JULY-AUGUST

2012
Summer Training Report

SUBMITTED BY:
VISHNU DUTT SHARMA
IIIrd YEAR B.TECH
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
ROLL NO-11092362
MMEC, MULLANA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With profound respect and gratitude, I take the opportunity to convey my thanks to
complete the training here.
I do extend my heartfelt thanks to Ms. Rachna Singh Bahal for providing me this
opportunity to be a part of this esteemed organization.
I am extremely grateful to all the technical staff of BTPS / NTPC for their co-operation
and guidance that has helped me a lot during the course of training. I have learnt a lot working
under them and I will always be indebted of them for this value addition in me.
I would also like to thank all the faculty members of Mechanical
EngineeringDepartment for their effort of constant co- operation, which have been a significant
factor in the accomplishment of my industrial training.

VISHNU DUTT SHARMA

MMEC , MULLANA

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that VISHNU DUTT SHARMA, student of 3rdB.TechMechanical

Engineering ,MMEC,MULLANA , has successfully completed his Industrial Training at
National Thermal Power Corporation, New Delhi for 6 week from 2ndJULY to 11TH august
2012. He has completed the whole training as per the training report submitted by him.

Training Incharge
NTPC,
Badarpur, New Delhi

TRAINING AT BTPS
I was appointed to do 6 week training at this esteemed organization from 2ndJuLY to 11TH
AUGUST, 2012. I was assigned to visit various division of the plant, which were:

Boiler Maintenance Department (BMD I/II/III)

Plant Auxiliary Maintenance (PAM)

Turbine Maintenance Department (TAM)

Coal Handling Department (CHD/NCHP)

These 6 weeks training was a very educational adventure for me. It was really amazing

to see the plant by yourself and learn how electricity, which is one of our daily requirements of
life, is produced.
This report has been made by my experience at BTPS. The material in this report has
been gathered from my textbook, senior student reports and trainers manuals and power
journals provided by training department. The specification and principles are as learned by me
from the employees of each division of BTPS.

VISHNU DUTT SHARMA

INDEX

ABOUT NTPC

ABOUT BTPS

BASIC STEPS OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION

RANKINE CYCLE

BOILER MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT

PLANT AUXILIARY MAINTENANCE

TURBINE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT

MAINTENANCE PLANNING DEPARTMENT

COAL HANDLING DEPARTMENT

ABOUT NTPC
NTPC Limited is the largest thermal power generating company of India, Public Sector
Company. It was incorporated in the year 1975 to accelerate power development in the country
as a wholly owned company of the Government of India. At present, Government of India
holds 89.5% of the total equity shares of the company and the balance 10.5% is held by FIIs,
Domestic Banks, Public and others. Within a span of 31 years, NTPC has emerged as a truly
national power company, with power generating facilities in all the major regions of the
country.
NTPC's core business is engineering, construction and operation of power generating plants
and providing consultancy to power utilities in India and abroad.
The total installed capacity of the company is 31134 MW (including JVs) with 15 coal based
and 7 gas based stations, located across the country. In addition under JVs, 3 stations are coal
based & another station uses naphtha/LNG as fuel. By 2017, the power generation portfolio is
expected to have a diversified fuel mix with coal based capacity of around 53000 MW, 10000
MW through gas, 9000 MW through Hydro generation, about 2000 MW from nuclear sources
and around 1000 MW from Renewable Energy Sources (RES). NTPC has adopted a multipronged growth strategy which includes capacity addition through green field projects,
expansion of existing stations, joint ventures, subsidiaries and takeover of stations.

NTPC has been operating its plants at high efficiency levels. Although the company has
18.79% of the total national capacity it contributes 28.60% of total power generation due to its
focus on high efficiency. NTPCs share at 31 Mar 2001 of the total installed capacity of the
country was 24.51% and it generated 29.68% of the power of the country in 2008-09. Every
fourth home in India is lit by NTPC. 170.88BU of electricity was produced by its stations in the
financial year 2005-2006. The Net Profit after Tax on March 31, 2006 was INR 58,202 million.
Net Profit after Tax for the quarter ended June 30, 2006 was INR 15528 million, which is
18.65% more than for the same quarter in the previous financial year. 2005).
NTPC has set new benchmarks for the power industry both in the area of power plant
construction and operations. Its providing power at the cheapest average tariff in the country.
NTPC is committed to the environment, generating power at minimal environmental cost and
preserving the ecology in the vicinity of the plants. NTPC has undertaken massive a
forestation in the vicinity of its plants. Plantations have increased forest area and reduced
barren land. The massive a forestation by NTPC in and around its Ramagundam Power
station (2600 MW) have contributed reducing the temperature in the areas by about 3c.
NTPC has also taken proactive steps for ash utilization. In 1991, it set up Ash Utilization
Division
A graphical overview

Technological Initiatives
Introduction of steam generators (boilers) of the size of 800 MW.
Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) Technology.
Launch of Energy Technology Centre -A new initiative for development of
technologies with focus on fundamental R&D.
The company sets aside up to 0.5% of the profits for R&D.
Roadmap developed for adopting Clean Development.
Mechanism to help get / earn Certified Emission Reduction.
Corporate Social Responsibility
As a responsible corporate citizen NTPC has taken up number of CSR initiatives.
NTPC Foundation formed to address Social issues at national level

NTPC has framed Corporate Social Responsibility Guidelines committing up to 0.5%

of net profit annually for Community Welfare.

The welfare of project affected persons and the local population around NTPC projects
are taken care of through well drawn Rehabilitation and Resettlement policies.
The company has also taken up distributed generation for remote rural areas.
Partnering government in various initiatives
Consultant role to modernize and improvise several plants across the country.
Disseminate technologies to other players in the sector.
Consultant role Partnership in Excellence Programme for improvement of PLF of 15
Power Stations of SEBs.
Rural Electrification work under Rajiv Gandhi Garmin Vidyutikaran.
Environment Management
All stations of NTPC are ISO 14001 certified.
Various groups to care of environmental issues.
The Environment Management Group.
Ash Utilization Division.
Afforestation Group.

 Centre for Power Efficiency & Environment Protection.

Group on Clean Development Mechanism.
NTPC is the second largest owner of trees in the country after the Forest department.

JOURNEY OF NTPC

1975

NTPC was set up in 1975 with 100% ownership by the Government

of India. In the last 30 years, NTPC has grown into the largest power
utility in India.

1997

In 1997, Government of India granted NTPC status of Navratna

being one of the nine jewels of India, enhancing the powers to the
Board of Directors.
NTPC became a listed company with majority Government

2004

ownership of 89.5%.
NTPC becomes third largest by Market Capitalization of listed
companies
The company rechristened as NTPC Limited in line with its changing

2005

business portfolio and transforms itself from a thermal power utility

to an integrated power utility.

2008

National Thermal Power Corporation is the largest power generation

company in India. Forbes Global 2000 for 2008 ranked it 411th in the
world.

2009

National Thermal Power Corporation is the largest power generation

company in India. Forbes Global 2000 for 2008 ranked it 317th in the
world.

2012
2017

NTPC has also set up a plan to achieve a target of 50,000 MW

generation capacity.
NTPC has embarked on plans to become a 75,000 MW company by
2017.

ABOUT BTPS
Badarpur thermal power station started working in 1973 with a single 95 mw unit. There were
2 more units (95 MW each) installed in next 2 consecutive years. Now it has total five units
with total capacity of 720 MW. Ownership of BTPS was transferred to NTPC with effect from
01.06.2006 through GOIs Gazette Notification .Given below are the details of unit with the
year they are installed.
Address:
Telephone:
Fax:
Installed Capacity
Derated Capacity
Location
Coal Source
Water Source
Beneficiary States
Unit Sizes

Badarpur, New Delhi 110 044

(STD-011) - 26949523
26949532
720 MW
705 MW
New Delhi
Jharia Coal Fields
Agra Canal
Delhi
3X95 MW

Units Commissioned

2X210 MW
Unit I- 95 MW - July 1973
Unit II- 95 MW August 1974
Unit III- 95 MW March 1975
Unit IV - 210 MW December 1978

Transfer of BTPS to NTPC

Unit V - 210 MW - December 1981

Ownership of BTPS was transferred to NTPC with
effect from 01.06.2006 through GOIs Gazette
Notification

BASIC STEPS OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION

The basic steps in the generation of electricity from coal involves following steps:

Coal to steam

Steam to mechanical power

Mechanical power to electrical power

COAL TO ELECTRICITY: BASICS

The basic steps in the generation of coal to electricity are shown below:

10

Coal to Steam
Coal from the coal wagons is unloaded in the coal handling plant. This Coal is transported up
to the raw coal bunkers with the help of belt conveyors. Coal is transported to Bowl mills by
Coal Feeders. The coal is pulverized in the Bowl Mill, where it is ground to 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 do not rotate but when the coal is fed to the table it packs up between
roller and the table and ths forces the rollers to rotate. Coal is crushed by the crushing action
between the rollers and the rotating table. This crushed coal is taken away to the furnace
through coal pipes with the help of hot and cold air mixture from P.A. Fan.
P.A. Fan takes atmospheric air, a part of which is sent to Air-Preheaters for heating while a part
goes directly to the mill for temperature control. Atmospheric air from F.D. Fan is heated in the
air heaters and sent to the furnace as combustion air.
Water from the boiler feed pump passes through economizer and reaches the boiler drum.
Water from the drum passes through down comers and goes to the bottom ring header. Water
from the bottom ring header is divided to all the four sides of the furnace.Due to heat and
density difference, the water rises up in the water wall tubes. Water is partly converted to steam
as it rises up in the furnace. This steam and water mixture is again taken to thee boiler drum
where the steam is separated from water.

11

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 (540C) and finally it
goes to the turbine.
Flue gases from the furnace are extracted by induced draft fan, which maintains balance draft in
the furnace (-5 to 10 mm of wcl) with forced draft fan. These flue gases emit their heat energy
to various super heaters in the pent house and finally pass through air-preheaters and goes to
electrostatic precipitators where the ash particles are extracted. Electrostatic Precipitator
12

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 to pollute the atmosphere. Regular
mechanical hammer blows cause the accumulation of ash to fall to the bottom of the
precipitator where they are collected in a hopper for disposal.
Steam to Mechanical Power
From the boiler, a steam pipe conveys steam to the turbine through a stop valve (which can be
used to shut-off the steam in case of emergency) and through control valves that automatically
regulate the supply of steam to the turbine. Stop valve and control valves are located in a steam
chest and a governor, driven from the main turbine shaft, 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 fixed to the cylinder wall. These act as nozzles and direct
the steam into a second ring of moving blades mounted on a disc secured to the turbine shaft.
The second ring turns the shafts as a result of the force of steam. The stationary and moving
blades together constitute a stage of 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 and returns
by a further pipe 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 enters at the centre
flowing outwards in opposite directions through the rows of turbine blades through an
arrangement called the 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.

13

Mechanical Power to Electrical Power

As the blades of turbine rotate, the shaft of the generator, which is coupled to tha of the turbine,
also rotates. It results in rotation of the coil of the generator, which causes induced electricity to
be produced.

BASIC POWER PLANT CYCLE

A simplified diagram of a thermal power plant

The thermal (steam) power plant uses a dual (vapour+liquid) phase cycle. It is a close cycle to
enable the working fluid (water) to be used again and again. The cycle used is Rankine Cycle
modified to include superheating of steam, regenerative feed water heating and reheating of
steam.

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 the heat is added, is increased
and, by expanding this reheated steam to the remaining stages of the turbine, the exhaust
14

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.
Bleed Steam Extraction: For regenerative system, nos. of non-regulated extractions is 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.

RANKINE CYCLE
The Rankine cycle is a thermodynamic cycle which converts heat into work. The heat is
supplied externally to a closed loop, which usually uses water as the working fluid. This cycle
generates about 80% of all electric power used throughout the world, including virtually all
solar thermal, biomass, coal and nuclear power plants. It is named after William John
MacquornRankine, a Scottish polymath..
Description

Physical layout of the four main devices used in the Rankine cycle

15

A Rankine cycle describes a model of the operation of steam heat engines most commonly
found in power generation plants. Common heat sources for power plants using the Rankine
cycle are coal, natural gas, oil, and nuclear.
The Rankine cycle is sometimes referred to as a practical Carnot cycle as, when an efficient
turbine is used, the TS diagram will begin to resemble the Carnot cycle. The main difference is
that a pump is used to pressurize liquid instead of gas. This requires about 1/100th (1%) as
much energy as that compressing a gas in a compressor (as in the Carnot cycle).
The efficiency of a Rankine cycle is usually limited by the working fluid. Without the pressure
going super critical the temperature range the cycle can operate over is quite small, turbine
entry temperatures are typically 565C (the creep limit of stainless steel) and condenser
temperatures are around 30C. This gives a theoretical Carnot efficiency of around 63%
compared with an actual efficiency of 42% for a modern coal-fired power station. This low
turbine entry temperature (compared with a gas turbine) is why the Rankine cycle is often used
as a bottoming cycle in combined cycle gas turbine power stations.
The working fluid in a Rankine cycle follows a closed loop and is re-used constantly. The
water vapor and entrained droplets often seen billowing from power stations is generated by the
cooling systems (not from the closed loop Rankine power cycle) and represents the waste heat
that could not be converted to useful work.
Note that cooling towers operate using the latent heat of vaporization of the cooling fluid. The
white billowing clouds that form in cooling tower operation are the result of water droplets
which are entrained in the cooling tower airflow; it is not, as commonly thought, steam. While
many substances could be used in the Rankine cycle, water is usually the fluid of choice due to
its favorable properties, such as nontoxic and unreactive chemistry, abundance, and low cost, as
well as its thermodynamic properties.
One of the principal advantages it holds over other cycles is that during the compression stage
relatively little work is required to drive the pump, due to the working fluid being in its liquid
phase at this point. By condensing the fluid to liquid, the work required by the pump will only
consume approximately 1% to 3% of the turbine power and so give a much higher efficiency
for a real cycle.
The benefit of this is lost somewhat due to the lower heat addition temperature. Gas turbines,
for instance, have turbine entry temperatures approaching 1500C. Nonetheless, the efficiencies
of steam cycles and gas turbines are fairly well matched.
Processes of the Rankine cycle
16

Ts diagram of a typical Rankine cycle operating between pressures of 0.06bar and 50bar.
There are four processes in the Rankine cycle, each changing the state of the working fluid.
These states are identified by number in the diagram to the right
i.

Process 1-2: The working fluid is pumped from low to high pressure, as the fluid is a
liquid at this stage the pump requires little input energy.

ii.

Process 2-3: The high pressure liquid enters a boiler where it is heated at constant
pressure by an external heat source to become a dry saturated vapour.

iii.

Process 3-4: The dry saturated vapor expands through a turbine, generating power. This
decreases the temperature and pressure of the vapor, and some condensation may occur.

iv.

Process 4-1: The wet vapor then enters a condenser where it is condensed at a constant
pressure and temperature to become a saturated liquid. The pressure and temperature of
the condenser is fixed by the temperature of the cooling coils as the fluid is undergoing
a phase-change.

In an ideal Rankine cycle the pump and turbine would be isentropic, i.e., the pump and turbine
would generate no entropy and hence maximize the net work output. Processes 1-2 and 3-4
would be represented by vertical lines on the Ts diagram and more closely resemble that of the
Carnot cycle.
The Rankine cycle shown here prevents the vapor ending up in the superheat region after the
expansion in the turbine, which reduces the energy removed by the condensers.

Real Rankine cycle (non-ideal) :Rankine cycle with superheat

17

In a real Rankine cycle, the compression by the pumpand the expansion in the turbine are not
isentropic. In other words, these processes are non-reversible and entropy is increased during
the two processes. This somewhat increases the powerrequired by the pump and decreases the
power generated by the turbine.
In particular the efficiency of the steam turbine will be limited by water droplet formation. As
the water condenses, water droplets hit the turbine blades at high speed causing pitting and
erosion, gradually decreasing the life of turbine blades and efficiency of the turbine. The easiest
way to overcome this problem is by superheating the steam. On the Ts diagram above, state 3 is
above a two phase region of steam and water so after expansion the steam will be very wet. By
superheating, state 3 will move to the right of the diagram and hence produce a dryer steam
after expansion.
Rankine cycle with reheat
In this variation, two turbineswork in series. The first accepts vaporfrom the boilerat high
pressure. After the vapor has passed through the first turbine, it re-enters the boiler and is
reheated before passing through a second, lower pressure turbine. Among other advantages,
this prevents the vapor from condensing during its expansion which can seriously damage the
turbine blades, and improves the efficiency of the cycle.

18

Regenerative Rankine cycle

The regenerative Rankine cycle is so named because after emerging from the condenser
(possibly as a subcooled liquid) the working fluid is heated by steam tapped from the hot
portion of the cycle. On the diagram shown, the fluid at 2 is mixed with the fluid at 4 (both at
the same pressure) to end up with the saturated liquid at 7. The Regenerative Rankine cycle
(with minor variants) is commonly used in real power stations.
Another variation is where 'bleed steam' from between turbine stages is sent to feedwater
heaters to preheat the water on its way from the condenser to the boiler.

I.

BOILERMAINTENANCEDEPARTMENT

Boiler and Its Description

The boiler is a rectangular furnace about 50 ft (15 m) on a side and 130 ft (40 m) tall. Its walls
are made of a web of high pressure steel tubes about 2.3 inches (60 mm) in diameter.
Pulverized coal is air-blown into the furnace from fuel nozzles at the four corners and it rapidly
burns, forming a large fireball at the centre. The thermal radiation of the fireball heats the
waterthat circulates through the boiler tubes near the boiler perimeter. The water circulation
rate in the boiler is three to four times the throughput and is typically driven by pumps. As the
water in the boiler circulates it absorbs heat and changes into steam at 700 F (370 C) and
3,200 psi (22.1MPa). It is separated from the water inside a drum at the top of the furnace.

19

Boiler Side of the Badarpur Thermal Power Station, New Delhi

The saturated steam is introduced into superheat pendant tubes that hang in the hottest part of
the combustion gases as they exit the furnace. Here the steam is superheated to 1,000 F (540
C) to prepare it for the turbine. The steam generating boiler has to produce steam at the high
purity, pressure and temperature required for the steam turbine that drives the electrical
generator.
The generator includes the economizer, the steam drum, the chemical dosing equipment, and
the furnace with its steam generating tubes and the superheater coils. Necessary safety valves
are located at suitable points to avoid excessive boiler pressure. The air and flue gas path
equipment include: forced draft (FD) fan, air preheater (APH), boiler furnace, induced draft
(ID) fan, fly ash collectors (electrostatic precipitator or baghouse) and the flue gas stack.
For units over about 210 MW capacity, redundancy of key components is provided by
installing duplicates of the FD fan, APH, fly ash collectors and ID fan with isolating dampers.
On some units of about 60 MW, two boilers per unit may instead be provided.

20

Schematic diagram of a coal-fired power plant steam generator

SPECIFICATIONS OF THE BOILER

1. Main Boiler(AT 100% LOAD):

i.

Evaporation

700 tons/hr

ii.

Feed water temperature

247C

iii.

Feed water leaving economizer

276C

2. Steam Temperature:
i.

Drum

341C

ii.

Super heater outlet

540C

iii.

Reheat inlet

332C

iv.

Reheat outlet

540C

3. Steam Pressure:
21

i.

Drum design

158. 20 kg/cm2

ii.

Drum operating

149.70 kg/cm2

iii.

Super heater outlet

137.00 kg/cm2

iv.

Reheat inlet

26.35 kg/cm2

v.

Reheat outlet

24.50 kg/cm2

4. Fuel Specifications
A) Coal
i.

Fixed Carbon

38%

ii.

Volatile Matter

26%

iii.

Moisture

8.0%

iv.

Ash

28%

v.

Grindability

55HGI

vi.

High Heat

4860 Kcal/Kg

vii.

Coal size to Mill

20 mm

i.

Low Heat value

10000 kcal/kg

ii.

Sulphur

4.5% w/w

iii.

Moisture

1% w/w

iv.

Flash point

660 C.

v.

Viscosity 1500 redwood at

37.80 C.

vi.

Sp. Weight

0.98 at 380 C.

B) Oil

5. Heat Balance
22

i.

Dry gas loss

4.63%

ii.

Carbon loss

2%

iii.

Radiation loss

0.26%

iv.

Unaccounted loss

1.5%

v.

H2 in air and H2O in fuel

4.9%

vi.

Total loss

13.3%

vii.

Efficiency

86.7%

AUXILIARIES OF THE BOILER

1. FURNACE

Furnace is primary part of boiler where the chemical energy of the fuel is converted to
thermal energy by combustion. Furnace is designed for efficient and complete
combustion. Major factors that assist for efficient combustion are amount of fuel inside
the furnace and turbulence, which causes rapid mixing between fuel and air. In modern
boilers, water furnaces are used.

2. BOILER DRUM

Drum is of fusion-welded design with welded hemispherical dished ends. It is provided

with stubs for welding all the connecting tubes, i.e. downcomers, risers, pipes, saturated
steam outlet. The function of steam drum internals is to separate the water from the
steam generated in the furnace walls and to reduce the dissolved solid contents of the
steam below the prescribed limit of 1 ppm and also take care of the sudden change of
steam demand for boiler.

The secondary stage of two opposite banks of closely spaced thin corrugated sheets,
which direct the steam and force the remaining entertained water against the corrugated
plates. Since the velocity is relatively low this water does not get picked up again but
runs down the plates and off the second stage of the two steam outlets.
23

From the secondary separators the steam flows upwards to the series of screen dryers,
extending in layers across the length of the drum. These screens perform the final stage
of the separation.

Once water inside the boiler or steam generator, the process of adding the latent heat of
vaporization or enthalpy is underway. The boiler transfers energy to the water by the
chemical reaction of burning some type of fuel.

The water enters the boiler through a section in the convection pass called the
economizer. From the economizer it passes to the steam drum. Once the water enters
the steam drum it goes down the down comers to the lower inlet water wall headers.
From the inlet headers the water rises through the water walls and is eventually turned
into steam due to the heat being generated by the burners located on the front and rear
water walls (typically). As the water is turned into steam/vapour in the water walls, the
steam/vapour once again enters the steam drum.

External View of an Industrial Boiler at BTPS, New Delhi

The steam/vapour is passed through a series of steam and water separators and then
dryers inside the steam drum. The steam separators and dryers remove the water
droplets from the steam and the cycle through the water walls is repeated. This process
is known as natural circulation.

24

The boiler furnace auxiliary equipment includes coal feed nozzles and igniter guns, soot
blowers, water lancing and observation ports (in the furnace walls) for observation of
the furnace interior. Furnace explosions due to any accumulation of combustible gases
after a tripout are avoided by flushing out such gases from the combustion zone before
igniting the coal.

The steam drum (as well as the superheater coils and headers) have air vents and drains
needed for initial start-up. The steam drum has an internal device that removes moisture
from the wet steam entering the drum from the steam generating tubes. The dry steam
then flows into the superheater coils. Geothermal plants need no boiler since they use
naturally occurring steam sources.

Heat exchangers may be used where the geothermal steam is very corrosive or contains
excessive suspended solids. Nuclear plants also boil water to raise steam, either directly
passing the working steam through the reactor or else using an intermediate heat
exchanger.

3. WATER WALLS

Water flows to the water walls from the boiler drum by natural circulation. The front
and the two side water walls constitute the main evaporation surface, absorbing the bulk
of radiant heat of the fuel burnt in the chamber. The front and rear walls are bent at the
lower ends to form a water-cooled slag hopper. The upper part of the chamber is
narrowed to achieve perfect mixing of combustion gases. The water wall tubes are
connected to headers at the top and bottom. The rear water wall tubes at the top are
grounded in four rows at a wider pitch forming g the grid tubes.

4. REHEATER

Reheater is used to raise the temperature of steam from which a part of energy has been
extracted in highpressure turbine. This is another method of increasing the cycle
efficiency. Reheating requires additional equipment i.e. heating surface connecting
boiler and turbine pipe safety equipment like safety valve, non return valves, isolating
25

valves, high pressure feed pump, etc: Reheater is composed of two sections namely the
front and the rear pendant section, which is located above the furnace arc between
water-cooled, screen wall tubes and rear wall tubes.

Tubes of a reheater

5. SUPERHEATER

Whatever type of boiler is used, steam will leave the water at its surface and pass into
the steam space. Steam formed above the water surface in a shell boiler is always
saturated and become superheated in the boiler shell, as it is constantly. If superheated
steam is required, the saturated steam must pass through a superheater. This is simply a
heat exchanger where additional heat is added to the steam.

In water-tube boilers, the superheater may be an additional pendant suspended in the

furnace area where the hot gases will provide the degree of superheat required. In other
cases, for example in CHP schemes where the gas turbine exhaust gases are relatively
cool, a separately fired superheater may be needed to provide the additional heat.

6. ECONOMIZER

The function of an economizer in a steam-generating unit is to absorb heat from the flue
gases and add as a sensible heat to the feed water before the water enters the
evaporation circuit of the boiler.

Earlier economizer were introduced mainly to recover the heat available in the flue
gases that leaves the boiler and provision of this addition heating surface increases the
26

efficiency of steam generators. In the modern boilers used for power generation feed
water heaters were used to increase the efficiency of turbine unit and feed water
temperature.

An economizer

Use of economizer or air heater or both is decided by the total economy that will result
in flexibility in operation, maintenance and selection of firing system and other related
equipment. Modern medium and high capacity boilers are used both as economizers
and air heaters. In low capacity, air heaters may alone be selected.

Stop valves and non-return valves may be incorporated to keep circulation in

economizer into steam drum when there is fire in the furnace but not feed flow. Tube
elements composing the unit are built up into banks and these are connected to inlet and
outlet headers.

7. AIR PREHEATER

Air preheater absorbs waste heat from the flue gases and transfers this heat to incoming
cold air, by means of continuously rotating heat transfer element of specially formed
metal plates. Thousands of these high efficiency elements are spaced and compactly
arranged within 12 sections. Sloped compartments of a radially divided cylindrical shell

27

called the rotor. The housing surrounding the rotor is provided with duct connecting
both the ends and is adequately scaled by radial and circumferential scaling.

An air preheater

Special sealing arrangements are provided in the provided in the air preheater to prevent
the leakage between the air and gas sides. Adjustable plates are also used to help the
sealing arrangements and prevent the leakage as expansion occurs. The air preheater
heating surface elements are provided with two types of cleaning devices, soot blowers
to clean normal devices and washing devices to clean the element when soot blowing
alone cannot keep the element clean.

8. PULVERIZER

A pulverizer is a mechanical device for the grinding of many types of materials. For
example, they are used to pulverize coal for combustion in the steam-generating
furnaces of the fossil fuel power plants.

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A Pulverizer

Types of Pulverizer
i.

Ball and Tube mills

A ball mill is a pulverizer that consists of a horizontal cylinder, up to three diameters in
length, containing a charge of tumbling or cascading steel balls, pebbles or steel rods.
A tube mill is a revolving cylinder of up to five diameters in length used for finer
pulverization of ore, rock and other such materials; the materials mixed with water is
fed into the chamber from one end, and passes out the other end as slime.

ii.

Bowl mill
It uses tires to crush coal. It is of two types; a deep bowl mill and the shallow bowl mill.

29

An external view of a Coal Pulverizer

Advantages of Pulverized Coal

Pulverized coal is used for large capacity plants.

It is easier to adapt to fluctuating load as there are no limitations on the combustion

capacity.

Coal with higher ash percentage cannot be used without pulverizing because of the
problem of large amount ash deposition after combustion.

Increased thermal efficiency is obtained through pulverization.

The use of secondary air in the combustion chamber along with the powered coal helps
in creating turbulence and therefore uniform mixing of the coal and the air during
combustion.

Greater surface area of coal per unit mass of coal allows faster combustion as more coal
is exposed to heat and combustion.

The combustion process is almost free from clinker and slag formation.

The boiler can be easily started from cold condition in case of emergency.

Practically no ash handling problem.

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The furnace volume required is less as the turbulence caused aids in complete
combustion of the coal with minimum travel of the particles.

II.

PLANT AUXILIARY MAINTENANCE

1. WATER CIRCULATION 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 then back to the drum where the steam is
separated and directed to the super heater. The water leaves the drum through the down corners
at a temperature slightly below the 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 the water to the weight of the steam in
the mixture leaving the heat absorption surface is called circulation ratio.
Types of Boiler Circulating System
i.

Natural circulation system

ii.

Controlled circulation system

iii.

Combined circulation system

i.

Natural Circulation System

Water delivered to steam generator from feed water is at a temperature well below the
saturation value corresponding to that pressure. Entering first the economizer, it is heated to
about 30-40C below saturation temperature. From economizer the water enters the drum and
thus joins the circulation system. Water entering the drum flows through the down corner and
31

enters ring heater 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 then sent to the high-pressure turbine. Remaining water mixes with the
incoming water from the economizer and the cycle is repeated.
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 the boiler with drum operating pressure around 175 kg/ cm2.
ii.

Controlled Circulation System

Beyond 80 kg/ cm2 of pressure, circulation is to be assisted with mechanical pumps to

overcome the frictional losses. To regulate the flow through various tubes, orifices plates are
used. This system is applicable in the high sub-critical regions (200 kg/ cm2).
2. ASH HANDLING PLANT
The widely used ash handling systems are:
i. Mechanical Handling System
ii. Hydraulic System
iii. Pneumatic System
iv. Steam Jet System

32

Ash Handling System at Badarpur Thermal Power Station, New Delhi

The Hydraulic Ash handling system is used at the Badarpur Thermal Power Station.
Hydraulic Ash Handling System
The hydraulic system carried the ash with the flow of water with high velocity through a
channel and finally dumps into a sump. The hydraulic system is divided into a low velocity and
high velocity system. In the low velocity system the ash from the boilers falls into a stream of
water flowing into the sump. The ash is carried along with the water and they are separated at
the sump. In the high velocity system a jet of water is sprayed to quench the hot ash. Two other
jets force the ash into a trough in which they are washed away by the water into the sump,
where they are separated. The molten slag formed in the pulverized fuel system can also be
quenched and washed by using the high velocity system. The advantages of this system are that
its clean, large ash handling capacity, considerable distance can be traversed, absence of
working parts in contact with ash.
Fly Ash Collection
Fly ash is captured and removed from the flue gas by electrostatic precipitators or fabric bag
filters (or sometimes both) located at the outlet of the furnace and before the induced draft fan.
The fly ash is periodically removed from the collection hoppers below the precipitators or bag

33

filters. Generally, the fly ash is pneumatically transported to storage silos for subsequent
transport by trucks or railroad cars.
Bottom Ash Collection and Disposal
At the bottom of every boiler, a hopper has been provided for collection of the bottom ash from
the bottom of the furnace. This hopper is always filled with water to quench the ash and
clinkers falling down from the furnace. Some arrangement is included to crush the clinkers and
for conveying the crushed clinkers and bottom ash to a storage site.

3. WATER TREATMENT 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 used in thermal power plants are designed to process the raw water to water with a very
low content of dissolved solids known as demineralized 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.

A water treatment plant

The type of demineralization process chosen for a power station depends on three main factors:

34

i. The quality of the raw water.

ii. The degree of de-ionization i.e. treated water quality.
iii. Selectivity of resins.
Water treatment process is generally made up of two sections:

Pretreatment section.

Demineralization section

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 two types of
suspended solid 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 flocculated to produce the large particles, which are settle able. Long term ability to remain
suspended in water is basically a function of both size and specific gravity.
Demineralization
This filter water is now used for demineralizing 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 action resin and must be eliminated
before its entry to this bed.

35

A demineralization tank

A DM plant generally consists of cation, anion and mixed bed exchangers. The final water
from this process consists essentially of hydrogen ions and hydroxide ions which is the
chemical composition of pure water. The DM water, being very pure, becomes highly corrosive
once it absorbs oxygen from the atmosphere because of its very high affinity for oxygen
absorption. The capacity of the DM plant is dictated by the type and quantity of salts in the raw
water input. However, some storage is essential as the DM plant may be down for maintenance.
For this purpose, a storage tank is installed from which DM water is continuously withdrawn
for boiler make-up. The storage tank for DM water is made from materials not affected by
corrosive water, such as PVC. The piping and valves are generally of stainless steel.
Sometimes, a steam blanketing arrangement or stainless steel doughnut float is provided on top
of the water in the tank to avoid contact with atmospheric air. DM water make-up is generally
added at the steam space of the surface condenser (i.e., the vacuum side). This arrangement not
only sprays the water but also DM water gets deaerated, with the dissolved gases being
removed by the ejector of the condenser itself.

4. DRAUGHT SYSTEM
There are four types of draught system:

36

i.

Natural Draught

ii.

Induced Draught

iii.

Forced Draught

iv.

Balanced Draught

Natural Draught System

In natural draft units the pressure differentials are obtained have constructing tail chimneys so
that vacuum is created in the furnace. Due to small pressure difference, air is admitted into the
furnace.

A natural draught system

Induced Draft System

In this system, the air is admitted to natural pressure difference and the flue gases are taken out
by means of Induced Draught (I.D.) fans and the furnace is maintained under vacuum.

37

An induced draught system

Forced Draught System

A set of forced draught (F.D.) fans is made use of for supplying air to the furnace and so the
furnace is pressurized. The flue gases are taken out due to the pressure difference between the
furnace and the atmosphere.

A forced draught system

Balanced Draught System

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.

38

5. INDUSTRIAL FANS
ID 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:

Suction Chamber

Inlet Vane Control

Impeller

Outlet Guide Vane Assembly

An ID fan

FD Fan
The fan, normally of the same type as ID Fan, consists of the following components:

Silencer

Inlet Bend

Fan Housing

Impeller with blades and setting mechanism

39

An FD fan

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 anti-friction 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 adapted to changing operating
conditions.
The rotor is accommodated in cylindrical roller bearings and an inclined ball bearing at the
drive side absorbs the axial thrust.
Lubrication and cooling these bearings is assured by a combined oil level and circulating
lubrication system.
Primary Air Fan
PA Fan 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 varying the angle of the inlet vane control controls the flow. The
special feature of the fan is that is provided with inlet guide vane control with a positive and
precise link mechanism.
It is robust in construction for higher peripheral speed so as to have unit sizes. Fan can develop
high pressures at low and medium volumes and can handle hot-air laden with dust particles.

40

Primary air fan

6. COMPRESSOR HOUSE
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 atomizing 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 tapping.

A compressor house

Instrument 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 return valves. From
the receiver air passed through the dryers to the main instrument airline, which runs along with

41

the boiler house and turbine house of 210 MW units. Adequate numbers of tapping have been
provided all over the area.
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.

An air drying unit

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,whih
extends around the valve also. The intercooler is provided between the low and high pressure
cylinder which cools the air between tag and collects the moisture that condenses.

42

A service air compressor

Air from L.P. cylinder enters at one end of the intercooler and goes to the opposite end
wherefrom it is discharged to the high-pressure cylinder; cooling water flows through the nest
of the tubes and cools the air. A safety valve is set at rated pressure.
Two selector switches one with positions auto load/unload and another with positions auto
start/stop, non-stop have been provided on the control panel of the compressor. In auto startstop position, the compressor will start.

III.

TURBINE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT

TURBINE CLASSIFICATION:
1. Impulse turbine:
In impulse turbine steam expands in fixed nozzles. The high velocity steam from
nozzles does work on moving blades, which causes the shaft to rotate. The essential
features of impulse turbine are that all pressure drops occur at nozzles and not on
blades.
2. Reaction turbine:
In this type of turbine pressure is reduced at both fixed and moving blades. Both fixed
and moving blades act like nozzles. Work done by the impulse effect of steam due to

43

reverse the direction of high velocity steam.The expansion of steam takes place on
moving blades.

A 95 MW Generator at BTPS, New Delhi

COMPOUNDING:
Several problems occur if energy of steam is converted in single step and so compounding is
done. Following are the type of compounded turbine:
i. Velocity Compounded Turbine:
Like simple turbine it has only one set of nozzles and entire steam pressure drop
takes place there. The kinetic energy of steam fully on the nozzles is utilized in
moving blades. The role of fixed blades is to change the direction of steam jet and
too guide it.
ii. Pressure Compounded Turbine:
This is basically a number of single impulse turbines in series or on the same
shaft.The exhaust of first turbine enters the nozzles of next turbine. The total
pressure drop of steam does not tae on first nozzle ring but divided equally on all of
them.
iii. Pressure Velocity Compounded Turbine:
It is just the combination of the two compounding and has the advantages of
allowing bigger pressure drops in each stage and so fewer stages are necessary.
44

Here for given pressure drop the turbine will be shorter length but diameter will be
increased.
MAIN TURBINE:
The 210MW turbine is a cylinder tandem compounded type machine comprising of H.P. and
I.P and L.P cylinders. The H.P. turbine comprises of 12 stages the I.P turbine has 11 stages and
the L.P has four stages of double flow. The H.P and I.P. turbine rotor are rigidly compounded
and the I.P. and L.P rotor by lens type semi flexible coupling. All the 3 rotors are aligned on
five bearings of which the bearing number is combined with thrust bearing.
The main superheated steam branches off into two streams from the boiler and passes through
the emergency stop valve and control valve before entering the governing wheel chamber of the
H.P. Turbine. After expanding in the 12 stages in the H.P. turbine then steam is returned in the
boiler for reheating.
The reheated steam from boiler enters I.P. turbine via the interceptor valves and control valves
and after expanding enters the L.P stage via 2 numbers of cross over pipes.
In the L.P. stage the steam expands in axially opposed direction to counteract the thrust and
enters the condenser placed directly below the L.P. turbine. The cooling water flowing through
the condenser tubes condenses the steam and the condensate the collected in the hot well of the
condenser.
The condensate collected the pumped by means of 3x50% duty condensate pumps through L.P
heaters to deaerator from where the boiler feed pump delivers the water to the boiler through
H.P. heaters thus forming a closed cycle.
STEAM TURBINE
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and
converts it into useful 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 rotary motion. Hence since the steam turbine possesses for its
moving parts rotating elements only if the manufacture is good and the machine is correctly
designed, it ought to be free from out of balance forces.

45

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 the filters. It also means that turbine 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 time the power compared to a reciprocating engine whether steam or oil.
OPERATING PRINCIPLES
A steam turbines 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. A 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 large, 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/valves. As the steam passes through the fixed
blades or nozzles, it expands and its velocity increases. The high velocity jet of stream strikes
the first set of moving blades. The kinetic energy of the steam changes into mechanical energy,
causing the shaft to rotate. The steam that enters the next set of fixed blades strikes the next
row of moving blades.

46

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. Steam expands as it passes through thee nozzles, where
its pressure drops and its velocity increases. As the steam flows through the moving blades, its

47

pressure remains the same, but its velocity decreases. The steam does not expand as it flows
through the moving blades.
STEAM CYCLE
The thermal (steam) power plant uses a dual (vapor+liquid) phase cycle. It is a closed cycle to
enable the working fluid (water) to be used again and again. The cycle used is Rankine cycle
modified to include superheating of steam, regenerative feed water heating and reheating of
steam.

MAIN TURBINE
The 210 MW turbine is a tandem compounded type machine comprising of H.P. and I.P.
cylinders. The H.P. turbines comprise of 12 stages, I.P. turbine has 11 stages and the L.P.
turbine has 4 stages of double flow.
The H.P. and I.P. turbine rotors are rigidly compounded and the L.P. motor by the lens type
semi flexible coupling. All the three rotors are aligned on five bearings of which the bearing
no. 2 is combined with the thrust bearing
The main superheated steam branches off into two streams from the boiler and passes through
the emergency stop valve and control valve before entering the governing wheel chamber of the
H.P. turbine. After expanding in the 12 stages in the H.P. turbine the steam is returned in boiler
for reheating.
The reheated steam for the boiler enters the I.P> turbine via the interceptor valves and control
valves and after expanding enters the L.P. turbine stage via 2 nos of cross-over pipes.
48

In the L.P. stage the steam expands in axially opposite direction to counteract the trust and
enters the condensers placed below the L.P. turbine. The cooling water flowing throughout the
condenser tubes condenses the steam and the condensate collected in the hot well of the
condenser.
The condensate collected is pumped by means of 3*50% duty condensate pumps through L.P.
heaters to deaerator from where the boiler feed pump delivers the water to boiler through H.P.
heaters thus forming a close cycle.

The Main Turbine

TURBINE CYCLE
Fresh steam from the boiler is supplied to the turbine through the emergency stop valve. From
the stop valves steam is supplied to control valves situated in H.P. cylinders on the front
bearing end. After expansion through 12 stages at the H.P. cylinder, steam flows back to the
boiler for reheating steam and reheated steam from the boiler cover to the intermediate pressure
turbine through two interceptor valves and four control valves mounted on I.P. turbine.
After flowing through I.P. turbine steam enters the middle part of the L.P. turbine through
cross-over pipes. In L.P. turbine the exhaust steam condenses in the surface condensers welded
directly to the exhaust part of L.P. turbine.
49

The Turbine Cycle

The selection of extraction points and cold reheat pressure has been done with a view to
achieve a high efficiency. These are two extractors from H.P. turbine, four from I.P. turbine
and one from L.P. turbine. Steam at 1.10 and 1.03 g/sq. cm. Abs is supplied for the gland
sealing. Steam for this purpose is obtained from deaerator through a collection where pressure
of steam is regulated.
From the condenser, condensate is pumped with the help of 3*50% capacity condensate pumps
to deaerator through the low-pressure regenerative equipments.
Feed water is pumped from deaerator to the boiler through the H.P. heaters by means of 3*50%
capacity feed pumps connected before the H.P. heaters.
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE TURBINE

Type: Tandem compound 3 cylinder reheated type.

Rated power: 210 MW.

Number of stages: 12 in H.P., 11 in I.P. and 4*2 in L.P. cylinder.

Rated steam pressure: 130 kg /sq. cm before entering the stop valve.

Rated steam temperature: 535C after reheating at inlet.

50

Steam flow: 670T / hr.

H.P. turbine exhaust pressure: 27 kg /sq. cm., 327C

Condenser back pressure: 0.09 kg /sq. cm.

Type of governing: nozzle governing.

Number of bearing; 5 excluding generator and exciter.

Lubrication Oil: turbine oil 14 of IOC.

Gland steam pressure: 1.03 to 1.05 kg /sq. cm (Abs)

Critical speed: 1585, 1881, 2017.

Ejector steam parameter: 4.5 kg /sq. cm.

Condenser cooling water pressure: 1.0 to 1.1 kg /sq. cm.

Condenser cooling water temperature: 27000 cu. M /hr.

Number of extraction lines for regenerative heating of feed water; seven.

TURBINE COMPONENTS

Casing.

Rotor.

Blades.

Sealing system.

Stop & control valves.

Couplings and bearings.

Barring gear.

TURBINE CASINGS
HP Turbine Casings:

Outer casing: a barrel-type without axial or radial flange.

Barrel-type casing suitable for quick startup and loading.

The inner casing- cylindrically, axially split.

The inner casing is attached in the horizontal and vertical planes in the barrel casing so
that it can freely expand radially in all the directions and axially from a fixed point (HPinlet side).

IP Turbine Casing:

51

The casing of the IP turbine is split horizontally and is of double-shell construction.

Both are axially split and a double flow inner casing is supported in the outer casing
and carries the guide blades.

Provides opposed double flow in the two blade sections and compensates axial thrust.

Steam after reheating enters the inner casing from Top & Bottom.

LP Turbine Casing:

The LP turbine casing consists of a double flow unit and has a triple shell welded
casing.

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.

Steam admitted to the LP turbine from the IP turbine flows into the inner casing from
both sides.

ROTORS
HP Rotor:

The HP rotor is machined from a single Cr-Mo-V steel forging with integral discs.

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, riveted to the blades
are periphery.

IP 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
discs are machined from high strength nickel steel forgings.

Except the last two wheels, all other wheels have shrouding riveted at the tip of the
blades. To adjust the frequency of thee moving blades, lashing wires have been
provided in some stages.
52

LP Rotor:

The LP rotor consists of shrunk fit discs in 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 riveted fork root fastening.

In all the stages lashing wires are provided 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

Most costly element of the turbine.

Blades fixed in stationary part are called guide blades/ nozzles and those fitted in
moving part are called rotating/working blades.

Blades have three main parts:

o Aerofoil: working part.
o Root.
o Shrouds.

Shroud are used to prevent steam leakage and guide steam to next set of moving blades.

VACUUM SYSTEM
This comprises of:

Condenser: 2 for 200 MW unit at the exhaust of LP turbine.

Ejectors: One starting and two main ejectors connected to the condenser locared near
the turbine.

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

CONDENSER
There are two condensers entered to the two exhausters of the L.P. turbine. These are surfacetype condensers with two pass arrangement. Cooling water pumped into each condenser by a
vertical C.W. pump through the inlet pipe.
Water enters the inlet chamber of the front water box, passes horizontally through brass tubes
to the water tubes to the water box at the other end, takes a turn, passes through the upper
53

cluster of tubes and reaches the outlet chamber in the front water box. From these, cooling
water leaves the condenser through the outlet pipe and discharge into the discharge duct.
Steam exhausted from the LP turbine washes the outside of the condenser tubes, losing 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.

A typical water cooled condensor

EJECTORS
There are two 100% capacity ejectors of the steam eject type. The purpose of the ejector is to
evacuate air and other non-condensating gases from the condensers and thus maintain the
vacuum in the condensers.
The ejector has three compartments. Steam is supplied generally at a pressure of 4.5 to 5 kg
/cm2 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 through which condensate is flowing and gets condensed thus after aiding the
formation of vacuum. The non-condensing gases of air are further sucked with the next stage of
the ejector by the second nozzle. The process repeats itself in the third stage also and finally the
steam-air mixture is exhausted into the atmosphere through the outlet.

54

CONDENSATE SYSTEM
This contains the following
i.

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

ii.

LP Heater: Normally 4 in number with no.1 located at the upper part of the condenser
and nos. 2,3& 4 around 4m level.

iii.

Deaerator; one per unit located around 181 M level in CD bay.

Condensate Pumps
The function of these pumps is to pump out the condensate to the desecrator through ejectors,
gland steam cooler and LP heaters. These pumps have four stages and since the suction is at a
negative pressure, special arrangements have been made for providing sealing. The pump is
generally rated for 160 m3/ hr at a pressure of 13.2 kg/ cm2 .
L.P. Heaters
Turbine has been provided with non-controlled extractions, which are utilized for heating the
condensate, from turbine bleed steam. There are 410 W 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 the 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 of 5m level. They are of vertical construction with brass tubes the ends of which are
expanded into tube plate. The condensate flows in the U tubes in four passes and extraction
steam washes the outside of the tubes. Condensate passes through these four L.P. heaters in
succession. 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 dioxide 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 the
dissolved gases from the feed water by mechanical means. Particularly the unit must reduce the
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oxygen content of the feed water to a lower value as far as possible, depending upon the
individual circumstances. Residual oxygen content in condensate at the outlet of deaerating
plant usually specified are 0.005/ litre or less.

A Deaerator

PRINCIPAL OF DEAERATION
It is based on following two laws.

Henrys Law

Solubility

The Deaerator comprises of two chambers:

Deaerating column

Feed storage tank

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.

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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 affect the liberation of the associated gases steam enters from the
underneath of the trays and flows in counter 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 opening is
provided with a number of dlflectors to minimize the loss of steam.
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 T 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 Lubricating Oil System: This consists of the 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)

Boiler Feed Pump

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.
The high pressure boiler feed pump is a very expensive machine which calls for a very careful
operation and skilled 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.
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; it 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
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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.
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 boiler
feed pump is from cavitation or vapor bounding at the pump suction due to suction failure.
Cavitation will occur when the suction pressure of the pump at the pump section is equal or
very near to the vapor pressure of the liquid to be pumped at a particular feed water
temperature. By the use of 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.
Lubricating Pressure
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 pump.
High Pressure Heaters
These are regenerative feed waters heaters operating at high pressure and located by the side of
turbine. These are generally vertical type and turbine based 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 steam is supplied to these heaters to form the bleed
point of the turbine through motor operated valves. These heaters have a group bypass
protection on the feed waterside.
In the event of tube rupture in any of the HPH and the level of condensate rising to dangerous
level, the group protection devices divert automatically the feed water directly to boiler, thus
bypassing all the 3 H.P. heaters.

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An HP heater

Turbine Oil Lubricating System

This consists of main oil pump, starting oil pump, emergency oil pump and each per unit.

IV.

MAINTENANCE PLANNING DEPARTMENT

PREDICTIVE MAINTENANCE
The art of predictive maintenance is to monitor the machine with the appropriate technologies,
frequently enough to detect the anticipated failure modes.
Also known as Condition Based Maintenance results in:

Increased uptime

Decreased unexpected breakdowns

Reduced Maintenance Costs

Maintenance is performed and it is planned

Improved Plant Safety

Machines normally give off some signs before failing

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The sign may be change in sound level, vibration, pressure, temperature etc.

Change in the performance

Metal particles in the lubricant

Change in motor current etc.

PROACTIVE MAINTENANCE
Also known by different names includingPrecision Maintenance and Reliability based
Maintenance.The motto here is Fix it once & Fix it Right
How an effective Predictive Maintenance Strategy can Improve Plant Efficiency:

Reduction in Lost Production

Reduced Cost of Maintenance

Less Likelihood of Secondary Damage

Reduced Inventory

Extending the Life of Plant Items

Improved Product Quality

KNOWLEDGE BASED MAINTENANCE

Shared information among all users

Root cause analysis (proactive) - design problems out of machines, fix the problem not
the symptom

TECHNOLOGIES USED

Vibration monitoring & analysis and balancing.

Motor current signature analysis (mcsa).

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Thermography monitoring & analysis.

Accoustic monitoring & analysis.

Checking of ht/lt motors in electrical workshop

VIBRATION ANALYSIS AND UNBALANCE

Amplitude proportional to the amount of unbalance

Vibration high normally in radial direction (may be also in axial direction incase of
overhung and flexible rotors).

1* RPM vibration is greater than 80% (normally) of the overall reading.

Horizontal and vertical 1* RPM amplitude should be nearly same, although it also
depends on system rigidity on the particular direction.

Other frequency peaks may be less than 5% of the 1* RPM amplitude

Phase shift of 90 deg. When sensor moves from horizontal to vertical.

MOTOR ROTOR BAR ANALYSIS

On-line detection of broken rotor bars of

Detects Rotor bar faults at early stage using supportive software

Avoids Motor Breakdown and hence forced reduction of unit load.

Induction Motors.

FACTORS LEADING TO ROTOR BAR CRACKS

Most motor failures are preceded by long periods of wear.

More starts & stops or rapidly fluctuating loads leads to Excess stresses

Hardening of Joints of rotor bars and end ring

THERMOGRAPHY

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IRT camera has been very useful tools in predictive maintenance for detecting hot
spots in electrical & switchyard equipment.

The thermal scanning survey in switchyard & other identified areas is done to monitor
the healthiness of electrical equipment.

Machine image captured to know theThermal distribution

ACCOUSTIC ANALYSIS

What is acoustic emission?

Acoustic emission is a naturally occurring phenomenon wherin external mechanical
loading generates sources of elastic waves.

What is acoustic analysis?

Acoustic analysis or noise analysis is a two step process involving the acquistion and
interperatation of machinery acoustic data.

Its purpose is :
To determine the condition of the machine and pin-point any specific mechanical or
operational defects i.e. Pressure or vacuum leaks (pneumatic, gas& steam) or arcing and
corona (electrical problems).

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V.

COAL HANDLING DEPARTMENT

As coal is the prime fuel for thermal power plant, adequate emphasis should 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. Coal is used as the fuel because of the following
advantages.
Advantages of coal as fuel:

Abundantly available in India

Low Cost

Technology for power generation well developed.

Easy to handle, transport, store and use.

COAL CYCLE

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Coal Transport by M.G.R.

Each of the NTPC Project requires transportation of large quantities of coal from the coal
mines to power stations site of the order of 30,000 tonnes/ day for a typical 2,000 MW station.
This enormous coal requirement is being met from open cast mines.
Techno economic study conducted for coal transportation from mines to power station have
revealed that Merry-Go-Round (MGR) rail transportation system is most economical 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 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.

The high speed load outstation consists of one or two loading sites depending upon the coal
requirement of the linked power station. The handling capacity of the loading site is such that it
fills at least one big rake of wagon and in some cases, two rakes.

Coal transportation

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COAL HANDLING SYSTEM

In the coal handling system of NTPC, three coal paths are normally available for direct
conveying of coal. These are:

Path A: from track hopper to boiler bunker.

Path B: from track hopper to stockyard..

Path C: from stockyard to boiler bunkers.

The Coal Handling System

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 equipments and conveyors.
The 200 mm coal as received at the track hopper is fed to the crusher house for crushing.
Crusher of 50% capacity is provided and these are preferred to two crushers of 100% capacity
because of increased reliability and possible higher availability. A series of parallel conveyors
are designed thereafter to carry crushed coal directly to the boiler bunkers or to divert it to the
stockyard.
To feed coal into bunkers, mobile trippers have been provided over bunkers on conveyors, coal
mil & therefore the bunker conveyors of 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; the turbine plant area, coal mills, bunker
conveyors are now being placed between boiler and electrostatic precipitator.

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Coal Handling Division of BTPS, New Delhi

COAL HANDLING EQUIPMENTS

i.

Pulley
They are made of mild steel. Rubber lagging is provided to decrease the friction factor
in between the belt and pulley.

ii.

Scrapper
Conveyors are provided with scrappers at the discharge pulley in order to clean the
carrying side of the belt built up material on idler rolls. Care should be taken to ensure
that the scrapper is held against the belt with the pressure sufficient to remove material
without causing damage to the belt due to excessive force exerted by the wiper.the
following categories of scrapper are common in use:

Steel blade scrapper

Rubber/fabric blade scrapper

Nylon brush scrapper

Compressed air blast scrapper.

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iii.

Idlers
These essentially consist of rolls made out of seamless steel tube enclosed fully at each
end and fitted with stationary shaft, anti-friction bearings and seals. They support the
belt and enable it to travel freely without much frictional losses and also keep the belt
properly trained.

Idler

iv.

Conveyor Belt
The conveyor belt consists of layers or piles of fabric duck, impregnated with rubber
and protected by a rubber cover on both sides and edges. The fabric duck supplies the
strngth 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 66C.

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Coal Storage Area of the Badarpur Thermal Power Station, New Delhi

v.

Vibrating Screen
The function of vibrating screen is to send the coal of having size less than 20 mm to
the crusher. The screen is operated by four v-belts connected to motor.

vi.

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 of granulators of ring type.
There are about 37 crushing elevations; each elevation has 4 granulators-2 of plain type
and 2 of tooth type, arranged alternately.
The granulators are made 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 case path. The crushed coal through a chute falls on belt feeder. Normally these
crushers have a capacity round 600 tonnes/ hr.

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A Crusher

vii.

Magnetic separators
This is an electromagnet placed above the conveyor to attract magnetic materials. Over
this magnet there is one conveyor to transfer these materials to chute provided for
dumping at ground level. Because of this, continuous removal is possible. It can remove
any ferrous impurity from 10 gms to 50 kg.

Wagon Tripler at Badarpur Thermal Power Station, New Delhi

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viii.

Vibrating Feeder
It is used to feed the coal on the underground conveyor belt from where coal goes to
bunker. Coal from the stockyard with the help of bulldozer is taken to the vibrating
feeder via reclaim hopper and underground conveyor belts. A 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 or chute fitted with the tripper itself. The tripper is provided with
wheels, which move on rails parallel to conveyor.
These trippers are of three types mainly:

Motorized tripper

Bell-Propelled Manually operated Tripper.

Winch driven tripper

Screening and Separation Unit of Coal Handling Division

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