Diesel Power Plants

Group Members

• M.I.M. IFKAZ 164496

• P.G.K. COREIRA 164423
• S. GOWTHAMAN 164504
 Introduction
Diesel power plants produce 2 to 50MW of power. These types of power plants
are used to supply electricity for small industries and hospitals and also for
theaters.

High cost for diesel is one of the reason for these plants are not being used in
large types of electricity production.

They used to deliver continues electricity.

They are suitable for mobile power generations and they are widely used in
railways and ships
 Heat engines
Any type of engine or device that converts heat energy to mechanical energy is
called Heat engine

If combustion takes place within the working fluid of the engine then it’ called
an Internal Combustion Engine. In this process fluid will get contaminated by
the combustion products

In an External Combustion Engine working fluid will get energy from the
boilers. Within these boilers fossil fuels or any other kind of fuel will be burnt.
Therefore the working fluid will not get contact with combustion products.
 Classification of IC Engines
1. According to cycle of operations
• Two stroke engine
• Four stroke engine

2. According to cycle of combustion

• Otto cycle engine
• Diesel cycle engine
• Dual combustion engine

3. According to arrangement of cylinder

• Horizontal engine
• Vertical engine
• V-Type engine
• Radial engine

4. According to their uses

• Stationary engine
• Portable engine
• Marine engine
• Automobile engine
• Aero engine
5. According to fuel employed
• Oil engine
• Petrol engine
• Gas engine

6. According to method of ignition3

• Spark engine
• Compression engine

7. According to speed of engine

• Low speed
• Medium speed
• High speed

8. According to method of cooling

• Air cooled
• Water cooled

9. According to number of cylinders

• Single cylinder
• Multi cylinder
Model of a diesel engine
Four stroke diesel engine
Two stroke diesel engine
Schematic arrangement of a diesel power plant
Diesel Power plant components
• Air Intake system

• Fuel Supply system

• Exhaust system

• Cooling System

• Lubricating System

• Starting System
 Fuel supply System
• It consist of a storage tank where the
fuel is stored.

• From this tank fuel is pumped to day

storage tank daily or in short intervals.

• Then the fuel is pumped through

strainers to remove impurities in the
fuel.

• Finally the pure fuel will be injected to

the engine.
 Air Intake System

• It consist of pipes to supply air

to the engine.

• Air is filtered and supplied to

the engine. This process will
prevent the dust particles
entering the engine.

• Filtering is done either in dry

filter method or wet filter
method.
 Exhaust System

• Its used to exhaust the gas from

engine to the atmosphere.

• This is a noisy process, So

usually a silencer is used to
reduce the noise.
 Cooling System
• The temperature of the burning fuel inside the cylinder is very high
(about 1500°C-2000°C).

• In order to reduce this temperature, water is circulated around the

engine

• Overall heat in the engine, piston, chamber is carried by the circulating

water

• The hot water leaving from the engine will be passed through the heat
exchanger

• The heat from the heat exchanger is carried out by the circulating raw
water through the heat exchanger and is cooled in the cooling tower
 Lubricating System
• This includes lubricating oil tank, oil pump and oil cooler

• Purpose of this system is to reduce the wear between moving

parts (Piston, Shafts, Valves)

• The lubricant will be drawn from the main lubricating oil tank.
Then it will be drawn through oil filters to remove impurities.

• Also it will pass through oil cooler. There the oil will be cooled
by water.

• After lubricating process is completed, the hot oil will return to

the main lubricating oil tank.
 Starting System

• This is an arrangement to rotate the engine initially.

• The diesel engine will not be self started.

• The engine is started from the cold condition with the help of an
air compressor
For a good performance of the power
plant,
• Cooling temperature must be limited

• Lubricating system should be effective and should work in

a required pressure and temperature

• Engine should not stand idle for more than 7 days

• Filters should be regularly serviced

• Engine compression, firing pressure, and exhaust

temperature should be regularly checked.
 Selecting a site for the diesel power plant
• Distance from the load centre – The site should be as near to the load centre as
possible in order to avoid transmission costs and losses.

• Availability of land – The land should be available at cheap rate to keep the capital
cost of the plant to the reasonable one.

• Availability of fuel – The fuel should be easily available and at reasonable rate.

• Availability of transportation facilities – The transportation facilities should be

available.
• Availability of water – Water should be available in sufficient
quantity for cooling purposes.

• Distance from populated area – The site should be away from

thickly populated area because of noise and nuisance caused from
exhaust.

• Type of land – The land should be of high bearing capacity to

withstand the load of the plant and also vibrations transmitted to the
foundations from compressors and diesel engines.
 Advantages of the diesel power plant
• A diesel power plant can be started and stopped quickly, as and when required.

• It does not require any warming period, and need to be kept running for a long
time before picking up load. There are thus no standby losses.

• Diesel power plant does not require a large amount of water for cooling.

• The diesel engines have a lower installation cost per kW as compared with the
same size of the steam unit.

• There’s no any ash handling problem

• The diesel power plant needs less operating and supervising staff than a steam
power plant.

• There are fewer auxiliaries as compared to a steam power plant.

• Buildings and foundations are relatively simple.

• Thermal efficiency is higher than other types of power plants.

• Can respond for varying loads

 Disadvantages of the diesel power plant
• Operating cost, due to high cost of diesel oil as fuel, is very high.

• Maintenance and lubrication cost is also high as compared in the case of other
plants.

• Diesel plants cannot supply overloads continuously whereas steam plants can
work under 25% overload continuously.

• Diesel unit’s capacity is limited. These cannot be constructed in large size.

• Noise from the exhaust is a serious problem.

• Their useful life is very short.

Environment impacts of diesel power plant
1. Air Pollution
• Burning of heavy fuel having Sulphur will emit Sulphur dioxides and
nitrogen oxides to the atmosphere.
• The exhaust gases of the diesel power plant has higher heat energy.
• Gases could spread some respiratory and skin diseases,

2. Noise

3. Water Pollution
• The plant requires a large amount of water (2989m³/day) for its
operation.
List of diesel power plants in Sri Lanka
Reference
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Sri_Lanka

• http://www.ceb.lk/312-2/

• http://powermin.gov.lk/english/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/MoPRE-2017.2018-
03-English.pdf