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ABB MEASUREMENT & ANALYTICS | APPLICATION NOTE

Monitoring hydrogen cooled turbogenerators

in power plants (fossil-fired, hydro, nuclear)

Components to be measured
– CO2 in air
– H2 in CO2
– H2 in air

ABB solutions
– EL3060-Caldos27, Zone 1
– AO2000-Caldos27 SC, Zone 2
– EL3000-Caldos27, GP
– AO2000-Caldos27, GP

Measurement made easy

Introduction
In power generation, different cooling agents are Windage losses occur due to the power
used to cool the generators. In the past, air was requirements for circulating the cooling agent
often used for this purpose, but with an increase and the friction of the rotor. As windage and gas
in the generators dimensions as well as the friction losses are nearly proportional to the
improvement of process efficiency, hydrogen is density of the cooling agent, they are
being used more often to cool the generators. considerably reduced by using hydrogen which
Hydrogen enables the plant operator to reduce is approximately 14 times lighter than air and
windage losses and increase the efficiency, thus the efficiency factor is improved.
especially the power limit.
 2 Monitoring hydrogen cooled turbogenerators in power plants (fossil-fired, hydro, nuclear) | AN/ANALYTICAL/201-EN Rev. A

—
Monitoring hydrogen cooled turbogenerators

in power plants (fossil-fired, hydro, nuclear)

— Efficiency, is increased by the seven times For example, carbon dioxide is used as
01 Schematics of the
higher thermal conductivity of hydrogen in intermediate gas and is blown into the
flue gas line in a power
plant comparison to air. This renders an increase in bottom of the generator. CO2 is heavier than
thermal utilization of the machine, i.e. a higher air and the generator is slowly filled from the
efficiency can be reached from a certain model bottom up. Air escapes through the H2-pipes
when operated with hydrogen cooling instead on top of the generator and flows into the
of air, without an increase in the winding exhaust vent. The filling procedure is
temperature. continued until the escaping CO2-air mixture
contains more than 95 Vol% CO 2. This gas
The absence of oxygen in H2 -cooled generators mixture is no longer explosive even in the
has two further advantages: winding fires are case of an overfilling with H2 .
nearly impossible and ozone or nitrous acid,
which can be generated by glow-discharge, Because of its lower density, the hydrogen is
which would destroy the insulation, cannot be filled from above until a sufficient degree of
generated. purity (96 to 98 Vol% H2) is achieved. The
CO2 escapes through the exhaust piping into
A disadvantage of using hydrogen as a cooling the open air.
agent, is that hydrogen is combustible and During normal operation H2 is continuously
explosive when mixed with air, especially when blown in, to maintain the pressure and
the H2-concentration lies between 4 to 75 Vol%. purity of the gas in the generator.
Therefore, the air in the generator has to be The generator is emptied in the same way as
displaced by a neutral intermediate gas before it is filled, i.e. hydrogen is not directly
being filled with hydrogen to avoid the dispelled by air but by CO2 as the neutral
generation of oxyhydrogen gas. intermediate gas.

01

Generator

Coal bin Steam

Milk of lime
Air NH₃

Flue gas
Coal mill Boiler DeNOx Dust filter
desulfurization (FGD)

F00002
 Monitoring hydrogen cooled turbogenerators in power plants (fossil-fired, hydro, nuclear) | AN/ANALYTICAL/201-EN Rev. A 3

— Motivation ABB solution, EL3060

02 Typical cost of
To avoid oxyhydrogen-gas explosions in EL3060 is built in a completely flameproof
decreased hydrogen
purity hydrogen cooled Turbo-Generators during enclosure in accordance with all the
filling and operation, and to control the purity requirements of Category II 2G and can be
of the hydrogen, continuous monitoring of used, due to its high safety standards, in
the gas cycle is required. Additionally, to plants with potentially explosive gas
increase plant performance and control atmospheres in Zone 1 and Zone 2.
generating cost per megawatt, turbo
generators must perform with optimum The EL3060-Caldos27 is convincingly
efficiency. A drop in hydrogen purity causes compactly built. The control unit, the power
additional windage losses and consequently supply and the thermal conductivity analyzer
reduces generator efficiency. are placed all together in a compact housing.
The control unit is provided with a terminal
Phase 1: Monitoring the filling process box with increased safety. Without
During the filling process the displacement of compromising the hazardous area protection
air by CO2 and of CO2 by H2 has to be customers can safely and easily connect signal
monitored. This is required to ensure a cables for analog output and status signals.
purging process lasts long enough to avoid The analyzer can be directly operated through
explosions and to limit the gas consumption an explosion proof glass panel via touch-
to a minimal quantity. The measuring ranges sensitive keys without further equipment and
are as follows: without having to open the housing.
0 to 100 Vol% CO2 in air and To monitor all three possible process phases
0 to 100 Vol% H2 in CO2 the EL3060 provides different ways to change
between the measuring components and to
Phase 2: Monitoring the operation conditions provide a feedback of the current measuring
component
During operation, the purity of the hydrogen
has to be controlled to avoid the generation x via Display in front of the analyzer
of oxyhydrogen by leakages and penetration x via digital in- and outputs
of air. The only possible impurity is air and x via Modbus (Modbus TCP IP) interface
therefore the measuring range are: This enables the analyzer to be easily operated
100 to 90 (80) Vol% H2 in air externally via a PC, PLC or process control
system.
Phase 3: Monitoring the discharge process
The displacement of H2 by CO2 and of CO2 by As an alternative if a General Purpose (GP) or
air has to be monitored during the discharge Zone 2 installation is required (not often the
process. The same measuring ranges as for case) the solution can be also configured with
the filling process are applicable. a standard EL3000 or AO2000, as well as an
AO2000 Safety Concept (SC) for installation in
100 to 0 Vol% H2 in CO2 and
Zone 2.
100 to 0 Vol% CO2 in air

Customer benefits
x secure plant and process safety
02 x improve overall generator efficiency
4.500

4.000

3.500 400MWUnit
800MWUnit
3.000
FinancialLoss,$US/Day

2.500

2.000

1.500

1.000

500

0
100 99 98 97 96 95 94 93 92 91

%HydrogenPurity
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ABB Automation GmbH
Measurement & Analytics
Stierstädter Straße 5
60488 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Fax: +49 69 7930-4566
Mail: cga@de.abb.com

abb.com/measurement

AN/ANALYTICAL/201-EN Rev. A 11.2017

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of information in this document.

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