Classification of Steam Turbine

According to action of steam on the stationary and rotary

part of the turbine. In this regard steam turbine can be impulse or
reaction type.
According to type of turbine exhaust.
According to steam path configuration.
According to inlet steam conditions. Most steam turbine with
steam supply from heat recovery generator operates at sub- critical
conditions. (220 bar)
Basic principle of steam turbine operation
Steam turbine consist of sets fixed blades (nozzles) and sets of rotating
blades (buckets). The nozzles directs the steam to hit the blades at an
angle. As the steam passes across the nozzle some of the steam internal
energy is converted to kinetic energy. The buckets converts the high
kinetic energy in the steam into mechanical rotational work. The torque
produced is used to drive an electric generator.
Combine Cycle Power Plant
The waste heat from gas turbine is harnessed into HRSG to produce
steam. The high pressure temperature steam produced is used to drive
steam turbine to generate extra power. This configuration has a higher
power generation efficiency and has lower CO2, NOx emission.

Components of Steam Turbine

Nozzle and Buckets
Turbine rotor
Turbine Casing and support
Bearings
Steam Sealing System
Turning Gear Assembly
o Nozzle
In steam turbine the nozzles are incorporated in a diaphragm.
It is welded to the casing and act as a partitions between the
pressure stages. It is fabricated with inner packing rings and
labyrinth seals.

o Turbine Bucket: it operates on the law of conservation of

momentum. High velocity steam impinges on the rotating
buckets to produce a constant torque. Each blading is
dovetailed to the rotor and it is fabricated to withstand the
high momentum of the steam. Steam volume increases
across the turbine buckets thus size of the blades increases
accordingly from the high pressure to the low pressure end.
The longest blades are located in the last stage of the low-
 pressure turbine section. The tips of the blades are shrouded
to increase the rigidity of the blades. This helps dampens the
vibrations and prevents steam leakage along the tips. The last
stage buckets is not shrouded due to higher centrifugal forces
and resonance experience by the last stage buckets due to its
length and weight. A tie wire is used to join the buckets some
distance away from the tip but above the half-length to
improve the rigidity and dampen vibration.

o Turbine Rotor: rotors are machined from a single shaft.

Every parts are machine from a solid metal. Wheels are
fabricated for attaching the rotor blades. A coupling gear
machined on the shaft for turning gear application during
shutdown to prevent rotor bowing.

o Turbine Casing and Support: SC5 (TICO steam turbine)

incorporates double casing assembly, inner casing & outer
casing. It provides support for the fixed blades and bearing
assembly. HP casing is constructed with high carbon steel to
withstand high pressure and temperature. One end of the HP
casing is coupled to the LP casing while the other end is
coupled to the front standard. It has two HP steam inlets,
other openings for sealing steam entry & exhaust,
instrumentations and drains. LP casing is fabricated to
withstand vacuum instead of high pressure. The LP casing
couple to the exhaust hood which is connected to the
condenser through expansion joint. The exhaust hood is
equipped with an atmospheric relief diaphragm at the upper
casing which protects the turbine in case there is a high
pressure at the exhaust. Typically it is designed with disc and
diaphragm assembly and a cutting edge bolted on top.
Usually it raptures when there is system collapse where sea
water pumps fails, this result in ineffective cooling and high
exhaust pressure forcing the relief diaphragm against the
cutting edge to rapture to relieve excess pressure. The best
way to prevent the relief diaphragm from rupturing is to
reduce condenser level.

o Bearing assembly: SC5 has four bearings, two bearings

support the turbine rotor and two support the generator rotor.
Bearing no 2 is located at the front standard and is a
combination of journal and thrust bearing. Journal bearing
support the radial movement of the rotor whiles thrust
bearing supports the axial movement of the rotor. The
bearings is lined with Babbitt- a relatively soft metal. During
loss of lubricant the Babbitt wears off protecting the shaft
from scratching the bearing metal which is much harder.
 Repairing damaged Babbitt is easier and cheaper than
repairing damaged journal. Journal bearings utilizes a fluid
filled lubricant. As the shaft turns it creates high pressure
beneath the shaft lifting the shaft off the Babbitt. The thrust
bearing has a thrust collar and shims which all helps positions
the rotor axially. The thrust pad taking the most thrust forces
is called the active thrust, whiles the pad that takes the
conditional thrust forces is called inactive thrust. For
impulse turbine thrust forces is towards generator during start
up and towards condenser at full speed. Excessive thrust
forces result from water induction. During start up active and
inactive thrust temperatures are monitored.

o Steam sealing system: Steam seal is used to help create

and maintain vacuum from start up to full load. It seals the
narrow gap between the casing and the rotor where the rotor
penetrate the casing. During start up steam seal is supplied
from an auxiliary steam source. Sealing steam continuously
flow pass the packing glands and is sucked out through a
gland steam condenser. When steam is admitted the sealing
steam is supplied from the HP leak-off from the glands. As the
load increases the steam leak-off from the glands increases to
a pressure greater than the supply pressure. At this point the
turbine controller closes the seal steam feed valve and opens
the seal steam dumb valve to maintain the header pressure.
At this point the turbine is said to be self- sealing.

The first stage metal temperature must monitored prior to

admitting sealing steam. Sealing steam must be taken off
when the turbine is off- turning gear to prevent localized
heating.

Some turbine steam sealing devices are; radial spill strips and
steam seal packing. (Inter- stage sealing devices)

Lube Oil System

Lube oil is used to lubricate and cool the turbine and generator bearings.
One of a 2 100 vertically submerged pumps takes suction from a
reservoir tank (Which is at a lower elevation to the turbine) and pumps
through a heat exchanger and a filter to the bearings. The oil drains from
the bearings to a common header and then flows by gravity to the oil
reservoir. Lube oil tank level should be monitored at all times.
Vapour extractor motor mounted on top of the lube oil tank which creates
vacuum to extract oil fumes. When oil is passing out of the bearings is an
indication of vapour extractor being trip. Nevertheless too high vacuum
must be avoided.
Heat exchanger and temperature control valve is used to control the lube
oil temperature various operational conditions. However high lube oil
temperature does not trip the steam turbine but it can cause the turbine
to trip on high bearing metal temperatures.
Routinely pump test should be carried out in conjunction with pump
change over. This is done by closing the supply line to the pressure switch
and opening the pressure switch drain. The pressure switch senses the
loss of pressure and causes the standby pump to start running. A longer
period of pressure decay is an indication of pump malfunction.

Close Cooling Water System

Cooling water is used to cool lube oil, hydraulic oil, HRSG 1&2 feed water pumps
and generator radiators. It comprises of a pump, heat exchangers, head tank and
a temperature regulator.

Hydraulic system
Hydraulic system supplies a high pressure hydraulic oil for the controlling of the
steam turbine main stop control valve, admission stop and control valve. This
system consist of a

Reservoir: it stores the hydraulic fluid and serves as a suction for the
pumps.
2100 Pumps: it pumps and delivers hydraulic fluid at a pre-set pressure.
(206-300 bar)
Heating and Cooling Motor
Auxiliary Transfer and Filtering Motor
Filters
Accumulators

The hydraulic fluid used is called trixylenyl phosphate ester. It has high
auto ignition temperature.

Steam turbine protection and control

It is a system of devices that causes the turbine to trip in case of
abnormal operating conditions. A trip is caused by a sensor or switch
transmitting analog signal to an Electrical Trip Device (ETD) which drains
the hydraulic oil from the Stop Valve thereby causing it to close. A routine
exercise must be conducted to check the proper functioning of the
protection system. The mark Vie provides an interface to properly perform
online and offline test.
Steam turbine protection devices are: Electrical Trip Device (ETD),
sensors, switches and control modules.
The test exercise should never be perform on all the ETDs at the same
time.
Control system
The steam turbine is controlled by the Main Stop Valve (MSV). The stop
valve opens only when the control valve is closed. The MSV is controlled
by individual commands, inlet pressure control (IPC) speed and load
control. The MSV respond only to the command that calls for a minimum
valve opening. Steam turbine is control is governed by three basic laws;
1. Steam control valve is controlled by one parameter at a time.
2. Net torque is always equal to the product of moment of inertia and
angular acceleration.
3. Turbine speed control would override all other controls during over
speed condition.

Turbine Supervisory Instrumentation

Eccentricity: it is a measure of the straightness of turbine rotor.
Turbine rotor bow result when the turbine fails to come on turning
gear, water induction or packing rubbing.
Speed: it is a measure of turbine rotation in revolution per minute
(RPM). Turbine speed should be monitored during start up, normal
operation and shutdown.
A shorter coast down time is an indication of bearing problem.

Vibration: causes of vibration in turbine are;

Oil whip
Packing rub
Thermal sensitivity
Mechanical imbalance (Can be corrected by balancing weight)
Critical speed
Turbine rotor bow

Differential Expansion: it measures the axial clearance between stator

and the rotor.
Long rotor occurs when rotor grows faster than the shell.
Short rotor occurs when shell grows faster than the rotor.
Steam Turbine Start Up
Cold start: when the first stage metal temperature is less than 149 0 C.
Hot start: when the first stage metal temperature is greater than 371 0C.