces the thermal load until the main steam control valves open wide. Both the opening of the overload valve and the closing of the main steam control valve will increase the throttling loss, which means that this model will increase the throttling loss in participating in primary frequency regulation and fast secondary frequency regulation. In other words, it is the same as exchanging efficiency for frequency regulation.

It can be seen from the above analysis that the tendered model can also be easily switched at anytime to the prethrottling frequency regulation mode as the 900 MW unit only by closing the overload valve and changing the main steam control valve to 5% main steam pressure. However, the operation economy under normal operating conditions will be reduced. 3.5 3.5.1 Deficiencies of tendered model and countermeasures Influence of overload valve on efficiency

Fig. 2

Sliding pressure operation of tendered model

3.4 Comparison of frequency regulation characteristics of two models As shown in Table 1, the tendered model is more rational than the 900 MW model in frequency regulation mode. The reason for this is that, generally speaking, the unit operates at 40%100% of rated power. Therefore, there always exists a 5% throttling loss in the 900 MW units, while for the tendered model, there is no control valve throttling loss during stable operation. Even with the additional throttling loss of frequency regulation, the total loss is much less. In addition, the more stable the grid frequency is, the less the throttling loss. Although the throttling loss of the 900 MW model is gradually reduced in the overload range and while this is increasing in the tendered model, the unit operation possibility in overload range of the tendered model is much lower than 40%100% of the rated load. Nevertheless, as shown in the heat balance diagram given by Siemens, the steam turbine efficiency is reduced significantly when the overload valve opens.
Table 1
model Waigaoqiao 900 MW STC 1000 MW

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, there is a platform where the pressure does not vary with the load on both models, especially the tendered one, near the maximum load. As the power increases, the overload valve opens wide and the throttling loss increases correspondingly. According to the heat balance diagram given by Siemens, the unit output at VWO is 1060 MW which is 6% higher than the output under rated conditions but the steam flow increases 8%. The thermal efficiency for the incremental overload is very low. Theoretically, the steam of 27 MPa/600uC is throttled by the overload valve to 16 MPa and then it flows into the 5th stage of HP casing for power generation. Its efficiency should be equivalent to that of subcritical generation power unit but actually, it is greatly reduced. Thus, further analysis is necessary. When the increment steam flows into the casing from the admission port, the pressure before the 6th stage increases accordingly. The information given by the manufacturer is shown in Table 2. At this point, the main steam pressure does not increase any more. The pressure difference from stage 1 to stage 5 decreases accordingly. According to the Flugel formula, pure pressure stage or stages group (main steam temperature remains unchanged) has the following expression: s rs 2 2 p2 G1 T0 p2 in1 {pout1 in1 {pout1 ~ , 1 ~ 2 2 G0 T1 p2 p2 in0 {pout0 in0 {pout0 where G is the steam flow, pin is the casing inlet pressure, pout is the casing outlet pressure, the subscript 0 is the initial status and the subscript 1 is the changed status. Inputting the figures into Eq. (1), the flow reduction in this load case from stage 1 to stage 5 is

Comparison of characteristics of frequency modulation of two type of units

normal operation zone (stable) 5% throttling no throttling rated-TMCR 5% throttling no zone TMCR-VWO throttling loss to 0 gradually (throttling loss reduces gradually to 0) overload valve to fully open (throttling loss increases gradually to the maximum) additional throttling loss of frequency regulation no yes

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Table 2 Steam parameters before 6th stage of HP casing in two operation conditions
operation conditions VWO TRL p/MPa 16.84 15.71 T/uC 520 512

Weizhong FENG

G1 ~ G0

s s 2 p2 272 {16:842 in1 {pout1 ~ ~96:11%: 2 2 pin0 {pout0 272 {15:712

This means that 3.89% of the main steam flow has been squeezed out of the main course of the HP turbine from stage 1 to stage 5 and flows into the overload valve. Therefore, the actual steam that flows into the overload valve is 11.89% instead of 8%, which causes a great reduction in efficiency indicating that the overload operation efficiency of overload valve mode is worse. 3.5.2 Optimization of overload valve opening point

safety is to open the overload valve to compensate for the deficiency. It should be pointed out that, in theory, under normal conditions, the unit operation probability at the rated power is relatively higher and the full load operation probability in a year during the summer is even higher. According to the operation modes of the tendered model, more than half of the 1000 MW operations in a year are accompanied with the overload valve open, which certainly leads to a significant reduction of the unit operation economy.

Canceling the pressure platform at the top of the operation curve (delete the overload valve) and extending the sliding pressure curve upwards to VWO are theoretically feasible. The operation efficiency must be much higher but the design pressure of the main steam critical piping (and the feedwater piping as well) and that of the feedwater pump and the boiler will increase accordingly. Taking this model as the example, if the sliding pressure is still adopted, the pressure at VWO correspondingly increases 8%, which means that the wall thickness of the feedwater piping, the main steam piping and the boiler economizer, the water wall and superheater has to be increased by 8% and the investment of the unit will increase significantly. Considering the advantages and disadvantages, limiting the design pressure at the range of highest load by rationally sacrificing part of the efficiency is a practical compromise. However, a technology and economy comparison should be made to determine under which load should the overload valve start to open to limit the pressure rising. Since the unit efficiency will reduce rapidly when the overload valve opens, the overload valve should remain closed during normal operation. Further analysis shows that it is not rational to open the overload valve at 1000 MW rated power (THA) and 2.732 6 106 kg/h main steam design flow. In fact, the design condition is based on the annual average cooling water temperature. That is, the period of water temperature exceeding the average value is about 50% of a year as shown in Fig. 3. Accordingly, the steam turbine heat rate and steam consumption in this period will be higher than the design value, and the main steam flow at 1000 MW will be above 2.732 6 106 kg/h. If the unit still operates in sliding pressure mode, the main steam pressure will increase proportionally. In this case, the only way to keep the main steam pressure below the design value to ensure

Fig. 3 River

Annual water temperature change of the Yangtze

It can be seen from Table 1 that there is no generally defined Rated power-TMCR range in the tendered model output definition. Actually, the steam flow at TMCR can just produce the rated power in summer at the maximum cooling water temperature. Therefore, the rational place to open the overload valve is at TMCR which corresponds to the rated power at the maximum circulating cooling water temperature in summer. In this way, the overload valve can guaranteed to remain closed over a year at or lower than 1000 MW. However, if the original design pressure of 26.25 MPa is defined as the overload valve opening point under this condition, the steam consumption in other load cases will decrease because the cooling water temperature decreases, and the steam pressure prior to the turbine at the rated power condition is lower than the design value (at 20uC cooling water temperature, the pressure drops 4% to around 25.25 MPa), which will lead to the drop of the unit thermal cycle efficiency. It seems to be a strange circle, but fortunately there is some space left in the bidding document ((27 MPa) and the final optimization result is to take full advantages of the following Policy: (1) 27 MPa is defined as the main steam design pressure and as the pressure to open the overload valve. (2) 27 MPa is the sliding operation pressure at 1000 MW under the maximum cooling water temperature in summer. When the output is greater than 1000 MW, the overload valve opens and the unit switches to 27 MPa constant pressure operation. Correspondingly, the

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operation pressure at 1000 MW drops to 25.81 MPa at average cooling water temperature. (3) The sliding pressure operation and constant pressure operation (opening of the overload valve) is divided according to pressure criterion instead of output load. As the pressure before the turbine main steam stop valve is lower than or equal to 27 MPa, the unit runs in sliding pressure operation regardless of the load and the cooling water temperature. According to this principal, at the average cooling water temperature, the maximum output under sliding pressure operation is 1043 MW. Moreover, the maximum output at sliding pressure operation is much higher when the cooling water temperature is below the average value.

4 Optimization of reheat system pressure drop

The present design code in China requires that the pressure drop of reheat steam system is 10% of HP casing exhaust pressure p2. Normally, the boiler reheater accounts for 50% of this pressure drop and the cold reheat and hot reheat piping system accounts for the other 50%. The selection of this pressure drop is the result of the comparison between technology and economy. Because this pressure drop reduces a certain amount of the power output from the reheat steam, the turbine heat rate therefore increases. To decrease the pressure drop, the cost of the reheat piping system (including the reheater) will increase. With the increase of the fuel price and the fact that supercritical unit reheat pressure is much higher than subcritical units, American and European design codes have already defined the pressure drop as 8% p2 or even lower. According to the comments from the consultant Sarginlandy American, the bidding document in Waigaoqiao Phase II project in 1996 required 8% p2 as the reheat system pressure drop. Finally, ALSTOM won the bid and the reheat system pressure drop is 6.67% of p2. The following is a detailed analysis of the effects of reduced reheat system pressure drop on the system efficiency. If the steam flow remains unchanged, according to Eq. (1), the admission pressure of IP casing keeps unchanged. Accordingly, the reduction of the reheat system pressure drop leads to the drop of HP casing exhaust pressure p2, i.e., p2 changes to p2a (refer to Fig. 4). Generally p2 is about 1/4 of HP casing steam admission pressure. It can be derived from Eq. (1) that the change of p2 imposes very little effect on the HP casing steam admission pressure. As shown in Fig. 4, when the exhaust pressure changes from p2 to p2a, the unit efficient enthalpy drop of the steam through HP casing increases by DhA 5 h22h2a. Naturally, the enthalpy of the steam flowing into the reheater also drops. Compared with the original value, one unit of heat

Fig. 4 Influence of changes of reheat system pressure drop 1-2-2aHP casing adiabatic power progress line; 3a-3-3bequal pressure heat absorption progress line in the reheater; 2-3 and 2a-3aassumed reheat system isoenthalpy throttling line; p2 and p2aequal pressure line

absorption DhR 5 h32h3a 5 h22h2a 5 DhA is needed. Due to the steam extraction from the HP casing, the steam flowing into IP casing is only 83% of the main steam flow, or 87% of HP casing exhaust steam. Therefore, the increment of the total heat absorption inside the reheater is less than that of HP casing total power produced, which means that a small cycle with an efficiency of above 100% is added to the original thermal cycle. Consequently, the unit efficiency is improved and the heat rate is decreased. According to calculations, the reheat system pressure drop declines from 10% p2 to 9% p2, and the steam turbine heat rate is reduced by about 0.072%. On analysis, the figure is relatively considerable. Based on this analysis and considering the cost, the pressure drop control principles of Waugaoqiao Phase II project are finally adopted. The simple way of enlarging the pipe diameter of the cold reheat and hot reheat piping to control the pressure drop will not be simply adopted except for defining the reheater pressure drop of the boiler in the bidding procedure. Different from some other similar projects, reference to the design of Waigaoqiao Phase II project is required. 3D or 3D+ bend is adopted for piping fittings except in a few places where 1.5D pipe elbows are adopted. The cold reheat piping diameter is appropriately enlarged. Comprehensive optimization of the reheat system unexpectedly lead to the following three benefits. First, the cost of bends is much lower than that of elbows, thus 20% of the total cost for critical piping is reduced. Next, the partial resistance coefficient of 3D or 3D+ bend is far below that of 1.5D elbow, which reduces the pressure drop of the piping system efficiently. According to the correction curve of the efficiency supplied by Siemens, the heat rate of the steam turbine is reduced to 18 kJ/kWh. Finally, compared with the 1.5D pipe elbows, the vibration energy produced by 3D+ bends during operation is decidedly lower which is more beneficial to safe operation.

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5 Optimization of steam turbine backpressure

5.1 Discussion of LP casing configurations

the operation efficiency with the same circulating water flow and temperature without addition of more cooling area. 5.3 Optimization of backpressure

Tandem compound four cylinders is no longer the restriction on large capacity units due to the unique push (pull) rods and single fulcrum bearing techniques developed by Siemens. The 1000 MW class ultra-supercritical units with five cylinders and six exhaust hoods design has been very successful in Germany [4]. Moreover, the increase of the exhaust area, the reduction of the exhaust leaving velocity loss and the decrease of the backpressure impose very important influence on the unit efficiency. During the bidding of Waigaoqiao Phase III project, it is stipulated that the tenders should bid four-cylinder and five-cylinder schemes. Only STC (Siemens) responded as required. The exhaust area of its four-cylinder-scheme is 4 6 10.96 m2 and the length of the last stage blade is 1146 mm which is the same as that of the 2 6 900 MW units of Waigaoqiao Phase II project. The exhaust area of its five-cylinder-scheme is of 6 6 8.9 m2 and the length of the last stage blade is 977 mm which is the same as that of the 910 MW unit of Germany Boxberg Power Plant. Compared with the four-cylinder-scheme, the heat rate of the five-cylinder-scheme is reduced by about 1% or more. However, the five-cylinder-scheme is eventually given up because of the high cost, which is a great regret. In the north, especially in Inner Mongolia and Northeastern China, the annual average circulating water temperature is far below that of the Yangtze River. The design cooling water inlet/outlet temperature and the backpressure of Boxberg Power Plant (910 MW unit) and Niederaussem Power Plant (1025 MW unit whose last stage blades is 1146 mm, exhaust area is 6 6 10.96 m2) are 14uC /24uC and 2.91/3.68 kPa respectively. Compared with the conventional backpressure, this lower backpressure can increase the unit efficiency by 1.4%. The, 600uC/ 600uC ultra-supercritical steam parameters, however, can only increase the unit efficiency by 1.3%. Therefore, in places where average water temperature is relatively lower, more attention should be paid to the reduction of condenser backpressure when increasing the initial steam parameter. Otherwise, it will also be a kind of resource waste. From the technical development strategy point of view, a successful case of a five-cylinder unit in China will have great significance in promoting the development of 1000 MW steam turbine technology and improving the unit efficiency in China. 5.2 Two backpressures

The four-cylinder-scheme can be further optimized. The annual average water temperature of the Yangtze River in Waigaoqiao is 18.75uC. Considering the area water temperature rise caused by the 2 6 1000 MW thermal load, the design cooling water temperature for Waigaoqiao Phase III project is defined as 19 uC. After calculations, the design backpressure can thus decrease from 4.19 kPa/ 5.26 kPa to 3.86 kPa/4.88 kPa and the heat rate can decrease by 19 kJ/kWh. The boiler feedwater pump turbine has its own separate condenser and therefore, the exhaust does not go to the main condenser any more. The main condenser of the Waigaoqiao Phase III project is of the same structure and the same cooling area (44000 m2) as that of the Waigaoqiao Phase II Project but the exhaust flow decreases from 1.776 6 106 kg/h (including the feedwater pump turbine) to 1.613 6 106 kg/h at VWO. This reduced the heat transfer intensity, the moving pressure drop in the condenser shell side, the backpressure and the terminal temperature difference but increased the unit efficiency. Additionally, the adoption of the single 100% capacity turbine driven feedwater pump whose turbine efficiency can reach 86.7% decreases the steam extraction from the main turbine and reduces the steam consumption of the main turbine accounting for a heat rate drop of 18 kJ/ kWh.

6 Conclusions
1) Evaluating from a comprehensive operation economy standpoint, the sliding pressure operation and frequency regulation with an overload valve is better than that of the modified sliding pressure operation of the Waigaoqiao Phase II project. Considering the significant efficiency reduction brought about by the opening of the overload valve, opening the valve at the rated power and lower load case in stable condition should be avoided. 2) The determination of sliding pressure operation or constant pressure operation by pressure ensures both the closing of the overload valve at the output 1000 MW with the maximum cooling water temperature, the operation efficiency under usual load, and the sliding pressure operation of the unit with an output of over 1000 MW and a pressure lower than 27 MPa at other water temperatures, which further improves the overload operation efficiency. 3) The control of the reheat system pressure drop to 6.67% of p2 and the use of the 3D bends for reheat system

Different from the 900 MW unit of Waigaoqiao Phase II project, the tendered model adopts two backpressure system which can lower average backpressure and improve

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piping not only reduce the cost and improve the thermal efficiency but also decrease the vibration energy of the piping and enhance the operation safety. 4) It is a pity that the five-cylinder-scheme has been given up. However, the selection of the lower cooling water design temperature, the setting of the separate condenser for the BFPT, the decrease of the exhaust steam and heat load of the main condenser, and the lowering of the average backpressure and the terminal temperature difference improved the heat economy of the units.

References
1. Feng Weizhong. Technical features of 900 MW steam turbines in Waigaoqiao phase 2 power plant. Thermal Power Generation, 2003, 32(6): 25, 10 (in Chinese) 2. Feng Weizhong. The performance traits and the analysis of 900 MW super-critical turbine.Thermal Turbine, 2005, 34(4): 197202 (in Chinese) 3. Shen Shiyi, et al. Steam Turbine Theory. Beijing: Water Resource and Electric Power Press, 1992 (in Chinese) 4. Feng Weizhong. Technical features of GW SIEMENS steam turbines. East China Electric Power, 2003, (Suppl.): 1216 (in Chinese)