Introduction to Coal handling plant

In a coal based thermal power plant , the initial process in the power generation
is Coal Handling. So in this article i will discuss the overall processes carried out
at a Coal Handling plant in a coal based thermal power generating station.
The huge amount of coal is usually supplied through railways.
A railway siding line is taken into the power station and the coal is delivered in
the storage yard.
The coal is unloaded from the point of delivery by means of wagon tippler. It is
rack and pinion type.
The coal is taken from the unloading site to dead storage by belt conveyors. The
belt delivers the coal to 0m level to the pent house and further moves to transfer
point 8.
The belt further elevates the coal to the transfer point 7 and it reaches the
crusher through belt. In the crusher a high-speed 3-phase induction motor is
used to crush the coal to a size of 50mm so as to be suitable for milling system.
Coal rises from crusher house and reaches the dead storage by passing
through transfer point 8.
The transfer points are used to transfer coal to the next belt. The belt elevates the
coal to breaker house. It consists of a rotary machine, which rotates the coal and
separates the light dust from it through the action of gravity and transfer this dust
to reject bin house through belt.

Equipment used in a coal handling plant

1. Pull chord switch
A series of such switches are arranged in series at a 1m distance on the side of
conveyor belt. The power supply to rotor of the conveyor belt is established only if
all switches in series are connected.

2. Vibrating feeder
The coal stored in a huge hub is collected on the belt through vibrations created
by the vibrating feeder.

3. Flap gates
These are used to channelize the route of coal through another belt in case the
former is broken or unhealthy. The flap gates open let the coal pass and if closed
stop its movement.

4. Magnetic separator
these are used to separate the ferrous impurities from the coal.

5. Metal detector
These are detect the presence of any ferrous and non-ferrous metal in the coal
and sends a signal to a relay which closes to seize the movement of belt until the
metal is removed. It basically consists of a transmitter and a receiver.

The transmitter consists of a high frequency oscillator, which produces a

oscillations of 1500 Hz at 15V. The receiver receives this frequency signal. If
there is any presence of metal in the coal. Then this frequency is disturbed and a
tripping signal is send to relay to stop the conveyor belt.

6. Belt weightier
It is used to keep an account of the tension on the belt carrying coal and is moves
accordingly to release tension on the belt.

7. Reclaim hopper
Reclaimation is a process of taking coal from the dead storage for preparation or
further feeding to reclaim hoppers. This is accomplished by belt conveyors.

Steam generation from coal

1. Tipplers
Coal from the coal wagons is unloaded in the coal handling plant. This unloading
is done by the Tipplers. This coal is transported up to the raw coal bunkers with
the help of conveyor belts.

2. Crush House
After hand picking foreign material, coal is transported to the Crush house by
conveyor belts where it is crushed to small pieces of about 20 mm diameter. The
crushed coal is then transported to the store yard. Coal is transported to bowl
mills by coal feeders.

3. Bowl Mill

The coal is pulverized in the bowl mill, where it is grounded to a powder form. The
mill consists of a round metallic table on which coal particles fall.This table is
rotated with the help of a motor. There are three large steel rollers, which are
spaced 120 apart. When there is no coal, these rollers do not rotate but when
the coal is fed to the table it packs up between rollers and the table and this force
the rollers to rotate.

Coal is crushed by the crushing actions between the rollers and rotating
tables.

4. Furnaces
This crushed coal is taken away to the furnace through coal pipes with the help of
hot and cold air mixture from P.A Fan. P.A Fan takes atmospheric air, a part of
which is sent to Air pre-heaters for heating while a part goes directly to the mill for
temperature control.
Atmospheric air from F.D Fan is heated in the air heaters and sent to the
furnace as combustion air.

5. Boiler
Boiler used in the power plant is suspended type. This prevents it from getting
deformed, when a subjected to very high temperatures.
The boiler is divided into two cylindrical parts namely the Primary and the
Secondary boiler. Water from the boiler feed pump passes through economizer
and reaches the boiler drum. Water from the drum passes through down comers
and goes to bottom ring header. Water from the ring header is divided to all the
four side of furnace.