Nagarjuna College of Engineering and Technology

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Seventh Semester 2020-2021

ONLINE CLASSES

POWER PLANT ENGINEERING 18MET552

MODULE 3
Module – III

DIESEL ENGINE PLANT: Method of starting diesel engines, Cooling and

lubrication system for the diesel engine, Intake and exhaust system, Layout of a
diesel power plant.

HYDRO-ELECTRIC PLANTS: Storage and poundage, flow duration and

mass curves, hydrographs, Low, medium and high head plants, pumped storage
plants, Penstock, water hammer, surge tanks.
COURSE OBJECTIVE:
This course Objective will enable students to:
➢Learn diesel engine power plant functions and power generated by
hydroelectric power plant.

COURSE OUTCOMES:
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
➢Analyze Power Generated by Diesel Engine and can effectively draw
hydrograph and Flow duration curves.
Contents
➢Layout of a diesel power plant
➢Method of starting diesel engines
➢Lubrication system of diesel power plant
➢Cooling system of diesel power plant
➢Intake and exhaust system
➢Hydro electric plants
➢Low , Medium and High head hydel power plant.
➢Storage & Pondage
➢Pumped storage plants
➢ Penstock
➢Water hammer, Surge tanks,
➢Flow duration and mass curves.
➢Hydrographs.
Layout of a diesel power plant
1. Engine: It is the main component of the plant which develops required
power. The engine is directly coupled to the generator.
2. Air Intake System ( filter and Supercharger ): Air filter removes the dust
from the air before it enters the engine. Supercharger increases the pressure
of air at engine inlet and hence increases engine power. They are usually
driven by the engines.
3. Exhaust system: It includes silencers and connecting ducts. As the exhaust
gases have higher temperatures, heat of exhaust gases is utilized for heating
the oil or air supplied to the engine.
4. Fuel system: It contains the storage tank, fuel pump, fuel transfer pump, oil
strainers and heaters. Amount of fuel supplied depends on the load on the
plant.
5. Cooling system: The system includes water circulating pumps, cooling towers or spray
ponds and water filtration or treatment plant. The purpose of cooling system is to ensure
the life of the cylinder by extracting the heat developed from the engine cylinder walls and
hence keeping the temperature within the safer range.

6. Lubrication system: The system includes oil pumps, oil tanks coolers and connecting
pipes. The system reduces the friction between the moving parts and hence reduces wear
and tear.
7. Starting system: The system includes starting aides like compressed air tanks. The tank
supplies compressed air to start the engine from cold.

8. Governing system: The governing engine maintains constant speed of the engine
irrespective of load on the plant. This is done by varying the fuel supplied to the engine.
Engine starting methods The SI engines used for power generation in DG plants are
usually small in size which use compression ratio from 7 to 11. Hand and electric motor
(6-12 V dc) cranking are generally used to start the engine.
Method of starting diesel engines
1. Compressed Air System
2. Electric Starting
3. Starting by auxiliary engine
Compressed Air System
➢In this system air at a pressure of 20 bar is
supplied from an air tank at the engine inlet
through intake manifold.
➢In case of multi-cylinder engine compressed
air enters one or more of engine cylinders and
forces down the piston to turn the engine shaft.
➢During the meantime suction stroke of some
other cylinder takes place and the compressed
air pushes this cylinder and causes the engine
shaft to rotate.
Electric Starting
➢It consists of an electric motor driving a pinion which engages a
toothed rim on engine flywheel.
➢Electric supply for the motor is made using a small electric generator driven by
the engine.
➢The electric motor disengages automatically after the engine has started.

Starting by auxiliary engine

➢In this method a small petrol engine is connected to the main engine through
clutch and gear arrangement.
➢The clutch is disengaged and the petrol engine is started by hand.
➢Then the clutch is gradually engaged and the main engine is cranked for
starting.
➢Clutch is disengaged automatically when the main engine is started.
ADVANTAGE OF DIESEL POWER PLANT
1. Very simple design also simple installation.
2. Limited cooling water requirement.
3. Standby losses are less as compared to other Power plants.
4. Low fuel cost.
5. Quickly started and put on load.
6. Smaller storage is needed for the fuel.
7. Layout of power plant is quite simple.
8. There is no problem of ash handling.
9. Less supervision required.
10. For small capacity, diesel power plant is more efficient as compared to
steam power plant.
11. They can respond to varying loads without any difficulty.
DISADVANTAGE OF DIESEL POWER PLANT
1. High Maintenance and operating cost.
2. Fuel cost is more, since in India diesel is costly.
3. The plant cost per kW is comparatively more.
4. The life of diesel power plant is small due to high maintenance.
5. Noise is a serious problem in diesel power plant.
6. Diesel power plant cannot be constructed for large scale.
APPLICATION OF DIESEL POWER PLANT
1. They are quite suitable for mobile power generation and are widely used in transportation
systems consisting of railroads, ships, automobiles and aeroplanes.
2. They can be used for electrical power generation in capacities from 100 to 5000 H.P.
3. They can be used as standby power plants.
4. They can be used as peak load plants for some other types of power plants.
5. Industrial concerns where power requirement are small say of the order of 500 kW, diesel
power plants become more economical due to their higher overall efficiency.
 LUBRICATION SYSTEM OF DIESEL POWER PLANT
The various parts of an engine requiring lubrication are
1. Cylinder walls and pistons.
2. Main crankshaft bearings.
3. Piston rings and cylinder walls.
4. Big end bearing and crank pins.
5. Small end bearing and gudgeon pin bearings.
6. Main bearing cams and bearing valve tappet and guides
7. Timing gears etc.
8. Camshaft and cam shaft bearings.
9. Valve mechanism and rocker arms.
The cooling water used in the engine may be used for cooling the lubricant. Nearly 2.5% of heat
of fuel is dissipated as heat, which is removed by the lubricating oil.
The various lubricants used in engines are of three types:
1. Liquid Lubricants or Wet sump lubrication system.
2. Solid Lubricants or Dry sump lubrication system.
3. Semi-solid Lubricants or Mist lubrication system.
 Engine Lubrication Systems
In an automobile engine, various systems adopted for lubrication are classified
in to
1. Petrol-oil system (Mist lubrication).
2. Wet sump system.
a) Splash lubrication
b) Pressure feed lubrication
3. Dry sump system

1. Petro-oil System:
In this method some amount of lubricating oil is directly mixed with the petrol.
i.e., about 25 to 30ml. of oil mix with one liter of petrol. If oil is less, it causes
damage to the engine. If addition of oil is more, there may be excessive carbon
deposits in the cylinder head and produces poor emissions. This method is used
in scooter and motor cycles [two-stroke engines].
2. Wet Sump System:
In this system, the crank case contains an oil pan or sump that serves as the oil
supply or reservoir tank. It also serves as the oil cooler, oil from the cylinders
and bearings flows by gravity back into the wet sump from where it is pumped
and re-circulated to the engine lubricating system. The wet sump system is again
classified into,
a. Splash lubrication system.
b. Pressure feed system.
c. Semi pressure feed system.
a. Splash Lubrication System:
It is the cheapest method of lubrication and was used in early motor cycles. The
lower end of the connecting rod consists of a scoop like structure as in the
figure. The oil is stored in the oil trough (being delivered from the crank case oil
sump).
When the engine runs, the connecting rod oscillates and the scoop takes
the oil from oil trough and splashes on to the cylinder walls each time
when it passes through BDC position. This lubricates engine walls,
gudgeon pin, main crank shaft bearings, big end bearings etc. The oil
dripping from the cylinder walls collects in the tank where it is cooled by
air flow.
b) Pressure Feed System:
This system is most commonly used in modern car engines. In this system, the oil forces oil under
pressure to the main bearings, connecting rod and cam shaft bearings and also to the timing gears.
Drilled assuages in the crank shaft carry oil from the main bearings to the connecting rod
bearings. The cylinder walls, Piston pin, piston and piston rings are lubricated by oil spray from
the connecting rod and crank shaft. For the cam shaft and timing gears, there is a separate oil line
from the main oil gallery. The basic components of the wet lubricating system are pump, strainer,
pressure regulator, filter etc.
3. Dry Sump Lubricating System:
In this system, two pumps are used. The ump 'A' is called scavenging pump and is
located in the crank case portion as in figure. The oil from this pump is carne to an
external tank i.e., reservoir. The pressure pump 'B' pumps the oil through filter to the
cylinder and bearings.
COOLING SYSTEM OF DIESEL POWER PLANT
Necessity of engine cooling arises due to the following facts
1.The even expansion of piston in the cylinder may result in seizure of the piston.
2.High temperatures reduce strength of piston and cylinder liner.
3.Overheated cylinder may lead to pre-ignition of the charge, in case of spark
ignition engine.
4. Physical and chemical changes may occur in lubricating oil which may cause
sticking of piston rings and excessive wear of cylinder.

Based on cooling medium two types of cooling systems are in general use.
They are
(a) Air as direct cooling system.
(b) Liquid or indirect cooling system.
Air-cooling is used in small engines and portable engines by providing fins
on the cylinder. Big diesel engines are always liquid cooled.
Water cooling systems are classified into two types.
a. Thermosyphon system.
b. Pump circulation system.
1. Air Cooling:
Here, the air stream flows continuously over the heated
metal surface and the rate of heat dissipation depends on
surface area of metal, air mass flow rate, thermal
conductivity of metal, Temperature difference between
metal surface and air.
To increase the effectiveness, the metal surface area which
is in contact with air should be increased. This is done by
providing fins over cylinder barrels. The fins may be cast
integral with the cylinder or may be attached separately.
Water Cooling:
In these systems, the water jackets surround engine cylinders and cooling water flows through
these jackets. Heat is conducted through the cylinder walls to the water in the jackets which
removes the excess heat as it circulates through the radiator.
Water cooling systems are classified into two types.
a. Thermosyphon system.
b. Pump circulation system.
a. Thermosyphon system:
In this system the engine is connected to radiator through flexible hoses. The difference in
densities of hot and cold regions of cooling water causes water circulation between engine and
radiator. The water in circulation absorbs heat from engine cylinder and hence cools it. The
heat from the water is then dissipated into atmosphere through the radiator by conduction and
convection. This cools the water which is required for further circulation. Sometimes fans are
used behind the radiator to increase the air mass flow rate and- hence to increase cooling
efficiency.
Thermosyphon Cooling System
b. Pump circulation system:
This system is similar to Thermosyphon system explained above. The only difference
is cooling water circulation is affected by means of a pump and a thermostat valve
controls the temperature of water.
 Intake and exhaust system
Air intake system
➢Air intake system begins with intake located at the outside of the building provided with filter.
➢Filter removes the dust particles present in an air, otherwise it will cause excessive wear in the
engine.
➢Filters may be dry or oil bath and Electrostatic filters can also be used
➢•Dry type filter are made up of cloth or wool, while in oil bath filters air is swept throught or
over oil bath, so that dust particles are get coated
➢•Sometimes a silencer may be used between engine and intake since the noise may be
transmitted back to outside.

Functions of air intake system is

➢To clean the air
➢To silence the intake air
➢To supply air for supercharger
Exhaust system
➢The exhaust system is used to convey the
exhaust gasses to the atmosphere.
➢It consist of silencer to reduce the noise
➢Muffler is provided in the exhaust system
to reduce the pressure in the exhaust line
➢The exhaust line coming out from the
building should have one or two flexible
tubing section in order to reduce the vibration
➢The exhaust system should be minimum
number of bends
ADVANTAGES OF DIESEL POWER PLANTS
1. Design and installation are very simple.
2. Can respond to varying loads without any difficulty.
3. The standby losses are less.
4. Occupy less space.
5. Can be started and put on load quickly
6. Require less quantity of water for cooling purposes. Overall capital cost is lesser than that
for steam plants.
7. Require less operating and supervising staff as compared to that for steam plants.
8. No problem of ash handling.
DISADVANTAGES OF DIESEL POWER PLANTS
1. High operating cost.
2. High maintenance and lubrication cost.
3. Diesel units capacity is limited. These cannot be constructed in large size. In a diesel power
plant noise is a serious problem.
4. Diesel plants cannot supply overloads 5. The diesel power plants are not economical where
fuel has to be imported.
 HYDRO ELECTRIC PLANTS
Advantages of Hydel Plants
1) Operating and maintenance cost of the plant is low.
2) Less labour is required to operate the plant.
3) No smoke, exhaust gases and other pollution.
4) The sites of hydel plants are usually away from the developed areas and hence
the land is very cheap.
5) Load fluctuations can be met rapidly without loss of efficiency.
6) Since no fuel used, there are no problems of handling and disposal.
Disadvantages
1) Initial cost of the plant including the cost of dam is very high.
2) The hydel plant depends mainly on the availability of water and thus the
problems of stopping the plant may arise during dry seasons.
3) The sites will be away from the load centers, which cause loss of power.
Classification of Hydel Plants:-
1. According to Head of water,
a) Low head plant
b) Medium head plant
c) High head plant
2. According to Nature of load,
a) Base load plant
b) Peak load plant
3. According to Capacity of plant,
a) Low capacity plant (100-999 kW)
b) Medium capacity plant (1 MW-10 MW)
c) High capacity plant (above 10 MW)
4. According to Quantity of water available,
a) Run-off river plants without pondage.
b) Run-off river plants with pondage.
c) Pumped storage plant
 Low head hydel power plant

• A hydel plant with a water head of less than 50 meters is termed a low head plant.
• In such plants, a small dam is constructed across a river to obtain the necessary
water head.
• The excess water is allowed to flow over the dam, while the water head is made
use to run a hydraulic turbine.
• Francis or Kaplan turbine is used to generate power .
 Medium head hydel power plant

➢A hydel plant with a water head of in

the range of 30 to 100 meters is termed a
medium head plant.
➢In this, the water is stored in a main
reservoir.

➢This water is allowed to a small pond or forebay through a canal

➢The water from the forebay is taken to the turbine through penstock.
➢In such plants the forebay itself acts as the surge tank, and hence receives the
excess water during the low demand periods.
➢Francis turbine is most suitable for medium head hydel plants.
High head hydel power plant

➢A hydel plant with a water head of more than 100

meters is termed a high head plant.
➢In this case, the water from the main reservoir is
carried through tunnels up to the surge tank, from
where it is taken through the penstock.
➢Since the water head is very high, the effect of
water hammer is too severe in such plants
➢Thus, it is essential to provide a surge tank in the water line at appropriate location.
➢The surge tank takes care of the increasing and decreasing water levels during the low-
demand and high demand periods, respectively.
➢The Francis and Pelton wheel turbines are most suitable for high head plants.
Pumped storage plant

➢These plants are most suitable for supplying

sudden peak load requirements.
➢This type of plant consists of two storage
reservoirs. The upstream reservoir is the main
storage reservoir to which water flows from
the catchment area.
➢The second reservoir is the downstream (tail
race) reservoir, in which the used water from
the turbine is collected.
➢Penstock is used to convey the water from
the upstream reservoir in to the turbine
➢The water in the downstream reservoir is
pumped back to the main upstream reservoir.
Storage & Pondage

➢Storage plants are the plants with

facilities for storing water at their sites.
➢However, often such plants cannot store
as much water as required for the full year
operation.
➢For continuous operation, it is always
preferred to have one or more reservoirs
upstream.
➢Depending upon the place of storage and
the function, the reservoirs are grouped as
storage and pondage.
Pondage

➢It is defined as a regulating means of water, and is a small reservoir that is

used for the collection of the excess flow water from the dam spill ways of the
main reservoir or from/the river stream.
➢It is basically a small pond or reservoir just behind the power house.
➢The amount of regulation obtained with pondage usually involves storing
water during low loads (during low power demand periods such as early
morning hours and Sundays) to aid carrying peak loads during the week.
➢The water that would go over the dam spill-way unused during low-loads can be
released and added to normal river flow to supply peak loads, usually for a few
hours of duration
➢For fluctuating loads, pondage increases the maximum capacity that a plant can
carry.
➢Plants with reservoirs upstream can store excess water of spring floods for
release during summer to supplement the low rates of flow during this dry season
• Reservoir water elevation will generally be lowest during the year at the end of
the summer.
• Pondage increases the capacity of a river for a brief period only, like for 8 week.

But, storage increases the capacity of a river over an extended period such like 6
months to 2 years.
Hydrographs:-
➢It is a graph representing the discharge of flowing water with respect to time
for a specific period.
➢The time axis may have units of hour, day, week or month.
➢The discharge units may be m3/sec, km2-cm/hr or day-second-meter.
➢Discharge hydrographs are also known as flood or run-off hydrographs.
Uses of a Hydrographs:
A hydro graph is useful to determine a number of parameters, such, as:
1) Rate of flow at any instant during the specific recorded period.
2) Total volume of flow in a given period, as the area under the hydrograph
represents the volume of water in a given duration.
3) The mean annual run-off for any of the recorded period.
4) The maximum and minimum run-off for any selected period.
5) The maximum rate of run-off during the floods and duration of frequency
of floods (peak of the curve indicates the flood).
Unit Hydrograph:
A unit hydrograph is a hydrograph with a volume of 1 cm of run-off resulting
from a rainfall of specified duration and a real pattern, which is constructed
using the hydrograph data.
Flow Duration Curve

➢This is another useful graphical representation of the run-off for a given period.
➢The run-off data on the ordinate against the corresponding percentage of time on
the abscissa represents a Flow Duration Curve.
➢Fig. shows a typical flow duration curve.
➢The flow may be expressed as m3/s/week or any other convenient unit of time.
➢When the available head of water is known, then the total energy of flow can
be computed
➢Thus, by flow duration curve it is possible to estimate the total power available
at the site.
➢A flow duration curve can be used to determine the minimum and maximum
conditions of flow of water.
➢If the magnitude on the ordinate is the estimated power contained in the stream
flow against the corresponding percentage of time on the abscissa, then the curve
is known as Power Duration Curve .
➢If the head of discharge, H is known practically then power of plant, P can be
obtained from following equation,
P=ρgHQη₀ (in W)
Where, ρ = 1000kgm-3 is density of water
g = 9.81ms-2 is acceleration due to gravity
H is height of water in m
Q is discharge in m3/s
η₀ is overall efficiency
Mass Curve:-
➢The graph representing the cumulative values of water quantity (run-off) against
time is termed as the Mass Curve.
➢A reservoir is the means of storing water that is available during rainfall, from
the catchment areas and/or from a river.
➢A mass curve is a convenient method of determining the storage requirements
of a reservoir so as to obtain a satisfactory flow from the fluctuating discharge of
a river.
Hydrological cycle

Definition of Terms:
➢Runoff: Part of the precipitation, snow melt, or irrigation water that appears
in surface streams, rivers, drains or sewers.
➢Transpiration: The process of liquid water becoming water vapor, including
vaporization from water surfaces, land surfaces, snow fields and leaf surfaces.
➢Infiltration: Flow of water from the land surface into the subsurface.
Penstocks
➢Penstocks are the pipelines that connects between the water source (such as the
reservoir, forebay, water way) and the hydraulic turbine.
➢These are usually large circular pipes with diameters ranging form 1 meter to 8
meters.
➢Penstocks are usually made of steel or concrete pipes.
➢Proper sealing should be taken at the entry of the penstock at the dam or the
forebay because, if the entry is open to air, it may create aeration problems in the
prime mover, thus affecting the performance.
➢The penstocks should be no sharp bends. Sharp bends cause frictional losses and
reduce the effective water head.
➢Generally penstocks are exposed type, since easy to repair and maintain.
➢However, covered penstocks can be used when the regions are prone to sliding
rocks, snow, so as to avoid damage to the pipe line.
 Water Hammer
➢Whenever there is a sudden fall in the demand, the governor closes the penstock
valve to a minimum.
➢This sudden closure-of the valve increases the pressure inside the penstock due to
the kinetic energy of the water which is high enough to damage the penstock pipe.
➢This effect is termed Water Hammer.
➢Also, whenever there is a sudden rise in the demand, the gates are opened by the
governor, thereby creating vacuum in the penstock pipe.
➢This causes to bubbling and foaming action.
➢This leads to operational problems in the turbine.
➢These problems can be overcome by providing a surge tank in the penstock line.
Surge Tank
➢Surge tank is an open tank.
➢The main purpose of providing surge tank is to reduce the distance between the
free water surface and turbine there by reducing the water hammer effect on
penstock
➢And also protect upstream tunnel from high pressure raises.
➢It also serves as a storage tank when the water is accelerating during increased
load conditions and when the water is decelerating during reduced load conditions.