‘Stuitoas [ron Plates Foomeamdan Thea bere hole torough vale the mall eeatlron flows to arcana ok, he dupheagese ddomsdio watutend the presonee TURBINE CASING 7.1, Casings. ‘The turbine casing serves to position the blades, diaphragms, gland packing, bearings, and other stationary parts as well as to contain and direct the flow of steam. At the inlet end the casing is subject to high pressures and temperatures and must be designed to con- fain the steam safely and without leakage. At the exhaust end of the turbine, the steam pressure is subatmospheric and the casing must be designed so that it will not collapse or allow air to leak into the condenser and impair the ‘vacuum and, at the same time, support the low-pressure end of the rotor. HP and IP casings are made from low alloy sted castings and the material must have adequate tem- perature/ strength and creep properties for the inlet steam temperature employed. ‘High-pressure turbine casings and many low-pressure turbine easings are made from east steel. Cast iron is no longer used for the casings of main propulsion units since it is brittle and cracks under the impact of shock forces, and because above 450 F it grows in size, distorts, and weakens. Cast carbon steel is used when steam tempera- tures are below 775 F, but itis not satisfactory above this, temperature because the material yields or creeps. For low-temperature nuclear applications, where the steam is saturated and moisture erosion is of concern, 12-chrome Steel is often used, Carbon molybdenum steel containing not less than 0.5 percent molybdenum may be used for temperatures up to 875 F; and for still higher tempera- tures, various alloys of chrome molybdenum are suitable. ‘The creep characteristies of the casing material should be considered in the range of 800-950 F and become highly important above this range. Casing is made of four main parts Bottom Half - If all the nozzles are contained in the top half, then the bottom half is subject to steam at wheel case pressure and temperature only and can therefore be made of cast iron. ‘The bottom half in this case extends from end to end and contains the following listed from ford to aftAhead Nozzle box-Contains ahead nozzle, subjected to boiler pressure and temperature hence made from cast steel Turbine casing cover- Subjected to reduced pressure and temperature and can therefore be made of cast iron Astern Nozzle box- Seperate top covers may be supplied to allow ease of maintenance for thrust and journal bearing Design of the main casing joint The main joint between the top and bottom half casings must be designed to avoid danger of leakage because ifa leak occurs the‘wire cutting’ actionof the steam will rapidly make it worse. The flanges mustbe perfectly flat with a good surface finish and the joint ismade metal to metal with the addition only ofathin: smear of a good graphite compound. For assembly and machining purposes, the turbine cas- ings are made in two halves. ‘The flanges and bolts that hold these two halves together must be designed so that the joints will not leak under any operating condition. The joint finish is important and several procedures may be used to ensure a proper fit. In the past, joints have been planed, then hand seraped to achieve a good contact be- ‘tween upper and lower halves. As units have increased in size it has been found more practical to grind the joints on a large surface grinder.ft H 7 eae CEG ppppyyyyyyy LEELLAALELEEL, yyy) QL goae LENNYYY TUCO YY 700006 JYVWVYVY (hh TWYYYYY Cre Dy yyy COCCCC TTR Dw oy»yyp COOOUCCCTCE DmMwMywwyyy COOCCCTCTCe >> mwww ww TECCTCC TTC ‘SECTION AA. “wo STAGE ASTEAN IMPULSE TURBINE ine STAGE AMEAD INPULSE LOW PRESSURE TUABINE Fig. 50 Steam poth through impule turbine‘Thermal Effects . ‘As the temperature of a turbine changes, the casings must be free to expand and contract freely. Between ambi- ent and operating temperatures, a single-casing turbine will expand lengthwise from ¥, to % in. and proportional amounts in other directions. Thermal expansion cannot be restrained because the forces involved would be enormous. ‘The turbine casing distorts due to the heat different The pressure within the casing distorts casing halves shape to a more cylindrical one, with the high temperature creep results, Hence when the casing cools ‘, NZ The flanges become warped . This can be checked by laying a straight edge across the casing, measuring with a feeler gauge and keeping a log of the results. No action should be taken unless absolutely necessary. ‘The casing may leak during warming through as the bolts fail to close the inner faces of the flange. If the leakage stops when the turbine is up to temperature then this is considered satisfactory. However, if leakage still occurs the some machining must take place. If the leakage is, allowed to remain then at high power output damage can ensue. A temporary repair is with the use of Phurmanite, this is a goo which is pumped into the flange, under pressure through a tapped hole. The use of shouldered boltsThe bong | is designed to ‘counteract the steam pressure in the casing opening the inner edge of the joint butsince the effectoftemperatureistocause the stress in the bolts to relax and reduce with time, the fold tightening the bolthas tobe great enough to allow for this. Typically, the manufacturers will call this will givean adequate residual stress after 30,000 ‘operating hours to tll hold the inner edge of thejoint closed (Fig 14). If the turbine was oontinuing in service the bolts would require tightening, Small bolts are ‘flogged up’ or tightened with torque in- creasing spanners, but bolts larger than 60mm are usually made hollow to allow the insertion of an electric heating element. After makingit finger tight, the bolt is heated up to temperature and the nut rotated a calculated angle to achieve the required force in the bolt. This can be checked by measuring, the bolt extension after it has cooled. ‘here stud whoa ahentéer paaaihly > of eurisee of mat! being puled Up fe from creep resistant steel awe 14 Sreesanth‘To provide for thermal expansion, turines are an- chored firmly to their foundations at one point, usually at the end next to the driven unit. With this point as. the casings are guided so that their expansion is in the desired direction, A grooved sliding seat at the forward ‘end is sometime: of the easing, ed, but more often the forward end supported by a deep flexible F-beam, or stalled with its longitudinal axis, ‘an arrangement that allows for free fore fand-aftmovernent while positioning the unit vertically and athwartshios. In order to maintain the correct alignment of the top and bottom half casings a number of the flange bolts willbe ‘fitted’ bolts and identified to theirhole s, or else dowels might be used. : ‘There are several other miscellaneous requirements tor ‘a good casing design. Adequate provisions must be made for draining the casing during shutdown, starting, and while in operation, It must be free from pockets that would collect water while the ship is listing and then ‘empty suddenly when the ship returns to an even keel. Location of the casing An important aspect of the casing design is the loce tion to the bearing pedestals by vertical and horizor tal keys as shown in Fig 15. The casing is supports: as closely as possible to its horizontal centre line t avoid vertical expansion causingalossofconcentricit between the casing and rotor. ‘This is necessary because, in order to minimis steam leakages and maintain efficiency, the HP anv PP turbines will operate with small radial runnin clearances of about 0.3 mm between therotor and th stationary components. The rotor is located by it ‘bearings and the keys locate the casing to the bearin, pedestals, Their job is to maintain the casing concer tric to the rotor whilst allowing free thermal expar sions to take placeas the metal temperatures increas from ambient to full working temperature. Because of the high temperatures, the HP and I casings will suffer some degree of thermal distortior particularly during start up. If the bearing pedestal ‘were rigidly attached to the ends of the casing, thes distortions could cause misalignment of the journa and thrust bearings and the usual practice is to sup _ Port the casing with paws (sliding feet) which exten: from the casing joint flanges as seen in Fig 15. ‘Suitable lifting lugs and guide pins must be provided so that the upper half shells can be lifted with the limited headroom and lifting facilities in the engine room of the shi If possible, openings should be provided in the casings so that balance weights can be changed without lifting the upper easing. This is not difficult in the exhaust eas- ing, where manholes are provided for aceess to the con- denser.‘Atthe high-pressure end of the turbine, small borescope ‘openings are sometimes provided to check the axial clear- ances between the rotating and stationary parts of the control stage and for general internal inspection, ‘These openings are particularly useful when adjustments are quando ta tha tohino throat hearing. ‘The amount of heat that is radiated from a turbine is not enough to affect its efficiency to any measurable extent. However, turbines are thermally insulated to reduce the heat load imposed upon the engine-room ventilation sys- tem, to protect personnel from hot, surfaces, and to pre- Yentabrupt temperature gradients in the turbine casings, Which could cause distortions and joint leaks. Various types of thermal insulation materials are used to cover hot Surfaces, Plastic insulation made from high-grade cement with a mineral wool base may be used at any operating steam temperature, Spun glass or glass fiber in glass- woven fabric bags makes a good installation, even next to the hottest surfaces, although they have shown a ten- dency to disintegrate if bent around too sharp a corner. Eighty-five pereent magnesia is suitable for use where the steam temperatures do not exeeed 450-500 F. In some cases a high-temperature-resistant insulation is used for the first or inner coat and a lower quality is used on the outside, Metal lagging is sometimes applied, chiefly for appearance purposes. Low prossuro casing (Fig 16) ‘The LP casing is usually fabricated from mild steel plateand as the operating temperaturesarelow very little stress relaxation will take place in the main joint bolting under normal ahead steaming conditions. ‘The exhaust chamber has to be a rigid structure to withstand the atmospheric load of nearly 11 tonnes/ m? under vacuum conditions. Turbine rotors ‘The HP and LP rotors are manufactured from very high quality monobloc forgings of low alloy steel. ‘The HP rotor material is chosen to give good strength and creep properties at the high inlet steam tem- peratures. The LP rotor material is of high strength to withstand the high centrifugal stressesgeneratedby the Jong last row blades and it also has to avoid any ten- dency for brittleness at the relatively low temper ‘tures which exist at this exhaust end of the machine. ‘Therotorsare described as‘monobloc’as the discs or wheels which carry the blades areintegral parts of the forging and not the separate shrunk-on compo- nents which were ecesey In xr tines when ‘was not possible to make the forging large enough to “racine te rotor out ofthe ald Probems seme. times arose in service by these dises becoming loose during temperature transients, changing position, and causing the rotor o loses orginal lance end so vibrate.