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TRIAL ON STEAM POWER PLANT

AIM: - To conduct a Trial on Thermal Power Plant to determine the following performance and
operating characteristics curves:

i] Plant Efficiency and Rankine Efficiency Vs Load

ii] Steam Consumption and Specific Steam Consumption Vs Load

iii] Rate of Energy Input Vs Load

iv] Heat Rate Heat Rate Vs Load.

Theory: In steam power plant, discharges exhaust steam is coming to a condenser, which creates
suction at very low pressure, and it allows the expansion of steam in the turbine to a very low
pressure. As a result, turbine's efficiency increases. This type of thermal power plant plays an
important role where there is a question of availability of pure water. Because condensed steam
water in the condenser can be re-circulated to the boiler with the help of pumps. This plant extracts
more energy from per kg of steam and develops the greater amount of power according to the size of
turbine.

Construction & Working of boiler: In the boiler, water is converted into the higher pressure and
temperature steam with the help of heat energy developed from the chemical energy of the fuel by
burning of the fuel. This steam is used for various purposes such as power generation and other
processes.

Steam Turbine: A steam turbine generator works by heating water to extremely high temperatures
until it is converted into steam, then the steam energy is used to rotate the blades of a turbine to
create mechanical or rotational energy. This rotational energy caused by the high pressured steam
turbine is used to generate electricity from an attached generator.

Dynamometer: Dynamometer is a device for measuring mechanical force, or power, transmitted by

a rotating shaft. Since power is the product of torque (turning force) and angular speed, all power-
measuring dynamometers are essentially torque-measuring devices; the shaft speed is measured
separately. Among force-measuring devices are a flexible metallic ring that bends when a force is
applied in such a manner as to tend to collapse it the amount of bending being a measure of the
applied force and a hydraulic “load cell” that measures compressive loads in terms of fluid pressure.

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Condenser: A condenser is designed to transfer heat from a working fluid (e.g. water in a steam
power plant) to a secondary fluid or the surrounding air. The condenser relies on the efficient heat
transfer that occurs during phase changes, in this case during the condensation of a vapor into a
liquid. The vapor typically enters the condenser at a temperature above that of the secondary fluid.
As the vapor cools, it reaches the saturation temperature, condenses into liquid and releases large
quantities of latent heat.

Steam Flow meter: Steam flow meters are helpful in evaluating the performance of the system and
can provide useful data in assessing boiler performance, calculating boiler efficiency, and tracking
the amount of steam required by the system. In some systems, steam flow meters provide a
measurement signal for the boiler control system.

Separating & throttling meter: Throttling and Separating Calorimeters are used to measure the
dryness fraction of steam. If on the other hand, the steam is very wet, then a separating calorimeter is
used. When the dryness fraction of the steam is somewhere in between, then a combined setup of
Throttling and Separating Calorimeter is used.
ma = Mass of water collected in separator
ms = Mass of water collected in condenser
x = Dryness fraction
x = ms / (ms + ma)
Throttling calorimeter determines enthalpies using steam table and mollier chart.
Throttling isentropic process
Enthalpy before throttling = Enthalpy after throttling
hf2 + x.hfg = h3
Dryness Fraction x3 = x2.x1
Procedure:
Follow the procedure below. There will be a lab technician and/or instructor to assist you. Please
note that sometimes fluid knocking occurs in the condenser, which can get loud. This is not a cause
for concern.
Start-Up
1. Turn on the instrument panel with the power switch located on the lower left hand corner of
the panel. While part of the group is going through the following procedure, one member of
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the group should become familiar with the instrument panel, the different switches and
readouts. See Apparatus section for further description of the instrumentation.
2. Open the valves for the cooling water supply and return for the condensing heat exchanger.
3. Open the “master steam supply valve” located to the rear of the apparatus.
4. Open the condensate drain valves.
5. There are the valves that control the flow of steam through the turbine nozzles. Make sure
that these valves are closed.
6. Wait until the piping between master steam supply valve and the main steam supply valve
heats up (about 10 minutes after the master steam supply valve has been opened). If the
master steam supply valve was already open, skip to step seven (7).
7. Open the main steam supply valve one turn (blue handle). Gloves should be used since the
valve is hot. When the valve is opened and the turbine starts to rotate, condensed steam will
start to spray out the seals. This is normal.
8. Wait until the steam turbine heats up (about 10 to 15 minutes). As the turbine heats up, less
of the steam will condense inside the turbine unit.
9. Open the main steam supply valve all the way. The speed of the turbine will increase and
there may be more condensate spray from the shaft seals.
10. Wait until the amount of condensate spray is minimal and then close some of the condensate
drain valves.
11. Apply a load setting of “20” at the potentiometer on the instrument panel. Open up the valve
for the primary nozzle.
12. Do not exceed 3000 RPM. There is a readout for the RPM on the instrument panel. If the
speed of the turbine exceeds 3000 RPM, the emergency overspeed governor will shut off the
steam supply.
Shut-Down
1. Close valves for primary and secondary nozzles.
2. Close main steam supply valve.
3. Reduce load setting on potentiometer to “0.
4. Open all six condensate drain valves.
5. Shut off power to instrument panel.
6. DO NOT close cooling water valves. The lab technician will do this after everything has
cooled down.

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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS: -
1. Steam generation rate = 600 Kg/hr

2. Working pressure of boiler = 12 bar

3. Design Presssure = 17.5 bar

4. Efficiency of Boiler = 90 + 2%

5. Torque Arm Length = 150 mm

6. Turbine = Impulse Type

7. Condenser = Shell & tube type

OBSERVATION TABLE:

S.No Parameter Unit 1 2 3 4 5

1 Load on turbine Kg 0.15 0.15 1.28 1.50 1.60

2 Time required for level power sec 115 130 18 57 40
3 Steam at turbine inlet bar 3.9 4.8 5 5.9 6.1
4 Pressure at outlet bar 1 1 1 1 1
5 Rise in condensation level mm 6 8 11 14 17
o
6 Economiser outlet temperature C 52 53 55 56 56

CALCULATIONS:

1. Mass flow rate of fuel = mf = (Area of tank x Fall in fuel level x density of fuel)/Time

mf = 0.4 x 0.4 x 3 x 10-3 x 330 / 34

mf = 0.011171 kg/sec

2. Heat input = Qin = mf x C.V.

= 0.011171 x 42000

= 492.14 K.W

3. Output power = P = 2πNT/ 60

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= 2 π x 3000 x 3.09

= 970.79 W

4. Plant Efficiency = ηp = Output Power / Qin

ηp = 0.97079 / 492.14 = 19.72 %

5. Heat Rate, HR= 3600/ η

HR= 3600/ 19.72

= 18.85 kg/kW hr

6. Rankine Efficiency= ηR = (hb- hc)/ (hb- he) x 100

Where, hb= Enthalpy of steam leaving the boiler or entering the steam turbine,

hc= Enthalpy of steam leaving the turbine or entering the condenser

he= Enthalpy of feed water entering the boiler or with respect to

economizer outlet temp.

ηR = (2408.48 – 2180) / (2466.4 – 242.7)

= 12.95 %

7. Specific steam consumption

Flow rate (Q) = Area x Rise in level / Time required

= 0.42 x 0.45 x 0.19 / 5 x 60 = 1.197 x 10-4 m3/s

Mass flow rate (m) = Density (ρ) x Q = 1.197 x 10-4 x 1000 = 0.1197 kg/sec

Total steam consumption = mass flow rate x 3600

= 0.1197 x 3600 = 430.92 kg/hr

Specific steam consumption = total steam consumption / Power output

= 430.92 / 0.9709 = 443.188 kg/kW hr

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RESULT:
S.No Parameter Unit 1 2 3 4 5

1 Mass of fuel (x 10-3) Kg/sec 2 2 2 2 2

2 Heat Input kW 2.549 2.85 5.1 7.81 9.96
3 Output Power kW 0.0693 0.23 0.591 0.69 0.78
4 Plant efficiency % 4.2 19.1 20.7 20 18.7
5 Heat Rate Kg/kWhr 0.607 0.884 1.809 1.703 1.925
6 Thermal efficiency % 6.9 8.11 8.4 9.36 10.93
7 Steam consumption Kg/hr 136.38 181.44 249.8 375.2 189.5
8 Specific steam consumption Kg/kW hr 963.63 784.97 421.63 451.11 490.15

DRAW THE FOLLOWING PLOTS:

1. Energy input Vs Load

Energy Input vs Load

15
Energy Input

10
5
0
0.15 0.15 1.28 1.5 1.6
Load

2. HR Vs Load

Heat Rate vs Load

3
Heat Rate

0
0.15 0.15 1.28 1.5 1.6
Load

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3. Rankine efficiency (ηR ) and Power plant efficiency (ηP ) Vs Load

Rankine Efficiency vs Load

12

Rankine efficiency
10
8
6
4
2
0
0.15 0.15 1.28 1.5 1.6
Load

Plant efficiency vs Load

25
Plant efficiency

20
15
10
5
0
0.15 0.15 1.28 1.5 1.6
Load

CONCLUSIONS:

1. With an increase in load, the plant efficiency initially increases and then decreases.
2. With an increase in load, heat input increases
3. With an increase in load, Rankine efficiency hardly changes.
4. With an increase in load, heat rate decreases while incremental heat rate increases.

[EE Instruction Manual JSCOE Mechanical