South Asian Journal of Engineering and Technology Vol.2, No.

23 (2016) 1 5

Optimizing the Parameters of 210MW Steam Turbine Operation and

Maintenance
S.Arunkumar, V.Tamilvanan, K.R.Sathishkumar, S.Suresh, K.Tamilselvan
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nandha College of Technology, Erode-638052, Tamilnadu, India.

Abstract

The increasing demand of energy in present day leads to increased power production. The demand of electricity in
every country is met through two schemes called conventional and unconventional schemes. Around 60-62% of total power
production in our country is accomplished by thermal power station. In this thermal power station power is produced by using
turbine, a turbine is defined as a device which draws energy from a fluid moving at a high speed and converts that energy int o
work. The purpose of turbine is basically to produce electricity and to propel various machinery and object via the mechanical
energy produced. The government of India is providing so many incentive programs to thermal power station so that their
performance may be optimized and improved. This project discusses how to overcome these difficulties and to improve the
turbine efficiency and overall efficiency by determine taguchis experimental design method, orthogonal arrays of taguchis the
signal to noise (S/N) ratio are employed to find the optimal process parameter levels and to analyse the effect of these parameters
on heat rate values. Confirmation that with the optimal levels of machining parameters was carried out in order to illustrate the
effectiveness of the taguchi optimization method to generate more power and also to implement the resultant factors.

1. Introduction

At present 60-62% of total electricity production in India is from coal based thermal power station. A coal
based thermal power plant converts the chemical energy of the coal into electrical energy. This is achieved by
raising the steam in the boilers, expanding it through the turbine and coupling the turbine to the generators which
converts the mechanical energy into the electrical energy. In this project, the minimal losses are found which affects
the performance of the turbine and in turn decrease the power production in 210MW LMW turbine at Mettur
thermal power station. This project discusses about, how to overcome this difficult and to improve the efficiency of
the turbine and also to implement the resultant forces. The working parameters of the components in thermal cycle
are collected and actual efficiency of the turbine was calculated. By this calculation, the characteristics of improving
the efficiency of the turbine were discussed. The living standards and property of nation is very directly associated
with increase in use of power. The development of power of any country depends upon the available resources in the
country. In our country the natural resources are found in coal, lignite, oil, hydro-resources and nuclear fuels. Its
found that these resources are located in an uneven form in the country and to overcome this difficulty it is
necessary to developed thermal power plant in the country, which contributes about 60% of the power production in
the country. The primary fuel adopted in the plant is coal. In the thermal power plant steam produced out of de
mineralized water and is used as a working fluid. Its works basically an improved or modified Rankins cycle with
the aim of effecting heat economy and to run the plant in its highest possible efficiency. In the process of thermal
power plant, initially energy in the fuel produces a high temperature in the boiler. In the turbine, heat energy is
converted into work. The work output of the turbine is converted into electrical energy by the generator.

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 South Asian Journal of Engineering and Technology Vol.2, No.23 (2016) 1 5

2. Methodology

3. Literature review

In thus paper the influence of various parameters i.e., voltage, feed rate, electrolyte concentration on the
metal removal; rate was studied. The settings of the process parameters were determined by using Taguchis method.
Orthogonal arrays of Taguchi, the signal- to- Noise ratio, analysis of variance are employed to find the optimal
process parameters levels and to analyze the effect of these process parameters on the metal removal rate [1]. This
paper describes use and steps of Taguchi design of experiments and orthogonal array to find a specific range and
combination [2].

4. Turbine Process Parameters and their Levels

By changing the parameters of temperature, pressure, steam flow rate we have to obtain the results as
shown in the table.

5. Materials and Methods

2.1 Specification of 210MW Turbine

Type c.210.130 condensing, tandem compound, three cylinder horizontal disc and diaphragm type with nozzle
governing and regenerative feed water heaters.

Number of cylinders 3 cylinder

Make LMW (Russian make)
Capacity 210MW

2.2 Number of stages per cylinder

HP turbine 12 stages
IP turbine 11 stages
LP turbine 4+4 stages
Exhaust pressure 0.09kg/sq.cm absolute
Exhaust temperature 44deg C
Critical speeds 1585, 1881, 2017 and 2489 rpm

2.3 Weight and dimensions of turbine

Total weight of turbine : 560 tons

Weight of heaviest part of turbine for erection : 70 tons
Weight of HP rotor : 7.05 tons
Weight of IP rotor : 16.2tons
Weight of LP rotor : 34.5tons
Overall length of turbine : 20307mm
Overall length of HP rotor : 4538mm
Overall length of IP rotor : 6076mm
Overall length of LP rotor : 7175mm

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2.4 Turbine Process Parameters and Their Levels

By changing the parameters of temperature, pressure, steam flow rate we have to obtain the results as shown in
the table.

6. Results and analysis of experiments

6.1 Regression Analysis

Figure 1 Effect of temperature on heat rate

Figure 2 Effect of pressure on efficiency

Figure 3 Effect of flow rate on heat

South Asian Journal of Engineering and Technology Vol.2, No.23 (2016) 1 5

Table 1 Process parameters

TURBINE LEVELS LEVELS LEVELS

PROCESS
PARAMETERS 1 2 3

Temperature(A) 540 545 550

Pressure(B) 130 132 134

Quantity of steam
646 648 650
flow(C)

Output of regression analysis

Table 2 Results

HEAT
A
B C RATE
EXP. (DE EFFICIENCY
(KG/CM2) (T/HR) (KCAL/K
NO GC) (%)
G)
1 540 130 646 2113.878 41.5
2 540 132 648 2117.476 41.4
3 545 130 648 2164.689 40.5
4 545 132 650 2132.611 41.1
5 550 130 650 2129.050 41.2
6 550 132 646 2132.937 41.1

Figure 4 Comparison chart of efficiency and S/N ratio

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Table 3 Result comparison

EX HEAT EFFICIENCY S/N

.NO RATE (%) RATIO
1 2113.878
(Kcal/kg) 41.5% -7.639

2 2117.476 41.4% -7.660

3 2124.707 41,3% -7.681

4 2164.689 40.5% -7.851

7. Conclusions

This technique has discussed an application of the Taguchi method for investigating the effects of process
parameters on the steam turbine heat rate and efficiency in Mettur thermal power station. In the process, the
parameters were selected taking into consideration of manufacturers and industrial requirements.
From the analysis of the results in the process using the conceptual signals to noise(S/N) ratio approach,
and taguchis optimization method, the following can be concluded from the present study.
Statistically designed experiments based on Taguchis method were performed, using L9 orthogonal array
to analyze the turbine heat rate and efficiency as response variable.
The maximum steam turbine efficiency is calculated as 41.7% by taguchis optimization methods.
In this study, the analysis of the confirmation experiment for steam turbine efficiency shown that Taguchis
parameter design can be successfully verify the optimum parameters(A2B1C1), which are
temperature=545*c(A2),pressure=130kg/cm2
Steam turbine efficiency increases with temperature, pressure and quantity of steam flow in thermal power
plant steam turbine operations.

References
[1] Taguchi G, Hcheng, Taguchi methods orthogonal arrays and linear graphs, tools for quality engineering, (Dearborn, MI: American
Supplier Institute, 1987, 35-38).

[2] Lindman H, Analysis of variance in experimental design, (Springer-Verlag, Newyork, 1992).

[3] Munda J, Bhattacharya B, Investigation in to electrochemical micromachining (EMM) through response surface methodology based
approach. International Journey of Advanced Manufacturing Technology (2006).

[4] Rama Rao S, Padmanabhan G, sureka B, pandu R.V, Optimization of electrochemical machining process using evolutionary
algorithms, Journal of machining and forming technology, 1,2009, 265-278.