Introduction to Steam Turbines

A steam turbine is a device that converts the thermal energy of

steam into mechanical energy by turning the blades of a rotor.

Applications:
As prime movers in all thermal and nuclear power plants to
produce electricity, large ships, pumps and fans at petrochemical
plants.
Steam Turbine

Classification of Steam Turbines:

Depending upon the behavior of the steam in the vicinity of the blades, steam turbines are
divided into two major classes:
1. Impulse turbines:
In impulse turbines, high-velocity steam from fixed nozzles
impacts the blades, and this impulse drives the blades forward,
causing the rotor to turn.
The main feature of these turbines is that the heat drop per stage
can be quite large, allowing for large blades and a smaller number
of stages.
2. Reaction turbines:
In reaction turbines, high-velocity steam from nozzles striking blades
also produces impulse, but the steam jet runs into the blades and the
main force turning the rotor is the reactive force produced by the
expansion of steam flowing off the rotor blades themselves.
The main feature of this type of turbine is that in contrast to the impulse
turbine, the heat drop per stage is lessened, so the blades become
smaller and the number of stages increases.

Thermodynamic Cycle of Steam Turbine:

Steam based power plants operate on the Rankine cycle. The processes are:
1 ---> 2 : Isentropic compression (Pump)
2 ---> 3 : Constant pressure heat addition (Boiler)
3 ---> 4 : Isentropic expansion (Turbine)
4 --->1 : Constant pressure heat rejection (Condenser)
Basically, the Rankine cycle utilizes a steam boiler to produce high pressure, high temperature
steam. The steam, leaving the boiler at temperatures and pressures as high as 1000 F (540 C)
and 4500 psig (300 bar), is routed through a steam turbine where it is expanded to produce shaft
work that drives an electric generator.
Neglecting the pump work input, the efficiency of an ideal Rankine cycle,
Efficiency, = net work from the turbine / heat supplied in the boiler = (h3 - h4) / (h3 - h2)
In order to increase the efficiency of the overall process, the expansion of the steam is generally
performed in stages. After passing through a high pressure turbine stage, the steam is returned to
the steam generator to be reheated. After the final expansion stage, the steam is routed to a
condenser, where it is returned fully to liquid form and pumped back to the steam generator. By
using this method of power production, electric facilities are able to approach 40% efficiency.
Specific Steam Consumption (SSC): This is the required steam consumption rate (kg/s) per
unit power (energy) generation (kJ).
SSC = 3600 / (h3 - h4) kg/kW-hr

Compounding/Staging of Turbines:
Compounding means extracting the pressure or velocity energy in several stages.

Fig: Pressure-velocity relations in a 2-stage pressure compounding impulse turbine

Power Plant Terminologies:

Plant Load Factor (PLF): It is a measure of average capacity utilization. Its ratio of average
load to capacity. Also defined as, ratio of average load to peak load at a certain period. For
example, if for a large commercial power plant: kW Demand = 436 kW; kWh Use = 57,200
kWh; Number of days in generation = 32days, then
Plant Load Factor [%] = (57,200 kWh / (32 days X 24 hours per day)) / 436 kW X 100%
= 17.08%
Capacity Utilization Factor (CUF): It is the ratio of the actual output of a power plant over a
period of time and its output if it had operated the entire time at full nameplate capacity. For
example, average CUF in : USA 79.5%, Japan 8386%, EU 82% , China 60%, India 70%.
Peaking Power Plants: The Power plants which generally run when there is a peak demand of
power. These are generally gas turbines that burn natural gas.