11M072008D

Key Specification Points for Turbine

Driven Boiler Feed Water Pumps Used
in Super Critical and Ultra Super
Critical Coal Fired Power Plants

By
Mr. Ed Simmons PE
Shaw Power Division
11M072008D
 The Risks

• The Boiler Feed Water Pump is the heart

of the power plant. Design errors can lead
to:
– Reduced plant reliability
– Reduced plant efficiency
– Premature equipment failures
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 Boiler Feed Water Pump Train

• When specifying or designing a boiler feed water pump

train, the engineers are not just designing a pump.

• Great care must be taken to ensure the pump, turbine

driver, lube oil system, steam condensing system, gland
sealing system, pump recirculation system, feed water
system, deaerator and most importantly, the turbine
driver control system all work together to support the
operation of the pumping train which will in turn support
the full load operation of the power plant.
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 Early Key Decision

• If you are the Owner or Owner’s Engineer,

you have one key decision to make prior
to purchasing the steam turbine generator:

• Do you purchase the boiler feed water

pump turbine driver with the generating
turbine?
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 Early Key Decision (cont.)

• If you decide to purchase the turbine driver with

the generating turbine, consider allowing your
AE firm to execute the driver portion the
contract.

• While purchasing the “turbine package” may

save capitol equipment dollars, you may end up
spending those same dollars during the design
development and review.
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 Early Key Decision (cont.)

• If you decide not to purchase the turbine

driver with the generating turbine, be sure
the turbine driver portion of the AE
contract accurately reflects the owners
design philosophies and expectations.
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 Pump Components

• Turbine Driver - supplies necessary torque to spin the

pumps at the design speed. Motive steam is supplied by
extraction steam from the generating turbine.
• Main Pump - double cased barrel type multi-stage
centrifugal pump.
• Booster Pump – single or double stage, double suction
centrifugal pump. Supplies required NSPH to the main
pump. The booster pump takes suction from the
Deaerator.
• Booster Pump Speed Reducer – reduces the turbine
shaft speed to the required operating speed of the
booster pump. This is usually around 1800 RPM.
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 Pump and Turbine Arrangement

• The second key decision you will need to make is the arrangement
of the pump and turbine as they relate to one another.
• Several typical arrangements are:
– 1 X 100% or 2 X 50% booster and boiler feed water pump.
Turbine is in between speed reducer/booster pump and main
pump (common).
Turbine
Booster Driver
Pump

Booster Pump Main

Speed Reducer pump
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 Pump and Turbine Arrangement (cont.)

– 1 X 100% or 2 X 50% Single drive turbine. Turbine

drives main pump which in turn drives booster pump.
This arrangement requires an abnormally long
coupled shaft to allow for the removal of the BFP
cartridge. (less common)
Turbine
Driver Booster Pump
Speed Reducer

BFP
Main Booster
cartridge pull
pump Pump
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space
 Sizing The Pump
• The AE firm will complete a pump head sizing calculation that
should include the pressure required at the boiler tie point, feed
water heater losses, valve and piping losses and any height
differences between the pump centerline and the boiler tie point.
Expect to see values in the 12,000 ft range.
• The AE firm should also do the same for the interstage pump take
off (IPTO). The IPTO header usually supplies the reheater
attemperator with spray water.
• The pump suction flow is taken from the cycle heat balance.
• The pump suction flow, discharge flow and head, IPTO flow and
head and desired pump speed should all be written into the pump
specification.
• Be sure to include this information for the start up, design and over
pressure (if required) operating points for the boiler.
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 Key Pump Design Points

• The pump specification should include:

– Net positive suction head ratio (available to
required) greater than 1.5 – provides sufficient
margin to prevent cavitation
– 10 – 25% rise to shut off – verifies hydraulic
stability
– Suction specific speed less than 9000 –
ensure a moderate level of minimum flow.
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 Pump Curves

• The pump specification should require the pump

manufacturer to produce a family of curves plotted every
500 RPM. The family of curves should cover the entire
speed range from the pump minimum speed through the
turbine over speed trip point (usually 110% of the design
speed).

• Pump curve information should include minimum flow

over the entire speed range, NPSH requirements for
both the booster pump and main pump, efficiency and
required input power.
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 Pump Margins
• If not specified in the AE contract, the Owner/Owner’s engineer
should work with the AE to ensure mutually acceptable margins are
placed on the boiler feed water pumps.
– Flow margins can range from 5 – 10%
– Head margins can range from 0 – 5%

• Excessively high margins on flow and head can lead to higher

design speeds.

• Margins placed upon variable speed pumps present themselves in

terms of pump speed. The “design” point (including the margins) will
have a higher pump speed and the “actual” flow and head
requirements of the power plant.
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 Pump Materials

• If not specifically stated in the AE contract, the

pump specification should allow the
manufacturer to select the appropriate materials.
• Expect to see some of the following:
– CA6NM 12% chrome steel impeller, diffusers and
other wetted components
– 309 SST clad forged steel or F22 Chrome steel barrel
– A463 400 series stainless steel shaft
– ABSOLUTELY no plain or cast carbon steels
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 Feed Water System Connections

• Pump Discharge – all piping and components,

including the pump barrel, up to and including
the second isolation valve should be rated to the
pump shutoff head at turbine overspeed. This
information can be obtained directly from the
pump curves.
• Pump discharge piping will be A106 Gr C.
• Due to the required wall thickness, the discharge
piping will be custom made. Wall thicknesses
up to 4” thick will be common.
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 Feed Water System Connections (cont.)

• IPTO header – design pressure will equal

the shutoff pressure at turbine overspeed
of the pump stage from which the header
is taken.
• This piping will also be A106 Gr C.
• The piping most likely will be scheduled
pipe.
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 Pump Testing

• As a minimum, the pump specification should include a

witnessed curve development and NPSH test.
• For the curve development test, the specification should
require the manufacturer to test the pump at the “highest
achievable test stand speed and power levels.”
• The test should include at least 6 data points. This will
ensure enough data points exist to adequately develop
the pump curve shape. This test should include
minimum flow, design flow and run out flow.
• Test tolerances should follow the recommendations of
the Hydraulic institute (HI)
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 Pump Testing (cont.)

• The NPSH test should be performed at a

minimum of 4 different speeds.
• The suction pressure should be reduced
until the onset of cavitation is achieved.
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 Turbine Power Rating
• The turbine must have the power capacity to spin the pump at all
power levels required by boiler operation. However, as the pump
wears, it’s efficiency will taper off. To compensate for the lower
efficiency, the turbine speed control system will speed up the
pump/turbine in order to maintain the correct flow and head. This
translates to a higher input power requirement from the turbine.

• Once the maximum pump horse power is determined, an

appropriate margin should be added and written into the turbine
specification. Margins between 3 and 10% are common.

• The margins places on the turbine should take into account the
margins placed on the pump. High turbine margins should not be
placed on high pump margins.
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 Key Interface Points

• Steam supply for the turbine driver

– The designing engineer will get the steam supply pressure and
temperature from the cycle heat balance. This information
should be supplied to the turbine driver manufacturer as part of
the initial specification.
– Turbine driver supply steam usually comes from extraction 5 off
the generating turbine.
– During a start up when extraction steam is not available or not in
enough quantity, an auxiliary steam supply system must be
provided. The auxiliary steam condition must be reasonably
similar to the extraction conditions. Otherwise steam
temperature mis-match conditions may occur. The turbine
manufacturer should be consulted when determining the
auxiliary steam conditions.
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 Key Interface Points (cont.)

• Lube Oil System

– The lube oil system is supplied by the turbine driver
manufacturer.
– The lube oil system must be correctly sized to support
the turbine, main pump, booster pump, booster pump
speed reducer and any other train components
requiring lubrication.
– The boiler feed water pump specification should
include a data sheet that requests oil consumption
requirements for all pump components.
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 Key Interface Points (cont.)

• Lube Oil System (cont.)

– The Owner/Owner’s Engineer should require
the generating turbine and the boiler feed
water pump train both use the same type of
mineral oil. This will reduce the number of oil
storage tanks and the amount of stored oil.

– As a general rule, the boiler feed pump train

should follow the generating turbine oil type.
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 Key Interface Points (cont.)

• Lube Oil System (cont.)

– When integrating lube oil pressure and temperature
set points into the control system, the designing
engineer should use the most limiting value for any
component in the pump train.
– As an example, if the turbine low oil pressure set
point is 24 PSIG and decreasing and the pump low oil
pressure set point is 26 PSIG and decreasing, the
higher value of 26 PSIG should be programmed into
the plants Distributed Control System (DCS).
– Both the pump and turbine specifications should
request this information on a data sheet
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 Key Interface Points (cont.)

• Turbine to Pump Coupling

– As part of the original design requirements, the
Owner should specify what type of coupling and
coupling fit should be used. This decision is usually
based upon the Owner’s past experience with pumps
of similar energy levels.
– As part of both the pump and turbine specifications,
the specifying engineer should ask for rotor thermal
displacement, the direction of that displacement and
the anchor point from which the displacement is
measured. Without this information, the coupling
manufacturer will not be able to design a coupling to
meet the needs of the equipment.
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 Key Interface Points (cont.)

• Turbine to Pump Coupling (cont.)

– As part of both the pump and turbine
specifications, the specifying engineer should
require each manufacturer to provide a
detailed shaft end drawing that supports the
type of coupling to be used.
– Once again, the coupling manufacturer will
not be able to design a coupling without this
information.
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 Key Interface Points (cont.)

• Turbine to Pump Coupling (cont.)

– Only after the coupling is designed and
agreed upon by the equipment manufacturers
and the designing engineer, can the final
locations of the turbine and pumps be
determined.
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 Pump Train Foundation

• The Owner/Owner’s Engineers should require the AE

firm to perform a modal analysis on the foundation. The
analysis should cover the entire RPM band of the pump
from zero to the turbines trip speed.
• In order to perform this analysis, vibration information
about the turbine and pump rotors must be gained from
the manufacturers. This information should be
requested on a data sheet.
• Also note here the equipments final location, based upon
the as designed coupling lengths, must be known.
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 Additional Vibration Information

• In order to ensure compatibility between all the rotating

elements of the pump train, the turbine specification
should require the turbine manufacture to perform a
torsional analysis. This analysis will determine if the
pump train has a natural frequency within the speed
range.
• If the torsional analysis results are unfavorable, the
turbine specification should require a follow on modal
analysis of the pump train. This analysis will determine if
there is any excitation energy available to drive the
previously determined natural frequency. This would be
very rare.
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 Additional Vibrational Information (cont.)

• With a high degree of certainty, the designing

engineer can expect to find a turbine first critical
speed at the low end of the speed range. The
turbine specification should require the
manufacturer to state all critical speeds through
120% of the trip speed.
• The pump train’s minimum operating speed
should be at least 10% higher than the first
critical speed of the turbine.
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 Conclusion

• The boiler feed water pump train is a

highly complex assembly. The designing
engineer must adequately size and specify
the pumps and turbine driver so that all the
individual components can work together
as a pumping system.
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11M072008D

QUESTIONS