Steam Power Station Design

• A satisfactory design consists of following steps

• Selection of site
• Estimation of capacity of power station
• Selection of turbines and their auxiliaries
• Selection of boilers and their auxiliaries
• Design of fuel handling system
• Selection of condensers
• Desing of cooling system
• Design of piping system
• Selection of electrical generator
• Design and control of instruments
• Design of layout of power station
Characteristics of steam power plant
• Higher efficiency
• Lower cost
• Ability to burn coal
• Reduced environmental impact
• Reduced water requirement
• Higher reliability and availability
Selection of site
• Distance from coal mines
• Distance from load center
• Availability of water
• Ash disposal
• Distance from popular area
• The selected site should be capable of supporting a large building and
heavy machinery.
Coal handling
• Coal Delivery
• Ships or boats near shore
• Railways or trucks awary from shore
• Unloading
• No need if deliverd by truck, directly dumped
• By rotary car dumpers, cranes, grab buckets if delivered by railways, ships etc.
• Preparation
• Sizing by crushers, breakers, sizers
Cont’d
• Transfer
• Belt/screw/flight conveyors
• Bucket/grab bucket elevators
• Outdoor storage (dead storage)
• Covered storage (live storage – bins and bunkers)
• In plant handling (inside plant)
• Weighing and measuring (weigh lorries, hoppers and automatic
scales) methods are mechanical, electrical and pneumatic.
• Furnace – grate fired furnace; chamber fired furnace
Steam turbines
• Main parts of steam turbine are
• Rotor
• Bearing to support the shaft
• Metallic casing
• Governor to control the speed
• Lubricating oil system
Classification of steam turbine
• Depending upon the methods of using steam, arrangement and
construction of blades, nozzle and steam passages, the steam
turbines can be classified as follows: (name only)
• According to action of steam
• Impulse
• Reaction
• Impulse and reaction
• According to direction of steam flow
• Axial
• Radial
• mixed
Cont’d
• According to pressure of exhaust
• Condensing
• Non-condensing
• Bleeder
• According to pressure of entering steam
• Low pressure
• High pressure
• Mixed pressure
• According to step reductions
• Single stage
• Multi-stage
Cont’d
• According to method of drive
• Direct connected
• Geared
• Choice of steam turbine
• Capacity of plant
• Plant load factor and capacity factor
• Thermal efficiency
• Reliability
• Location of plant with reference to availability of water for condensate
Boiler & Feed water treatment
• A closed vessel in which water is converted into steam by the
application of heat.
• A boiler should fulfil the following requirements:
• Safety
• Accessibility
• Capacity
• Efficiency
• Simple in construction
• Low initial and maintenance cost
• The boiler should have no joints exposed to flames.
• The boiler should be capable of quick starting and loading.
Cont’d
• Types of boilers (name only)
• According to flow of water and hot gases
• Water tube—Babcock and Wilcox; La Mont Boilers
• Fire tube– Cornish; Locomotive; Cochran
• According to position of furnace
• Internally fired
• Externally fired
• According to position of principle axis
• Vertical
• Horizontal
• inclined
Cont’d
• According to application
• Stationary
• Mobile (marine, locomotive)
• According to circulating water
• Natural circulation
• Forced circulation
• According to steam pressure
• Low
• Medium
• High
Cont’d
• Selection of boiler depends upon following factors
• Type of fuel
• Space available
• Cost of fuel
• Controls necessary to enable the load to be picked up quickly
• Desireability of using heat recovery equipment
• Type of load to be supplied by the boiler
Cont’d
• Boiler mountings and accessories
• Mountings are components used for safety of boiler. The boiler
requires following mountings:
• A feed check valve to prevent the return of water from boiler in base the feed
pump is not operating
• A steam stop valve to regulate the flow of steam from the boiler
• Safety valve (at least two) to protect the boiler from pressures higher than the
designed valve.
• A blow off valve to empty the boiler when needed and to discharge the mud
and sediments that collect in the boiler
Cont’d
• Water level indicators to show the water level inside the boiler
• A pressure guage to indicate the pressure of steam in the boiler
• Fusible plugs to protect the boiler against low water level.
• Boiler accessories
• Feed pumps to supply water in the boiler
• Economisers to heat the feed water before it enters the boiler
• Air pre-heaters to heat the air before it enters the furnace
• Super heaters to heat the steam above saturation temperature
• Draft equipment to supply air to furnace.
Generator
• A generator converts mechanical shaft energy it receive from the
turbine into electrical energy.
• Normally AC synchronous generators (alternators) of two or four pole
are used.
• Generating losses appearing as heat must be constantly removed to
avoild damaging the windings.
• Large generators have cylindrical rotors with minimum heat
dissipation surface and so they have forced ventilation to remove the
heat.
Cont’d
• Large generators generally use an enclosed system with air or
hydrogen coolant. The gas picks up the heat from the generator and
gives it up to the circulating water in the heat exchanger.
Steam condenser
• A steam condenser is meant to receive the exhaust steam from the
turbine, condense it and maintain a pressure at the exhaust lower
than atmospheric.
• Air inside the condenser should be pumped out continuously in order
to maintain the vacuum.
• Steam pressure in the condenser mainly depends on flow rate and
temperature of cooling water and on the effectiveness of air removal
equipment.
Cont’d
• Main advantages include increased output power.
• It recovers most of the feed water.
• Use of condenser reduces size of boiler installation.
• Types of condenser (name only)
• Surface condensers – down flow type; central flow; evaporation
• Jet condensers– low level (parallel flow); high level (barometric condenser);
ejector condener
Cont’d
• Selection of condenser
• Floor space (less for jet)
• Capital and maintenance cost (less for jet)
• In surface condenser, condensate is distilled water whereas in jet condenser,
it is mixed with cooling water and therefore cannot be used for boiler feed
water.
• Surface condensers are commonly used.
Piping system
• The piping system should fulfil the following requirements
• Piping system should be of necessary size to carry the required flow of fluids.
• Pipes carrying the fluids at high temperature should be able to withstand the
temperature and expansion caused due to the temperature changes.
• Piping system must withstand the pressure to which it is subjected.
• For smooth and safe operation and for easy inspection and maintenance it is
desireable to use minimu length of pipes consistent with the requirements
of the power station. Aslo a pipe should be run as direct and straight as
possible. The number of fitting and bends required to make the necessary
connections should be kept at a minimum to avoid pressure drop.
Cont’d
• Material for pipes
• Cast iron
• Wrought iron
• Wrought steel
• Alloys steel
• Copper and brass
Overall Thermal Efficiency
•  The overall thermal efficiency depends upon the efficiency of boiler,
turbine and alternator.

H = heat equivalent per kWh (1kWh = 860 kcal)

W = amount of coal consumped per kWh
CV = calorific value of coal
Example 1
• The overall thermal efficiency of a 40MW turboalternator is 30%. If
the load factor is 50% and coal burnt has calorific value of 6800 kcal,
determine the following
• (i) coal consumption per kWh
• (ii) coal consumption per day
Solution
• Load factor = average load/maximum demand
• Assume maximum demand is equal to capacity of power station i.e.
40 MW
• Average load = 0.5 * 40 * 1000 = 20,000 kW
• Energy produced per day = average day * 24
= 20,000 kW * 24
= 480 MW
Cont’d
• Overall thermal efficiency = 860/W * 6800
1kWh = 860 kcal
• W = 860/0.3 * 6800
= 0.42 kg
Coal required per day = energy produced * W
= 48 MW * 0.42
= 201,000 kg (1000kg = 1 ton)
= 201 tonnes