What are some conditions that may prevent a turbine from developing full power?

Answers:

The machine is overloaded.

The initial steam pressure and temperature are not up to design conditions.

The exhaust pressure is too high.

The governor is set too low.

The steam strainer is clogged.

Turbine nozzles are clogged with deposits.

Internal wear on nozzles and blades.

How does pressure monitoring ensure detection of turbine deposits?

Answers:

1. Pressure of steam expanding in the turbine is measured at characteristic points, i.e., at the wheel
chamber, points of pass-out, inlet/outlet of HP, IP and LP stages of the turbine.
2. The turbine manufacturer provides the pressure characteristics in the form of graphs.
3. At 1st commissioning, the user supplements these theoretical curves with those derived from
actual measurements. These are actual pressure characteristics for a clean turbine. Now these
pressure characteristics are compared with those obtained during operation in the later period.
4. Under identical conditions, an increase in pressure shows the formation of deposits.
5. For a steam throughput in the range 70-100%, an increase in wheel chamber pressure of more
than 10% indicates severe blade depositions.

How is the washing of turbine blades carried out with the condensate?

Answers:

1. The washing is carried out with the condensate at 100°C.

2. The turbine is cooled or heated up to 100°C and filled with the condensate via a
turbine drain.
3. The rotor is turned or barred by hand and the condensate is drained after 2 to 4
hours.
4. It is then again filled with the condensate at 100°C (but up to the rotor center-
level), the rotor is rotated and the condensate is drained after sometime. This
process is repeated several times.
How is turbine blade washing with wet steam carried out?

Answers:

1. Wet steam produced usually by injecting cold condensate into the superheated
steam, is introduced to the turbine which is kept on running at about 20% of
nominal speed.
2. For backpressure turbine the exhaust steam is let out into the open air through a
gate valve. For a condensing turbine, the vacuum pump is kept out of service
while cooling water is running, with the effect that the entering cooling steam is
condensed. The condensate is drained off.
3. The washing steam condition is gradually adjusted to a final wetness of 0.9 to
0.95.

Note, it is important:

4. not to change washing steam temperature by 10°C/min,

5. to keep all turbine cylinder drains open.