STEAM TURBINES

B Y D OUGLAS J. S MITH IE NG , S ENIOR E DITOR

STEAM TURBINE UPGRADES IMPROVE RELIABILITY

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ince the late 19th century steam turbines have been used for the generation of electricity. A prototype steam turbine, designed by Charles Parsons in 1890, had 15 expansion stages and was one of the first steam turbines to be connected to an electric generator for the generation of electricity. At the turn of the 20th century, steam turbines were designed for an inlet pressure of approximately 200 psi and a temperature of 500 F. Today, steam turbines are available with steam conditions of 4,350 psi, inlet temperatures of 1,100 F and reheat temperatures of 1,150 F. Currently the U.S. has approximately 1,500 steam turbines with a capacity to produce 400,000 MW of electricity. However, an EPRI conducted survey has determined that turbines with the highest capacity have an average age of 38 years. According to EPRI, the failure of components in high-pressure (HP) turbines is responsible for the greatest loss of capacity and de-rating of the units. On the other hand, low-pressure (LP) turbines contribute to more forced outages, says EPRI. Major incentives for upgrading fossil power plant HP and LP steam turbines are to: Increase efficiency Improve reliability Reduce solid particle erosion In nuclear power plants the elimination of stress cracking in LP steam turbines is a major reason for upgrading.

porate larger LP rotors with blades several inches longer than the standard 25-inch last row blades. Although the blades would be longer, Siemens Westinghouse believed the new blades could be designed to fit into the steam turbines existing rotor shell, significantly reducing the cost of the upgrade. PGEs executive management hesitated in committing to an upgrade using untried technology. Siemens Westinghouse was so confident of the new design, however, that they told PGE they would be willing to share the risk of the upgrade. Under the proposal Siemens Westinghouse and PGE agreed to an incentive schedule that included financial rebates to the utility. The proposal essentially guaranteed that the plants capacity would increase by a minimum of 25 MW after the upgrade.

LP ROTOR UPGRADE
Although the manufacturer was convinced they could increase the capacity of the steam turbine they still had to verify that the generator could handle the increased capacity without any modification. An analysis conducted by Siemens Westinghouse in 1999, and an evaluation conducted by an independent consultant hired by PGE, confirmed that the existing generator could handle an increase in power without modifications. Ultimately the last row of the LP turbine rotor was retrofitted with 34-1/2 inch side entry blades with an interlocked integral shroud. With the new design the choke point moved from the LP turbine to the HP turbine, thus allowing the first blade row of the HP turbine to be eliminated. Blade rows two and three of the HP turbine were also replaced as part of the upgrade. Retrofitting of the LP rotor and HP blading was completed during a seven-week spring outage in 2000. Although the contract specified a complete ASME PTC 6 performance test once the units were returned to service, the test was cancelled after it was determined that the unit was producing more power than the contract required. FIGURE 1 INCREASE IN POWER

NEW LP ROTOR ADDS CAPACITY

Portland General Electrics (PGE) Boardman coal-fired generating plant entered commercial operation in 1980. The plant, located 160 miles east of Portland, Oregon, burns primarily low Btu, low sulfur Power River Basin coal. At present the plant is economically dispatched with load cycling in the spring and near full load the rest of the year. The plants steam turbine, a tandem compound, HP/IP with two LP turbines, was supplied by Westinghouse. PGE (65 percent) co-owns the facility with Idaho Power (10 percent), Power Resources Cooperatives (10 percent) and GE Capital (15 percent). By the mid 1990s, PGE realized that increasing power demand in its service area, and the uncertainties with the restructuring of the industry, would require upgrading of their power plants, including Boardman. PGE understood that any upgrade would only be feasible if it did not impact the environment. As a result, PGE researched ways to increase the plants capacity without using additional fuel. After conducting an engineering study in 1995, PGE concluded that upgrading the steam turbine would be the best solution for increasing the units capacity. After issuing a request for proposal, the utility received a variety of upgrade proposals, including the retrofitting of longer LP rotor blades to boost capacity. However, because none of the proposals were economically feasible compared to buying wholesale power from other sources, the project was put on hold. Three years later, in 1998, Siemens Westinghouse approached PGE and recommended a retrofit that would incorPOWER ENGINEERING/JUNE 2003 38

600

+45 MW

MW

550

500

100%

Inlet Pressure

103%

Source: Portland General Electric Co.

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According to Janet Gulley, project manager, PGE, the upgrade has increased the capacity of the Boardman generating plant from 555 MW to 585 MW when operated at 100 percent inlet pressure. This has been accomplished without an increase in fuel consumption. Likewise, when the unit is operated at 103 percent pressure capacity, the load increases to 600 MW, Figure 1. Increased revenue from 45 additional MWs during a single summer period has paid for cost of the retrofit, says Gulley. The plant is now operating with a net plant heat rate of 9,800 Btu/kWh. A 12-month inspection, carried out in 2001, showed very little degradation of the blading. A complete upgrade of the steam path Longshanking After evaluating the different options, Duke Energy determined that the longshank bucket design, with rotor modifications, represented the most cost effective and technically sound solution. Although longshanking has been utilized on steam turbines in nuclear power plants and on smaller fossil plants, the Moss Landing is believed to be the first large-scale fossil power plant to use this design method. bled and the unit put back into operation. Upgrading the LP rotors on Unit 7 was completed during a two-month outage in January-February, 2002. According to TurboCare, the major advantage of longshanking is that it provides full restoration of the steam-path without any de-rating of the unit. Refurbishing the LP rotor through machining and installing new longshank blades has lowered the stresses in areas subjected to SCC on the Moss Landings LP turbines. The end result is increased reliability and availability and the restoration of the lost capacity from the temporary pressure plate repair.

PROBLEM RESOLVED
Longshanking involves the machining of new blade attachments in the turbines existing disk. Because the new dovetails are machined at a lower radius on the wheel, any cracks and/or damaged material are removed. The new blades have extra material in the skirt or shank area between the root and the airfoil section, thus restoring the working portion of the rotating blade to its original radial position and location in the steam-path.

LP ROTOR REPAIRS

Stress corrosion cracking (SCC) On April 21, 2003, PPL returned Unit occurs in areas subjected to high stress 2 of the Susquehanna nuclear plant to serand when corrosive ions are present. Blade vice after a routine refueling outage. Durroot fastenings, where corrosive coming the refueling outage Susquehanna also pounds can accumulate between the blade upgraded the HP and three LP steam turroot and the wheel, are very susceptible to bines. The plant, located seven miles SCC. As the fleet of U.S. steam turnortheast of Berwick, Pa, has two bines ages fossil and nuclear boiling water reactors with a total power plants are finding SCC in capacity of 2,248 MW. Unit 1 went many of their LP turbine rotors. into commercial operation in 1983 During a routine inspection and Unit 2 in 1985. at Duke Energys California Moss During the first four years of Landing power plant in 2000, commercial operation SusqueSCC was found in the L-2 blade hanna experienced problems with attachment on the LP turbine disc cracking on the LP turbine rotor on Unit 6. A subsequent rotors. As a result the plant inspection of Unit 7s LP turbine Boardmans Steam Turbine Generator. Photo courtesy of Port- replaced the original disc type LP also found the same problem. land General Electric. turbine rotors with monoblock Moss Landings units each have a rotors. The new rotors had a sixDuke Energy awarded the contract for GE single-flow HP turbine, an opposed- the LP rotors on Units 6 and 7 to Turbo- year inspection interval that was eventuflow intermediate pressure (IP) turbine Care. The contract included: ally extended to eight years. operating at 3,600 rpm and two opposedAlthough the plant resolved the disc Engineering and analysis of the orig- cracking problem, subsequent problems flow LP turbines operating at 1,800 rpm. inal design L-2 blades. Because of the severity of the SCC, and developed with both dovetail cracking and Design and manufacture of replace- inner casing erosion. Dovetails, where the the need to return Unit 6 to service quickly, ment longshank blades. (This blades are attached to the rotor, are subject pressure plates were installed in the A included full rows of mixed stainless to stress corrosion cracking at the rim of rotor generator end L-2 stage and in the B steel and titanium conventional long- the turbines disc. rotor turbine end L-2 stage. Pressure plates shank blades for Units 6 and 7 and are used to simulate the pressure drop of the Because of the continual problems of full rows of titanium ultra-longshank dovetail cracking and inner casing erosion blades that have been removed, thus preblades for Unit 6). venting overloading of downstream blade with the plants LP turbines and the need Rotor inspection of Unit 7 (Unit 6 had to increase unit performance and reliabilstages. The repair, which involved 50 peralready been inspected). cent of the L-2 stage, allowed the unit to be ity, PPL Susquehanna LLC approached a On-site machining of the L-2 stage number of vendors in November 1999 to put back into service, but it reduced the wheels, blade installation and low bid on retrofitting new LP turbines. Even units capacity by 22 MW. speed balancing. To devise a long term solution to the though there were no specific problems problem of SCC in the LP turbines, Duke During a scheduled November- with the HP turbines, the plant requested Energy considered a number of options: December outage in 2001, the LP rotors on that the vendors include upgrading of the Unit 6 were removed, machined and fitted HP turbines in their bid. Removal of the first stage blading Siemens Westinghouse replaced the with new longshank blades. After low Weld repair speed balancing, the rotors were assem- original seven-stage rotors on Unit 2s Installation of new monoblock rotors
POWER ENGINEERING/JUNE 2003 40

NUCLEAR PLANT COMPLETES UPGRADE

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stage stationary blade ring will help to reduce moisture erosion in this area during operation. The retrofitted turbines were designed to fit into the existing turbine bearings, and except for some minor modifications, all of the existing auxiliary systems were re-used. As mentioned previously all of the original LP turbine casings at Susquehanna were subjected to increasing erosion of the carbon steel inner casing components. After evaluating inner casing upgrade options, including an all stainless steel inner casing construction, the utility selected a hybrid inner casing design with upgraded materials in the high velocity areas. Upgrading of the HP turbine included a new solid mono-block rotor design, the installation of a stainless steel inner casing and the installation of blade carriers in the existing outer casing. In addition, advanced blading and inlet Installing upgraded LP rotor. Photo courtesy of Portland L seals between the inner General Electric. three LP turbines with new nine-stage LP turbine rotors with integrally shrouded stationary and freestanding LP rotating section blades. The last stage of the LP turbine has been fitted with 46-inch blades. To mitigate moisture erosion, the leading edges of the LP freestanding rotating blades are flame hardened. Likewise, improving the flow distribution of the last rotating stage has been accomplished by installing forward leaning last stage stationary blades. In addition, slots in the last and outer casing were installed. Similarly, the existing seven-stage design was replaced with 12 blade stages. According to John Bartos, senior engineer, PPL Susquehanna LLC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved an increase between inspections for the LP turbine design retrofitted at the Susquehanna plant to 10 years. Although Unit 2 has only recently been returned to service, it is expected that the retrofit with advanced disc LP and the upgrading of the HP full reaction turbine will provide the reliability and performance improvements specified in the contract. Likewise, with extended inspection intervals and increased reliability, maintenance costs will also be reduced. Since being put back into operation the capacity of Unit 2 has increased, says Herbert D. Woodeshick, special assistant to the president of Susquehanna. A posttest to accurately determine the performance of the unit is scheduled for the end of May 2003. The results of this test will be compared with a pre-test conducted prior to the turbine upgrade to satisfy the contract. p