Thermal Power Pant

What is Power:
Basically power is the ability to do work . There are many power in our Environment- Like

Mechanical Power
Electrical power
solar power
hydro power
Geothermal Power
Wind power
Nuclear power
etc
But we are going to discuss about the Electrical Power. So what is Electrical Power -Electrical
power is the rate at which electrical energy is converted to another form, such as motion, heat, or
an electromagnetic field.

So Question is where do we found this electrical power or how can we produce it??

Source of Energy:
Conventional and Non-conventional Energy
The sources of energy used for mass generation of power called conventional sources of
energy are as follows:
 Thermal
 Hydro-power
 Nuclear power
The non-conventional sources of energy used for generating lesser magnitude are as
follows:
 Solar energy
 Wind power
 Tidal power
 Biogas
 Geo-thermal energy

So we have many other sources to produce electrical power from them. To produce the electrical
Power we need a plant. Having set that we can get electrical power from it .

What is Power Plant?

A power plant or a power generating station, is basically an industrial location that is utilized
for the generation and distribution of electric power in mass scale, usually in the order of several
1000 Watts. These are generally located at the sub-urban regions or several kilometers away
from the cities or the load centers, because of its requisites like huge land and water demand,
along with several operating constraints like the waste disposal etc.
Types of Power Station
A power plant can be of several types depending mainly on the type of fuel used. Since for the
purpose of bulk power generation, only thermal, nuclear and hydro power comes handy,
therefore a power generating station can be broadly classified in the 3 above mentioned types.
Thermal Power plant
Nuclear Power plant
Hydro Power plant
These Three types of power plant are mostly used all over the world. But In our discussion we
will discuss only about the Thermal Power plant . Which is the mostly used power plant all over
the world . Because it run by coal and Coal is the natural resource.

Thermal Power Plant

A thermal power station or a coal fired thermal power plant is by far, the most conventional
method of generating electric power with reasonably high efficiency. It uses coal as the primary
fuel to boil the water available to superheated steam for driving the steam turbine. The steam
turbine is then mechanically coupled to an alternator rotor, the rotation of which results in the
generation of electric power.
Thermal Power plant is also known as coal based thermal power plant
Sectors of Thermal Power plant:

 Steam generating plant(Boiler)

 Steam turbine
 Alternator
 Feed water
 Cooling arrangement
 Coal and ash handling plant
 Economizer .

Boiler:
Steam boiler or simply a boiler is basically a closed vessel into which water is heated until the
water is converted into steam at required pressure.

Working Principle of Boiler

The basic working principle of boiler is very very
simple and easy to understand. The boiler is
essentially a closed vessel inside which water is
stored. Fuel (generally coal) is bunt in a furnace
and hot gasses are produced. These hot gasses
come in contact with water vessel where the heat
of these hot gases transfer to the water and
consequently steam is produced in the boiler. Then
this steam is piped to the turbine of thermal power
plant. There are many different types of boiler
utilized for different purposes like running a
production unit, sanitizing some area, sterilizing
equipment, to warm up the surroundings etc.

Volume of one unit mass of steam is

thousand times that of water, When
water is converted to steam in a closed
vessel the pressure will increase. Boiler
uses this principle to produce high
pressure steam.
Conversion of Water to Steam evolves
in three stages.
 Heating the water from cold
condition to boiling point or saturation
temperature – sensible heat addition.
 Water boils at saturation
 temperature to produce steam - Latent heat.addition.
 Heating steam from saturation temperature to higher temperature called Superheating to
increase the power plant output and efficiency.
There are some working portion of boiler –like

Sensible Heat Addition

Feed Water Pump.
The first step is to get a constant supply of water at high pressure into the boiler. Since the boiler
is always at a high pressure. ‘Boiler feed water pump’ pumps the water at high pressure into the
boiler from the ‘feed water tank’. The pump is akin to the heart in the human body.
Pre-Heating
'Feed water heaters’, using extracted steam from the turbine, adds a part of the sensible heat even
before the water enters the boiler.
Economiser.
Most of the sensible heat is absorbed in the Economiser. These are a set of coils made from steel
tubes located in the tail end of a boiler. The hot gases leaving the boiler furnace heat the water in
the coils. The water temperature is slightly less than the saturation temperature. From the
economiser the water is fed to the 'drum'.
Latent Heat Addition
Drum.
The drum itself a large cylindrical vessel that functions as the storage and feeding point for water
and the collection point for water and steam mixture. This is the largest and most important
pressure part in the boiler and weighs in the range 250 Tons for 600 MW power plant.
Water Walls
Boiling takes place in the ‘Water Walls’ which are water filled tubes that form the walls of the
furnace. Water Walls get the water from the ‘downcomers’ which are large pipes connected to
the drum. The downcomers and the water wall tubes form the two legs of a water column.
As the water heats up in the furnace a part of the water in the water-wall tubes becomes steam.
This water steam mixture has a lower density than the water in the downcomers. This density
difference creates a circulation of water from the drum, through the downcomers, water walls
and back to the drum. Steam collects at the upper half of the drum. The steam is then sent to the
next sections.
The temperature in the drum, downcomers and water wall is at the saturation temperature.

SuperHeat / ReHeat
SuperHeater
Steam from the drum passes to the SuperHeater coils placed in the Flue gas path.. The steam
temperature increases from the saturation temperature till the maximum required for operation.
The superheated steam then finally goes to the turbine.Final Superheater temperatures are in the
Range of 540 to 570 °C for large power plants and SuperHeated steam pressures are around 175
bar.
 Superheaters are mainly classified into two types according to the system of heat transfer
from flue gases to steam viz.
(a) Radiant superheater
(b) Convection superheater

Reheater
Steam from the exhaust of the
first stage turbine goes back to the
boiler for reheating and is
returned to the second stage.
Reheater coils in the flue gas path
does the reheating of the returned
steam. The reheat steam is at a
much lower pressure than the
super heated steam but the final
reheater temperature is the same
as the superheated steam
temperature. Reheating to high
temperatures improves the output
and efficiency of the Power Plant.
Final Reheater temperatures are
normally in the range of 560 to
600 °C. Reheat steam pressures
are normally around 45 bar.

Basically there are two types of boiler

 water tube boiler
 fire tube boiler.
In fire tube boiler, there are numbers of tubes through which hot gases are passed and
water surrounds these tubes. Water tube boiler is reverse of the fire tube boiler.
In water tube boiler the water is heated inside tubes and hot gasses surround these
tubes.
Steam Boiler Efficiency
The percentage of total heat exported by outlet steam in the total heat
supplied by the fuel (coal) is called steam boiler efficiency.

Steam Turbine:
 Dry and superheated steam from superheater is fed to the steam turbine.
The heat energy of steam when passing over the blades of turbine is converted into mechanical
energy.
 After giving energy to the turbine, the steam is exhausted to the condenser which
condenses the exhausted steam by means of cold water circulation

Working Principle of Steam Turbine

In a reciprocating steam engine, pressurized steam acts on the piston causing mechanical
movement of the piston. Ideally, no dynamic action of the steam is utilised in a reciprocating
system. But in case of a steam turbine, the dynamic action of suddenly expanded steam is mainly
utilised to perform mechanical work. In a steam turbine the steam in the nozzles expands and
hence it gains kinetic energy and losses its pressure. The steam gets kinetic energy during its
expansion from its internal enthalpy. The blades of turbine obstruct the momentum of the steam
and thereby force the stream to change its direction of flow. In other words, the momentum of
steam causes a force on the turbine blades. We can say the momentum of expanding steam is the
driving force of a steam turbine.

The expansion of steam and changing of direction of momentum may happen once in a single
stage or multiple times in various stages depending upon types of turbine.

When there is only one provision of expansion of steam in a turbine and the pressure of steam
remains uniform
throughout the process
after it is expanded
through the nozzles, the
turbine is called single
stage impulse turbine. In
impulse turbine high-
pressure, high-
temperature steam
coming out from nozzle
head expands and forms a
steam jet which directly
strikes on the moving
blades, causing rotation
of the turbine rotor.

There is another type of

turbine in which the
steam is expanded
throughout the process. Here, the expansion of steam takes place when it passes through the
turbine blades. During expansion, the enthalpy of steam converts into kinetic energy and thereby
the turbine rotor rotates with propeller action. This type of turbine is referred as reaction turbine.
In this type of turbines, there are two sets of blades. One set is of fixed blades attached to the
stationary parts of the turbine and another set is of moving blades attached to the rotor of the
turbine. The expansion of steam takes place in the space formed by fixed and moving blades.
Normally a practical turbine has two important components nozzles and blades.

The nozzle is a device fitted at the steam inlet of a turbine. The high-temperature, high-pressure
steam with negligible kinetic energy gets expanded, losses pressure and hence gets sufficient
kinetic energy to perform mechanical work with help of the nozzles. The Blades of the turbines
are also referred as deflectors. This is because the dynamics steam gets deflected when it strikes
on the blades. The mechanical energy of expanding steam is extracted at turbine blades
Types of Steam Turbine:
Steam turbines are generally classified into two types according to the action of steam on moving
blades viz.

 Impulse turbines: the steam expands completely in the stationary nozzles (or fixed
blades),the pressure over the moving blades remaining constant. In doing so, the steam
attains a high velocity and impinges against the moving blades. This results in the
impulsive force on the moving blades which sets the rotor rotating
 Reactions turbines: the steam is partially expanded in the stationary nozzles, the
remaining expansion takes place during its flow over the moving blades. The result is that
the momentum of the steam causes a reaction force on the moving blades which sets the
rotor in motion.
Electrical Components:
(i) Alternators: Each alternator is coupled to a steam turbine and converts mechanical
energy of the turbine into electrical energy. The alternator may be hydrogen or air
cooled. The necessary excitation is provided by means of main and pilot exciters
directly coupled to the alternator shaft.

(ii) Transformers: A generating station has different types of transformers, viz.,

(a) main step-up transformers which step-up the generation voltage for transmission of power.
(b) station transformers which are used for general service (e.g., lighting) in the power station.
(c) auxiliary transformers which supply to individual unit-auxiliaries.
(iii) Switchgear. It houses such equipment which locates the fault on the system and isolate the
faulty part from the healthy section. It contains circuit breakers, relays, switches and other
control devices

Alternator:
Feed Water Arrangement:
We use water to generate steam in the thermal power plant. We supply water to the
boiler and the boiler converts this water into hot water then to steam. This input water
to the boiler is known as feed water. When feed water gets supplied to the steam drum
of the boiler, feed water pump is used to increase the pressure of the water. The feed
water pump feeds water to the boiler and this feed water may be a fresh supply of
water or reuse of water after the process of conduction. We measure the capacity of
feed water pump in horsepower and we use an electric motor to drive this pump. The
capacity of an electric motor (kW rating) is higher than the capacity of a pump (HP
rating).

According to construction, two types of feed water pump are available, simplex feed water pump
and duplex feed water pump. A simplex feed water pump has one set of steam and water
cylinders and duplex feed water pump has two sets of steam and water cylinders. Both sets are
not physically connected but the working of both pumps is dependent on each other. Both pumps
have separate rod (shaft) and steam valves. Operation of first pump’s steam valve depends on the
movement of the second pump’s piston rod and the operation of second pump’s steam valve
depends on the movement of the first pump’s piston. This pump can start from any position of
the rod and steam valve and this type of construction make pump self-starting and there are no
dead-spot in operation, this is the main advantage of duplex feed water pump.

Water cooling Arrangements:

 Condenser
 Cooling tower
A condenser is a device which condenses the steam at the exhaust of turbine. It serves two
important functions.
  Firstly, it creates a very low pressure at the exhaust of turbine, thus permitting expansion
of the steam in the prime mover to a very low pressure. This helps in converting heat
energy of steam into mechanical energy in the prime mover.
 Secondly, the condensed steam can be used as feed water to the boiler.
There are two types of condensers, namely :
(i) Jet condenser
(ii) Surface condenser

Elements of Steam Condenser

A steam condensing plant or simply steam condenser consists of

1. Condenser chamber – where steam gets condensed.

2. Cooling water supply – which provides cold water to condense steam by heat exchanging.
3. Wet Air pumps – They collect condensed steam, the air and un-condensed water vapour and
gases from condenser.
4. Hot well in which the condensed steam is collected and from it steam boiler feed water may
be taken if required
Cooling Tower:
Hot water is coming at the inlet of the tower and pumped up to the header. The header contains
nozzles and sprinklers which is used to spray water, and it will increase the surface area of water.
After that, water comes to PVC filling; it used to reduce the speed of water. At the top the
cooling tower, fans are used to lift air from bottom to the top. Because of slow speed and more
contact area of water, it makes a good connection between air and hot water. The process will
reduce the temperature of water by evaporation process and cooled water is collected at the
bottom of the cooling tower, and this cooled water is used again in the boiler

Different Parts of Cooling Tower

1. Eliminator : It is not allowed to pass water. Eliminator is placed the at top of tower, from
which only hot air can pass.
2. Spray Nozzles and Header : These parts are used to increase the rate of evaporation by
increasing surface area of
water.
3. PVC Falling : It reduces
the falling speed of hot
water and it is similar to
beehive.
4. Mesh : When the fan is
ON, it uses atmosphere air
which contains some
unwanted dust particles.
Mesh is used to stop these
particles and do not allow
to enter dust in to cooling
tower.
5. Float Valve : It is used to
maintain level of water.
6. Bleed Valve : It is used to
control the concertation of
minerals and salt.
7. Body : Body or outer
surface of cooling tower is
often made up from FRP (fiber reinforced plastic), which protects the internal parts of
cooling tower.
Types of Cooling Tower
Cooling towers can be classified in two
types
1) Natural Draught Cooling Tower
: In this type of cooling tower, fan
is not used for circulating air but
here, by enclosing the heated air in
the chimney and it will create
pressure difference between
heated air and surrounding air.

2) Mechanical or Forced Draught

Cooling Tower : In this type of
cooling tower, fan is used to
circulate the air. When power
plant runs on peak load, it requires a
very high rate of cooling water. To
rotate fan, it uses motor with speed
around 1000 rpm. Working principle
is same as natural draught cooling
tower, only difference is that here fan
is mounted on the cooling tower.
 Coal And Ash Handling Plant:

The ash handling system handles the ash by bottom ash handling system, coarse ash handling
system, fly ash handling system, ash disposal system up to the ash disposal area and water
recovery system from ash pond and Bottom ash overflow. Description is as follows:

1. A. Bottom Ash Handling System

Bottom ash resulting from the combustion
of coal in the boiler shall fall into the over
ground, refractory lined, water impounded,
maintained level, double V-Section type/
W type steel- fabricated bottom ash hopper
having a hold up volume to store bottom
ash and economizer ash of maximum
allowable condition with the rate specified.
The slurry formed shall be transported to
slurry sump through pipes.

B. Coarse Ash (Economizer Ash) handling System

Ash generated in Economizer hoppers shall be evacuated continuously through flushing boxes.
Continuous generated Economizer slurry shall be fed by gravity into respective bottom ash
hopper pipes with necessary slope.

1. C. Air Pre Heater ash handling system

Ash generated from APH hoppers shall be evacuated once in a shift by vacuum conveying
system connected with the ESP hopper vacuum conveying system.

1. D. Fly Ash Handling

System
Fly ash is considered to be
collected in ESP Hoppers. Fly ash
from ESP hoppers extracted by
Vacuum Pumps up to
Intermediate Surge Hopper cum
Bag Filter for further Dry
Conveying to fly ash silo.

Under each surge hopper ash

vessels shall be connected with
Oil free screw compressor for
conveying the fly ash from
Intermediate Surge Hopper to silo. Total fly ash generated from each unit will be conveyed
through streams operating simultaneously and in parallel.

E. Ash Slurry Disposal System

Bottom Ash slurry, Fly ash

slurry and the Coarse Ash
slurry shall be pumped
from the common ash
slurry sump up to the dyke
area which is located at a
distance from Slurry pump
house.

Thermal Power Plant scheme

My Perception about Thermal Power Plant:

We need electrical energy because our world is going more faster .We need
more power plant .But we can’t make ourselves in danger. So this is the
main issue for becoming a modern citizen. Safety Globalization should be
the first consideration for any development.