GALGOTIA COLLEGE OF

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

A VOCATIONAL TRAINING PROJECT REPORT ON

THERMAL POWER PLANT
AT NTPC – VINDHYANAGAR

BY

Rishabh Chaurasia
EEE – B1 ( 4th Year)
1209721084

Submitted To

Mr. Rajesh Narayan

Asst. Professor
VOCATIONAL TRAINING REPORT

ON

THERMAL POWER PLANT

AT NTPC-VINDHYANAGAR

BY
Rishabh Chaurasia
EEE ( 3rd Year)
Galgotia College of Engineering and Technology
Gr. Noida , UP

Submitted To

Mr. K.L. Maurya

Manager HR – EDC
NTPC –Vindhynagar
 PREFACE

The project report deals with the role of NTPC – Vindhyachal in generating electrical power for
the country. It deals with the background of NTPC with the process of generation and
distribution of electrical power from the Vindhyachal plant . It also discusses about the extend of
generating electric power by NTPC throughout the Country .

The Project is made by evaluating the various data sources and then compiling them in the best
possible manner by the submitter . It contains discussion on the coal handling , ash handling and
the condenser system of the thermal power plant .

It discusses the various aspects of a power plant like its basic requirement like fuels , lubricants ,
water , customers and many more .

The project gives us a basic idea about how coal at the the Plant is converted into electrical
power . Then How it is transmitted from the switchyard to the grid and from grid to the sub
station for step down process and then distributing it .
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to thank Mr. K.L. Maurya , MANAGER , HR –EDC NTPC Vindhyachal for
accepting my request to join the vocational training program for the the mont of june-july 2015 .

I would also like to thank the various teachers who helped me by explaining me thing by giving
away their precious time from both C & I STAGE I and C & I STAGE III and also from C & I
LAB .

The 1 –week classes before the plant visit were also very helpful . All the teachers were very
professional and explained the topic with the easiest way with the help of various presentations
and document files .

Inside the plant workers and the local staff were also very helpful in various manner .
 INTRODUCTION

ABOUT NTPC :-

NTPC Limited (also known as National Thermal Power Corporation Limited)

is an Indian Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) under the Ministry of
Power, Government of India, engaged in the business of generation of electricity
and allied activities. It is a company incorporated under the Companies Act 1956
and a "Government Company" within the meaning of the act.

The headquarters of the company is situated at New Delhi. NTPC's core business
is generation and sale of electricity to state-owned power distribution companies
and State Electricity Boards in India. The company also undertakes consultancy
and turnkey project contracts that involve engineering, project management,
construction management and operation and management of power plants. The
company has also ventured into oil and gas exploration and coal mining activities.

It is the largest power company in India with an electric power generating capacity
of 43,803 MW .

Although the company has approx. 18% of the total national capacity it
contributes to over 27% of total power generation due to its focus on operating its
power plants at higher efficiency levels (approx. 83% against the national PLF rate
of 78%).

It was founded by Government of India in 1975, which now holds 70% of its
equity shares on 13 May 2015 (after divestment of its stake in 2004, 2010, 2013,
and 2015).
In May 2010, NTPC was conferred Maharatna status by the Union Government of
India. It is ranked 424th in in the Forbes Global 2000 for 2014.
 ABOUT NTPC-VINDHYACHAL :-

Vindhyachal Thermal Power Station is located in Singrauli district in the Indian state of
Madhya Pradesh. The power station is one of the coal based power stations of NTPC, and is one
of the largest power stations in India with an installed capacity of 4260 MW. It has another 500
MW plant under construction after which the total capacity of NTPC – Vindhyachal would be
4760 MW . It sends the demanded quantity of the electric power into the power grid which sends
the power to the respective points.
The plant makes the uses of various resources for generating electric power . The coal for the
power plant is sourced from Nigahi mines, and the water is sourced from the discharge canal of
Singrauli Super Thermal Power Station.

LAND :-
It aquires total land of 6178 acres .

WATER :-
Water for NTPC Vindhyachal is drawn from NTPC Singrauli station discharge channel
which in turn takes it from Rihand reservoir. A total commitment of 190 cusecs of Make -
up water is already available which covers requirement for Stage-I, II & III. Closed loop
cooling water system using Cooling Towers has been adopted at Vindhyachal Station.

COAL :-

The coal linkage for this station is from the Nigahi Coal Mines of NCL. From there, the coal is
transported by Merry Go Round (MGR) transportation system (22 Kms length with double track)
owned and operated by NTPC. The requirement of coal per year for use in stage- I, II and stage-
III is around 17.1 million MT.

ASSOCIATED TRANSMISSION SYSTEM :-

Power generated by NTPC-Vindhyachal flows to the Western Region Grid. The power is
shared between various states of Western Region. Transmission lines connected to
Vindhyachal Station are as follows –

 400 KV – 4 Lines to Jabalpur

 HVDC link between Western And Northern region
  400 KV – 4 Lines to Korba
 400 KV – 4 Lines to Satna-Bina
 132 KV – 2 Lines to Waidhan

ALLOCATION OF POWER :-

The percentage sharing of power from Stage I and Stage II ( 210 * 6 + 500 * 2 = 2260 MW )
of Vindhyachal is as follows :-

 Madhya Pradesh 29.5 %

 Gujrat 23.6 %
 Chhattisgarh 3.4 %
 Maharashtra 36.1 %
 Goa , Daman And Diu , Dadra ,Nagar Haweli 7.4 %

PERFROMANCE HIGHLIGHTS :-

Some of the performance highlights of NTPC –VSTPP ( Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power
Project ) are

 Station qualified for meritorious productivity award of government of India several

times .

 Vindhyachal stood 4th in the country in 1998-99 with a PLF of 90%

 Vindhyachal stood 5th in the country in 2005-06 with a PLF of 92 % .

 Vindhyachal stood 8th in the country in 2006-07 with a PLF of 92 % .

 Uninterrupted running of Vindhyachal Unit #3 (210 MW) for 559 days is a new national
record.

 Due emphasis has been given on Tree Plantation at NTPC-Vindhyachal. So far more than
17.38 lakh trees have been planted in and around the station. The work of tree
plantation is being taken as one of the targets every year and is being monitored
regularly.
 TOTAL CAPACITY
Present installed capacity of NTPC is 45,048 MW (including 6,196 MW
through JVs) comprising of 41 NTPC Stations (18 Coal based stations, 7
combined cycle gas/liquid fuel based stations, 1 Hydro based station), 7 Joint
Venture stations (6 coal based and one gas based) and 8 renewable energy
projects.
 CAPACITY :-

With time the capacity of generating power has kept increasing at the NTPC – Vindhyachal .
After the commissioning of its first unit during October 1987 , NTPC has kept its pace with time
by commissioning new units of increasing its generating capacity . At present NTPC –
Vindhaychal is capable of generating

Date of
Stage Unit Number Capacity MW
Commissioning
1st 1 210 1987 October
1st 2 210 1988 July
1st 3 210 1989 February
1st 4 210 1989 December
1st 5 210 1990 March
1st 6 210 1991 February
2nd 7 500 1999 March
2nd 8 500 2000 February
3rd 9 500 2006 July
3rd 10 500 2007 March
4th 11 500 2012 June
4th 12 500 2013 April
expected
5th 13 500 completion end
2015
Total Thirteen 4760
Electricity is the only form of energy which is easy to produce , easy to transport , easy to use
and easy to control . So , it is mostly terminal form of energy for transmission and distribution.
Electricity is generated in power plant which can be

 Thermal Power Plant

 Hydraulic Power Plant
 Nuclear Power Plant
 Gas Turbine Power Plant
 Geo Thermal Power Plant

There has been an exponential increase in the production of electricity throughtout the world .
More than 80% of the worlds electricity is generated by the Thermal Power Plant . the plant may
use Fossil Fuels , Coal , Natural Gas as the energy source .

When Planning a Power Plant , the two basic parameters to be dewcided are

 Total Output power to be installed (KW)

 Size Of generating unit

For these factors the LOAD DURATION CURVE factor comes to play . We first need to see
the capacity factor , Peak load , maximum Demand , Average load , Load Factor and many more
factors . By knowing these factors we could make our plant economical , useful and prosperous .

The load duration curve is nothing but a load (KW/MW) Vs duration

(hours/Days/months/years). It gives us the entire picture of the power plant on a graph .
Above is An example of a load duration curve for a power plant of a region .
The graph shows the demand of power by a region during the various segment of
time throughout the day .
 LOCATION OF POWER PLANT

There are various parameters that should be checked before making a power plant on a location .
some of the parameters are :-

 Availability Of Water
 Cost Of Land
 Availability Of Fuel
 Disposal Of Waste
 Demand Location
 Security
 Transport
 Rail And road Connection
 Accommodation Of Staff
 Security Consideration
 Character of Soil
 Wind Direction
 Distance Of centre Of gravity of load demand

These are the important factors that must be satisfied by a location before constructing a
power station at it . It the location fails for few of the parameters it could turn out to be
disadvantageous for the us . The import of the Fuel or Water would be expensive . If there is
no load near the plant then the transmission costs would be very high . If there is no demand
then establishing the plant is nothing but waste of resources and money . If there is no facility
for disposing the wastes generated , this could led to the environment degradation and could
cause the ecological imbalance . Hence , proper inspection of a location should be done
before starting the construction of the power plant . It will save both money and time and
also the labour done by the work force .
 BASIC LAYOUT OF THE
THERAL POWER PLANT

The basic building block of a coal fired plant is steam, which is generated from properly treated
and De-Mineralized water (DM water), supplied by CW (Circulating Water) pump house. The
coal is finely powered to increase its surface area for efficient firing and this process is called
pulverization and it is carried out in Coal Handling Plant (CHP) located near MGR (Merry Go
Round) system of NTPC. The Pulverized coal is then sent to bunkers via conveyor belts and is
then sent to the furnace via a typical air draft system discussed at later stage.

The firing of coal inside furnace maintains it to a very high temperature and this heat energy is
converted into pressure energy in the form of super heated steam extracted from the DM water
flowing inside the water walls located in the boiler which is in turn embedded into the furnace.
This super heated steam does the actual work on turbine blades which reduces its temperature
and pressure and converts the pressure (&heat) energy into kinetic energy of moving blades.
The exhaust steam is re circulated via condenser which would be discussed later. Now the
rotational kinetic energy of turbine is converted into electrical energy using Turbo Generator
(TG) and sent to the distribution sector (Switchyard) via Generator Transformer (GT). The
power flow and all the necessary protection regarding load dispatch is commissioned in
Switchyard.
From the block diagram at the previous sheet it is clear that a thermal power plant can be divided
into some parts , each representing a respective operation which support the overall generation of
the electricity at the end .

The various Parts of a thermal Power Plant are :-

 COAL HANDLINGF PLANT

 ASH HANDLING PLANT

 BOILER

 CONDENSER

 TURBINE

 GENERATOR

 TRANSMISSION

 DEARATOR

 DROUGHT SYSTEM
 COAL TRANSPORTATION AND
HANDLING

Coal is the principal energy source , particularly in India because of its large
abundance and distribution . Coal originated from Vegetable matter which grew
millions of years ago . trees and plants falling into water decayed and later produced
peat bogs . Huge geological upheavals buried these bogs under layers of silt .

According to the geological order of formation , coals are of six types , namely

1. Peat
2. Lignite
3. Subbituminous
4. Bituminous
5. Subanthracite
6. Anthracite

Coal is composed of two types of material Combustible and Non-Combustible.

COAL = COMBUSTIBLE + NON – COMBUSTIBLE

( Maceral ) ( Mineral )
 COAL QUALITY :-

Coal quality is inspected before it is fed to the boiler . The inspection is necessary to avoid the
generation of uncontrollable heat , low boiler temperature , large quantity of moisture and also
the amout of ash it would generate .
 Coal Quality affects the performance of a power station starting from Milling system to
ESP .

 Coal Quality affects the performance of a power station starting from Milling
system to ESP .

 Coal quality has a significant bearing on design of steam generator and on types and
size of auxiliaries .

 Knowledge of coal quality is essential for efficient utilization.

TRANSPORTATION OF COAL :-

The Transportation of coal in NTPC – Vindhyachal is done by the MGR SYSTEM .

By MGR SYSTEM we Mean MARY – GO - ROUND SYSTEM .
MGR is merry-go-round system of NTPC for captive transportation of coal from the mine end to the
power plant. MGR of NTPC-VINDHYACHAL has its own locomotives and wagons. Various rakes
are deployed for transportation of around 30,000 MT/day of coal. One rake consists of one
locomotive and up to 33 wagons. Due to configuration of tracks at track hoppers end and for safety
reason more than 33 wagons are never deployed in a rake. Signalling is also provided for safety of
the rake movement. Operational activities of MGR, which are required for bringing coal from mine
end to track hopper of NTPC-Vindhyachal are identified and planned in accordance.

For unloading of coal from locomotive two methods are employed ,

 MANUAL VIA TRACK HOPPER : -Track hoppers are conical arrangements for inlet of
coal inside the conveyor belt arrangement system via paddle feeders which directs the flow of
coal to conveyors. Track Hopper, normally of 200-250m length. Manual labor required for
coal scavenging.

 WAGON TIPPLER :- In wagon tippler arrangement the wagons are jacked at once and
turned down into the track hopper. No manual labor required.
 The Above figure shows a Wagon tippler

COAL HANDLNG PLANT : -

The coal is received at track hopper of CHP through the merry go round system used for coal
transportation. Coal flows through paddle feeders, belt conveyors, vibro feeder / vibrating screen
to the crusher where it undergoes size reduction (-20 mm size). The crushed coal is transported
through different conveyors and trippers to the respective unit bunkers. The coal crushed in
excess of the requirement is stacked at stockyard of CHP through stacker / reclaimers.
Whenever required by system, the coal is reclaimed and fed to unit bunkers through stacker /
reclaimers. Cage bar / cage screen are checked regularly to ensure that crusher output is always
maintained as per the requirement stated above. In case bigger size coal is found, that crusher is
offloaded and inspected for rectification.

BUNKERING :-Uncrushed coal from track hopper is fed to crusher, where it under goes a size
reduction, and then it is fed to the bunkers through various conveyors and trippers. The sizes of
coal feeding to the bunkers are being checked manually by physical inspection.
STACKING :- The coal which comes from mine through the MGR system is crushed and the
crushed coal from crusher is diverted to the stacker-cum-reclaimers through concerned
conveyors if all unit bunkers level is normal. The coal is stacked in 05 nos. available yards in a
planned manner by proper dozing and water spraying process.

RECLAIMING :- Coal is reclaimed from stack yard with the help of stacker-cum-reclaimer
and fed to the bunkers as per requirement of the process or whenever . The conveyor belt motors
are continuously monitored for over/under loading conditions via SCADA interface panel from
CHP control room. Magnetic separators and various types of protection limit switches are
present inside the conveyor belt region for monitoring. Transfer points (TP) are used for
connecting various conveyor regions and Penthouse contains magnetic separators and metal
detectors in the raw coal. The Coal is then crushed in CRUSHER HOUSE and sent to Bunkers
via other set of conveyor belt .
 DRAUGHT (DRAFT ) SYSTEM

Large amount of air is needed for combustion of the fuel . The gaseous combustible components
are to be removed continuously from the boiler furnace . To produce the required flow of either
air or combustion gas , a pressure differential is needed . The term DRAUGHT or DRAFT is
used to define static pressure in the furnace , in the ducts and in the stack .

The function of draught is basically two – fold :

 To supply to the furnace the required amount of air for the successful combustion of the
fuel .

 To remove the gaseous product of combustion from the furnace and throw these out
through the chimney or duct .

There are two ways of producing Drought : -

1. Natural Drought
2. Mechanical Drought

The NATURAL DROUGHT is caused by the chimney or the stack . It is caused by the density
difference between the atmospheric air and hot gas in stack .
MECHANICAL DROUGHT is produced by fans . There are two types of fans namely ,
FD and ID ( FORCED DROUGHT AND INDUCED DROUGHT ) .
FD is installed at the inlet to the air preheater . They handle cold air , so maintenance is low .
ID are installed at the foot of the stack . They handle hot combustion gases ,so maintenance high.
BOILER
A boiler is closed vessel in which water is converted into steam by utilizing the heat of coal
combustion. Steam boilers are broadly classified into following two types:

 Water tube boilers

In a water tube boiler, water flows through the tubes and the hot gases of combustion flow
over these tubes. Water-tube boilers are used for high-pressure boilers

 Fire tube boiler

In a fire tube boiler, the hot products of combustion pass through the tubes surrounded by
water. The heated water then rises into the steam drum. Here, saturated steam is drawn off
the top of the drum. The steam will reenter the furnace in through a superheater in order to
become superheated. Superheated steam is used in driving turbines. Since water droplets
can severely damage turbine blades, steam is superheated to 730°F (390°C) or higher in
order to ensure that there is no water entrained in the steam.
AN EXAMPLE OF FIRE TUBE BOILER
 STEAM DRUM :-

Risen discharge into the drum is the mixture of stem , water ,foam and sludge . Steam must be
separated from the mixture before it leaves the drum . Any moisture carried by steam to the
superheater contains dissolved salts . In the superheater the water evaporates and the salt gets
deposited on the inside surface of the tubes to form a scale , which is difficult to remove . This
reduces the rate of heat absorption and ultimately leading to the failure of the superheater tubes
due to overheating .
 SUPERHEATER ECONOMISER AND AIR HEATER : -

A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into dry steam used in
steam engines or in processes, such as steam reforming. There are three types of superheaters
namely: radiant, convection, and separately fired. A superheater can vary in size from a few tens
of feet to several hundred feet (a few metres to some hundred metres).
Economizers are mechanical devices intended to reduce energy consumption, or to perform
useful function such as preheating a fluid. The term economizer is used for other purposes as
well. Boiler, power plant, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) uses are discussed
in this article. In simple terms, an economizer is a heat exchanger.

An air preheater (APH) is a general term used to describe any device designed to heat air
before another process (for example, combustion in a boiler) with the primary objective of
increasing the thermal efficiency of the process. They may be used alone or to replace a
recuperative heat system or to replace a steam coil.

In particular, this article describes the combustion air preheaters used in large boilers found in
thermal power stations producing electric power from e.g. fossil fuels, biomass or waste.
The purpose of the air preheater is to recover the heat from the boiler flue gas which increases
the thermal efficiency of the boiler by reducing the useful heat lost in the flue gas. As a
consequence, the flue gases are also conveyed to the flue gas stack (or chimney) at a lower
temperature, allowing simplified design of the conveyance system and the flue gas stack. It also
allows control over the temperature of gases leaving the stack (to meet emissions regulations, for
example).
STEAM CONDENSATION SYSTEM :-

The condenser condenses the steam from the exhaust of the turbine into liquid to allow it to be
pumped. If the condenser can be made cooler, the pressure of the exhaust steam is reduced and
efficiency of the cycle increases.

The surface condenser is a shell and tube heat exchanger in which cooling water is circulated
through the tubes. The exhaust steam from the low pressure turbine enters the shell where it is
cooled and converted to condensate (water) by flowing over the tubes as shown in the adjacent
diagram. Such condensers use steam ejectors or rotary motor-driven exhausters for continuous
removal of air and gases from the steam side to maintain vacuum.

For best efficiency, the temperature in the condenser must be kept as low as practical in order to
achieve the lowest possible pressure in the condensing steam. Since the condenser temperature
can almost always be kept significantly below 100 °C where the vapor pressure of water is much
less than atmospheric pressure, the condenser generally works under vacuum. Thus leaks of non-
condensible air into the closed loop must be prevented.

Typically the cooling water causes the steam to condense at a temperature of about 35 °C (95 °F)
and that creates an absolute pressure in the condenser of about 2–7 kPa (0.59–2.07 inHg), i.e. a
vacuum of about −95 kPa (−28 inHg) relative to atmospheric pressure. The large decrease in
volume that occurs when water vapor condenses to liquid creates the low vacuum that helps pull
steam through and increase the efficiency of the turbines.

The limiting factor is the temperature of the cooling water and that, in turn, is limited by the
prevailing average climatic conditions at the power plant's location (it may be possible to lower
the temperature beyond the turbine limits during winter, causing excessive condensation in the
turbine). Plants operating in hot climates may have to reduce output if their source of condenser
cooling water becomes warmer; unfortunately this usually coincides with periods of high
electrical demand for air conditioning.

The heat absorbed by the circulating cooling water in the condenser tubes must also be removed
to maintain the ability of the water to cool as it circulates. This is done by pumping the warm
water from the condenser through either natural draft, forced draft or induced draft cooling
towers (as seen in the image to the right) that reduce the temperature of the water by evaporation,
by about 11 to 17 °C (20 to 30 °F)—expelling waste heat to the atmosphere. The circulation flow
rate of the cooling water in a 500 MW unit is about 14.2 m³/s (500 ft³/s or 225,000 US gal/min)
at full load.

The condenser tubes are made of brass or stainless steel to resist corrosion from either side.
Nevertheless they may become internally fouled during operation by bacteria or algae in the
cooling water or by mineral scaling, all of which inhibit heat transfer and reduce thermodynamic
efficiency. Many plants include an automatic cleaning system that circulates sponge rubber balls
through the tubes to scrub them clean without the need to take the system off-line.

The cooling water used to condense the steam in the condenser returns to its source without
having been changed other than having been warmed. If the water returns to a local water body
(rather than a circulating cooling tower), it is tempered with cool 'raw' water to prevent thermal
shock when discharged into that body of water.

Another form of condensing system is the air-cooled condenser. The process is similar to that of
a radiator and fan. Exhaust heat from the low pressure section of a steam turbine runs through the
condensing tubes, the tubes are usually finned and ambient air is pushed through the fins with the
help of a large fan. The steam condenses to water to be reused in the water-steam cycle. Air-
cooled condensers typically operate at a higher temperature than water-cooled versions. While
saving water, the efficiency of the cycle is reduced (resulting in more carbon dioxide per
megawatt of electricity).From the bottom of the condenser, powerful condensate pumps recycle
the condensed steam (water) back to the water/steam cycle.
 TURBINE GENERATOR SYSTEM :-

The turbine generator consists of a series of steam turbines interconnected to each other and a
generator on a common shaft. There is a high pressure turbine at one end, followed by an
intermediate pressure turbine, two low pressure turbines, and the generator. As steam moves
through the system and loses pressure and thermal energy it expands in volume, requiring
increasing diameter and longer blades at each succeeding stage to extract the remaining energy.
The entire rotating mass may be over 200 metric tons and 100 feet (30 m) long. It is so heavy
that it must be kept turning slowly even when shut down (at 3 rpm) so that the shaft will not bow
even slightly and become unbalanced. This is so important that it is one of only five functions of
blackout emergency power batteries on site. Other functions are emergency lighting,
communication, station alarms and turbogenerator lube oil.

Superheated steam from the boiler is delivered through 14–16-inch (360–410 mm) diameter
piping to the high pressure turbine where it falls in pressure to 600 psi (4.1 MPa) and to 600 °F
(320 °C) in temperature through the stage. It exits via 24–26-inch (610–660 mm) diameter cold
reheat lines and passes back into the boiler where the steam is reheated in special reheat pendant
tubes back to 1,000 °F (540 °C). The hot reheat steam is conducted to the intermediate pressure
turbine where it falls in both temperature and pressure and exits directly to the long-bladed low
pressure turbines and finally exits to the condenser.

The generator, 30 feet (9 m) long and 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter, contains a stationary stator and
a spinning rotor, each containing miles of heavy copper conductor—no permanent magnets here.
In operation it generates up to 21,000 amperes at 24,000 volts AC (504 MWe) as it spins at either
3,000 or 3,600 rpm, synchronized to the power grid. The rotor spins in a sealed chamber cooled
with hydrogen gas, selected because it has the highest known heat transfer coefficient of any gas
and for its low viscosity which reduces windage losses. This system requires special handling
during startup, with air in the chamber first displaced by carbon dioxide before filling with
hydrogen. This ensures that the highly explosive hydrogen–oxygen environment is not created.

The power grid frequency is 60 Hz across North America and 50 Hz in Europe, Oceania, Asia
(Korea and parts of Japan are notable exceptions) and parts of Africa. The desired frequency
affects the design of large turbines, since they are highly optimized for one particular speed.

The electricity flows to a distribution yard where transformers increase the voltage for
transmission to its destination.

The steam turbine-driven generators have auxiliary systems enabling them to work satisfactorily
and safely. The steam turbine generator being rotating equipment generally has a heavy, large
diameter shaft. The shaft therefore requires not only supports but also has to be kept in position
while running. To minimize the frictional resistance to the rotation, the shaft has a number of
bearings. The bearing shells, in which the shaft rotates, are lined with a low friction material like
Babbitt metal. Oil lubrication is provided to further reduce the friction between shaft and bearing
surface and to limit the heat generated.
 TURBINE EXCITER AND GENERATOR AT STAGE I NTPC

COOLING TOWER :-

A cooling tower is a heat rejection device which rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through
the cooling of a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the
evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air
temperature or, in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers, rely solely on air to cool the
working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature.

Common applications include cooling the circulating water used in oil refineries, petrochemical
and other chemical plants, thermal power stations and HVAC systems for cooling buildings. The
classification is based on the type of air induction into the tower: the main types of cooling
towers are natural draft and induced draft cooling towers.

Cooling towers vary in size from small roof-top units to very large hyperboloid structures (as in
the adjacent image) that can be up to 200 metres (660 ft) tall and 100 metres (330 ft) in diameter,
or rectangular structures that can be over 40 metres (130 ft) tall and 80 metres (260 ft) long. The
hyperboloid cooling towers are often associated with nuclear power plants, although they are
also used to some extent in some large chemical and other industrial plants. Although these large
towers are very prominent, the vast majority of cooling towers are much smaller, including many
units installed on or near buildings to discharge heat from air conditioning.
 SWITCHYARD

Switchgear is one that makes or breaks the electrical circuit. It is a switching device that
opens& closes a circuit that defined as apparatus used for switching, Lon rolling & protecting
the electrical circuit & equipments. The switchgear equipment is essentially concerned with
switching & interrupting currents either under normal or abnormal operating conditions. The
tubular switch with ordinary fuse is simplest form of switchgear & is used to control & protect
& other equipments in homes, offices etc. For circuits of higher ratings, a High Rupturing
Capacity (H.R.C) fuse in condition with a switch may serve the purpose of controlling &
protecting the circuit. However such switchgear cannot be used profitably on high voltage
system (3.3 KV) for 2 reasons. Firstly, when a fuse blows, it takes some time to replace it
&consequently there is interruption of service to customer. Secondly, the fuse cannot
successfully interrupt large currents that result from the High Voltage System. In order to
interrupt heavy fault currents, automatic circuit breakers are used. There are very few types
of circuit breakers in B.P.T.S they are VCB, OCB, and SF6 gas circuit breaker. The most
expensive circuit breaker is the SF6 type due to gas. There are various companies which
manufacture these circuit breakers: ABB, L&T, ALSTOM. Switchgear includes switches, fuses,
circuit breakers, relays & other equipment .

THE EQUIPMENTS THAT NORMALLY FALL IN THIS CATEGORY ARE:-

 ISOLATOR

An isolator is one that can break the electrical circuit when the circuit is to be switched on
no load. These are used in various circuits for isolating the certain portion when required
for maintenance etc. An operating mechanism box normally installed at ground level drives
the isolator. The box has an operating mechanism in addition to its contactor circuit and
auxiliary contacts may be solenoid operated pneumatic three phase motor or DC motor
transmitting through a spur gear to the torsion shaft of the isolator. Certain interlocks are
also provided with the isolator .

These are
1. Isolator cannot operate unless breaker is open
2. Bus 1 and bus 2 isolators cannot be closed simultaneously
3. The interlock can be bypass in the event of closing of bus coupler breaker.
4. No isolator can operate when the corresponding earth switch is on

 SWITCHING ISOLATOR

Switching isolator is capable of:

1. Interrupting charging current

2. Interrupting transformer magnetizing current
3. Load transformer switching. Its main application is in connection with
the transformer feeder as the unit makes it possible to switch gear one
transformer while the other is still on load.

 CIRCUIT BREAKER

One which can make or break the circuit on load and even on faults is referred to as circuit
breakers. This equipment is the most important and is heavy duty equipment mainly utilized
for protection of various circuits and operations on load. Normally circuit breakers installed
are accompanied by isolators.

 LOAD BREAK SWITCHES

These are those interrupting devices which can make or break circuits. These are normally on
same circuit, which are backed by circuit breakers

 EARTH SWITCHES

Devices which are used normally to earth a particular system, to avoid any accident happening
due to induction on account of live adjoining circuits. These equipments do not
handle any appreciable current at all. Apart from this equipment there are a number of
relays etc. which are used in switchgear.
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
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LT SWITCHGEAR

In LT switchgear there is no interlocking. It is classified in following ways:-

1. MAIN SWITCH

Main switch is control equipment which controls or disconnects the main supply. The main
switch for 3 phase supply is available for the range 32A, 63A, 100A, 200Q, 300A at 500V
grade.

2. FUSES

With Avery high generating capacity of the modern power stations extremely heavy carnets
would flow in the fault and the fuse clearing the fault would be required to withstand
extremely heavy stress in process. It is used for supplying power to auxiliaries with backup
fuse protection. With fuses, quick break, quick make and double break switch fuses for 63A and
100A, switch fuses for 200A,400A, 600A, 800A and 1000A are used.

3. CONTACTORS

AC Contractors are 3 poles suitable for D.O.L Starting of motors and protecting the connected
motors.
 4. OVERLOAD RELAY

For overload protection, thermal overload relay are best suited for this purpose. They operate
due to the action of heat generated by passage of current through relay element.

5. AIR CIRCUIT BREAKERS

It is seen that use of oil in circuit breaker may cause a fire. So in all circuits breakers at large
capacity air at high pressure is used which is maximum at the time of quick
tripping of contacts. This reduces the possibility of sparking. The pressure may vary from 50-
60kg/cm^2 for high and medium capacity circuit breakers .

HT SWITCHGEAR


1. MINIMUM OIL CIRCUIT BREAKER
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These use oil as quenching medium. It comprises of simple dead tank row pursuing projection
from it. The moving contracts are carried on an iron arm lifted by a long insulating tension rod
and are closed simultaneously pneumatic operating mechanism by means of tensions but
throw off spring to be provided at mouth of the control the main current within the controlled
device.

o Type-HKH 12/1000c·

o Rated Voltage-66 KV

o Normal Current-1250A·

o Frequency-5Hz·
o Breaking Capacity-3.4+KA Symmetrical

o 3.4+KA Asymmetrical

o 360 MVA Symmetrical

o Motor Voltage-220 V/DC

o Rated Voltage-12 KV

o Supply Voltage Closing-220 V/DC

SWITCHYARD AT NTPC VINDHYACHAL :-

Switchyard is considered as the HEART of the Power Plant. Power generated can be worthful
only if it is successfully transmitted and received by its consumers. Switchyard plays a very
important role as a buffer between the generation and transmission. It is a junction, which
carries the generated power to its destination (i.e. consumers). Switchyard is basically a yard or
an open area where many different kinds of equipments are located
(isolator, circuit breaker etc…), responsible for connect transmission line as per requirement
(e.g. any fault condition).
Power transmission is done at a higher voltage.
(Higher transmission voltage reduces transmission losses). Therefore, the power generated by
the Turbo generator of 1 to 6 units is 15.75KV and of 6 to 12 units is 21KV which is further
stepped-up to 400KV by the Generating transformer & then transmitted to switchyard.
Switchyards can be of400KV &132KV.

In VSTPS there are two interconnected switchyards:-

(i) 400KV SWITCHYARD

(ii) 132KV SWITCHYARD

400KV SWITCHYARD:

There are on total 21 bays in this switchyard.

(A bay is basically a way for the incoming power from generator as well as outgoing power
for distribution).

7 for unit Generating Transformer.

7 for various distribution lines such as:

Patna lie; jabalpur #1 line; korba line;

jabalpur #2 line; Rihand #1 line; SSTPP line; Rihand #2 line;
2 for Bus coupler. 2 for TBC.
2 for ICT.
1 for the Bus Section.
There are on total 6 buses in 400KV switchyard. There are two transfer buses: Transfer bus-1
Transfer bus-2
Transfer buses are kept spare and remain idle and are used only for emergency purposes. BUS
COUPLER-1 & BUS COUPLER-2 interconnects Bus-1 & Bus-2, Bus-3 & Bus-4 respectively. Bus
couplers are very beneficial as they help in load sharing between the different buses .

132KV SWITCHYARD:

There are 15 bays in 132KV switchyard.

4 for Station Transformer. 
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4 for C.W. Transformer. 
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for Colony Transformer. 
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for I.C.T. 
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1 for S-V-R line. 
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1 for Bus Coupler. 
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There are only 2 buses in 132KV switchyard. Bus-1 is arranged in U-shape configuration
Whereas Bus-2 is a single straight line inserted in between U-shaped Bus-1. BUS COUPLER is
used to couple Bus-1 & Bus-2.

C.W.Transformer Bay:

There are 4 C.W.Transformer connected with 132 KV switchyard. (C.W. #1, C.W. #2, C.W. #3,
C.W. #4) rated at 25 MVA.
The main purpose of C.W. Transformer is to step-down the system voltage of 132 KV to 6.9 KV,
which is required for C.W. Pump Motor used for condensing the water.
Colony Transformer Bay:

There are 2 Colony Transformer connected with 132KV switchyard. (Colony Transformer#1 &
Colony Transformer#2) rated at 12.5 MVA.
The purpose of Colony Transformer is to step-down the system voltage of 132 KV to 11 KV for
supplying the electricity to colonies for domestic purposes
COMPARING 210 MW AND 500 MW UNITS

PARAMETER 200 MW 500 MW

MAKE KWV KWV

TYPE 3 CYLINDER , REHEAT 3 CYLINDER , REHEAT

CONDENSING CONDENSING
PEAK RATING 210/229 MW 500/536.7

RATED SPEED 3000 RPM 3000 RPM

MAX. SPEED 3090 RPM 3090 RPM

MIN, SPEED 2850 RPM 2850 RPM

SPEED 700 -2850 RPM 400 – 2800 RPM

CRITICAL SPEED 1200/1600/1900 RPM 900/1548/1896/2700/4626

RPM
RATED STEAM FLOW 670 TON/HR 1530 TON/HR

CIRCULATING WATER 28570 CUBIC METRE/HR 58310 CUBIC METRE/HR

QTY.

TYPE OF GOVERNING ELECTRO – HYDRAULIC ELECTRO – HYDARULIC

NO. OF BEARING 4 4
 CONTROL ROOM

A control room or operations center or operations control center (OCC) is a room serving as
a central space where a large physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored
and controlled.

A control room is a room for production control, and it serves as a central space where a large
physical facility or physically dispersed service can be monitored and controlled. These kind of
central control rooms came into general use in factories during the 1920s.

Control rooms for vital facilities are typically tightly secured and inaccessible to the general
public. Multiple electronic displays and control panels are usually present, and there may also be
a large wall-sized display area visible from all locations within the space. Some control rooms
are themselves under continuous video surveillance and recording, for security and personnel
accountability purposes. Many control rooms are manned on a "24/7/365" basis, and may have
multiple people on duty at all times (such as implementation of a "two-man rule"), to ensure
continuous vigilance.

Other more special-purpose control room spaces may be temporarily set up for special projects
(such as an oceanographic exploration mission), and closed or dismantled once the project is
concluded.

Control rooms are usually equipped with elaborate fire suppression and security systems to
safeguard their contents and occupants, and to ensure continued operation in emergencies. In
hazardous environments, the control room may also serve as an area of refuge for personnel
trapped onsite. The rooms are typically crammed with equipment, mounted in multi-function
rack mount cabinets to allow updating. The dense concentration of equipment often requires
special electrical uninterruptible power supply (UPS) feeds and air conditioning.

Since the control equipment is intended to control other items in the surrounding facility, these
(often fire-resistance rated) service rooms require many penetrations for cables. Due to routine
equipment updates these penetrations are subject to frequent changes, so that a control room
maintenance program must include vigilant firestop maintenance for code compliance.

Due to the nature of the sensitive equipment inside control room cabinets, it is useful to ensure
the use of "T-rated" fire stops, that are massive and thick enough to resist heat transmission to
the inside of the control room. It is also common to place control rooms under positive pressure
ventilation to prevent smoke or toxic gases from entering. If used, gaseous fire suppressants must
occupy the space that is to be protected for a minimum period of time to be sure a fire can be
completely extinguished. Openings in such spaces must, therefore, be kept to a minimum to
prevent the escape of the suppression gas.

A mobile control room is designated as particularly in high risk facilities, such as a nuclear
power station or a petrochemical facility. It can provided a guaranteed life support for the
anticipated safety control.

A control room has a human factor engineered design, where the human-machine interface is
what it takes to control and monitor the various mission critical operations inside of it. The
ergonomic and aesthetic design integrations within a control room design helps in supporting the
environment of the control room as well as the health of its operators. The traffic flow, acoustics,
illumination, health and safety are some of the key requisites of a control room design which
contributes to the functional health of a mission critical control room.

The relationship between objects and the space they occupy within the assigned environment
contributes towards spatial experience. A control room is into a spatial relationship with the
humans, door, machines and furniture that contributes as objects to its environment. Spatial
considerations are taken into account while designing a control room for the correct operation
and interaction of the human-machine interface within a control room environment.

While designing and lay-outing a control room, ergonomic standards are taken into
consideration. The placement of human-machine interface within a control room is kept in such a
way that, the operators could interact with each other without any hindrances during emergency
situations. The entrance and the exit of operators and their movement governed by their
respective assigned work type inside a control room are planned and designed such that, to keep
these to a minimum level for making the control room environment distraction free and that it
does not hinder the operational tasks within a control room design.
 CONCLUSION

Industrial training being an integral part of engineering curriculum provides

not only easier understanding but also helps acquaint an individual with
technologies. It exposes an individual to practical aspect of all things which
differ considerably from theoretical models. During my training, I gained a lot
of practical knowledge which otherwise could have been exclusive to me. The
practical exposure required here will pay rich dividends to me when I will set
my foot as an Engineer.

The training at NTPC Vindhyachal was altogether an exotic experience, since

work, culture and mutual cooperation was excellent here. Moreover fruitful
result of adherence to quality control awareness of safety and employees
were fare which is much evident here.