Steam Turbine

Prepared by
Manamee Noor Tayba
Department of Mechanical
Engineering, UCTC
Introduction
What is a Turbine ?
A Turbine is a device which converts the heat energy of steam into the
kinetic energy & then to rotational energy.
The Power in a steam turbine is obtained by the rate of change in
momentum of a high velocity jet of steam impinging on a curved blade
which is free to rotate.
The basic cycle for the steam turbine power plant is the Rankine cycle.
The modern Power plant uses the rankine cycle modified to include
superheating, regenerative feed water heating & reheating.
STEAM TURBINE
❖ A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy
from pressurized steam, and converts it into rotary motion.
❖ Steam turbine convert a part of the energy of the steam evidenced by
high temperature and pressure into mechanical power-in turn electrical
power.
❖ The steam from the boiler is expanded in a nozzle, resulting in the
emission of a high velocity jet. This jet of steam impinges on the
moving vanes or blades, mounted on a shaft. Here it undergoes a
change of direction of motion which gives rise to a change in
momentum and therefore a force.
STEAM TURBINE
❖ The motive power in a steam turbine is obtained by the rate of change
in momentum of a high velocity jet of steam impinging on a curved
blade which is free to rotate.

❖ The conversion of energy in the blades takes place by impulse,

reaction or impulse reaction principle.
STEAM TURBINE
 Advantages
✔ It can translate a relatively large fraction of the heat energy into
mechanical work.
✔ Thermal economy is fairly good.
✔ Steam turbine possesses for its moving parts rotating elements only.
✔ Easy to balance.
✔ Absence of internal lubrication.
⇒ Exhaust steam is not contaminated with oil vapor.
⇒ Considerable savings in lubricating oil.
Advantages
✔ High component efficiency.
✔ High rotational speed.
✔ Amount of wear is negligible.
✔ The lubricating oil may be used for long period without replacement
Demerits
• For slow speed application reduction gears are required.
• The steam turbine cannot be made reversible.
• The efficiency of small simple steam turbines is poor.
Turbine Selection
In all fields of application the competitiveness of a turbine is a
combination of several factors:

❑ Efficiency
❑ Life
❑ Power density (power to weight ratio)
❑ Direct operation cost
❑ Manufacturing and maintenance costs
Steam Turbine Classification
❖ By details of stage design
Impulse Turbine
Reaction Turbine
❖ By steam supply and exhaust conditions
Condensing
Non-condensing
Automatic or controlled extraction
Mixed pressure
Reheat
Steam Turbine Classification
❖ By casing or shaft arrangement
Single casing, Tandem compound or Cross compound
❖ By number of exhaust stages in parallel
Two flow, Four flow or Six flow
❖ By direction of steam flow
Axial flow, Radial flow or Tangential flow
❖ Single or multi-stage
❖ By steam supply
Superheat or Saturated
 Two important elements of steam turbine

1. Nozzle: In which the steam expands from a high pressure and a

state of comparative rest to a lower pressure and a state of
comparatively rapid motion.
2. Blade or deflector: In which the stream of steam particles has its
direction and hence its momentum changed. The blades are attached
to the rotating element of the m/c or rotor; whereas, in general, the
nozzles are attached to the stationary part of the turbine, which is
usually termed the stator, casing or cylinder.
Turbine Blades
Principle of Operation
• Steam at high pressure and temperature expands through nozzles
forming high velocity jets.
• Many such nozzles are mounted on inner wall of cylinder or stator
casing
• Steam jet from static nozzles impinges and impart its momentum on to
rotor blades. This make the rotor to rotate.
• A set of one array of stator and rotor blade is called a ‘stage’
• Number of stages are arranged one after another and thus
thermodynamic energy is converted into kinetic energy.
Principle of Operation
Principle of Operation
Steam Turbine Stage
• A turbine stage consists of stationary stator row (guide vanes or nozzle
ring) and rotating rotor row.
• In the guide vanes high pressure, high temperature steam is expanded
resulting in high velocity.
• The guide vanes direct the flow to the rotor blades at an appropriate
angle velocity.
• In the rotor, the flow direction is changed and kinetic energy of the
working fluid is absorbed by the rotor shaft producing mechanical
energy.
Steam Turbine Stage
Types of Steam Turbine
CONSTRUCTION & WORKING PRINCIPLE OF
IMPULSE STEAM TURBINE
The uppermost portion of the
diagram shows a longitudinal
section through the upper half
of the turbine.
The middle portion shows the
actual shape of the nozzle and
blading.
The bottom portion shows the
variation of absolute velocity
and absolute pressure during the
flow of steam through passage
of nozzles and blades.
CONSTRUCTION & WORKING PRINCIPLE OF
IMPULSE STEAM TURBINE
The expansion of steam from its initial pressure (steam chest pressure)
to final pressure (condenser pressure) takes place in one set of nozzles.
Due to high drop in pressure in the nozzles, the velocity of steam in
the nozzles increases.
• The steam leaves the nozzle with a very high velocity and strikes the
blades of the turbine mounted on a wheel with this high velocity.
• The loss of energy due to this higher exit velocity is commonly known
as carry over loss (or) leaving loss.
• The pressure of the steam when it moves over the blades remains
constant but the velocity decreases.
• The exit/leaving/lost velocity may amount to 3.3 percent of the nozzle
outlet velocity.
CONSTRUCTION & WORKING PRINCIPLE OF
IMPULSE STEAM TURBINE
❑ In Impulse Steam Turbine, there are some fixed nozzles and moving blades
are present on a disc mounted on a shaft. Moving blades are in symmetrical
order. The steam enters the turbine casing with some pressure. After that, it
passes through one or more no. of fixed nozzles into the turbine. The
relative velocity of steam at the outlet of the moving blades is same as the
inlet to the blades. During Expansion, steam's pressure falls. Due to
high-pressure drop in the nozzles the velocity of steam increases. This
high-velocity jet of steam flows through fixed nozzles and it strikes the
blade with constant pressure. An impulse turbine, steam produced only
impulsive force to the blades. Now blades are starting to move in the same
direction of the steam flow. Due to change in momentum, turbine's shaft is
starting to rotate.
An example of Simple Impulse turbine is a DA-Laval turbine.
DA-Laval Turbine
IMPULSE STEAM TURBINE
WORKING PRINCIPLE OF REACTION
STEAM TURBINE
• The pressure of the steam at
outlet from the moving blades
of the turbine is less than that at
the inlet side of the blades; the
drop in pressure suffered by the
steam during its flow through
the moving blades causes a
further generation of kinetic
energy within the blade and
adds to the propelling force
which is applied to the turbine
rotor.
REACTION STEAM TURBINE
Parson’s Reaction Turbine
The reaction turbine is composed of moving
blades (nozzles) alternating with fixed
nozzles. In the reaction turbine, the steam is
expanded in fixed nozzles and also in the
moving nozzles. In other words, the steam is
continually expanding as it flows over the
blades. There is pressure and velocity loss in
the moving blades. The moving blades have a
converging steam nozzle. Hence when the
steam passes over the fixed blades, it expands
with decrease in steam pressure and increase
in kinetic energy.
Parson’s Reaction Turbine

❖ In reaction turbines, the steam expands through the fixed nozzle ,

where the pressure potential energy is converted to kinetic energy. The
high-velocity steam from fixed nozzles impacts the blades (nozzles),
changes its direction and undergo further expansion. The change in its
direction and the steam acceleration applies a force. The resulting
impulse drives the blades forward, causing the rotor to turn. There is 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. In this type of turbine the pressure drops take place in a
number of stages, because the pressure drop in a single stage is limited.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IMPULSE TURBINE
AND REACTION TURBINE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IMPULSE TURBINE
AND REACTION TURBINE
Advantages of Steam Turbine over Steam
Engine
• It requires less shaft workspace compared to the steam engine.
• The absence of various links such as a piston, piston rod, crosshead,
etc. make the mechanism simple. The steam turbine is quiet and
smooth in operation.
• In steam turbine power is generated at a uniform rate. Therefore, the
flywheel is not needed.
• The internal lubrication is not required in a steam turbine. This reduces
the cost of lubrication.
• Steam turbine overload capacity is large.
Advantages of Steam Turbine over Steam
Engine
• Steam turbine can be designed for much greater capacities of power as
compared to the steam engine. Steam turbines can be built in for
generating power ranging from a few horsepower to over 200,000
horsepower in single units.
• It can be designed for greater range of speed of operation.
• Thermodynamic efficiency of the steam turbine is higher compared to
the steam engine.
• In a steam turbine, the steam consumption does not increase with an
increase in years of service.