NATIONAL THERMAL POWER CORPORATION OPERATION DIVISION FORMAL DOCUMENTATION SYSTEM OPERATION GUIDANCE NOTE - OGN/OPS/PERF/002

Issue No. : 1 Date : DEC 96

PERFORMANCE TESTING OF CONDENSER AIR EXTRACTION PLANT

Approved for Implementation by ..................B.N.Ojha.............................. Director (Operation) Date :............7.12.96............. Enquiries to : Executive Director, Operation Services

PERFORMANCE TESTING OF CONDENSER AIR EXTRACTION PLANT CONTENTS

Page Nos. 1 2 2 2 5 5 7 8 8 9 10

1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0 11.0

Introduction Superseded Documents Scope Procedure Plant Testing Conditions Equipment and Measurements Test Measurement Tapping Points Replicate Measurements Calculations Presentation of Results Review

Page-1 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1

PERFORMANCE TESTING OF CONDENSER AIR EXTRACTION PLANT

1.0 INTRODUCTION This Guidance Note specific the procedures for measurement of the performance of Power Station condenser air extraction plant in respect of its air handling capacity. The condenser air extraction plant is provided to rapidly evacuate air from the condenser steam space and associated pipework on start up, and to maintain operational vacuum conditions in the condenser with the machine on load. Normally two separate sets of plant are installed and are designed to operate in two differing modes to cater for the differing requirement viz :i) Quick start units to evacuate down to 300m bar absolute pressure at which point steam is admitted to the main turbine on run-up. and ii) maintaining units to remove air at the operational in-leakage rate to maintain the condenser operating absolute pressure at or near design in the range of 69-125m bar.

There are two plant designs currently in use at NTPC Power Stations. a) b) Steam ejectors Liquid ring pumps

The performance of the air extraction system can be affected by secondary cooler fouling, internal plant leakages, mechanical defects of pumps and protection devices.

Page-2 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1 In addition, the performance of this type of plant varies throughout the year (as does that of the condenser) with the change in CW inlet temperature from which sub system cooling water is drawn. This will also affect the suction conditions, varying the water vapour/air ratio to be handled by the plant. Poor condenser vacuum, caused by air blanketing, may be due to leakage well in the excess of air extraction plant capacity or a direct shortfall in the performance of the air extraction plant. This results from the general difficulty in identifying condenser air leaks, a simple test to determine the air extraction plant performance is therefore essential to identify the primary cause of any problem. 2.0 3.0 SUPERSEDED DOCUMENTS-NIL SCOPE This Guidance Note applies to routine plant checks that can be conducted by station staff as well as full scale contractual site testing of new or modified plant. It covers tests either with or without the main turbine plant in service. This Guidance note is applicable to plants using Liquid ring pumps only. For plant with steam ejectors separate guidance applies. It is not applicable to the testing plant at the manufacture works. 4.0 4.1 4.1.1 PROCEDURES Cold Air Tests General Tests may be carried out with extraction units disconnected or isolated from the condenser, using a test orifice to control the throughput of air from atmosphere.

Page-3 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1 This can be useful in assessing plant performance during the early commissioning of new stations or in checking existing plant during main unit outages. Suction and discharge pressure and temperature conditions need to be measured to correct measured performance to design conditions. 4.1.2. Preparation for Tests The ideal plant configuration for this type of testing requires the suction pipework to the unit to be tested disconnected and a test orifice block or adapter flange fitted. Where this is not possible and tests are to be conducted with an orifice fitted to a suitable flange and with the suction valve shut, the test requires careful monitoring to eliminate any additional unmeasured airflow. Where main plant is on outage, steam, cooling water, and electrical supplies need to be arranged for the test plant, and it must be confirmed that these are equivalent to the standard supplies obtained with the main plant in service. Correct functioning of the component parts of the test plant in service needs to be established. Correct functioning of the component parts of the test plant is required to be checked including the following : a) b) c) d) e) 4.1.3 Non-return valves Protection devices-sniffer valves Bypass valves Cooling water sprays/supplies Gland/waterseal supplies to pumps and glands.

Conduct of Tests Tests may be carried out at a single flow rate or a series at different flows to determine the full characteristic of the plant.

Page-4 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1 Whilst it is beneficial to have a period of plant running to stabilise it is beneficial to have a period of plant running to stabilise conditions prior to the commencement of testing, where extended testing runs are conducted, checks should be made to ensure that icing-up within the test air flow orifice block does not affect measurements. For the testing of new plant it is beneficial to carry out tests over a range of subsidiary cooling water flow rates to simulate the variable conditions experienced during the lifetime of the plant. 4.1.4 Preliminary Test Results Arrangements should be made for calculating preliminary test result whilst tests are proceeding. Simplified methods of calculation may be used for this purpose as the period available for repeat testing is normally limited. 4.2 4.2.1 Operational Tests General Tests are required with the plant in normal operational service, making provision for direct flow measurement not normally provided commercially. This could be either permanently installed or as a temporary arrangement using orifice plate devices. Suction and discharge pressure and temperature conditions need to be measured to correct measured performance to design conditions, although additional correction of performance to standard operational condition is beneficial. 4.2.2 Preparations for Tests For this method of testing, the flow measurement is usually carried out at the plant discharge and it is essential that checks on the plant include provision to ensure that no flowpath blockages exist. Checks for the correct functioning of component parts of the test plant should be made and these would be accordance with Section 4.1.2 but would also include checking of parallel plant that may or may not be in service to ensure the correct balance of supplies. This may require the closing of additional isolating valves that would normally be left open on standby plant.

Page-5 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1 4.2.3 Conduct of Tests By the nature of this method the scope for testing over the full plant characteristics is limited. It may be possible, where standby plant is available, to test with different combinations of air extraction plant in service or at different plant loading where the main turbine plant is flexible. Some configurations of plant are not suitable for individual flow devices to be provided and in these circumstances it may not be possible to break down performance results to individual units. 4.2.4 Preliminary Test Results It is not normally necessary to calculate test results whilst the tests are proceeding, but is useful to compare measurements against standard figures for day diagnostic performance checks. Simplified methods of calculation may be used where testing is of a routine checks nature. 5.0 PLANT TESTING CONDITIONS Suitable plant isolations for off-loaded testing should be specified in the test documentation and should be checked as reinstated to normal at completion of tests. Operational tests would normally be carried out at steady load although it is useful to carry out vacuum-raising tests during normal start-up operations to check satisfactory operation of the system as a whole. 6.0 6.1 EQUIPMENT AND MEASUREMENTS Temperatures Air Suction Operating water inlet Operating water outlet Cooling water inlet Cooling water outlet

Page-6 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1 These measurements may be provided by permanently installed thermocouples or preferably resistance thermometers for long term testing, or more normally b hand held contact and insertion thermometers where tests are of a temporary nature. The instruments used for temperature measurements should be capable to measure the temperatures to an accuracy of 0.1 C or better. Performance of the plant is directly related to operating water temperature (as saturation vapour pressure increases with temperature) and ultimately pump cavitation will result if operating water temperature is raised sufficiently. Cooling water temperature will identify seasonal changes or cooler fouling as reasons for apparent shortfalls. Air suction temperature is used to identify the steam vapour/air ratio giving a comparative vapour loading whether due again to seasonal variation or malfunction condenser air cooling sections. The temperature measuring instrument should be calibrated before and after the test. 6.2 Pressures Individual Plant element suction discharge pressures Barometric pressure Secondary cooling water pressure The main pressures are required to provide as a direct measurement of performance and can also be used to calculate compression ratios for the plant. These pressured would be measured using high accuracy, calibrated, bonded strain gauge transducers of a suitable range whether permanently installed or as portable instrument. The pressure transducers should be of accuracy 0.2% or better and should be calibrated after the test. Barometric pressure should be measured using a standard test grade, calibrated aneroid barometer for flow correction.

Page-7 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1 Where secondary cooling water systems are used, whether of direct contact (spray) or tube collar type inlet, pressures may be required in the form of commercial pressure gauges to identify flow-rates or restrictions of flow. 6.3 Air Flows The air flow measurement may be made by a low differntial orifice plate. Density correction may be applied to give accurate assessment for air mass flow rate. 6.4 Miscellaneous The following provide useful data on plant operation to identify possible problem areas or to be used as fingerpring for later tests. Water levels in direct contact condenser and cooler-installed level columns. Pump speed, motor current and voltage from installed instruments and temporary test equipment. 7.0 TEST MEASUREMENT TAPPING POINTS For pressure measurements, tees ma be fitted to existing gauge points but additional tappings are likely to be required. These should be to inch nominal bore on either the top or side of the pipework. Impulse lines should be as short as possible and inclined up towards the measuring instrument; provision for venting may be required. For flow measurement orifice plates, discharge vent piecework may require breaking into or outlet cowlings, removed to facilitate fitting of suitable test carrier. Safe working platforms with access there to may be required to gain access to all test points.

Page-8 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1 8.0 REPLICATE MEASUREMENTS Normally single measurements at steady plant operating conditions will be suitable. In some circumstances, due to unsteady operation of auxiliaries, hunting may occur between parallel units or overall performance may change in a cyclic fashion. In these circumstances, three measurements giving agreement to within 5% may be taken as acceptable for operation testing. 9.0 CALCULATIONS Derive saturation pressure corresponding to the operating water temperature at a plant item inlet where air/vapour mixture comes into contact with operating/spray water and vapour is condensed out. Performance curves are normally quoted by manufacturers for handling dry air and hence partial vapour must be subtracted from the total measured pressure before using it to plot on say a flow/pressure head basis against design data. Correction to design pump speed may be required where it differs from that used in practice. At the main inlet to the plant, derivation of inlet partial vapour pressure will give the ratio of inlet air/vapour quantities which is direct measure of the performance of condenser air cooling sections where fitted. Flow should be derived normally in cubic feet per minute from the measuring device and air density calculated to give mass flowrate in kg/hr. Plots of actual recorded pressures vs flowrate can be made where direct operational comparisons are required on a day-to-day basis as units practice do not handle dry air. Separate curves would normally be plotted in a multistage system and allowance for flow through an air augmentor may have to be made to differing stages.

Page-9 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1

The nest of pump performance curves may be plotted where operation spans the seasonal temperature range with performance at differing air loadings plotted for different seal water/operating water temperatures. Temperature rises and terminal temperature differences may be calculated and assessed for the various secondary cooling arrangements. Heat balance calculations may be made to cross check water flow rates in the system. 10.0 PRESENTATIONS OF RESULTS A report shall be issued by those responsible (Operation & Efficiency Group Head of the Station) for carrying out the test and will include :a) b) c) d) e) f) g) Objective of the measurements Summary of main results Brief description of plant including notes of plant faults or abnormalities affecting performance Test procedure Discussion of results Conclusions Averages of measured parameter and results as follows: Date Unit load Air flowrate Condenser absolute pressure Air extraction plant suction absolute pressure MW kg/s m bar

m bar

Page-10 OGN/OPS/PERF/002 Issue-1

Intermediate air extraction plant absolute pressure Air extraction plant suction temperature Condenser CW inlet temperature /outlet temperature Ambient air temperature Ambient air pressure Cooling water/spray water flow rates Auxiliary cooler inlet and outlet temperatures 11.0 Review

m bar

m bar kg/s

The Executive Director, Operation Services, will be responsible for reviewing this Guidance Note on two yearly basis or as necessary.