INTRODUCTION

The function of the Heat Recovery Steam generating System is to transfer heat from the . combustion turbine exhaust gases over the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) heating surfaces to the water or steam piped through those surfaces to produce superheated steam. This heat transfer process produces the main steam, intermediate pressure steam; reheat steam, and low-pressure steam at the pressures and temperatures requried b y t h e s t e a m t u r b i n e

Types of steam generators:

Fire Tube Boilers : In this type of boilers, the hot flue gas carried by tubes which transfer the heat into a water volume and heat the water. The fire tube boiler is very sluggish in terms of control characteristics (large water volume) and the attainable pressure is very limited. Therefore, this boiler type is today only used in plants with a lower output. Water Tube Boilers :In this type the water and steam flow through tubes which receives heat from the surrounding hot flue gas. Modern power plants in the intermediate and upper ranges of output use exclusively water tube steam generators. The steam generator's output is always indicated by: The maximum super heated steam flow at the outlet, expressed in T/h The steam pressure (in kg/ cm2 or bar) and its temperature (in degree centigrade)

The major components of water tube steam generators

Evaporator Heat exchanger; the specific heat demand for evaporation of water is much higher than the one for increasing steam temperature. This is one reason why the evaporator is arranged at the place where the heat offer is at its highest. Steam drum Feed Water enters and steam leaves the evaporator for further heating. Steam drum is fitted with internals to keep the water droplets going into the steam space. These are baffle plates, cyclone separators and scrubbers. Super heater Dry Saturated steam is further heated to attain the superheated temperature. Re-heater - In some of the large steam turbines, steam after doing work through a few stages, substantially looses its pressure and temperature and the enthalpy thus gets reduced. Cycle efficiency can be improved, if the steam is extracted out from the high pressure cylinder and again taken to the steam generator, where by addition of heat, the steam temperature is increased.

The major components of water tube steam generators

Attemperator - The attemperator is basically a heat exchanger in which the superheated steam is cooled either by a direct heat exchange with cold condensate sprayed into the flow of the superheated steam. Normally only feed water is used for attemperation of superheat steam temperature control. Feed water is tapped of just before the feed control valve and the water injection is done in two or three stages. Economizer The feed water is heated near to its saturation tempera by the residual heat of the hot gas leaving the major heat transfer components. Economizer is similar to feed water heater but it is called Economizer, since, by its function; it helps to improve upon efficiency of the boiler and saves on fuel consumption. Water flow is from bottom to top so that steam, if any formed during the heat transfer can move along with water and prevent the lock up of steam, which will cause overheating and failure of economizer tube. The temperatu of water should be always kept below the saturation temper to avoid Economizer Steaming.

Classification of Water Tube Boilers

Circulation - Natural, Forced Circulation or once through. Horizontal or Vertical design Supplementary fired, and Auxiliary fired. Single, Dual or Triple pressure levels

Natural circulation steam generator: In Natural circulation type of boilers,

circulation of water in the boiler takes place due to natural convection currents produced by the application of heat. Saturated water flows down the unheated down comer and receives heat in the riser where upon a part of it gets converted into steam. The difference in densities of saturated water in the down comer and the steam-water mixer in the riser brings about natural circulation.

Forced circulation steam generator: The working fluid is forced

through the boiler circuits by an external pump. The re-circulating pump works at a pressure of about 2 - 4 bar in order to overcome the pressure losses in the boiler system and forces the water circulation in the steam generator independently of the tube geometry of the down comers and the risers.

Advantages of Forced circulation over natural circulation: Steam generation rate is higher for same physical dimensions and weight, Greater capacity to meet load variation, Quicker start-up from cold, Lower scaling problem due to high circulation velocity, More uniform heating of all parts reduces the danger of overheating and thermal stresses, Smaller tube diameter and hence lighter tubes and Greater freedom in arrangement of furnace, boiler component and tube layout. Horizontal or Vertical design In the Horizontal design the exhaust hot gases from the primary heat source flow in a horizontal direction over the exchanger tubes. In a vertical design the gases flow in a vertical direction [bottom to top] over the exchanger tubes.

Heat Recovery Steam Generator in Power Plant

The main function of the HRSG is to serve as the link between two different thermodynamic cycles. The gas turbine cycle (Brayton) and The water steam cycle (Rankine). These two cycles conform what is called a combined cycle.To efficiently mate the Rankine steam cycle with high-temperature gas turbines, HRSGs are developed to operate at higher flue-gas temperatures. Perhaps the most important development in HRSG design is the move from single to tipple-pressure steam production. This change, which enabled lower stack temperatures and thus greater recovery of thermal energy from the gas turbine exhaust, increased thermal efficiency of a combined-cycle plant by nearly five percentage points .

CCPP CYCLES

HRSG at Vemagiri Power Plant

Specific features of this HRSG

The HRSG gets the input from a Frame 9 FA Gas turbine, which produces 2231TPH exhaust gas at 616.7oC temperature, when running with base load . . Absence of Diverter Damper and by-pass stack this is one of the most notable features which differentiate this HRSG from others . The loading of HRSG is carried out in tandem with the GT Load. The gas turbine is equipped with a special temperature matching facility to adjust the exit flue gas temperature by IGV control during cold start-up (during 10 50% load) so that the steam temperature can be controlled. 100% cascading HP/ IP and LP Bypass is also provided in this HRSG .

Reheat Cycle Along with a three pressure system and condensate pre-heating, the HRSG also has a reheat cycle from the HP exhaust steam to utilize the large thermal load available from the GT and therefore no HP start-up vent to ensure coolant in the reheater elements during start-up. . Fuel Gas heating Frame 9FA machine requires fuel gas heating for which the heating media has been taken from the

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HRSG CIRCUITS DESCRIPTION

Condensate Preheater Circuit: The condensate preheater is installed at the cold end of the HRSG to heat the condensates up to a temperature close to the deaerator operating temperature recovering the maximum heat contained in the gasses. A pump assisted recirculation line sends condensate coming from the preheater outlet to its inlet in order to increase the condensate inlet temperature above the flue gas dew point of 60oC. HP Circuit: The high pressure circuit produces HP superheated steam for injection into the HP stage of the steam turbine. The feed water is supplied by a combined HP/ IP feed water pump. The economisers heat the feedwater up to a temperature close to the drum temperature. The evaporator generates steam by forced circulation. The super heater heats the saturated steam from the drum temperature up to the required value. A desuperheater, kept between the two super heaters, controls the superheated steam temperature.

IP Circuit : The intermediate pressure circuit produces steam at intermediate

pressure level for injection into the IP stage of the steam turbine. The feed water is supplied from the intermediate stage of a combined HP/ IP feed water pump. The economisers heat the feed water up to a temperature close to the drum temperature.The evaporator generates steam by natural circulation. The super heater heats the saturated steam before mixing with the cold reheat steam. The reheater heats the mixed steam up to the required temperature. The desuperheater located at the inlet controls the final reheated steam temperature as required

LP Circuit :The low pressure circuit produces LP superheated steam turbine for
injection into the LP stage of the steam turbine. The drum receives water from the deaerator through a separate LP Boiler Feed Pump. The evaporator generates steam by forced circulation system. . The super heater heats the saturated steam at the required temperature .

HRSG DRUM LEVELS

DRUM LEVEL
HP DRUM IP DRUM

HIGHHIGH

HIGH

LOWLOW

LOW

STARTUP

NORMAL

+550

+400

-900

-500

-480

+50

+400

+250

-750

-600

-575

+50

LP DRUM

+825

+675

-1100

-1025

-1005

-100

DEAE RATOR HOT WELL

+800

+700

-1100

-850

-250

+500

+842

+742

+75

+150

+500

+500