GOVERNING OF STEAM TURBINES

Governing of steam turbine is required for controlling and regulating the output of a turbine according to variable demands in service. This regulation of turbine is done by maintaining accurate and positive control of speed, pressure and flow by employing governors. Governing of turbine maintains the speed of turbine at constant level irrespective of load.

Governing of steam turbines can be of following types depending upon the mechanism of regulation. (i) Throttle governing (ii) Nozzle control governing (iii) By-pass governing (iv) Combined governing i.e., Combination of above as throttle and nozzle control governing or throttle and by-pass governing.

(i) Throttle Governing: Throttle governing of steam turbine bases upon the throttling of steam up to suitable pressure and regulate the mass flow of steam through the turbine so as to control the output of turbine. Here in throttle governing, aim is to alter the mass flow rate as for example by reducing it, the available energy gets reduced and hence lowering of output.

In throttle governing the steam entering is regulated by opening and closing of valve. As the valve is closed, the throttling or constant enthalpy process occurs across the valve with an increase in entropy and corresponding decrease in availability of energy per unit mass flow of steam. Also due to throttling the state of steam entering turbine stage gets modified and the modified expansion line for each load is obtained. It may be noted that even when the governor valve is full open the pressure drop does occur and thus it can be said that throttling is evident at all loads on turbine.

Representation of throttle governing on h-s diagram shows that the steam is available at state 0 at p0 pressure in the main steam line. At the inlet from main steam line when the governor valve is full open the throttling results in modified state 1 from where expansion occurs following path 13 under isentropic expansion and non-isentropic expansion occurs following path 13`.

When mass flow rate is reduced for reduced load on turbine then this partial closing of valve causes throttling as shown by 1 2. Now as a result of this throttling from 1 to 2 the modified expansion paths are 2 4 and 24` for isentropic and non-isentropic expansion in turbine. Thus it shows that as a result of throttling the available energy gets reduced from h1-3` to h2-4` and h2-4` < h1-3`. Hence this lowering of available energy causes reduced output from turbine.

Schematic of simple throttle governing in steam turbines is shown in Fig. . Here a centrifugal governor is used to sense the change in speed of shaft. The relay system has a pilot valve and servomotor. The displacement of servomotor piston either upward or downward decides the opening of throttle valve C. Servomotor piston is actuated by the high pressure oil entering from pilot valve to upper or lower half of servomotor piston D. Under normal operation the servomotor piston occupies middle position and pilot valves keep the inlet and exit ports in closed position.

When oil enters the upper half of servomotor then servomotor piston lowers down and the throttle valve starts closing causing reduction of steam flow rate and so the output till the speed is maintained to normal running speed. Simultaneously, the oil from lower half of servomotor gets drained out through pilot valve port. When oil under pressure enters lower half of servomotor then servomotor piston gets lifted up causing lift of throttle valve.

Nozzle Control Governing

Nozzle control governing is the one in which steam flowing through nozzles is regulated by valves. Nozzle control governing is generally employed at first stage of turbine due to practical limitations. The nozzle areas in remaining stages remain constant. If some how the nozzle governing is provided for all nozzles in each and every stage then an ideal condition of turbine flow passage areas conforming to mass flow rate at all loads shall exist. Under such ideal conditions the pressure, velocities and nozzle and blade efficiencies would be constant with load.

In nozzle governing the nozzles of turbines are grouped in two, three or more groups upto six or eight groups. When nozzle governing is employed then the pressure and temperature of steam entering first stage nozzles are independent of load. Figure shows the schematic of nozzle control governing.

As the valves are being regulated for actuating nozzle control governing so there occurs some throttling of steam at each valve. However, the amount of throttling is considerably lesser and the decrease in availability of energy to turbine is not too much. In order to avoid this occurrence of throttling very large number (infinite) of nozzle and governing valves may be put.

By Pass Governing
In case of by-pass governing arrangement is made for by-passing surplus quantity of steam without allowing total steam quantity to contribute in turbine output when load reduces. Arrangement of by pass governing is shown in Fig. Diagram shows that steam from main line enters the main valve which is controlled by speed governor. Steam from main valve enters the nozzle box or steam chest. By pass valve is also provided on the nozzle box.