Steam turbine undergoes changes due to & during various stages of operation. During start up, loading, load variations and coasting down of the turbine most of the changes it under- goes are either invisible or in micro limits rendering it impossible to see it with the naked eye. The turbovisory instrument system is an aid to enable us to process the information for safe and proper operation of steam turbine and generator. ‘BEHAVIOUR OF . TURBINE BY THE USE OF TURBOVISORY SYSTEM Heavy and high speed rotating machine like a steam turbine, subjected to high temperature and pressure needs close monitoring and supervision of certain physical | phenomena. Steam turbine undergoes changes due to & during various stages of operation. During start up, loading, load variations and coasting down of the turbine | most of the changes it under- goes are either invisible or. in. micro limits rendering it impossible to see it with the naked eye, Theturbovisory instr y Mc | enable us to process the information for safe and proper operation of steam turbine and. ator. The most important parameters requiring attention are 1, Casing Expansion Differential Expansion between rotor and casing and their direction, Main steam temperature Casing & Piping temperature differentials Exhaust hood temperature Turbine speed Curtsstage pressure 8. Axial shift of rotor assembly 9. Rotor eccentricity 10.Bearing vibrations 11. Lubricating oil temperature, pressure & flow. 6 Casing Expansions (Overall Expansion) The turbine casing comes in contact with the steam and is therefore subjected to the thermal expansion. The free movement of the bearing pedestal on the support without jump or impact is important to prevent the deformation of the casing. It also ensures proper pressure distribution on the axial and radial bearing. The contact surface should be kept clean, properly lubricated to reduce the friction between the contact surfaces. All the casing bolts, washers at the pedestal should be free all the time and it should be checked regularly while the turbine is in load and during start up. Position of detector The detector for m | sensing rod butts a asuring thermal expansion is fixed to the foundation such that the ainst the casing. When the casing expands the sensing rod movescausing the armature to move inside the electromagnet. signal is generated which gives the value of expansion. One detector ismounted at front bearing pedestal. ‘Normal values of thermal expansions ‘At steady full load operation with normal steam parameters, the maximum overall thermal expansion isO—10mm. ‘As the casing has more mass it takes longer time to expand. During start up of the turbine suificient heating time should be given at 500 rpm and 1500 rpm while rolling. Chest heating is given to heat up and expand the casing faster especially during cold start. Behaviour of the Machine ‘A. During cold start and the load, raising, turbine casing expands at slower rate than the rotor. Hence the problem of high positive differential expansion may appear. To keep it within limits: a) We have to reduce steam temperature if itis more than permissible value as per start up and sliding parameters for loadingthemachine. ) Care should be taken to maintain the difference in temperatures between top half of the casing and ‘the flange within +30'Cto-10°C. ©) Givesufficient time for heating at 1500 rpm. d) Load the machine at the rate of 0.5 MW / Min. check from manual. B. If the heating is given for longer time and if itis not possible to synchronize the machine (i.e idling) due to any problem the exhaust hood temperature will increase beyond the limit. To keep it under control : a) Try to synchronize the machine and load the machine as early as possible. b) If synchronizing is not possible reduce the speed of the turbine to 1500 rpm from 5500 rpm. ©) Try to increase the vacuum by cutting in second ejector. d) Give spray to the exhaust steam temperature and tryto reduce exhausthood temperature. ©) Increase gland steam temperature. . After synchronizing of the machine differential expansion start increasing rapidly in positive direction and may touch maximum limit of positive differential expansion. This can be controlled by : a) Reducing steam temperature. b) Reducing the vacuum. ©) Stop exhaust hood spray if it is given before synchronizing. D. Differential expansion of turbine may increased suddenly to positive value during tripping of the machine or when itis on barring gear. This can be due to chilling of the casing due to sudden entry of low temperature steam, water probable reasons are: a) Flooding ofthe heaters. b) Very high drum level and carry over. ©) Wet steam or water entering from the gland sealing system. Casing and Piping Metal Temperature Most important parameters to be monitored during. loading and unloading of the set are the temperature difference at various points of casing. The difference of temperature must be maintained within permissible limits to avoid increase in the stress on the material and deformation of the casing. The important parameters to be observed are: 1. Difference between top and bottom casing. 2. Difierence between top casing and flanges. Differential in the top and bottom casing During normal operation the temperature of top casing, remains higher than the bottom casing. When this difference increases beyond tixe permissible value it may. result in unfavorable transient deflection in the casings by which the radial clearances between the rotor and, stator may reduce to zero. During rotation this may lead to the bending of the rotors and breakdown of the machine. The permissible values during normal operation and start up are 20°C & 70°C respectively. The difference should never be less than 20°C and negative. The negative difference indicates the water ingress or chilling of the casing. Difference of temperature between top casing and the flanges The turbine casing flanges are thicker than the casing top and bottom cylinder. The massive flanges, heats up at slower rater than the casing while startig the turbine from cold condition, The longitudinal expansion of the flanges will be less than the cylinder and produces distortion of the casing and develops additional stress on, the bolts. The permissible temperature difference is 10" C to +90" C. The negative difference indicates that flanges are hotter than the casing. The flanges are heated up by steam during cold start up, (start up after substantial outage), rapid increase of the load from steady low load. This will avoid exce: relative expansion of casing and the rotor.Difference of temperature before and after strainer Piping. Daring starting and soaking period of the turbine the temperature difference before and after strainer piping ate observed. This temperature difference should be minimum to ensure proper heating up and proper steam temperature ofthe steam entering the turbine. Always ensure that the steam temperature entering or ‘admitted in the piping and the turbine casing is at least 50°C higher than the metal temperature. This will ensure that no condensation of steam takes place and cooling of the metal does nottakesplace. ‘Main steam and reheat steam temperature Higher pressure and temperature of the steam entering the turbine beyond permissible value may develop under stresses in casings. 1. High inlet steam temperature will increase the positive differential expansion and also may lead to creeping ofthe turbinemetal. 2. Low temperature steam than the turbine metal temperature will develop unwanted stresses, high difterential expansion, bending of the shat. It may leak the joins Exhaust hood temperature During unit start up and long idle running period the exhaust hood temperature increases, due to churning of the steam. The thermal energy of the steam is not completely utilized, during rolling of the turbine, The exhaust hood temperature should notincrease more than 80°C during “ON LOAD” and 125°C during off load running turbine, This temperature can be controlled by loading the machines, spraying the water in the exhaust hood, reducing the steam temperature, (Curtis Wheel Pressure or‘A’ Wheel Pressure Increase in the Curtis stage pressure may increase the axial thrustto the turbine rotor it develops stresses on the parting plane bolts. High Curtis wheel pressure will reduce the output of the turbine generator and the efficiency. Curtis wheel pressure will increase dueto 1. Saitdeposition on the turbine blades. 2. Damaged guide blades and moving blades. 3. Low condenser vacuum at fll load. Salt deposition is a result of chemical impurities in the steam, carryover from the drum. The quality ofthe steam should be maintained asgiven, 1. Conductivity at 25°C caused by non volatile salt/0.3 rmieromha fem Silica 20 microgram kg. NH3/1 mg/kg, Na/10microgram kg Fe=20microgram kg Hardness/ 0,007 mval /1 02/0.01 mg/t The salt deposits may be due to iron, silica, phosphate, sodium. The salt deposit can be reduced by low pressure ‘and low temperature steam washing. Steam washing is not the solution to the salt deposits, the only solution to the salt deposits, is to maintain water chemistry. Frequent steam washing reduces the life ofthe machine. The Curtis ‘wheel pressure should be monitored regularly. Turbine Speed The turbine speed is the important parameters to be observed. During rolling of the turbine itis possible to control the speed. After synchronized the speed of the turbine will as per the grid frequency and it cannot be controlled, when the unit is operating out of the grid the speed contro is possible by the governor control and it should be monitored, 1. Observed: A tly ball type over speed turbine protection is provided to safeguard the machine against over speed. It has two over speed tripping known as “FEG" front emergency governor. “REG” Rear emergency govemor. They will ‘operate and ip the turbine at 10 % and 12 % overspeed. A back up protection is also provided to trip the turbine, known as “Primary oil pressure high”. It operates at set value of 4.25 kg /cm2_ primary oil pressure. The primary oil pressure varies M2 (speed)2 .Itremains. 3.00 kg/cm? at 5500rpm. 2.Low speed The turbine should not be operated at low frequency. Low frequency stage 3 tipping is provides at 47.5 Hz. Below this frequency the a, Goveming system may behave erratic. b. The lubrication also may not be proper as main oil pump discharge pressure will be low. . Further down below this frequency ifthe turbine may reach near tocritical speed. - Critical speed The turbine rotor mass center does not coincide with geometrical axis of rotor on which it rotates. As the turbine rotor rotates, there will be certain transverse force tending to deflect the shalt. The deflection of shaft also increases with the speed of the turbine. At a particular speed the deflection increases very rapidly andmay beso ‘great that shaft becomes permanently bent, The vibrationwill be maximum at this speed. When the speed is increased further the shaft deflection settles down and Vibration will again reduce. This speed is known as the critical speed. To have minimum effect of shaft deflection and the vibration, the critical should be passed rapidly. For the different mass the critical speed will be different. The critical speed of rotor is 2244 / 3661 /6817. The critical speed of the rotor also depends on ‘a, Bearing condition b. Oiltemperature c. During tripping of the machine never speed up the turbine before turbine speed reduces below 1000 Ipm. impulse turbine there is a certain force in the axial direction due to change of movement of the steam in that direction, The force tends to rush the rotor towards the. exhaust end of the turbine. This axial movement of the rotor with respect to stator is known as axial shift of the rotor. This axial force will be less ifthe turbine is partially teactiontype. ‘The difference in the axial force is taken up by the thrust, bearing. ee The non permissible increase of axial force can cause the wear or damage of the axial thrust bearing. This force may bedueto 1. Salting on the turbine blades. 2, Ingress of waterinto the turbine. 3. Damage ofthe turbine blades. When this force crosses the permissible limit, the rotor moves axially and touches the static part of the turbine. Unlike differential expansion the occurrence of this is faster hence this parameter is continuously monitored and turbine is tripped of the set value along with the alarm on the turbine control panel. The permissible limit of the axial shift and tripping is given at: Electromagnetic axial shift = 0.60.mm. ‘Two type of protection tripping device is given to avoid the damage to the turbine blades. When the machine trips operating axial shift high protection, the interlock ‘operates to open the vacuum breaker valve, and close the steam inlet motorized valve to cutoff the steam to the ejector. This will tend to break the vacuum and reduce the coasting down time of the turbine and extent of damage while passing through the critical speed. Position of the pickup The position of thrust collar with respect to the working, pad of the thrust bearing is measured, at the thrust bearing located at TG front. There are two system of monitoring this parameter. a) Electrical system Itisknown as electromagnetic axial shift protection. The rotor collar rotates in the ‘U’ shaped detector. The airgap between the rotor collar and ‘U’ Shape detector measured and electrical signal is generated accordingly to trip out the turbine when axial shift movement reaches 0.8mm, Eccentricity This is the distance between the actual shaft position center and the center of the bearing. The eccentricity indicates any bend in the shait. The bend in the shatt will, contribute to the high vibration. Abent shaft may damage the turbine and hence the turbine is not permitted to operate in case of high eccentricity. The eccentricity values are only indicative. This has to be interpreted in relation to vibration and bearing oil temperature. High eccentricity alone may not indicate whether something is wrongin theturbine. ee Effect of high eccentricity and vibration 1. ifmachine is kept running in such condition. 2, may damage the bearing; journal run out surface condition may deteriorate. 3. Rubbing and wear of labyrinth may result in high pressure of leak off steam and consequently it may affect the condition of parting plane joint and turbine efficiency. 4. In the tripping of the turbine during such condition during casting down period vibration will increase further and may damage the machine, In such condition when the machine is tripped by hand the machine should be brought to the rest as quick as possible ~ by operating the vacuum breaker valve and Cutting offthe steam supply tothe ejector. ‘The permissible value of the eccentricity is 60 micron. Eccentricity pickups The non contact type inductive sensors are mounted on. the bearing pedestal near the bearing over a shaft with a air gap of 1.5 mm. This transducer forms an arm of a bridge which is fed with supply. This typical frequency used to avoid the noise from the harmonics and sub harmonics of 50 Hz. Output of the bridge is amplifiedand is displayed in UCB. There in separate amplifiers are used forthree channels. igh eccentricity when the turbine ison barring gear If the high eccentricity is observed at the barring gear speed the turbine should not be rolled. it indicates a bent inthe rotors. To even out the turbine rotor turbine should be continue to roll at lower speed i.e at 500 rpm. If turbine is shutdown and the rotors allowed to rest in one. position due to unavoidable condition for an appreciable time then due tounequal heating the shait get bent. In this case the turbine rotor should be put on barring gear for considerable time if the eccentricity is high at the barring, speed and soak turbine at 1500 rpm for longer time to avoid vibration during start up of the turbine. If it is not possible to put the machine on barring gear, hand barring, to be done by turing the rotor by 180" at an interval of every 20 minutes tll the barring gear starts. Vibration High vibration is dangerous to the turbine as this cause more fatigue stresses to the ‘machine. The life of the machine will come down and it may result in failure of some parts of the turbine. The turbine is not permitted to continued operation when the vibration increases beyond predetermined value. Causes of vibrations are: 1. Certain unbalance at the time of ‘commissioning. 2. Coupling misalignment existing since commissioning. 3. Sinking of TG foundation and isturbance in the alignment, 4. Friction which retards sliding of the pedestal Failure of turbine rotor blades, Heavy salt deposition on blades. Vibration due to water splashing during shutdown and temporary bends of rotor, 8, Any hard foreign particles in the oil may damage the bearing and hence cause the high vibration, 9. Too large bearing clearance, bearing metal, 10. Vibration due to oil whip. 11. Vibration due to operation problem like improper shrinking, lingering in the turbine rolling during critical speed, fast loading of the machine generator problem. 12.Vibration limit: The normal value of vibration measured“on the bearing in any direction is 25 microns or less in double amplitude. When vibration crosses the limit one should investigate the reason. The maximum value allowed is 50 microns, (Double amplitude), Vibration pickups ations are observed more during normal operation, reduce the load and try to control the vibration. If itis not controlling and machine is required to hand tip then break vacuum to reduce the coasting down time and reduce the damage to the machine during al speed,