Report

On
Steam Turbine

Guided by Submitted by

R.k bhamu Akshay Raj Sisodiya 15/026

Assistant Professor Aman Khandelwal 15/017
Aman Kumar 15/018
Amit Pareek 15/023

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

RAJASTHAN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY KOTA

Page 1
 STEAM TURBINE
1. INTRODUCTION
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal
energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion. Its
modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in 1884.

DEFINITIONS OF STEAM TURBINE:

 turbine in which steam strikes blades and makes them turn

 A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal

energy from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion.
Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Parsons in
1884.

 A system of angled and shaped blades arranged on a rotor through

which steam is passed to generate rotational energy. Today,
normally used in power stations

 A device for converting energy of high-pressure steam (produced

in a boiler) into mechanical power which can then be used to
generate electricity.

 Equipment unit flown through by steam, used to convert the

energy of the steam into rotational energy.

A machine for generating mechanical power in rotary motion from the

energy of steam at temperature and pressure above that of an available
sink. y far the most widely used and most powerful turbines are those
driven by steam. Until the 1960s essentially all steam used in turbine
cycles was raised in boilers burning fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas) or, in
minor quantities, certain waste products. However, modern turbine

Page 2
technology includes nuclear steam plants as well as production of steam
supplies from other sources.
The illustration shows a small, simple mechanical-drive turbine of
a few horsepower. It illustrates the essential parts for all steam turbines
regardless of rating or complexity: (1) a casing, or shell, usually divided
at the horizontal center line, with the halves bolted together for ease of
assembly and disassembly; it contains the stationary blade system; (2) a
rotor carrying the moving buckets (blades or vanes) either on wheels or
drums, with bearing journals on the ends of the rotor; (3) a set of
bearings attached to the casing to support the shaft; (4) a governor and
valve system for regulating the speed and power of the turbine by
controlling the steam flow, and an oil system for lubrication of the
bearings and, on all but the smallest machines, for operating the control
valves by a relay system connected with the governor; (5) a coupling to
connect with the driven machine; and (6) pipe connections to the steam
supply at the inlet and to an exhaust system at the outlet of the casing or
shell.
Steam turbines are ideal prime movers for driving machines
requiring rotational mechanical input power. They can deliver constant
or variable speed and are capable of close speed control. Drive
applications include centrifugal pumps, compressors, ship propellers,
and, most important, electric generators.

Page 3
 2. STEAM TURBINES BASICS

Though "Steam Turbines" might sound like a technical term, most

of the things we do everyday would be impossible to do without this
wonderful technology in power generation. Nature does not have sockets
from where power plants pull out electricity to run your laptop or charge
your iPod! Energy needs to be converted to electricity or electrical
energy, from its natural occurrences. Steam Turbines are devices that
help in the production of electricity, by converting mechanical energy
into useful electrical energy! The Steam Turbine was invented by
Parson, more than a century ago, and it has gone through numerous
changes to become an effective power generator in today's power plants.

Page 4
3. THE MODERN STEAM TURBINE
The steam turbine continues to be a major factor in electric power
generation throughout the world. Even nuclear plants use the heat from
a controlled nuclear chain reaction to produce needed steam. In
the United States, more than 88 percent of all electricity is produced by
steam turbines.

As mentioned earlier, there are basically three stages of matter:

Solid, liquid and gas. Each stage is held together by a different level of
molecular force. With water, gaseous steam takes up space due to its
molecules being furthest apart. However, when enough pressure is
applied to steam, an amazing thing happens. The molecules are forced
together to the point that the water becomes more like a liquid again,
while retaining the properties of a gas. It is at this point that it becomes
a supercritical fluid.
Many of today's power plants use supercritical steam, with
pressure and temperature at the critical point. This means supercritical
steam power plants operate at much higher temperatures and pressures
than plants using subcritical steam. Water is actually heated to such a
high pressure that boiling does not even occur.

Page 5
 The resulting high-pressure fluid of supercritical steam provides
excellent energy efficiency. With the aid of high pressure, supercritical
steam turbines can be driven to much higher speeds for the same
amount of heat energy as traditional steam power. They also release
less CO2 exhaust into the atmosphere. Additionally, new high-pressure
boilers built with rocket technology are being developed to further
control the levels of CO2 emitted. Some boilers will even cool the
steam back into a liquid and channel it into the ground to capture
emissions.

4. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION AND DESIGN

In reciprocating steam engine, the pressure of energy of steam is
used to overcome external resistance and dynamic action of the steam is
negligibly small. Steam engine may be return by using the full pressure
without any expansion or drop of pressure in the cylinder.

Working Of Steam Turbine

A steam turbine, as we see from its name, uses steam to rotate its
blades. The rotary motion of the blades is used to rotate the armature of
the generator, and the movement of the armature in a magnetic field
results in the production of a current (electricity) in the armature! The
steam turbine has come a long way from its initial design: there is the
single flow steam turbine, the multiple flow steam turbines, the reaction
steam turbine, the impulse-reaction steam turbine, and the impulse
turbine. It has been the object of research and interest of many engineers
and scientists like De Laval, Parson, and Curtis. Heat energy from a coal
thermal power plant or a nuclear power plant is used to boil waiter, and

Page 6
convert it into steam at high pressure. This high pressure steam is
directed to the turbine blade thus causing the blade to rotate.

5. PARTS OF STEAM TURBINE:-

Steam turbines are machines that are used to generate mechanical
(rotational motion) power from the pressure energy of steam. Steam
turbines are the most popular power generating devices used in the
power plant industry primarily because of the high availability of water,
moderate boiling point, cheap nature and mild reacting properties. The
most widely used and powerful turbines of today are those that run on
steam. From nuclear reactors to thermal power plants, the role of the
steam turbine is both pivotal and result determining.
A steam turbine basically has a mechanical side, and an electrical
side to it. The mechanical components include the moving parts
(mechanical), such as the rotor, the moving blades, the fixed blades, and
stop valves, while the electrical side consists of the generator and other
electrical components to actually convert the energy into a usable, easily
transferable form.

Blades:

For starters, a simple turbine works just like a windmill. Only, in

the steam turbines of today, rather than striking the blades directly, the
blades are designed in such a way as to produce maximum rotational
energy by directing the flow of the steam along its surface. So the
primary component that goes into a steam turbine is its blades. The
blades of a steam turbine are designed to behave like nozzles, thus
effectively tapping both the impulse and reaction force of the steam for

Page 7
higher efficiency. Nozzle design itself is a complex process, and the
nozzle shaped blade of the turbine is probably one of the most important
parts in its construction. The blades are made at specific angles in order
to incorporate the net flow of steam over it in its favor. The blades may
be of stationary or fixed and rotary or moving or types.

Shafts:

The shaft is a power transmitting device and is used to transmit the

rotational movement of the blades connected to it at one end via the
rotor to the coupling, speed reducer or gear at the other end.

Outer Casing:

The steam turbine is surrounded by housing or an outer casing

which contains the turbine and protects the device components from
external influence and damage. It may also support the bearings on
which the shafts rest to provide rigidity to the shaft. Usually split at the
center horizontally, the casing parts are often bolted together for easy
opening, checking and steam turbine maintenance, and are extremely
sturdy and strong.

Page 8
Governor:

The governor is a device used to regulate and control or govern the

output of the steam turbine. This is done by means of control valves
which control the steam flow into the turbine in the first place.

Oil System:

A steam turbine has thousands of moving parts and all these parts
not only have to move in high velocities, but also need to be protected
from wear and tear over the years. This is done by effective lubrication
by the oil system, which governs the pressure, flow and temperature of
the turbine oil, the bearing oil and lubrication of other moving parts.

Pipes:

The pipe is an all important steam turbine component that brings

the steam from the boiler to the turbine. This has to be done without an
appreciable loss in pressure, and at the same time, must be able to
withstand all these pressures safely. The pipes should be easy to clean
and are prone to deposits on their inner surfaces. Deposits on the inner
surface of the steam pipe reduce the net steam flow area, throwing forth
a negative effect on the efficiency.

6. CLASSIFICATION OF STEAM TURBINE:-

The first steam turbine, at its time indeed did spark off the industrial
revolution through out the west. However, the turbine at that time was
still an inefficient piece of heavy weighing high maintenance machine.

Page 9
The power to weight ratio of the first reciprocating steam turbine was
extremely low, and this led to a great focus improving the design,
efficiency and usability of the basic steam turbine, the result of which
are the power horses that currently produce more than 80% of today’s
electricity at power plant.Steam Turbines can be classified on the basis
of a number of factors. Some of the important methods of steam turbine
classification are enunciated below:
1. On the basis of Stage Design:
Steam turbines use different stages to achieve their ultimate power
conversion goal. Depending on the stages used by a particular turbine, it
is classified as Impulse Turbine, or Reaction type.
1. On the Basis of the Arrangement of its Main Shaft:
Depending on the shaft arrangement of the steam turbine, they may
be classified as Single housing (casing), tandem compound (two or more
housings, with shafts that are coupled in line with each other) and Cross
compound turbines (the shafts here are not in line).
2. On the Basis of Supply of Steam and Steam Exhaust Condition:
They may be classified as Condensing, Non Condensing,
Controlled or Automatic extraction type, Reheat (the steam is bypassed
at an intermediate level, reheated and sent again) and Mixed pressure
steam turbines (they have more than one source of steam at different
pressures).
3. On the basis of Direction of Steam Flow:
They may be axial, radial or tangential flow steam turbines.
4. On the Basis of Steam Supply:
Superheated steam turbine or saturated steam turbine.

Page
10
7. BASIC TYPES OF TURBINE
The two most basic and fundamental types of steam turbines are
the impulse turbine and the impulse reaction turbine.
7.1 The Impulse Turbine:
The impulse turbine consists of a set of stationary blades followed
by a set of rotor blades which rotate to produce the rotary power. The
high pressure steam flows through the fixed blades, which are nothing
but nozzles, and undergo a decrease in pressure energy, which is
converted to kinetic energy to give the steam high velocity levels. This
high velocity steam strikes the moving blades or rotor and causes them
to rotate. The fixed blades do not completely convert all the pressure
energy of the steam to kinetic energy, hence there is some residual
pressure energy associated with the steam on exit. Therefore the
efficiency of this turbine is very limited as compared to the next turbine
we are going to review- the reaction turbine or impulse reaction turbine.

Page
11
 Impulse Turbine Work
The impulse turbine was one of the basic steam turbines. It
involved striking of the blades by a stream or a jet of high pressure
steam, which caused the blades of the turbine to rotate. The direction of
the jet was perpendicular to the axis of the blade. It was realized that the
impulse turbine was not very efficient and required high pressures,
which is also quite difficult to maintain. The impulse turbine has nozzles
that are fixed to convert the steam to high pressure steam before letting it
strike the blades.

Impulse Turbine Mechanism

As the water fall on the blade of the rotor it generate the impact
force on the blade surface, The blade tends to give the same reaction to
the fluid, but the rotor is attached to the rotating assembly, it absorb the
force impact and give the reaction in the direction of the fluid flow.
Thus the whole turbine rotates.As we all know the Newton 3rd law of
motion," Every action has equal and opposite reaction", the same is
work on this.Impulse turbine Mechanism deals with the Impulse force
action-reaction.
The rotation speed of the turbine depends on the fluid velocity,
more the fluid velocity, greater the rotation speed, and greater the speed
means more power generation.

7.2 Reaction Turbine:-

The reaction turbine is a turbine that makes use of both the impulse
and the reaction of the steam to produce the rotary effect on the rotors.
The moving blades or the rotors here are also nozzle shaped (They are
aerodynamically designed for this) and hence there is a drop in pressure

Page
12
while moving through the rotor as well. Therefore in this turbine the
pressure drops occur not only in the fixed blades, but a further pressure
drop occurs in the rotor stage as well. This is the reason why this turbine
is more efficient as the exit pressure of the steam is lesser, and the
conversion is more. The velocity drop between the fixed blades and
moving blades is almost zero, and the main velocity drop occurs only in
the rotor stage.

Working principle of reaction turbine

In the reaction turbine, the rotor blades themselves are arranged to

form convergent nozzle Reaction Turbines.
In the reaction turbine, the rotor blades themselves are arranged to
form convergent nozzles. This type of turbine makes use of the reaction
force produced as the steam accelerates through the nozzles formed by
the rotor. Steam is directed onto the rotor by the fixed vanes of the
stator. It leaves the stator as a jet that fills the entire circumference of the
rotor. The steam then changes direction and increases its speed relative

Page
13
to the speed of the blades. A pressure drop occurs across both the stator
and the rotor, with steam accelerating through the stator and decelerating
through the rotor, with no net change in steam velocity across the stage
but with a decrease in both pressure and temperature, reflecting the work
performed in the driving of the rotor.
This type of turbine makes use of the reaction force produced as
the steam accelerates through the nozzles formed by the rotor. Steam is
directed onto the rotor by the fixed vanes of the stator. It leaves the
stator as a jet that fills the entire circumference of the rotor. The steam
then changes direction and increases its speed relative to the speed of the
blades. A pressure drop occurs across both the stator and the rotor, with
steam accelerating through the stator and decelerating through the rotor,
with no net change in steam velocity across the stage but with a decrease
in both pressure and temperature, reflecting the work performed in the
driving of the rotor.

Difference between impulse turbine & reaction turbine:-

In an impulse turbine, the water (or steam) hits the blades and
continues almost straight through as in a jet engine. In a reaction turbine,
the water hits a semicircular cup and is completely reversed in path,
normally dropping down the center with little or no momentum left.
These are rarely used with gases because of having to get the output out
of the way, but they work especially well with water at lower pressure as
when the dam supplying the water is not very high. Both kinds are used
in various situations.

Page
14
Advantages of impulse cum reaction turbine over pure impulse and pure
reaction turbine:-

1. The difference between impulse and reaction turbine goes

here......

2. In case of an impulse turbine the pressure remains same in

the rotor or runners, but in case of reaction turbine the
pressure decreases in runners as well as stators also.

3. In case of impulse turbine the pressure drop happens only in

the nozzle part by means of its kinetic energy. In case of
Reaction one the stators those are fixed to the diaphragm act
as a nozzle.

8. HOW CAN BE A STEAM TURBINE IMPROVED

A steam turbine has thousands of miniature components. From the

gigantic blades that drive the rotor, to the bearings and nuts that keep the
machine in place, the steam turbine has tremendous scope for
improvement and effective design of every part plays a significant role
in improving the turbine’s overall efficiency. Some of the areas where a
lot of research goes into are those such as nozzle design, aerodynamic
blade design, lubrication engineering, heat transfer mechanisms, part
cooling, fabrication and part machining, pipe flow mechanisms,
metallurgy etc.

Design of steam turbine machine parts such as nozzles and blades

to make them aerodynamic using computational fluid dynamics has
gained a lot of steam as a field in itself! A small advancement in the
blade design could help in increasing efficiency tremendously. Blade

Page
15
design with Computational Fluid Dynamics or CFD focuses on reducing
the local profile oriented loss on a Quasi 3 Dimensional (Q3D) basis.
The design of proper inlet ducts from the turbines based on their
operating time, economic considerations, size of the network and size of
the turbine is also equally important. In this case, since the flow is highly
unsteady and complex, the effects and degree of non uniformity in the
flow has to be controlled to a large extent or predicted and taken care of
suitably. Choosing proper materials for the different steam turbine
components and parts is also an important aspect of design. The use of
different lightweight yet strong and thermally resistant alloys to make
steam turbine blades and moving parts is of very high importance. This
also brings about the issue that the material should be as free from
erosion as possible and should not succumb to rust and other chemical
changes while under operation. Technologies such as anti erosion blade
shields bear testimony to

9. STEAM TURBINE APPLICATIONS

The Steam turbines of today are mostly used in the power

production field. Steam turbines are used to efficiently produce
electricity from solar, coal and nuclear power plants owing to the
harmlessness of its working fluid, water/steam, and its wide availability.
Modern steam turbines have come a long way in increasing efficiency in
performance and more and more efforts are being made to try and reach
the ideal steam turbine conditions, though this is physically impossible!
Almost every power plant in the world, other than hydro electric power
plants, that use turbines that run on water (the Francis, Pelton turbines
also have the influence of steam turbines) , use steam turbines for power
conversion. With all the scientific advancement in power generation
being attributed to them, steam turbines really have changed the world.

Page
16
 Steam turbines are devices which convert the energy stored in
steam into rotational mechanical energy. These machines are widely
used for the generation of electricity in a number of different cycles,
such as:

 Rankin cycle

 Reheat cycle

 Regenerative cycle

 Combined cycle

Utility Steam Turbine Applications

Applications for utility Steam Turbines are applied for control of

straight condensing, reheat and non-reheat steam turbines up to 300MW.
These upgrades may include integrated generator control for generator
protection and excitation/ AVR upgrades, utilizing the latest commonly
available industry-standard digital equipment.

Industrial application of steam turbine

Applications of Industrial Steam Turbines cover all straight

condensing, non-condensing, and automatic extraction steam turbines.
Specific design features are incorporated to address control issues often
unique to process plants including paper mills, oil refineries, chemical
plants, and other industrial applications, generator and mechanical drive.

Some of the world’s largest turbines manufacturing companies that

are seeing the rewards of research and steam turbine advances are
coming together to develop highly efficient turbines. The collaboration

Page
17
of Mitsubishi Heavy Machinery and General Electric Energy (GE
Energy) for the conceptualization and design of a highly efficient “next-
generation” steam turbine for its inception in combined cycle gas turbine
power plants recently has further proved that there is still a lot to be
achieved in steam turbine related research and development, and that the
scope for improvement can be much higher.

10. VELOCIT DIAGRAM OF STEAM AT ENTRENCE & EXIT

OF BLADE OF STEAM TURBINE:-

Page
18