Steam Power Plant
Steam Power Plant
Steam Power Plant
Introduction
• Thermal power plant is also referred as coal thermal
power plant and steam turbine power plant.
• A steam power plant using steam as working substance
works basically on Rankine cycle.
• Rankine cycle is a thermodynamic cycle of heat engine
that converts heat into mechanical work.
• Steam is generated in a boiler, expanded in the prime
mover and condensed in the condenser and fed into the
boiler again.
• Thermal efficiency is between 35-40% because of
maximum energy is wasted in condenser.
Working diagram Thermal power
station.
Working of Steam Power Plant
• The working can be studied conveniently with
the help of various cycles.
• The entire arrangement of steam power plant
can be divided into 4 main circuits namely,
1. Fuel & ash circuit
2. Air & fuel gas circuit
3. Feed water & steam circuit
4. Cooling water circuit
Components of Steam Power Plants
• Coal
• Boiler
• Super heater
• Economizer
• Air pre-heater
• Steam Turbine
• Condenser
• Alternator
• Feed water pump
• Cooling Tower
Coal
• Coal is transported from coal mines to the generating station. Generally, bituminous coal
or brown coal is used as fuel.
• The coal is stored in either 'dead storage' or in 'live storage'.
• Dead storage is generally 40 days backup coal storage which is used when coal supply is
unavailable. Live storage is a raw coal bunker in boiler house.
• The coal is cleaned in a magnetic cleaner to filter out if any iron particles are present
which may cause wear and tear in the equipment.
• The coal from live storage is first crushed in small particles and then taken
into pulverizer to make it in powdered form. Fine powdered coal undergoes
complete combustion, and thus pulverized coal improves efficiency of the
boiler.
• The ash produced after the combustion of coal is taken out of the boiler
furnace and then properly disposed. Periodic removal of ash from the boiler
furnace is necessary for the proper combustion.
Boiler
• The mixture of pulverized coal and air (usually preheated air) is taken into boiler and
then burnt in the combustion zone.
• On ignition of fuel a large fireball is formed at the center of the boiler and large amount
of heat energy is radiated from it.
• The heat energy is utilized to convert the water into steam at high temperature and
pressure.
• Steel tubes run along the boiler walls in which water is converted in steam.
• The flue gases from the boiler make their way through super-heater, economizer, air pre-
heater and finally get exhausted to the atmosphere from the chimney.
Super-heater
• The super-heater tubes are hanged at the hottest part of the boiler.
• The saturated steam produced in the boiler tubes is superheated to
about 540 °C in the super-heater.
• The superheated high pressure steam is then fed to the steam
turbine.
Economizer
• An economizer is
essentially a feed water
heater which heats the
water before supplying to
the boiler.
• It absorbs remaining heat
from the flue gases so
that the temperature of
water is increased &
hence thermal efficiency
is increased.
Air pre-heater
• The primary air (PA) fan
takes air from the
atmosphere and it is then
warmed in the air pre-
heater.
• Pre-heated air is injected
with coal in the boiler.
• The advantage of pre-
heating the air is that it
improves the coal
combustion.
Steam turbine
• High pressure super heated steam is fed to the steam turbine which
causes turbine blades to rotate.
• Energy in the steam is converted into mechanical energy in the
steam turbine which acts as the prime mover.
• The pressure and temperature of the steam falls to a lower value and
it expands in volume as it passes through the turbine.
• The expanded low pressure steam is exhausted in the condenser.
Alternator
• The steam turbine is coupled to an alternator.
• When the turbine rotates the alternator, electrical energy is
generated.
• This generated electrical voltage is then stepped up with the help of
a transformer and then transmitted where it is to be utilized.
Condenser
• The exhausted steam is condensed in the condenser
by means of cold water circulation.
• Here, the steam loses it's pressure as well as
temperature and it is converted back into water.
Feed water pump
• The condensed water is again fed to the boiler by
a feed water pump.
• Some water may be lost during the cycle, which is
suitably supplied from an external water source.
Cooling Tower
• It is used to reduce the temperature of
circulating water after condensation of steam
into water.
• PA (Primary air) Fan: Primary air fans supply
high volumes of pre-heated, primary
combustion air to move pulverized coal into
the boiler and drive off excess moisture.
• FD (Forced draught) Fan : It is used to supply
oxygen for proper combustion of coal.
• ID Fan (Induced draught) : It extracts the flue
gas from the boiler & releases to the
atmosphere.
ESP (Electrostatic precipitator)
It works on the electric field principle used for
collecting the ash particle from the flue gas.
Advantages
• Economical for low initial cost other than any
generating plant.
• Land required less than hydro power plant.
• Since coal is main fuel and its cost is quite cheap than
petrol/diesel so generation cost is economical.
• Maintenance is easier.
• Thermal power plant can be installed in any location
where transportation & bulk of water are available.
Disadvantages
• The running cost for a thermal power station is
comparatively high due to fuel, maintenance etc.
• Large amount of smoke causes air pollution. The
thermal power station is responsible for Global
warming.
• The heated water that comes from thermal power plant
has an adverse effect on the aquatic lives in the water
and disturbs the ecology.
• Overall efficiency of thermal power plant is low like
less 30%.
Choice of Site
Factors considered for selection of site for thermal
power station:
1. Availability of raw material
2. Nature of land & its cost
3. Availability of water
4. Load centre
5. Transport facilities
6. Availability of labor
7. Ash disposal facilities
8. Future expansion
9. Pollution
10. Distance from populated area
1. Availability of raw material
• Roughly, a steam power plant of 300 MW
capacity requires about 3000 tonnes of coal per
day.
• Therefore, it is necessary to locate plant near
the coal fields to reduce transportation cost.
2. Nature of Land & its Cost
• Total space required is 1500-2500 m2 per MW
capacity of plant including the space required for
coal storage & ash handling system.
• Therefore, land cost must be reasonable to reduce
its capital cost.
• To reduce civil engineering cost, the land
selected should not need much levelling of site.
• Also, the site selected should not have any
mineral deposits.
3. Availability of water
• Roughly, it requires 18 108 litres of water per day
for 300 MW capacity plant & 36 108 litres of
water as make up water.
• Thus, it is necessary to locate thermal power plant
near a place where water is available throughout.
e.g. river, sea or lake.
4. Load Centre
• Power plant must be locate near load to which it is supplied.
• However, it is not possible to locate power plant near all loads.
As such, the centre of gravity (C.G.) of all loads is determined
with reference to reference axis where plant is usually located.
• The location of power plant at C.G. of loads reduces the cost
of transmission lines & losses occurring in it.
• Future developments should be taken into account while
selecting the load centre.
5. Transport Facilities
• Power plant should be located where the adequate
transport facilities are available for transportation of
fuel & heavy machinery for transportation.
6. Availability of Labor
• Large men power is needed during the construction of
plant.
• Therefore, labor should be available near the
construction site at cheap cost.
7. Ash Disposal Facilities
• Huge amount of hot ash comes out of coal.
Therefore, there must be sufficient space &
facilities available to dispose large quantities of
ash.
• The scope for use of ash: In concrete, brick
making, filling of low-lying areas etc.
8. Future Expansion
• The site selected should be such that it allows
economic extensions of the plant with the
estimated growth of load.
9. Pollution
• The thermal power plants should be located away
so as to avoid any nuisance from smoke, fly, ash,
noise & heat discharged from plant.
• The steam does not expand in nozzles but expands as flows over the
rotor blades, the blades will, therefore, acts also as nozzles.
• Such turbines are characterized by relatively low rpm.
• These turbines are basically the impulse-reaction turbine but in practice
these are called reaction turbines.
Acc. to Type of flow of steam
1. Axial flow - In axial flow turbines the steam flows over the
blades in a direction parallel to the axis of wheel.
2. Radial flow - In radial flow turbines the blades are arranged
radially so that the steam enters at the blade tip nearest the axis
of wheel & flows towards the circumference.
• Majority of steam turbines are of ‘axial flow’ type.
RADIAL
Steam Nozzles
• The function of steam nozzle is to convert the heat energy of
steam into kinetic energy.
• The chief use of steam nozzle is to develop a high velocity jet
of steam for driving a steam turbine.
• This is achieved by allowing the steam to expand from a
region of high pressure at the inlet to a region of low pressure
at the outlet.
• With expansion of steam through the nozzles, its velocity &
specific volume both increases.
• The nozzle is designed for discharge of maximum weight of
steam for a given pressure drop.
• Depending upon the shape, the nozzles are of two types:
1. Convergent-Divergent nozzle
2. Convergent nozzle
• In convergent-divergent nozzles, the X-section first decreases until it reaches
the minimum at a section called the nozzle throat & then it increases as
shown in fig., the largest X-section being at the exit end.
• In convergent type nozzles, the nozzle exit in the throat itself.
Governing of Steam Turbine
• The function of governor is to control the fluctuation of
speed of a prime mover within the prescribed limits
with the variation of loads on it.
• It is used to vary the turbine output according to the
load on the alternator with very small fluctuations in
speed.
• The method used for governing of steam turbines are:
1. Throttle governing
2. Nozzles governing
3. By-pass governing
4. Combined throttle & nozzle governing
5. Combined throttle & by-pass governing
1. Throttle governing
• In this type of governing the steam is throttled
down to a lower pressure according to the load
on the turbine before it is supplied to turbine.
Block Diagram
Efficiency of Steam Power Station
Thermal efficiency,
• Heat equivalent of mechanical energy
η = transmitted to turbine shaft_______
Heat of coal combustion
• The thermal efficiency of a modern steam
power station is about 30%.
• It means that if 100 calories of heat is supplied
by coal combustion, then mechanical energy
equivalent of 30 calories will be available at
the turbine shaft and rest is lost.
Overall efficiency
• The ratio of heat equivalent of electrical output to
the heat of combustion of coal is known as overall
efficiency of steam power station i.e.
• SPMs
Causes respiratory problems like cough, cold, sneezing etc.
It causes bronchitis & cardiac diseases.
These also cause corrosion of metal parts of power system.