INTRODUCTION TO POWER SECTOR

The prosperity of any country is determined by its inherent power generation

capacity. Power is now used in the form of electricity and its availability has been
found to be the most powerful driving force in the implementation of economic
development and social change. Modernization, the productivity of industry and
agriculture and improvement in the per capita income of people is now measured in
per capita consumption of power. Naturally the planning, setting up of power
generation units, transmission and generation has been of utmost national
importance.

The countrys generation and power distribution system has been vastly divided
into 6 regions namely northern, eastern, western, southern, north-eastern and
islands which has been found to be quite extensive. Every state implements their
own state electricity board to promote integrated operation of generation,
transmission and distribution of power in their respective states. The central
government has control over generating stations, transmission lines and substations
through undertakings such as National Thermal Power Corporation, Nuclear Power
Corporation and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited.

ORGANISATIONAL PROFILE
NTPC is the largest power generating company of India. A public sector company, it
was incorporated in the year 1975 to accelerate power development in the country
as a solely owned company of the Government of India. At present, Government of
India holds 89.5% of the total equity shares of the company and the balance 10.5%
is held by FIIs, domestic banks, public and others. Within a span of 36 years, NTPC
has emerged as a true national power company, with power generating facilities in
all the major regions of the country.
A consistent high level performer in operations, the premier power utility provides
the bench mark for Indian power sector. With excellent operation and maintenance,
the power plants of the company are achieving high level of availability and plant
load factor year after year. With less than one-fifth installed capacity, NTPC
generates more than one-fourth of the countrys total power. Recognising its
excellent performance and vast potential, Government of India has identified NTPC
as one of the jewels of public sector-NAVARATNA a potential global giant. Inspired
by the glorious past and vibrant present, NTPC is well on its way to realise its vision
of being one of the worlds largest and best power utilities, powering Indias growth.
NTPC is committed to comply with all relevant statutory, regulation and consumer
requirements to develop and maintain high level of competency in all levels of
business.

The current installed capacity of NTPC reaches 34,194MW (including joint ventures
with a capacity of 3364MW). An additional 14,748MW is under construction at 14
locations. The company has prepared a Corporate Plan with the target of having a
total installed capacity of 1, 28,000MW by 2032 with 28% capacity coming from
non-fossil sources.

AN OVERVIEW OF RGCCPP KAYAMKULAM

Rajiv Gandhi Combined Cycle Power project is the first naphtha based power plant
in India. It was commissioned in 2000 with a total capacity of 350 MW.
It has 3 units, with 2 gas turbines of 115 MW capacity and a steam turbine of 120
MW capacity. The fuels used here are naphtha, HSD and natural gas. The gas
turbines works on the basis of Brayton cycle and steam turbine works on the basis
of Rankine cycle.
The directly coupled compressor of gas turbine sucks air from atmosphere through
specially designed filter and sends to combustion chamber. Hot product of
combustion chamber at 1124 C

is made to expand in turbine section where

thermal energy is converted to mechanical energy which drives the turbine and
hence the generator.
The temperature of exhaust gas from turbine at 550C still has considerable heat
energy and is capable of producing power. Waste Heat Recovery Steam Generators
(WHRSG) are used to recover this valuable heat energy. In HRSG the Deminaralised
Water (DM) is heated by hot turbine exhaust gases to produce steam before gases
are let out to atmosphere. A bypass stack is also provided to let out hot gases
directly to atmosphere in case Steam Generator is shut down. In HRSG, steam is
produced in two pressure levels viz. low pressure of 6ksc. and high pressure of
80ksc. which are separately piped to LP/HP cylinders of steam turbine respectively.
In the steam turbine the thermal energy is converted to mechanical energy which
drives the turbine which is coupled to generator to produce electricity.
The steam after expansion in steam turbine is condensed in a condenser using
circulating water as a cooling medium, and this circulating water is cooled at cooling
towers where its temperature falls from 45C to 35C. The condensed steam called
condensate is pumped back to high/low pressure circuits of HRSG by condensate
extraction pumps and HP/LP boiler feed pumps.
In both gas turbines and steam turbine electricity is produced at 10.5kv which is
stepped to 220kv by Generator Transformer (GT1 and GT2) .Through Gas Insulated
Switchyard(GIS) the power is evacuated through 4 lines to Edappon, Kundra and
Pallom substations of KSEB. The plant is also equipped with 2 Unit Auxiliary
Tranformers (UAT) of 10.5/6.6kv for auxiliary uses.

GAS TURBINE
INTRODUCTION
The gas turbine is a common form of heat engine working with a series of processes
consisting of compression of air from atmosphere, increase of working medium
temperature by constant pressure ignition of fuel in combustion chamber,
expansion of SI and IC engines in working medium and combustion.
Since gas turbines were introduced in the industry some 25 years back, the power
generated is used only for peaking load service as the cost of fuel is very high.
However, with increase in efficiency and reliability, gas turbines are being used
more and more in base load generation. Availability of state of art gas turbine
technology and concept of combined cycles it is projected that the efficiency will
increase to 60% in the next couple of years. The work developed by the gas turbine
may be used as mechanical energy or may be converted to electricity by coupling
to a generator. In air craft jet engines the gas turbines useful work is produced as
thrust from the exhaust of the turbine. Today the largest commercial gas turbine is a
Siemens manufactured 340MW for Berlin with an efficiency of more than 60%.

BRAYTON CYCLE
Gas turbine plants operate on the cycle in which air is compressed (process 1-2 in PV diagram). This compressed air is heated in the combustion chamber by burning
fuel, a part of the compressed air is used for combustion (process 2-3) and the flue
gases produced are allowed to expand in the turbine (process 3-4) which is coupled
with the generator. The temperature of the exhaust is about 773-823K.

RANKINE CYCLE
The conversion of heat energy to mechanical energy with the aid of steam is based
on this thermo- dynamic cycle. In its simplest way the cycle works as follows.

The initial state of the working fluid is water (point 3 of figure) which at a
certain temperature is pressurized by a pump (process 3-4) and fed to the
boiler.
In the boiler the pressurized water is heated at a constant pressure (process
4-5-6-1)
Super heated steam (generated at point-1) is expanded in the turbine
(process 1-2) which is coupled with a generator.

Modern steam power plants have steam temperature in the range of 773-823K
at the inlet of turbine.
COMBINED CYCLE

A combined cycle block consists of two gas turbines, two waste heat recovery
steam generation units and one steam turbine. The combined cycle integrates a gas
cycle and a steam cycle, the Rankine cycle and the Brayton cycle with the principle
objective of increasing overall plant power generation efficiency.

COMBINING TWO CYCLES TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY

The gas turbines exhaust heat can be recovered using Waste Heat Recovery
Boiler tpo run a steam turbine on Rankine cycle. If the efficiency of gas turbine
cycle is 30% and the efficiency of Rankine cycle is 35%, then the overall
efficiency becomes more than 45%. Conventional fossil fuel fired boiler of the
steam power plant is replaced with a Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG).
The exhaust gas from the gas turbine is led to the HRSG where the heat of
exhaust gases utilized to produce steam at desired parameters as required by
the steam turbine.
ADVANTAGES OF GAS TURBINE PLANT

Low installed cost makes the installation of the station easier.

Transport-easier shipping, handling because of its robustness.
Low stand by cost.
Maximum Application flexibility-plant can be operated either in parallel
with existing plants or as a completely isolated station.
Controlled reliability-uses micro computer based control with an
integrated temperature system.

OPERATIONAL STAGES OF GAS TURBINE

The gas turbine has namely 4 stages

1.
2.
3.
4.

Air inlet and exhaust system

Compressor section
Combustion Section
Turbine Section

1. AIR INLET AND EXHAUST SYSTEM

The internal arrangement of the inlet is to protect the compressor from debris,
which consists of inlet air filters, silencing, ducting and trash screens. This
arrangement generally is housed over the control and accessory compartments,
comes out from the back of the inlet air house and down to the inlet plenum,
which is mounted on the turbine base.
The exhaust system includes ducting, silencing and necessary expansion joints.
This system leads the exhaust gases to the bypass stack or to the Waste Heat
Recovery Steam Generator, which is mounted separately on its own base.
2. COMPRESSOR SECTION

The compressor section which has an axial flow design consists of the
compressor rotor and the casing, within which there are inlet guide vanes, the 17
stages of rotor and stator blading, and the exit guide vanes. In the compressor
air is confined to the space between the rotor and stator blading, where it is
compressed in stages by a series of alternate rotating and stationary air foil
shape blades.
The rotor blades supply the thrust needed to compress the air each stage and
the stator blades guide the compressed air so that it enters the next rotor stage.
At the proper angle the compressed air exits through the compressor discharge
casing to the compressing chambers. Air is extracted from the compressor for
turbine cooling, bearing sealing and during start up for pulsation control (to
avoid surging).
i.
Compressor Rotor

The compressor rotor is an assembly of 15 individual wheels, tow

stutshaft, each with an integral wheel, a speed ring, tie bolts and the
compressor rotor blades. Each wheel and the wheel portion of each
stutshaft have slots broached around its periphery. The rotor blades and
spacers are inserted into the slots and are held in axial position by
stacking each end of the slot. The wheel and stutshaft are assembled to
each of the mating rabbets for concentricity control and held together
with tie bolts. Selective positioning of the wheels is made during assembly
to reduce balance correction. After assembling, the rotor is dynamically
balanced to a fine limit.
ii. Compressor Stator
The stator (casing) area of the compressor section is composed of four major
subassemblies.
a.
b.
c.
d.

Inlet casing
Forward compressor casing
Air compressor casing
Compressor discharge casing

The inlet casings prime function is to direct the air uniformly from the inlet plenum
to the compressor. It is located at the forward end of the gas turbine. The forward
compressor casing houses the first 4 stages of the compressor. The air compressor
contains the 5th to 10th compressor stages
iii. Blading
The compressor rotor blades are air foil shaped and are shaped and are designed to
compressor air efficiency at high blade tip velocities.
3. COMBUSTON SECTION
The combustion system is of the reverse-flow type with 14 combustion chambers
arranged around the periphery of the compressor discharge casing. This system
also includes fuel nozzles, sparkplug, ignition system, flame detector, and cross fire
tubes. Hot gases generated from burning in the combustion chamber are used to
drive the turbine.
4. COMBUSTION WRAPPER
The combustion wrapper forms a plenum in which the compressor discharge air flow
is directed to the combustion chambers. Discharge air from the axial flow
compressor flows in to the each combustion flow sleeve from the combustion
wrapper. All 14 combustion chambers are connected by means of cross fire tubes.
i.

Ignitor
Combustion is ignited by means of the discharge from high voltage,
retractable-electro spark plugs installed in adjacent combustion chambers.
The spring injected and pressure retractable plugs receive their energy
from ignition transformers.

ii.

Flame detectors
During the start up sequence a flame monitoring system consisting of 4
sensors for the detection and transmit to the control system.

5. TURBINE SECTION
The turbine section area in which energy contained in the hot pressurized gas
produced by compressor and combustion section is converted into mechanical
energy. The turbine section consists of rotor, turbine shell, exhaust frame, exhaust
diffuser, nozzles, and diaphragms, stationary shrouds.
6. STARTING SYSTEM
Before the gas turbine can be fired and started, it must be rotated or cranked by the
accessory equipment. This is accomplished by an induction motor, operating
through a torque converter to provide the cranking torque and speed required by
the turbine for start-up. The starting system consists of an induction motor and
torque converter coupled to the accessory gear.
A motor driven torque adjustor drive, which is an integral part of the torque
converter system, provides the means for adjusting torque output within specified
ranges.
7. LUBRICATION SYSTEM
The lubricating requirements for the gas turbine power plant are furnished by a
common forced-feed lubrication system. This lubrication system, complete with
tanks, pumps, cooler filters valves and various control and protection devices,
furnishes normal lubrication and absorption of heat load of the bearing of gas
turbine. Lubricating fluid is circulated to the three main turbine bearings, generator
bearings and to the turbine accessory gear and fuel pump.

HEAT RECOVERY STEAM GENERATOR

STEAM TURBINE
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Construction Steam Flow
The turbine is a tandem compound machine with HP and LPP sections. The HP
section is a single flow turbine where as the LP section is double flow. The individual
turbine rotors and the generator rotor are connected by rigid couplings.
The steam from HP exhaust is led to the LP turbine through cross around pipes.
Additional steam from LP stage is waste heat recovery generator is passed through
the LP turbine via two combined LP stop and control valves. Bleeds are arranged at
several points of the turbine for regenerative feed heating.
H P TURBINE
The HP turbine is of single flow, double shell construction horizontally split casting.
The main stream enters inner casing from top and bottom. The provision of inner
casing confines high steam inlet temperature and pressure conditions to the flange
of the outer casing is subjected only to the lower pressure and temperature
effective at the exhaust from the inner casing.
L P TURBINE
The casing of the double flow LP turbine is of three shell design. The shells are of
horizontally split welded construction. The inner casing which carries the first rows
of stationary blades is supported on the inner-outer casing rests at four points on
longitudinal girders, independent of the outer casing.
BEARINGS
The HP rotor is supported on two bearings, a combined journal and thrust bearing at
its front and a journal bearing close to the coupling with LP rotor. The bearing metal
temperatures are measured by thermocouples fitted directly under the babbit lining.
The HP cylinder rests with its lateral support horns on the bearing pedestrals at the
turbine centre line level.
VALVES
The HP turbine is fitted with two main stop and control valves. The LP turbine has
two induction steam stop and control valves. These valve combinations are located
in an easily accessible position at both sides of the LP turbine and are supported on
the foundations.

TURBINE GOVERNING SYSTEM

The turbine has an electro-hydraulic governing system backed up with an ordinary

hydraulic governing system. An electric system measures and controls speed and
output in conjunction with an electro-hydraulic convertor. It provides the run up
control of the turbine up to rated speed swings following certain load shedding
operation.
TURBINE MONITORING SYSTEM
It basically measures and indicates pressures, temperatures, valve, positions and
speed. It also includes instruments and indicators for:
i.
Differential expansion between the shafting and turbine casing
ii.
Bearing pedestal vibrations at all turbine bearings
iii.
Relative shaft vibration(of bearing pedestal relative to shaft)
OIL SUPPLY SYSTEM
A common oil system lubricates and cools the bearings and operates the hydraulic
actuators and the safety and protective devices. The main oil pump draws oil from
the main oil tank. Auxiliary oil pumps maintain the oil supply on start-up shut down,
during tuning gear operation and when the main oil supply is faulted. The
lubricating and cooling oil is passed through oil coolers before being supplied to the
bearings.
JOURNAL BEARINGS
The function of the journal bearing is to support the turbine rotor. Essentially, the
journal bearing consists of the upper and lower shells, bearing cap, spherical block,
spherical seat and the keys. The bearing shells are provided with the babbit face.
The mating surfaces of this bearing are machined and additional scraping is neither
necessary nor permissible. Both bearing shells are held in position by means of
paper pins and bolted together. A spherical block prevents the vertical movement of
the bearing shells and centering of the bearing shell in the vertical plane is
achieved by means of keys fitted on both sides of the projection.

PROTECTIVE DEVICES

i.

MAIN TRIP VALVES

Functions: The function of the main trip valves is to amplify and store the
hydraulic or mechanical (manually initiated local) trip signal. It must respond in
the course of every successful protective device test.
Operation: Each main trip valve is kept in its operating position by auxiliary trip
oil pressure. If a protective device is actuated, the auxiliary trip oil circuit is depressurized and the main trip valve is activated. This connects the trip oil and
auxiliary trip oil circuits to drain and shuts off the control oil supply to the turbine
valves. At the same time, limit switch is actuated.
If manual trip-out lever is actuated, the same happens as for turbine trip-out,
except that limit switch is also actuated. This provides a separate annunciation
for manual trip-out.
ii.

OVERSPEED TRIPS
Function: The over speed trips are provided to protect the turbine
against over speeding in the event of load rejection, coincident with faults
in the control system. As these devices are of extremely great importance
for the protection function, provision is also made for their testing at rated
speed during turbine operation. For this, testing is activated locally via the
over speed trip test device (hydraulic signal transmitter).
Operation: When the over speed setting is reached, the striker of each
over speed trip activates the piston and the limit switch via the pawl. This
connects the auxiliary trip oil circuit to drain, there by depressurizing it.
The loss of auxiliary trip oil pressure causes the main trip valve to drop
which in turn causes the trip oil pressure to collapse.
To activate over speed trip at rated speed, as per test routine performed
by the automatic turbine tester requires, a specific force, equivalent to the
increase in centrifugal force, between rated speed and the preset trip over
speed, is needed for testing this force is exerted by the test oil pressure,
acting on the head of striker.

iii.

ELECTRICAL LOW VACCUM TRIP

The function of electrical low vaccum trip is to protect condenser MAG10
AC001 against pressure increase, the exhaust end of the turbine against
heating resulting due to increase in condenser pressure and the turbine
blading against vibration excitation resulting from loss in vaccum.

DEMINARALISED WATER PLANT

The main water source of RGCCPP, Kayamkulam is the Achankovil river which is a
tributary of Periyar. From there the water is pumped to Make Up Water Pump House
and then to the reservoir. From the reservoir it is pumped to Raw water Pump House
and then to stilling chamber.
At the stilling chamber Chlorine is dosed to water in vaccum through service water.
This is done for disinfection of the raw water. Here lime is also added to boost the
pH and to remove the temporary hardness. From stilling chamber water reaches the
Clarifier Water Storage Tank after passing through clarifiers. Clarifier is a structure
with 3 concentric cylinders. Flocculation and Coagulation (sledging down of the mud
and dust particles) of the water takes place at the clarifiers. In the clarifiers poly
Aluminium Chloride and Alum is added for coagulation.
80% of the stored water is used for the makeup of lost water in the cooling tower
due to evaporation and blow down. And the remaining 20% is stored in filter water
storage pump after passing through gravity sand filter and it meets the water
requirements of the plant and the townships.
The DM plant which is PLC operated has 3 streams. And each stream passes
through the following steps.
1. Activated Carbon Filter
Removes chlorine present in the water because Chlorine is harmful for the
resins present in the oncoming steps.
2. Strong Acid Cation Exchanger Bed
Here the +ve ions of Magnesium, Sodium etc. are removed.
3. Degasser Tower
Here the bicarbonates are removed as carbon dioxide mechanically.
4. Strong Acid Anion Exchanger Bed
Here the anions like sulphates, chlorides, Bromides etc. are removed.
5. Mixed Bed Unit
This is a polishing unit which removes the anions and cations which are still
present in the water.
The water which is passed through all the above units will have .1s/cm
conductivity. But when it is stored in the DM water tank its conductivity rises to
1s/cm due to the mixing of

CO2 . To a certain percentage this is avoided by

keeping alkali at the breather of the storage tank.

The 20% of the water stored in filter water storage tank is pumped to the following
units
1. Portable colony pump
2. Portable plant pump
3. Heating ventilation and air conditioning of the colony and plant
4. Service water
5. Feed to DM plant

And the Demineralised Water is stored in 2 tanks of

2000 cm

capacity each. The

main purpose of this DM water is for the denoxification process at the gas turbine
(DM water is injected to the gas turbine to prevent the formation of NOX, the
poisonous oxide of nitrogen).

GAS INSULATED SUBSTATIONS (GIS)

INTRODUCTION
SF6 gas insulated substations (GIS) are preferred for voltage ratings of 72.5 KV,
145 KV, 245 KV, 420 KV and above. In such a situation, the various equipments
like circuit breakers, bus bars, isolators and load break switches, current
transformers, voltage transformers, earthing switches etc. are housed in metal
enclosed modules filled with SF6 gas. The SF6 gas provides the phase to ground
insulation. As the dielectric strength of SF6 is higher than the air, the clearances
required are smaller. Hence, the overall size of the equipment and the complete
substation is reduced to about less than half of conventional airinsulated
substations. As a rule GIS are installed indoors. However outdoor GIS can also be
installed.
The various modules of GIS are factory assembled and re filled with SF6
gas at a pressure of about 3k cm

. Thereafter they are taken for final

assembly. Such substations are compact and can be installed conveniently on

any floor of a storied building or in an underground substation.
As the units are factory assembled, the installation time is substantially reduced.
Such installations are preferred in cosmopolitan cities, industrial townships etc,
where of land is very high and higher cost of SF6 insulated switchgear (GIS) is
justified by saving due to reduction in floor area requirement. They are also
preferred in heavily polluted areas where dust, chemical fumes and salt layers
can cause frequent flashovers in conventional outdoor air-insulated substations.
The GIS has a monitoring system in which the gas density in each compartment
is monitored. If pressure decreases, initially a warning is sounded after which the
circuit breaker trips with further leakage.

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF GIS

Design, planning and layout of gas insulated switchgear substation are carried
out by experts using modern computer aided tools like SCADA (Supervisory
Control And Data Acquisition). Model based computer graphics are used for
creating substation models.
In particular, of all the advanced calculation and simulation techniques used
during the development stage of the various components the ones given below
are to be noted:

2 dimensional and 3 dimensional finite element softwares for evaluation

of the dielectric strength.
Finite element software for stress analysis of GIS enclosures.
2 dimensional and 3 dimensional software for gas flow analysis for
evaluation of the performances of the interrupting chambers during
various network operating and fault conditions.
Modelling of hydraulic drives:
All the calculations and simulations are fully integrated by experimental
data obtained during type and research tests.

WHY SF6 IS USED?

Physical properties
Molecular weight

146.05

Melting point

-50.8C

Sublimation temp.

-63.9C

Density(liquid at 50C)

1.98g/ml

Critical temp.

45.6C

Critical pressure

36.557atm

Thermal conductivity

3.36E4cal/s/sq.cm/K/cm

Boiling point

-63.0C

Specific Heat (at 30C)

.143cal/g

Relative density

5.10

Vapour pressure(at 20C)

10.62

Viscosity(gas at 25C)

1.61E4poise

Surface Tension

11.63dyne/cm

Critical density

0755g/ml

Density(liquid at 25C)

1.329g/ml

Density(gas at 1 bar and 20C)

6.164g/L

Color, odour

Colorless, odorless

Pressure-Temperature relation
The variation of pressure with temperature is linear and relatively small in
the range of service temperature (-25 to +50C).
Specific Heat
The volumetric specific heat of SF6 is 3.7 times that of air. This has
important consequences for reducing the effects of heating within
electrical equipment.
Thermal Conductivity
The thermal conductivity of air is below that of air but its overall heat
transfer capability in particular, when convection is taken into account, is
excellent, being similar to that of the gases such as hydrogen and helium
and that of air. At higher temperature the thermal conductivity curve of
SF6 reveals one of the exceptional qualities of gas, which allows it to be
used for extinguishing arcs by thermal transport.
Electrical Properties
The dielectric strength of SF6 is about 2.5 times higher than that of air
under same conditions. Because of its low dissociation temperature and
high dissociation energy, SF6 is an excellent arc quenching gas. When an
electric arc cools in SF6, it remains conductive to a relatively low
temperature, thus minimising current chopping before current zero, and
thereby avoiding high over voltages.
Sonic Characteristics
The speed of sound in SF6 is one third of that in air, making SF6 a good
phonic insulator.
Chemical Properties
SF6 can be heated without decomposition to 500C in the absence
of catalytic metals.
SF6 is non inflammable
Hydrogen, Chlorine and oxygen have no action on it.

SF6 is insoluble in water

It is not attacked by acids.
In its pure state SF6 has no toxicity.

ADVANTAGES OF SF6
i.

Compactness
The space required by the SF6 installation is about 8 to 10% of the
conventional outdoor substation. High cost of installation is partially
compensated by saving in cost of space. (A typical 420/525kv SF6 GIS
requires

only

920 m

against

30,000 m

for

an

air

insulated

substation).
ii.

Reduced installation time

The modules are factory assembled, tested and dispatched with nominal
SF6 gas filling. Therefore installation takes only a few weeks.

iii.

Protection from pollution

In conventional outdoor air insulated substations atmospheric pollution
(dust, chemical fumes, shoreline layers, carbon layers, moisture etc.)
produce corrosion of metallic parts and conducting layers of low resistivity
on insulator surfaces. These problems are avoided in a SF6 insulated
substation.

iv.

Outdoor SF6 GIS versus indoor SF6 GIS

SF6 substation can be installed indoor or outdoor. For outdoor GIS the
following special measures are essential,
Sealed opening mechanism housings.
Protection of the flanges outside the seals to prevent the entry of
moisture and corrosion.
Rust protection of bolts and supporting structures.
The use of a special paint composition, light colours for reflection of
sun radiation.
Roof for sun shading if high normal currents are involved.
Depending on the ambient conditions, paint of an outdoor
installation may have to inspected periodically, touched up or
renewed.

During erection the section where assembly takes place is to be

protected against pollution by covering
During rainy season, erection may be avoided or should be
prohibited.

v.

Increased safety
As the enclosures are at earth potential there is no possibility of accidental
contact by service personal to live parts. While in conventional substations
either shutdown or isolation is necessary for maintenance.

vi.

Immunity from flashovers due to birds, bees, dust, lightning

Flashovers due to above causes are eliminated in SF6 GIS.

APPLICATION OF GIS
1. Switchgear installation for higher security requirements.
2. Indoor switchgear installations with minimum space requirements therefore
especially suitable for congested area.
3. Protected installation in areas of contamination and corrosion by sea or
desert climate and in industrial plants.
4. Cavern switchgear installations for hydro and pump storage water plants.
5. In power plants, with the possibility of accommodation in the immediate
vicinity of the transformers to achieve an optimum overall concept.
6. Extension of existing conventional outdoor installations on limited ground
area.
7. Replacement of existing conventional switchgear installations enabling
increased voltage level, without additional space requirements.
8. Hybrid solution as a combination of metal-enclosed switchgear components
together with equipment of conventional design, for reducing dimensions.
9. Mobile stations
10.On hilly terrains.

SF6 AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT

Green House Effect
The contribution of SF6 is less than one part in ten thousand of the total
contribution of the other agents and is thus negligible.

Ozone Depletion
Any fluorine atom that is released has tendency to combine with ozone thus causing
depletion in ozone layer. However SF6 is not photo-decomposed at ozone layer
altitudes (32-44km), so very little atomic fluorine is released.

GIS Vs CONVENTIONAL SUBSTATION

FACTORS
Area requirement
(Including power
transformer)

GIS
3648 m

CONVENTIONAL
2

14300 m

Clearance

0.23 m

4.30 m

Phase Phase

0.15 m

2.08 m

Phase Earth
Environmental
pollution

Installation time

Maintenance

Insensitive

Less due to assembling

of main components at
factory
Less routine
maintenance, almost
maintenance free

Corrosion of exposed conductors,

clamps and connectors

High due to erection of more number

of components at site.

Routine maintenance will be more

Requirement of special
foundation

Special foundation may

be required for GIS
building

Seismic resistance

High

For all structures special foundation

required.

Nil

A STUDY OF 220 KV KAYAMKULAM GAS INSULATED

SWITCHGEAR
The GIS in NTPC Kayamkulam was supplied by Hyundai Heavy Electricals Industries,
Korea. Following are the features of the 220KV Kayamkulam GIS.
1. The GIS is of double bus bar configuration
2. There are 3 incoming cable feeders from the 3 units of the plant
3. There are 4 outgoing line feeders
2 lines to Pallom
1 line to Edamon
1 line to Kundra
4. There is one outgoing line feeder maintained for future use.
MAIN FEATURES

Type:HS300R
Rated Voltage: 245kv
Nominal Voltage: 220kv
Rated SF6 pressure:5ksc
Rated continuous current of the busbar:2500A
Rated short time current: 40kA rms, 1sec
Peak withstand current:100kA peak
Rated Insulation level
Power frequency voltage: 4600KV rms
Lighting Impulse w/s voltage: 1050KV peak

BUS SECTIONS
Main bus bar: 3 phase enclosure
Bus coupler and feeder lines: I phase enclosure

CIRCUIT BREAKER

The interrupters operate on puffer principle

Type: 300SR-K
Rated Current:1600A for lines and 2500A for bus coupler
Hydraulic operated
Close time: 100ms max
Trip time: <30ms
Normal SF6 pressure: 6ksc
Low alarm: 5.5 ksc
Lock out: 5ksc

DISCONNECTOR SWITCH

Type:300 KLP for bus DS and 300DSM for line DS

300KLP-motor spring operated
300DSM-motor operated
Rated SF6 pr. : 5ksc

EARTH SWITCH

Type : 300EAP for bus ES and maintenance ES

300EYP for line ES
All motor spring operated
Rated SF6 pr. : 5ksc

VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER

Type: 1 phase gas insulated and inductive type

220kv/110V,100A and 5cl.
SF6 pr.: 5ksc
CURENT TRANSFORMER
Bushing Type
SF6 pr.: 5 ksc
800/1A
Metering CT: .5 cl and 4 VA
CABLE HEAD

SF6-AIR BUSHINGS

Bushing are used for interconnections ivolving SF^ to air terminations

Rated voltage: 245KV
Rated currnt: 1600A
SF6 pr.: 5 ksc

LOCAL CONTROL CUBICLE

One LCC for each bay.

The LCC comprises of

Control switches for operating circuit brakers,disconnectors and arthing

switches
Gas alarm
Indication Lamps

SF6 GAS MONITIORING

Each gas compartment is provided with its own gas pressure gauge
Stop valves, pipings to fill and recover gas are also provided

PRESURE RELEASE DEVICE AND ABSOBENT

A pressure release device is provide in each gas compartment to protect

during occurrence of abnormal pressure increase or shock waves generated
by internal electrical fault arcs.
Operating pressure: >10ksc
Absorbent zeolites filter to absorb moisture and gas decomposed products.

SF6 FILLING UNIT

AUXILIARY POWER FOR GIS

Auxiliary power for GIS met through Transformers-7A and 7-B fed from
NTPC end.
Tfr.-7A and 7-B ratings: 630 KVA, 6.6KV/433V
DG set: Cummins-Kirloskar make, 250KVA,415V,347A

MODULES OF A TYPICAL GIS

The major parts that form a typical GIS are the circuit breaker,
disconnecting switch, earthing switch, current transformer, voltage
transformer, cable head, lightning arrestor, bus sections, support insulators
and bushings. All these modules are SF6 gas filled at sufficient safe
pressure maintaining the desired insulation between the live parts and the
grounded outer enclosure.
1. CIRCUIT BREAKER
A circuit breaker is a device that automatically breaks an electrical circuit
whenever the circuit becomes overloaded or an unintentional short circuit

occurs. Circuit have a fixed electric current load capacity which when
breached results in automatic shutdown. Overloading occurs when there is
a shorting between two cables or there is an earth fault.
When this happens the cables heat up which might result in an insulation
breakdown (in which a short circuit may occur) or an electrical fire.
A sulphur hexafluoride circuit breaker uses contacts surrounded by sulphur
hexafluoride gas to quench the arc. They are most often used for
transmission-level voltages and may be incorporated into compact gasinsulated switchgear. In cold climates, supplemental heating or de-rating of
the circuit breakers may be required due to liquefaction of SF6 gas. Use of
SF6 gas for insulation in GIS as interrupting medium in circuit breaking
match well, and thus are the obvious choice for these substations. The
circuit breakers operate at a pressure of about 6 to 6.5 bar. The overall size
of the CB in a GIS is considerably reduced due to the absence of the
porcelain insulators and the direct short terminal connections with the
breaker chamber at earth potential. The requirements of energy from the
operating mechanisms are reduced in the case of a GIS circuit breaker.
Breaker shall be trip free, designed for 3 phase auto reclosing day duty (00.3sec) equipped with anti-pumping protection. Two independent trip coils
to be provided.
It should be possible to reduce the gas pressure within the breaker to a
value not exceeding 8 millibar within 4 hours. Circuit breakers including its
enclosure shall be capable of withstanding this degree of vacuum without
distortion or failure of any part.
2. CIRCUIT-BREAKING MECHANISM
Basically, a circuit breaker has a switch and a moving, conductive contact
plate that moves with the switch. When the switch is placed on an on
position, the circuit breakers moving contact plate touches a stationary
plate that is connected to the rest of the circuit so electric current can flow.
A circuit breaker has a mechanism for automatically breaking an electrical
circuit. There are three main types of circuit breaker according to the
mechanism used:
i.

ii.

iii.

The first type uses electromagnetism. It uses the concept that when current
increases in an electromagnet which causes the magnet to trip once the
prescribed load is exceeded (once the electromagnet become powerful
enough to force the circuit breakers lever down).
The second type uses heat to break a circuit. Basically it is a thermostat
where the circuit is closed when current is in the prescribed limit and trips
when current exceeds prescribed value leading to heating, the strip bends
by an angle severing the contact.
The third type uses both heat and electromagnetism to protect electrical
systems. An electromagnet pulls the lever in case of sudden jumps in
electric load, and a bimetallic strip protects the system from prolonged
cases of over current that results in overheating.

3. CABLE HEAD

Cable head is used for interconnection of the high voltage cable and the
GIS.
4. SF6 AIR BUSHINGS

A gas insulated bushing used for the interconnection involving SF6 to air
terminations. Suitable reducers are incorporated for mounting the standard
bushing to the GIS equipment.

5. BUS SECTIONS

The buses interconnect the bays and the phase of equipment. Buses are
made either with 1 or 3 enclosure. The current conducting buses are
made of tubular sections. The surface finishing of the live parts and shield
built and at the joints ensures partial discharge free operation with the
proper choice of the bus section and the T enclosure any configuration can
be realized by assembling the modules accordingly.
6. SUPPORT INSULATORS
These are of epoxy tube with alumina as filler material. Alumina filled
spacer insulator are more resistant to attack by decomposition products of
SF6 compared to silica filled ones that have poor resistance. The non
commutating type insulator seals the enclosure with adjacent sections and
are used in CB, VT sections. The commutating type insulators are used in
isolator, earth switch, CT etc.
7. EARTHING SWITCH
Earthing Switch is necessary to earth the conducting parts before
maintenance and also to provide deliberate short-current while testing.
There can be 3 types of earthing switches in metal-clad switches manually
operated automatic high speed Earthing Switch, protective Earthing Switch
for earthing the installation.
There are several versions of Earthing Switch for following applications

Maintenance Earthing Switches. These are single pole or 3 pole units:

manually operating mechanism with a provision of filling motor mechanism
High Speed Earthing Switch. These are operated by spring energy. Spring is
charged by motor mechanism.
The earth switch is mounted direct on the enclosure. Earthing switch has to
satisfy various requirements. For earthing isolated sections of switchgear for
protection of personnel during maintenance and over-hauls or erection, the
maintenance earthing switches are employed. For earthing higher
capacitances (cables, overhead lines etc.) high speed earthing switches are
employed. Depending on the substation scheme, the bus bars may be
earthed either by maintenance or high-speed switches.
8. CABLES

This is used to transfer power from generation site to the switchgear.

Usually the power carried by the cable is at very high potential, which may
be either from the power transformers or from other substations.
The cables are either of aluminium alloys or of high conducting copper and
are generally of tubular cross-section.
In NTPC at Kayamkulam rating of generator transformer is 10.5 KV/220 KV.
The cable thus used here is XLPE designed to handle this voltage rating.

9. INSTRUMENT TRANSFORMERS

Transformers are used in ac system for the measurement of current,

voltage, power and energy. They are also used in connection with
measurement of power factor, frequency and for indication of synchronism.
Instrument transformers find a wide application in protection circuits of
power systems of over current, under voltage, earth fault and various other
types of relays.
In all the above applications, the transformer is used for measurement
purposes, the actual measurement being done by measuring instruments.
Transformers used in conjunction with measuring instruments for measuring
purposes are called Instrument Transformers. The transformer used for the
measurement of current is called Current transformer and that for voltage
is called Voltage transformer.

Use of instrument transformers: The extension of instrument range, so

that current, voltage, power and energy can be measured with instruments
or meters of moderate size is of very great importance in commercial
metering. In power systems, currents and voltages are handled and
therefore, direct measurements are not possible as these currents and
voltages are too large for any meter of reasonable size and cost. The
solution lies in stepping down these currents and voltages with the help of
instrument transformers so that they could be metered with instrument of
moderate size.
10. CURRENT TRANSFORMER

The current transformer is used with its primary winding connected in series
with line carrying the current to be measured and, therefore, the primary
current is dependent upon the load connected to the system and is not
determined by the load connected on the secondary winding on the current
transformer. The primary winding consists of very few turns and, therefore,
there is no appreciable voltage drop across it. The secondary winding
consists of the current transformer has larger number of turns, exact
number being determined by the turns ratio. The ammeter or wattmeter
current coil, are connected directly across the secondary winding terminals.
Thus a current transformer operates its secondary winding nearly under
short circuit conditions. One of the terminals of the secondary windings is
earthed so as to protect equipment and personnel in the vicinity in the
event of an insulation breakdown in the transformer.
Transformer ratio, R = primary winding / secondary winding current
Nominal ratio, Kn = rated primary winding current/ rated secondary winding
current
Since primary current is larger than the secondary current there will be high
transformation ratio.

Primary current is in the order of 10-300A and secondary current is in the

order of 5A, 1A, 0.1A etc.

Current transformers are classified mainly into two; protective current

transformer and measuring transformers. Current transformers, which are
used in sub-stations, are divided into many cores. There are mainly 5 core
current transformers, two are used for bus protection, one for measuring
purpose and remaining two for line protection. In 3 core current
transformers 2 are for relay protection and 1 for measuring. The output of
each core winding is 800/1A.
11. VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER

Voltage transformer or Potential Transformers are used to operate

voltmeters.The potential coils of watt meters and relays from high voltage
lines. The primary winding of the transformer is connected across the line
carrying the voltage to be measured and the voltage circuit connected
across the secondary winding.
Transformation ratio, R = primary winding voltage/secondary winding
voltage
Nominal ratio, Kn = rated primary winding voltage/rated secondary winding
voltage
Since secondary voltage is less than the primary voltage the transformation
ratio is low.
The potential transformer makes the ordinary low voltage instruments
suitable for high voltage measurements and isolates them from high
voltages.
12. BUS BAR

Bus bar is a long copper or aluminium conductor. A bus bar is assumed to

have a constant voltage and infinite frequency. In bus bar the total incoming
current is equal to the total outgoing current. The buses can be either 1 or
3. Conductors of bus bars must be of aluminium or copper with sufficient
cross sectional area for meeting the current rating requirement. Conductors
shall be supported from the enclosure by means of suitable insulators
shaped to ensure uniform electrical field distribution and zero corona at
rated voltage.
Bus bar and connections can be made with multi contact connectors to
allow for axial thermal expansion of the bus. Each end of the main bus bar
shall be designed for convenient future extension of the switchgear.
13. LOCAL CONTROL CUBICLE
The local control cubicle of self standing type is supplied with necessary
control switch, signal
lamps, mimic and relays for operating CBs
Disconnector and earthing switches from the switchgear rather than
controlling it from the remote control room.

OUTDOOR SWITCHYARD
LIGHTNING ARRESTORS
A lightning arrestor or a surge arrestor is a protective device which conducts
the high voltage surge to the ground. The active parts of the arrestor are
enclosed in a synthetic epoxy resin tube, which is surrounded by a gas tight
aluminium enclosure. The active part is connected to the bus through a
conducting bus connector. The gas tight sealing ensures prevention of
damage to active parts by the SF6 gas and its decomposition products. The
filling up and draining of nitrogen and SF6 gas can be controlled through the
valves provided for the same.
The action of lightning arrestor is under

Under normal operation, the lightning arrestor is offline, means it conducts

nio current to earth or the gap is non-conducting.
On the occurrence of over voltage, the air insulation across the gap break
down and an arc is formed, providing a low resistance path for the surge to
the ground. In this way, the excess charge on the line due to surge is
harmlessly conducted through the arrestor to the ground.
It is worthwhile to mention the function of non-linear arrestor in the
operation of arrestor. As the spark goes over due to over voltage, the arc
would be a short circuit on the power system and may cause power follow
current in the arrestor.
CAPACITIVE VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER
Capacitive Voltage Transformer converts transmission class voltages to
standardized low and easily measurable values, which will be used for
metering, protection and control of the high voltage system. Additionally
CVT serve as a coupling capacitor for high frequency power line carrier
signals to the transmission line. The capacitive unit consists of HV capacitor
(C1) and intermediate voltages capacitor (C2).
AIR BUSHING
SF6 to Air Bushing is the structure which is the interface medium for the
conductor in te GIS and the overhead lines. SF6 gas is partially filled in the
SF6 to Air Bushing. And the remaining part of the bushing is filled with air.
Insulation spacers are provide inside the bushing to prevent the flow of SF6
gas to air bushing.
GROUNDING
Enclosure of GIS shall be grounded at several points. Grounding system
shall ensure that circulating current is minimised and potential rising is kept
to an acceptable level where operating mechanism cabinets are mounted
on the switchgear, grounding shall be made by separate conductor.

POWER LINE CARRIER COMMUNICATION

Power line carrier communication (PLCC) is a technique that involves high frequency
signal transmission along the overhead power line. It is robust and therefore
reliable, constituting a low loss transmission path that is fully controlled by the
utility.
High voltage capacitors are used for the purpose of injecting the signal to and
extracting it from the line. Injection can be carried out by impressing the carrier
signal voltage between one conductor and earth or between any two phase
conductors. The basic units can be build into a high pass or band pass filter.
PLCCs are intended for the transmission of speech, tele-metering, tele-printing, telecontrol, tele- indication and tele-protection signals in the carrier frequency range
between 30 Hz and 500 Hz over the following communication media, with suitable
line coupling equipments. These equipments are:
High voltage and medium voltage power lines
Open wire lines exposed to power lines
Message transmission is based on the single side band principles. Where the carrier
power and one of the two side bands, generated as a result of modulation, are
suppressed this mode operation offers the following advantages:

Optimum utilization of the available send power for signal transmission

Minimum channel width to conserve spectrum space
Large transmission range

In NTPC Kayamkulam, the model used is 9505PLC. I t provides single or twin

channel voice grade channels for the transmission of speech or audio tunes over
high voltage transmission lines. The transmitted audio tunes can be used for
telemetering, supervisory control, protective relay, data or other purposes. Low pass
filter can be supplied for speech plus operation (simultaneous transmission of
speech and audio tunes). When used for data only, each channel up to typically
twenty-four 50 band telegraph channels or a smaller number of channels at higher
band rates.

Power Line Carrier Communication Equipment

PLCC terminals are used as a pair, one at each end of the power line
(between substations)
Each terminal is designated for a set of transmit and receive frequencies
(channel frequencies)
The corresponding PLCC at the other end will be designated for the reverse
value of the transmission and reception frequencies.
The channel frequency will be either in 4 KHz bandwidth or 8KHz bandwidth
depending upon single channel or twin channel equipments.
PLCC converts an input signal of 300-4 KHz bandwidth to the RF range
between 30-500 KHz and amplifies this RF signal to the desired output power
level (up to 40 Watts).

The various components can be explained as follows:

Wave trap(WT):
Any high frequency signal entering into the substation should be blocked;
wave traps are used for this purpose. That is they are used for blocking
high frequency signals of PLC communication entering into the substation.
They are designed in such a way that they will allow only high voltage
power signal of 50Hz frequency to the substation.

Capacitance Voltage Transformer/ Coupling Capacitor (CVT/CC):

CVT/CC is connected between the line matching unit (LMU) and power
lines. The purpose of CVT/CC is for blocking the high voltage from entering
into LMU or PLCC.

Line Matching Unit (LMU):

The output of PLCC is connected to LMU and then to the power lines to
achieve proper impedance matching between PLCC equipments and the
power lines. The main purpose behind using LMU is to send signal at
minimum impedance.

Drainage Coil And Lightning Arrester:\

Any high voltage entering into LMU or PLCC can damage the device. So
there is a need for preventing this ac high voltage spikes entering into
LMU or PLCC. Drainage coil and lightning arresters are used for this
purpose.

Earth Switch:
At the time of maintenance of LMU, earth switches are used one of whose
terminals is grounded.

Co-axial Cable:
For carrying high frequency signals, there is a need for inter-connection
between PLCC and LMU which are brought about by co-axial cables. The
different types of coupling employed in PLCC are:
1. Phase to phase coupling.
2. Phase to ground coupling.
3. Interface coupling.

PROTECTION
CABLE FEEDER PROTECTION
This protection is given for different components in the feeder bay which includes
incoming feeder and outgoing feeder. For feeder protection differential protection
principle is used. Differential protection includes over current and over voltage
protection.
Different components in the feeder including the incoming feeder and outgoing
feeder are protected by cable feeder protection.
LINE PROTECTION
In traditional transformer differential schemes, the requirements for phase and ratio
connection were met by the application of external interposing current transformer
as a secondary replica of the main winding connections, or by a delta connection of
the main CTs to provide phase connection only. Digital or numerical relays

implement ratio or phase correction in the relay software instead. This avoids the
additional space and cost requirements of hardware interposing CTs.
Basic considerations for transformer relay protection
1. Distance relay protection
2. Restricted Earth Fault Protection
3. Differential Protection
DISTANCE RELAY PROTECTION
Distance relay protection is a non-unit system of protection, whose action depends
upon the point of fault. Time of operation of this system is the function of the ratio
of voltage and current and therefore the fault coverage of the protection circuit is
virtually independent of source impedance variations. This is also known as
Impedance Relays. Here, the torque produced by a current element is opposed by
the torque produced by a voltage element. The relay operates when the ratio of V/I
is less than the predetermined value.
Impedance relays are of 2 types:

Definite-distance relay It operates instantaneously for fault unto a predetermined distance from the relay
Time-distance relay Here the time of operation is proportional to the
distance of fault from the relay point. A fault nearer to the relay will
operate it earlier than a fault farther away from the relay.

RESTRICTED EARTH FAULT PROTECTION

Conventional earth fault protection using over current elements fails to provide
adequate protection for transformer winding. This particularly is the case for star
connected windings with impedance earthed neutral.
The system of protection is very much improved by the application of restricted
earth fault protection (REF Protection). This is a unit protection scheme for one
winding of the transformer. It can be of high impedance as well as biased low
impedance type. For the high impedance type the residual current of three line
current transformer is balanced against the output of a current transformer in the
neutral conductor. In the biased low impedance version the three phase currents
and the neutral current become the bias inputs to a differential element.

The system is operative for fault within the region between current transformers.
The system will remain stable for all faults outside the zone.

DIFFERETIAL PROTECTION
The restricted earth fault protection depend entirely upon the Kirchoffs Principle
that the sum of the current flowing into a conducting network is zero. A differential
system can be arranged into the complete transformer, this is possible because of
the high efficiency of transformer operation, and the close equivalence of ampere
turns developed on the primary and secondary windings. Current transformers on
the primary and secondary sides are connected to form circulating current system.

BUSBAR PROTECTION
Although not basically different from other circuit protection, the key position of the
bus bar intensifies the emphasis put on the essential requirements of speed and
stability.
Speed : Bus bar protection is concerned with limitation of consequential damage
and removal of bus bar faults in lesser time.
Stability: The stability of bus bar protection is of great importance. Bearing in mind
the low rate of fault incidence, amounting to no more than an average of one fault
per bus bar in 20 years, it is clear that unless the stability of the protection is
absolute, the degree of disturbance to which the power system is likely to be
subjected may be increased by the installation of bus protection.

CONCLUSION
The generation of electrical power is being emphasized to be made more efficient
and more environment friendly in todays world. The use of gas powered stations
has harbored this cause to a very large extent, removing the hassles of smoke
treatment and ash disposal without discharging hot effluents into water bodies
making gas powered power projects desirable in terms of power generation
efficiency and adheres to environment protection norms.
The present power generation at NTPC Kayamkulam is approximately 150 MW which
is much lower than its maximum power generation capacity owing to the fact that
GT 1 is currently under maintenance and the power demand is low. As gas stations
are only used for power generation at peak loads because power generated can be
varied much faster than in thermal plants and adding to its high cost of production
the power generated presently is low. The plant being of smaller size facilitates
easier understanding of power production unlike the usual size of NTPC projects
making it easier for students to get a comprehensive view of power generation and
distribution.
There is a move to expand the plant with a LNG (liquefied natural gas) fuelled
generator which will add to the projects capacity and will be crucial to an everdeveloping state like Kerala industrially and financially making it independent of

power requirements from neighboring states. This will make RGCCPP one of the
most energy efficient and pollution free plants in the country.