Power Plant

• A power plant may be defined as a machine or assembly of

equipment that generates and delivers a flow of mechanical or
electrical energy.
• The main equipment for the generation of electric power is
generator. When coupling it to a prime mover runs the
generator, the electricity is generated.
• The type of prime mover determines the type of power plants.
The major power plants are,
• 1. Steam power plant
• 2. Diesel power plant
• 3. Gas turbine power plant
• 4. Nuclear power plant
• 5. Hydro electric power plant
 THERMAL POWER PLANT
• A THERMAL POWER PLANT convert heat into
electric energy.
– Steam Power Plant, Diesel Power Plant, Gas Turbine
Power Plant and Nuclear Power Plants are called
THERMAL POWER PLANT.
• Steam is the most common working fluid used in
steam/Thermal power plant
 STEAM POWER PLANT LAYOUT:
1. A furnace to burn the fuel.
2. Steam generator or boiler containing water. Heat generated
in the furnace is utilized to convert water in steam.
3. Main power unit such as an engine or turbine to use the
heat energy of steam and perform work.
4. Piping system to convey steam and water.

• “A steam power plant using steam as working substance

works basically on Rankine cycle. Steam is generated in a
boiler, expanded in the prime mover and condensed in the
condenser and fed into the boiler again “
 STEAM POWER PLANT LAYOUT:
Layout of thermal plant can be easily understood by
dividing the plant components into four circuits.
• Coal and ash circuit.
• Air and gas circuit.
• Feed water and steam circuit.
• Cooling water circuit
 STEAM POWER PLANT LAYOUT:
• The different types of systems and components used in
steam power plant are as follows:
• (i) High pressure boiler
• (ii) Prime mover
• (iii) Condensers and cooling towers
• (iv) Coal handling system
• (v) Ash and dust handling system
• (vi) Draught system
• (vii) Feed water purification plant
• (viii) Pumping system
• (ix) Air preheater, economizer, super heater, feed heaters
 MHD POWER PLANT LAYOUT:
• The MHD generation or, also known as magneto
hydrodynamic power generation is a direct energy conversion
system which converts the heat energy directly into electrical
energy, without any intermediate mechanical energy
conversion
• Principle of MHD Power generation:
– The principal of MHD power generation is very simple and is
based on Faraday’s law of electromagnetic induction, which
states that when a conductor and a magnetic field moves
relative to each other, then voltage is induced in the conductor,
which results in flow of current across the terminals.
 MHD Cycles and Working Fluids
The MHD cycles can be of two types, namely
• Open Cycle MHD.
• Closed Cycle MHD.
 Open MHD System:
• In open cycle MHD system, atmospheric air at very high
temperature and pressure is passed through the strong
magnetic field.
• Coal is first processed and burnet in the combustor at a high
temperature of about 2700oC and pressure about 12 ATP
with pre-heated air from the plasma.
• Then a seeding material such as potassium carbonate is
injected to the plasma to increase the electrical
conductivity.
• The resulting mixture having an electrical conductivity of
about 10 Siemens/m is expanded through a nozzle, so as to
have a high velocity and then passed through the magnetic
field of MHD generator.
Open Cycle MHD
 Open MHD System:
• During the expansion of the gas at high
temperature, the positive and negative ions move
to the electrodes and thus constitute an electric
current.
• The gas is then made to exhaust through the
generator. Since the same air cannot be reused
again hence it forms an open cycle and thus is
named as open cycle MHD.
 Closed MHD System:
• The fuel, coal (or natural gas ) is burnt to produce hot
gas.
• The hot gas is then seeded with a small amount of an
ionized alkali metal (cesium or potassium) to increase
the electrical conductivity of the gas
• The gas expands through the rocket like generator
surrounded by powerful magnet. During the motion
of the gas positive and negative ions move to the
electrodes and constitute an electric current
 Closed MHD System:
• The rejected gas passes through an air heater for
preheating the inlet air.
• The seed material is recovered for successive use.
• The nitrogen and sulphur are removed (for
pollution control) and the gases are discharged to
the atmosphere