Summer Training Report

On
“National Thermal Power Corporation”
2nd July 2019 - 30th July 2019

Submitted by: -
VISHWANATH
Ashutosh sinha KUMAR
B. TECH- Mechanical Engineering
MIT MUZAFFAPUR

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

With deep reverence and profound gratitude. I express my sincere thanks

to Mr. DINESH SINGH giving me an opportunity to do training at NTPC
Barh. I also would like to thank Mr. DEEPAK KUMAR who has helped
me at the working sites, explaining and giving me all the information, I
needed to complete this report. I am also very much thankful to the various
department’s Engineers, who helping me throughout the training. At last
I would like to convey my thanks to all the members of the staff of NTPC
Barh (Patna) who have helped me at every stage of training.

Training Period: 2nd July 2019 – 30th July 2019 (4 weeks)

VISHWANATH KUMAR
REG. No: -16102107023
16104107033
ROLL NO. 16M34
B. TECH (3rd YEAR)
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING.

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 ABSTRACT
I was appointed to do 4-week training at this esteemed
organization from 2nd July 2019 to 30th July 2019. I was
assigned to visit various division of plant, which were;

Boiler Maintenance Department (BMD)

Turbine Maintenance Department (TMD)
Plant Auxiliary Maintenance (PAM)

These 4 weeks training was a very educational adventure for

me. It was really amazing to see the plant by yourself and learn
how electricity, which is one of our daily requirements of life,
is produced. This report has been made by my experience at
NTPC Barh. The material in this report has been gathered from
my textbook, senior student reports and trainers’ manuals. The
specification and principles are as learned by me from the
employees of each division of NTPC.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents Page no.

Acknowledgement 2
Abstract 3
Table of contents 4
List of figures 5
1. Introduction 6
1.1 Company overview 6
1.2 Training overview 10
2. Product/Process details 12
2.1 Operation of a power plant 12
2.2 Basic steps of electricity generation 12
2.3 Rankine cycle 20
3. Details of training 22
3.1 Department/Section Detail 22
3.1.1 Boiler Maintenance Department 22
3.1.2 Plant Auxiliary Maintenance 28
3.1.3 Turbine Maintenance Department 32
3.2 Coal Handling Department 39

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 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure
Page No
Figure 1.1 Growth of NTPC Installed Capacity & Generation Chart 6
Figure 1.2 Power Contribution chart of NTPC in INDIA 7
Figure 1.3 Strategies Chart of NTPC 8
Figure 2.1: Block Diagram Of NTPC Power Plant 13
Figure 2.2 the various parts of the coal thermal power plants 14
Figure 2.3 Operation of a Rankine cycle 20
Figure 2.4 T-S diagram of a typical Rankine cycle 21
Figure 2.5 Boiler Drum 24
Figure 3.1 Reheater 26
Figure 3.2 Economizer 26
Figure 3.3 Air pre-heater 27
Figure 3.4 Pulverizer 28
Figure 3.5 Ash handling system 29
Figure 3.6 Water treatment plant 31
Figure 3.7 Demineralization 32
Figure 3.8 Operating principle of steam turbine 33
Figure 3.9 steam cycle diagram 34
Figure 3.10 Turbine & Turbine cycle 35
Figure 3.11 A Typical water cooled condenser 37
Figure 3.12 A Deaerator 38
Figure 3.13 Coal cycle diagram 39
Figure 3.14 Coal handling system 40
Figure 3.15 Coal handling division at NTPC 40
Figure 3.16 A Idler 41
Figure 3.17 Coal Storage Area of the NTPC 42

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1. INTRODUCTION

1.1Company Overview

NTPC is the largest thermal power generating company of India. India’s largest power company,
NTPC was set up in 1975 to accelerate power development in India. NTPC is emerging as a diversified
power major with presence in the entire value chain of the power generation business. Apart from power
generation, which is the mainstay of the company, NTPC has already ventured into consultancy, power
trading, ash utilization and coal mining. NTPC ranked 341st in the 2010, Forbes Global 2000‟ ranking
of the World’s biggest companies. NTPC became Maharatna Company in May, 2010, one of the only
four companies to be awarded this status.

The total installed capacity of the company is 39,174 MW (including JVs) with 18 coal based and
7 gas-based stations, located across the country. In addition, under JVs, 7 stations are coal based &
another station uses LNG as fuel. The company has set a target to have an installed power generating
capacity of 128000 MW by the year 2032. The capacity will have a diversified fuel mix comprising 56%
coal, 16% Gas, 11% Nuclear and 17% Renewable Energy Sources (RES) including hydro. By 2032,
non-fossil fuel based generation capacity shall make up nearly 28% of NTPC’s portfolio.
NTPC has been operating its plants at high efficiency levels. Although the company has 17.75% of the
total national capacity, it contributes 27.40% of total power generation due to its focus on high efficiency.

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 Figure 1.1 Growth of NTPC Installed Capacity & Generation Chart

In October 2004, NTPC launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO) consisting of 5.25% as
fresh issue and 5.25% as offer for sale by Government of India. NTPC thus became a listed
company in November 2004 with the Government holding 89.5% of the equity share capital. In
February 2010, the Shareholding of Government of India was reduced from 89.5% to 84.5%
through Further Public Offer. The rest is held by Institutional Investors and the Public.

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 NTPC contributes more than one-fourth of India’s total power generation
with less than one-fifth capacity.

TOTAL CAPACITY AS ON
2016
27.4
0
17.75 0 0
72.6
0

82.25
ALL India NTPC
Rest of India NTPC

NTPC 308308* MW NTPC 220.54* BUs

ALL India 1,73,626 MW ALL India 805.5* Bus

Figure 1.2Power Contributions chart of NTPC in INDIA

Figure 1.3 Strategies Chart of NTPC

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JOURNY OF NTPC

Table 1.1 Chart Journey of NTPC

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1.2 Training Overview

ABOUT NTPC
Barh Super Thermal Power Station or NTPC Barh is located in Barh in the Indian state of
Bihar. NTPC Barh is located barely four kilometres east of the Barh sub-division on
National Highway-31 in Patna district. The project has been named a mega power project,
and is owned by Indian energy company National Thermal Power Corporation.
The 1,980MW (3x660 MW) Barh Stage-1 is being built by Russian firm Technopromexport
(TPE), and 1,320MW (2x660 MW) Barh Stage-2 extension is being built by BHEL.
Bihar's share is 1183 MW from NTPC Barh(26% from stage 1 and 50% from stage 2).
The main power plant and the township is spread over an area of 1,186 acres.The legal
possession of 1,186 acres of land has been acquired for setting up the main power plant
and its township which includes 12 villages.
The then PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had laid the foundation stone of the main plant of
stage-1 of NTPC Barh on March 6, 1999. The formal inauguration of its site office and
laying of the foundation stone of the training centre at the plant site was done in
September 2003. Former Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde had inaugurated the
main plant house of stage-2 of NTPC Barh on May 29, 2006

Project Cost
The plant is to produce 3,300MW of power at a cost of over Rs 26,000 crore. The total
approved cost of stage-1 (660MWx3) has Rs 8,692.97 crore. The total approved cost of
stage-2 (unit 1) plant is Rs 7,688.12 crore.
Capacity
Unit-1 of stage-2 commissioned in November 2013. Sikkim and West Bengal were
allocated some share of power from NTPC Barh units.
Inland Waterways Authority of India received bids in 2013 September for coal movement
on 1620 km National Waterway 1 (India) from Haldia to NTPC's Barh which is about 1000
km away.

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Stage Unit EPC Contractor Date of Capacity Status
number commissioning in (MW)
1st 1 Tecchnopromexport 660 Delayed as
Techniproexport is
saying it has
entered a loss-
making contract
and is asking for
$570 million
before it can fulfil
its obligation to
which NTPC
objected.
2 Technopromexport 660 Delayed
3 Technopromexport 660 Delayed
2nd 4 BHEL 2013 Commissioned in
November 660 2013 November
but commercial
production yet to
start as there are
technical issue of
multiple tube
leakage which is
yet to be resolved
as of April 2014.
This is the first 660
MW unit supplied
by BHEL.
Commercial
operation starts in
Nov 2014 after
resolving faults.
5 BHEL 2015 March 660 Running
Total 5 3300

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2. PRODUCT/PROCESS DETAILS

2.1 Operation of a power plant

Basic Principle:-
As per FARADAY’S Law-“Whenever the amount of magnetic flux linked with a circuit changes, an
EMF is produced in the circuit. Generator works on the principle of producing electricity. To change
the flux in the generator turbine is moved in a great speed with steam.” To produce steam, water is
heated in the boilers by burning the coal. In Barh Thermal PowerStation, steam is produced and used
to spin a turbine that operates a generator. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine
which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a
condenser; this is known as a Rankin cycle.
The electricity generated at the plant is sent to consumers through high-voltage power lines The Barh
Thermal Power Plant has Steam Turbine-Driven Generators which has a collective capacity of
660MW. The fuel being used is Coal which is supplied from the Jharia Coal Field in Jharkhand.
Water supply is given from the Ganga.

2.2 Basic steps of electricity generation

The basic steps in the generation of electricity from coal involves following steps:

➢ Coal to steam
➢ Steam to mechanical power
➢ Mechanical power to electrical power

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Figure 2.1: Block Diagram Of NTPC Power Plant

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The various parts of the coal thermal power plants are

Figure 2.2 The various parts of the coal thermal power plants

1. Cooling Tower: Cooling towers are heat removal devices used to transfer process waste heat to
the atmosphere. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat
and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or in the case of closed circuit dry
cooling towers rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature.
Common applications include cooling the circulating water used in oil refineries, chemical plants,
power stations and building cooling.

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 The towers vary in size from small roof-top units to very large hyperboloid structures that
can be up to 200 meters tall and 100 meters in diameter, or rectangular structures that can be over
40 meters tall and 80 meters long. Smaller towers are normally factory-built, while larger ones are
constructed on site. The absorbed heat is rejected to the atmosphere by the evaporation of some of
the cooling water in mechanical forced-draft or induced Draft towers or in natural draft hyperbolic
shaped cooling towers as seen at most nuclear power plants.
2. Cooling Water Pump: it pumps the water from the cooling tower which goes to the condenser.
3. Three phase transmission line: Three phase electric power is a common method of electric
power transmission. It is a type of poly phase system mainly used to power motors and many other
devices. A three-phase system uses less conductive material to transmit electric power than
equivalent single phase, two phase, or direct current system at the same voltage.
In a three-phase system, three circuits reach their instantaneous peak values at different
times. Taking current in one conductor as the reference, the currents in the other two are delayed
in time by one-third and two-third of one cycle. This delay between “phases” has the effect of
giving constant power transfer over each cycle of the current and also makes it possible to produce
a rotating magnetic field in an electric motor. At the power station, an electric generator converts
mechanical power into a set of electric currents, one from each electromagnetic coil or winding of
the generator.
The current are sinusoidal functions of time, all at the same frequency but offset in time to
give different phases. In a three-phase system the phases are spaced equally, giving a phase
separation of one-third of one cycle. Generators output at a voltage that ranges from hundreds of
volts to 30,000 volts.
4. Unit transformer (3-phase): At the power station transformers step-up this voltage to one more
suitable for transmission. After numerous further conversions in the transmission and distribution
network the power is finally transformed to the standard mains voltage (i.e. the “household”
voltage). The power may already have been split into single phase at this point or it may still be
three phases. Where the step-down is three phases, the output of this transformer is usually star
connected with the standard mains voltage being the phase-neutral voltage. Another system
commonly seen in North America is to have a delta connected secondary with a centre tap on one
of the windings supplying the ground and neutral. This allows for 240 V three phase as well as
three different single phase voltages, 120 V between two of the phases and neutral, 208 V between
the third phase ( or wild leg) and neutral and 240 V between any two phase) to be available from
the same supply.
5. Electrical generator: An Electrical generator is a device that converts kinetic energy to
electrical energy, generally using electromagnetic induction. The task of converting the electrical
energy into mechanical energy is accomplished by using a motor. The source of mechanical energy
may be water falling through the turbine or steam turning a turbine (as is the case with thermal
power plants). There are several classifications for modern steam turbines.

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 Steam turbines are used in our entire major coal fired power stations to drive the generators
or alternators, which produce electricity. The turbines themselves are driven by steam generated
in "boilers “or "steam generators" as they are sometimes called. Electrical power stations use large
steam turbines driving electric generators to produce most (about 86%) of the world’s electricity.
These centralized stations are of two types: fossil fuel power plants and nuclear power plants. The
turbines used for electric power generation are most often directly coupled to their-generators.As
the generators must rotate at constant synchronous speeds according to the frequency of the electric
power system, the most common speeds are 3000 r/min for 50 Hz systems, and 3600 r/min for 60
Hz systems. Most large nuclear sets rotate at half those speeds, and have a 4-polegenerator rather
than the more common 2-pole one.
6. Low Pressure Turbine: Energy in the steam after it leaves the boiler is converted into rotational
energy as it passes through the turbine. The turbine normally consists of several stages with each
stage consisting of a stationary blade (or nozzle) and a rotating blade. Stationary blades convert
the potential energy of the steam into kinetic energy and direct the flow onto the rotating blades.
The rotating blades convert the kinetic energy into impulse and reaction forces, caused by
pressure drop, which results in the rotation of the turbine shaft. The turbine shaft is connected to a
generator, which produces the electrical energy. Low Pressure Turbine (LPT) consists of 4x2
stages. After passing through Intermediate Pressure Turbine steam is passed through LPT which
is made up of two parts- LPC REAR & LPC FRONT. As water gets cooler here it gathers into a
HOTWELL placed in lower parts of turbine.
7. Condensation Extraction Pump: A Boiler feed water pump is a specific type of pump used to
pump water into a steam boiler. The water may be freshly supplied or returning condensation of
the steam produced by the boiler. These pumps are normally high-pressure units that use suction
from a condensate return system and can be of the centrifugal pump type or positive displacement
type.
8. Condenser: The steam coming out from the Low-Pressure Turbine (a little above its boiling
pump) is brought into thermal contact with cold water (pumped in from the cooling tower) in the
condenser, where it condenses rapidly back into water, creating near Vacuum-like conditions
inside the condenser chest.

9. Intermediate Pressure Turbine: Intermediate Pressure Turbine (IPT) consists of 11 stages.

When the steam has been passed through HPT it enters into IPT. IPT has two ends named as
FRONT & REAR. Steam enters through front end and leaves from Rear end.

10. Steam Governor Valve: Steam locomotives and the steam engines used on ships and
stationary applications such as power plants also required feed water pumps. In this situation,
though, the pump was often powered using a small steam engine that ran using the steam produced
by the boiler a means had to be provided, of course, to put the initial charge of water into the boiler
(before steam power was available to operate the steam-powered feed water pump).The pump was
often a positive displacement pump that had steam valves and cylinders at one end and feed water

16
cylinders at the other end; no crankshaft was required. In thermal plants, the primary purpose of
surface condenser is to condense the exhaust steam from a steam turbine to obtain maximum
efficiency and also to convert the turbine exhaust steam into pure water so that it may be reused in
the steam generator or boiler as boiler feed water. By condensing the exhaust steam of a turbine at
a pressure below atmospheric pressure, the steam pressure drop between the inlet and exhaust of
the turbine is increased, which increases the amount heat available for conversion to mechanical
power.

Most of the heat liberated due to condensation of the exhaust steam is carried away by the
cooling medium (water or air) used by the surface condenser. Control valves are valves used within
industrial plants and elsewhere to control operating conditions such as temperature, pressure, flow
and liquid level by fully or partially opening or closing in response to signals received from
controllers that compares a “set point” to a “process variable” whose value is provided by sensors
that monitor changes in such conditions. The opening or closing of control valves is done by means
of electrical, hydraulic or pneumatic systems.

11. High Pressure Turbine: Steam coming from Boiler directly feeds into HPT at a temperature
of 540°C and at a pressure of 136 kg/cm². Here it passes through 12 different stages due to which
its temperature goes down to 329°C and pressure as 27 kg/cm².This line is also called as CRH –
COLD REHEAT LINE. It is now passed to a REHEATER where its temperature rises to 540°C
and called as HRH-HOT REHEATED LINE.

12. Deaerator: A Deaerator is a device for air removal and used to remove dissolved gases (an
alternate would be the use of water treatment chemicals) from boiler feed water to make it
noncorrosive. A deaerator typically includes a vertical domed deaeration section as the deaeration
boiler feed water tank. A Steam generating boiler requires that the circulating steam, condensate,
and feed water should be devoid of dissolved gases, particularly corrosive ones and dissolved or
suspended solids. The gases will give rise to corrosion of the metal. The solids will deposit on the
heating surfaces giving rise to localized heating and tube ruptures due to overheating. Under some
conditions it may give rise to stress corrosion cracking. Deaerator level and pressure must be
controlled by adjusting control valves the level by regulating condensate flow and the pressure by
regulating steam flow. If operated properly, most deaerator vendors will guarantee that oxygen in
the deaerated water will not exceed 7 ppb by weight (0.005 cm3/L)

13. Feed water heater: A Feed water heater is a power plant component used to pre-heat water
delivered to a steam generating boiler. Preheating the feed water reduces the irreversibility
involved in steam generation and therefore improves the thermodynamic efficiency of the system.
This reduces plant operating costs and also helps to avoid thermal shock to the boilermetal when
the feed water is introduced back into the steam cycle. In a steam power (usually modeled as a
modified Rankin cycle), feed water heaters allow the feed water to be brought up to the saturation
temperature very gradually. This minimizes the inevitable irreversibility associated with heat
transfer to the working fluid (water).

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14. Coal conveyor: Coal conveyors are belts which are used to transfer coal from its storage place
to Coal Hopper. A belt conveyor consists of two pulleys, with a continuous loop of material- the
conveyor Belt – that rotates about them. The pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material
on the belt forward. Conveyor belts are extensively used to transport industrial and agricultural
material, such as grain, coal, ores etc.

15. Coal Hopper: Coal Hoppers are the places which are used to feed coal to Fuel Mill. It also
has the arrangement of entering Hot Air at 200°C inside it which solves our two purposes: - 1. If
our Coal has moisture content then it dries it so that a proper combustion takes place. 2. It raises
the temperature of coal so that its temperature is nearer to its Ignite Temperature so that combustion
is easy.

16. Pulverized Fuel Mill: A pulveriser is a device for grinding coal for combustion in a furnace
in a fossil fuel power plant.

17. Boiler drums: Steam Drums are a regular feature of water tube boilers. It is reservoir of
water/steam at the top end of the water tubes in the water-tube boiler. They store the steam
generated in the water tubes and act as a phase separator for the steam/water mixture. The
difference in densities between hot and cold water helps in the accumulation of the “hotter”-
water/and saturated –steam into steam drum. Made from high-grade steel (probably stainless) and
its working involve temperature of 390°C and pressure well above 350psi (2.4MPa). The separated
steam is drawn out from the top section of the drum. Saturated steam is drawn off the top of the
drum. The steam will re-enter the furnace in through a super heater, while the saturated water at
the bottom of steam drum flows down to the mud-drum /feed water drum by down comer tubes
accessories include a safety valve, water level indicator and fuse plug.

18. Ash Hopper: A steam drum is used in the company of a mud-drum/feed water drum which is
located at a lower level. So that it acts as a sump for the sludge or sediments which have a tendency
to accumulate at the bottom.

19. Super Heater: A Super heater is a device in a steam engine that heats the steam generated by
the boiler again increasing its thermal energy. Super heaters increase the efficiency of the steam
engine, and were widely adopted. Steam which has been superheated is logically known as
superheated steam; non- superheated steam is called saturated steam or wet steam. Super heaters
were applied to steam locomotives in quantity from the early 20th century, to most steam vehicles,
and also stationary steam engines including power stations.

20. Force Draught Fan: External fans are provided to give sufficient air for combustion. The
forced draught fan takes air from the atmosphere and, warms it in the air preheated for better
combustion, injects it via the air nozzles on the furnace wall.

21. Reheater: Reheater is a heater which is used to raise the temperature of steam which has fallen
from the intermediate pressure turbine

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22. Air Intake: Air is taken from the environment by an air intake tower which is fed to the fuel.

23. Economizers: Economizer, or in the UK economizer, are mechanical devices intended to

reduce energy consumption, or to perform another useful function like preheating a fluid. The term
economizer is used for other purposes as well-Boiler, power plant, heating, ventilating and air-
conditioning. In boilers, economizer are heat exchange devices that heat fluids , usually water, up
to but not normally beyond the boiling point of the fluid. Economizers are so named because they
can make use of the enthalpy and improving the boilers efficiency.

They are devices fitted to a boiler which save energy by using the exhaust gases from the
boiler to preheat the cold water used to fill it (the feed water). Modern day boilers, such as those
in cold fired power stations, are still fitted with economizer which is decedents of Green’s original
design. In this context there are turbines before it is pumped to the boilers.

A common application of economizer in steam power plants is to capture the waste heat
from boiler stack gases (flue gas) and transfer thus it to the boiler feed water thus lowering the
needed energy input, in turn reducing the firing rates to accomplish the rated boiler output.
Economizer lower stack temperatures which may cause condensation of acidic combustion gases
and serious equipment corrosion damage if care is not taken in their design and material selection.

24. Air Preheater: Air preheated is a general term to describe any device designed to heat air
before another process (for example, combustion in a boiler). The purpose of the air preheater is
to recover the heat from the boiler flue gas which increases the thermal efficiency of the boiler by
reducing the useful heat lost in the flue gas. As a consequence, the flue gases are also sent to the
flue gas stack (or chimney) at a lower temperature allowing simplified design of the ducting and
the flue gas stack. It also allows control over the temperature of gases leaving the stack.

25. Precipitator: An Electrostatic precipitator (ESP) or electrostatic air cleaner is a particulate

device that removes particles from a flowing gas (such as air) using the force of an induced
electrostatic charge. Electrostatic precipitators are highly efficient filtration devices, and can easily
remove fine particulate matter such as dust and smoke from the air steam.

ESPs continue to be excellent devices for control of many industrial particulate emissions,
including smoke from electricity-generating utilities (coal and oil fired), salt cake collection from
black liquor boilers in pump mills, and catalyst collection from fluidized bed catalytic crackers
from several hundred thousand ACFM in the largest coal-fired boiler applications. The original
parallel plate-Weighted wire design (described above) has evolved as more efficient (and robust)
discharge electrode designs, today focus is on rigid discharge electrodes to which many sharpened
spikes are attached, maximizing corona production. Transformer –rectifier systems apply voltages
of 50-100 Kilovolts at relatively high current densities. Modern controls minimize sparking and
prevent arcing, avoiding damage to the components. Automatic rapping systems and hopper
evacuation systems remove the collected particulate matter while on line allowing ESPs to stay in
operation for years at a time.

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26. Induced Draught Fan: The induced draft fan assists the FD fan by drawing out combustible
gases from the furnace, maintaining a slightly negative pressure in the furnace to avoid backfiring
through any opening. At the furnace outlet and before the furnace gases are handled by the ID fan,
fine dust carried by the outlet gases is removed to avoid atmospheric pollution. This is an
environmental limitation prescribed by law, which additionally minimizes erosion of the ID fan.

27. Flue gas stacks: A Flue gas stack is a type of chimney, a vertical pipe, channel or similar
structure through which combustion product gases called flue gases are exhausted to the outside
air. Flue gases are produced when coal, oil, natural gas, wood or any other large combustion
device. Flue gas is usually composed of carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor as well as nitrogen
and excess oxygen remaining from the intake combustion air.
It also contains a small percentage of pollutants such as particulates matter, carbon mono
oxide, nitrogen oxides and Sulphur oxides. The flue gas stacks are often quite tall, up to 400 meters
(1300 feet) or more, so as to disperse the exhaust pollutants over a greater area and thereby reduce
the concentration of the pollutants to the levels required by government's environmental policies
and regulations. The flue gases are exhausted from stoves, ovens, fireplaces or other small sources
within residential abodes, restaurants, hotels through other stacks which are referred to as
chimneys.

2.3 RANKINE CYCLE: -

The Rankine cycle is a thermodynamics cycle which converts heat into work. The heat is
supplied externally to a closed loop, which usually uses water as the working fluid. This
cycle generates about 80% of all electricity power used throughout the world, including
virtually all solar thermal, biomass, coal and nuclear power plants. It is named after
William John MacQueen Rankine, a Scottish polymath.

DESCRIPTION: A Rankine cycle describes a model of the operation of a steam heat

Figure 2.3 Operation of Rankine cycle

20
that a pump is used to pressurize liquid instead of gas. This requires about 1/100th (1%) as much
energy Engines most commonly found in power generation plants. Common heat sources for
power plants using the Rankine cycle are coal, natural gas, oil, and nuclear. The Rankine cycle is
sometimes referred to as a practical Carnot cycle as, when an efficient turbine is used, the T-S
diagram will begin to resemble the Carnot cycle. The main difference is as that compressing a gas
in a compressor (as in the Carnot cycle).
The efficiency of a Rankine cycle is usually limited by the working fluid. Without the
pressure going super critical the temperature range the cycle can operate over is quite small, turbine
entry temperature are around 30°C. This gives a theoretical Carnot efficiency of around63%
compared with an actual efficiency of 42% for a modern coal-fired power station. This low turbine
entry temperature (compared with a gas turbine) is why the Rankine cycle is often used as a
bottoming cycle in combined cycle gas turbine power stations.
The working fluid in a Rankine cycle follows a closed loop and is re-used constantly.
The water vapors and entrained droplets often seen billowing from power stations is generated by
the cooling systems (not from the closed loop Rankine power cycle) and represents the waste heat
that could not be converted to useful work. Note that cooling towers operate using the latent heat
of vaporization of the cooling fluid. The white billowing clouds that form in cooling tower
operation are the result of water droplets which are entrained in the cooling tower air flow; it is
not, as commonly thought, steam.
While many substances could be used in the Rankine cycle, water is usually the fluid of
choice due to its favorable properties, such as nontoxic and uncreative chemistry, abundance, and
low cost, as well as its thermodynamic properties. One of the principal advantages it holds over
other cycles is that during the compression stage relatively little work is required to drive the pump,
due to the working fluid being in its liquid phase at this point. By condensing the fluid to liquid,
the work required by the pump will only consume approximately 1% to 3% of the turbine power
and so give a much higher efficiency for a real cycle.
The benefit of this is lost somewhat due to the lower heat addition temperature. Gas
turbines, for instance, have turbine entry temperatures approaching 1500°C.Nonetheless, the
efficiencies of steam cycles and gas turbines are fairly well matched.

Figure 2.4 T-S diagram of a typical Rankine cycle

21
T-S diagram of a typical Rankine cycle operating between pressures of 0.06bar and 50bar. There
are four processes in the Rankine cycle, each changing the state of the working fluid. These
states are identified by number in the diagram to the right.

i. Process 1-2: The working fluid is pumped from low to high pressure, as the fluid is a
liquid at this stage the pump requires little input energy.
ii. Process 2-3: The high pressure liquid enters a boiler where it is heated at constant
pressure by an external heat source to become a dry saturated vapour.
iii. Process 3-4: The dry saturated vapour expands through a turbine, generating power.
This decreases the temperature and pressure of the vapour, and some condensation may
occur.
iv. Process 4-1: The wet vapour then enters a condenser where it is condensed at a constant
pressure and temperature to become saturated liquid. The pressure and temperature
of the condenser is fixed by the temperature of the cooling coils as the fluid is
undergoing a phase change.

In an ideal Rankine cycle the pump and turbine would be isentropic, i.e. the pump and
turbine would generate no entropy and hence maximize the Net work output. Process 1-2 and 3-4
would be represented by vertical lines on the T-S diagram and more closely resemble that of the
Carnot cycle.
The Rankine cycle shown here prevents the vapor ending up in the super-heated region
after the expansion in the turbine, which reduces the energy removed by the condensers.

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3. DETAILS OF TRAINING

3.1 Department/Section Detail

3.1.1Boiler Maintenance Department (BMD)
Boiler and Its Description:
The boiler is a rectangular furnace about 50 ft (15 m) on a side and 130 ft (40 m) tall. Its walls are
made of a web of high pressure steel tubes about 2.3inches (60 mm) in diameter. Pulverized coal is
air-blown into the furnace from fuel nozzles at the four corners and it rapidly burns, foaming a
large fireball at the centre. The thermal radiation of the fireball heats the water that circulates
through the boiler tubes near the boiler perimeter. The water circulation rate in the boiler is three
to four times the throughput and is typically driven by pumps. As the water in the boiler circulates
it absorbs heat and changes into steam at700 °F (370 °C) and 3200psi (22.1MPa). It is separated
from the water inside a drum at the top of furnace.
The saturated steam is introduced into superheat pendant tubes that hang in the hottest part of the
combustion gases as they exit the furnace. Here the steam is superheated to 1,000 °F (540°C)to
prepare it for the turbine. The steam generating boiler has to produce steam at the high purity,
pressure and temperature required for the steam turbine that drives the electrical generator. The
generator includes the economizer, the steam drum, the chemical dosing equipment, and the
furnace with its steam generating tubes and the superheated coils. Necessary safety valves are
located at suitable points to avoid excessive boiler pressure. The air and flue gas path equipment
include: forced draft (FD) fan, air preheated (APH), boiler furnace, induced draft (ID) fan, fly ash
collectors (electrostatic precipitator or bag house) and the flue gas stack. For units over about
210MW capacity, redundancy of key components is provided by installing duplicates of the FD
fan, APH, fly ash collectors and ID fan with isolating dampers. On some units of about 60MW,
two boilers per unit may instead be provided.

AUXILARYIES OF BOILER:
I. FURNACE
• Furnace is primary part of boiler where the chemical energy of the fuel is converted
to thermal energy by combustion. Furnace is designed for efficient and complete
combustion. Major factors that assist for efficient combustion are amount of fuel
inside the furnace and turbulence, which causes rapid mixing between fuel and air.
In modern boilers, water furnaces are used.

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II. BOILER DRUM

Figure 2.5 Boiler Drum

Drum is of fusion-welded design with welded hemispherical dished ends. It is provided with stubs
for welding all the connecting tubes, i.e. down comer, risers, pipes, saturated steam outlet. The
function of steam drum internals is to separate the water from the steam generated in the furnace
walls and to reduce the dissolved solid contents of the steam below the prescribed limit of 1ppm
and also take care of the sudden change of steam demand for boiler.
• The secondary stage of two opposite banks of closely spaced thin corrugated sheets, which
direct the steam and force the remaining entertained water against the corrugated plates.
Since the velocity is relatively low this water does not get picked up again but runs down
the plates and off the second stage of the two steam outlets.
• From the secondary separators the steam flows upwards to the series of screen dryers,
extending in layers across the length of the drum. These screens perform the final stage of
the separation.

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 • Once water inside the boiler or steam generator, the process of adding the latent heat of
vaporization or enthalpy is underway. The boiler transfers energy to the water by the
chemical reaction of burning some type of fuel.
• The water enters the boiler through a section in the convection pass called the economizer.
From the economizer it passes to the steam drum. Once the water enters the steam drum it
goes down the down comers to the lower inlet water wall headers. From the inlet headers
the water rises through the water walls and is eventually turned into steam due to the heat
being generated by the burners located on the front and rear water walls (typically). As the
water is turned into steam/vapour in the water walls, the steam/vapour once again enters
the steam drum.
• The steam/vapour is passed through a series of steam and water separators and then dryers
inside the steam drum. The steam separators and dryers remove the water droplets from the
steam and the cycle through the water walls is repeated. This process is known as natural
circulation.
• The boiler furnace auxiliary equipment includes coal feed nozzles and igniter’s guns, so
out blowers, water lancing and observation ports (in the furnace walls) for observation
of the furnace interior. Furnace explosions due to any accumulation of combustible gases
after a trip out are avoided by flushing out such gases from the combustion zone before
igniting the coal.
• The steam drum (as well as the super heater coils and headers) have air vents and drains
needed for initial start-up. The steam drum has an internal device that removes moisture
from the wet steam entering the drum from the steam generating tubes. The dry steam then
flows into the super heater coils. Geothermal plants need no boilers incest they use
naturally occurring steam sources.
• Heat exchangers may be used where the geothermal steam is very corrosive or contains
excessive suspended solids. Nuclear plants also boil water to raise steam, either directly
passing the working steam through the reactor or else using an intermediate heat
exchanger.

III. WATER WALLS:

Water flows to the water walls from the boiler drum by natural circulation. The front and the two
side water walls constitute the main evaporation surface, absorbing the bulk of radiant heat of the
fuel burnt in the chamber. The front and rear walls are bent at the lower ends to form a water-
cooled slag hopper. The upper part of the chamber is narrowed to achieve perfect mixing of
combustion gases. The water wall tubes are connected to headers at the top and bottom. The rear
water wall tubes at the top are grounded in four rows at wider pitch forming the grid tubes.

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IV.REHEATER:
Reheater is used to raise the temperature of steam from which a part of energy has been
extracted in high-pressure turbine. This is another method of increasing the cycle
efficiency.Reheating requires additional equipment i.e. heating surface connecting boiler
and turbine pipe safety equipment like safety valve, non return valves, isolating valves,
high pressure feed pump, etc; Reheater is composed of two sections namely the front and
the rear pendant section, which is located above the furnace arc between water-cooled,
screen wall tubes and rear wall tubes.

Figure 3.1 Reheater

V. SUPERHEATER:
• Whatever type of boiler is used, steam will leave the water at its surface and passing to
the steam space. Steam formed above the water surface in a shell boiler is always
saturated and become superheated in the boiler shell, as it is constantly. If superheated
steam is required,the saturated steam must pass through a super heater. This is simply a
heat exchanger where additional heat is added to the steam.
• In water-tube boilers, the super heater may be an additional pendant suspended in the
furnace area where the hot gases will provide the degree of superheat required. In other
cases, for example in CHP schemes where the gas turbine exhaust gases are relatively
cool, a separately fired super heater may be needed to provide the additional heat.

VI. ECONOMIZER:

• The function of an economizer in a steam-generating unit is to absorb heat

from the flue gases and add as a sensible heat to the feed water before the
water enters the evaporation circuit of the boiler.
• Earlier economizer were introduced mainly to recover the
heatavailableinthe flue gases that leaves the boiler and provision of this
addition heating surface increases the efficiency of steam

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 Figure 3.2 Economizer
generators. In the modern boilers used for power generation feed water heaters were used
to increase the efficiency of turbine unit and feed water temperature.
• Use of economizer or air heater or both is decided by the total economy that will result in
flexibility in operation, maintenance and selection of firing system and other related
equipment. Modern medium and high capacity boilers are used both as economizers and
air heaters. In low capacity, air heaters may alone be selected.
• Stop valves and non-return valves may be incorporated to keep circulation in
economizer into steam drum when there is fire in the furnace but not feed flow. Tube
elements composing the unit are built up into banks and these are connected to inlet and
outlet heaters.

VII.AIR PREHEATER:
• Air preheater absorbs waste heat from the flue gases and transfers this heat to incoming
cold air, by means of continuously rotating heat transfer element of specially formed metal
plates. Thousands of these high efficiency elements are spaced and compactlyarranged
within 12 sections. Sloped compartments of radially divided cylindrical shell called the
rotor. The housing surrounding the rotor is provided with duct connecting both the ends
and is adequately scaled by radial and circumferential scaling.
• Special sealing arrangements are provided in the air preheater to prevent the leakage
between the air and gas sides. Adjustable plates are also used to help the sealing
arrangements and prevent the leakage as expansion occurs. The air preheater heating
surface elements are provided with two types of cleaning devices, soot blowers to normal
devices and washing devices to clean the element when soot blowing alone cannot keep
the element clean.

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 Figure 3.3 Air preheater

VIII.PULVERIZER: A pulverizer is a mechanical device for the grinding of many types of

materials. For example, they are used to pulverize coal for combustion in the steam-generating
furnaces of the fossil fuel power plants.

Figure 3.4Pulverizer

3.1.2 PLANT AUXILIARY MAINTENANCE

I. WATER CIRCULATION SYSTEM

Theory of Circulation:
Water must flow through the heat absorption surface of the boiler in order that it is evaporated into
steam. In drum type units (natural and controlled circulation), the water is circulated from the drum
through the generating circuits and then back to the drum where the steam is separated and directed
to the super heater. The water leaves the drum through the down corners at a temperature slightly

28
below the saturation temperature. The flow through the furnace wall is at saturation temperature.
Heat absorbed in water wall is latent heat of vaporization creating a mixture of steam and water.
The weight of the water to the weight of the steam in the mixture leaving the heat absorption
surface is called circulation ratio.
Types of Boiler Circulating System:

i. Natural circulation system

ii. Controlled circulation system
iii. Combined circulation system

I. Natural Circulation System:

Water delivered to steam generator from feed water is at a temperature well below the saturation
value corresponding to that pressure. Entering first the economizer, it is heated to about 30-40C
below saturation temperature. From economizer the water enters the drum and thus joins the
circulation system. Water entering the drum flows through the down corner and enters ring heater
at the bottom. In the water walls, a part of the water is converted to steam and the mixture flows
back to the drum. In the drum, the steam is separated, and sent to superheat for superheating and
then sent to the high-pressure turbine. Remaining water mixes with the incoming water from the
economizer and the cycle is repeated.
As the pressure increases, the difference in density between water and steam reduces. Thus the
hydrostatic head available will not be able to overcome the frictional resistance for a flow
corresponding to the minimum requirement of cooling of water wall tubes. Therefore natural
circulation is limited to the boiler with drum operating pressure around 175 kg/cm².
II. Controlled Circulation System:
Beyond 80 kg/cm² of pressure, circulation is to be assisted with mechanical pumps to overcome
the frictional losses. To regulate the flow through various tubes, or if ice plates are used. This
system is applicable in the high sub-critical regions (200 kg/cm²).

II. ASH HANDLING PLANT

The widely used ash handling systems are:

i. Mechanical Handling System

ii. Hydraulic System
iii. Pneumatic System
iv. Steam Jet System

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 Figure 3.5Ash handling system
Hydraulic Ash handling system is used at the Barh super Thermal Power Station.
The hydraulic system carried the ash with the flow of water with high velocity through a channel
and finally dumps into a sump. The hydraulic system is divided into a low velocity and high
velocity system. In the low velocity system, the ash from the boilers falls into a stream of water
flowing into the sump. The ash is carried along with the water and they are separated at the sump.
In the high velocity system, a jet of water is sprayed to quench the hot ash. Two other jets force
the ash into a trough in which they are washed away by the water into the sump, where they are
separated. The molten slag formed in the pulverized fuel system can also be quenched and washed
by using the high velocity system. The advantage of this system is that its clean, large ash handling
capacity, considerable distance can be traversed, absence of working parts in contact with ash.
Fly Ash Collection:
Fly ash is captured and removed from the flue gas by electrostatic precipitators or fabric bag filters
(or sometimes both) located at the outlet of the furnace and before the induced draft fan. The fly
ash is periodically removed from the collection hoppers below the precipitators or bag filters.
Generally, the fly ash is pneumatically transported to storage silos for subsequent transport by
trucks or railroad cars.

Bottom Ash Collection and Disposal:

At the bottom of every boiler, a hopper has been provided for collection of the bottom ash from
the bottom of the furnace. This hopper is always filled with water to quench the ash and clinkers
falling down from the furnace. Some arrangement is included to crush the clinkers and for
conveying the crushed clinkers and bottom ash to a storage site.

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III. WATER TEATEMENT PLANT:

As the types of boiler are not alike their working pressure and operating conditions vary andso do
the types and methods of water treatment. Water treatment plants used in thermal power plants
used in thermal power plants are designed to process the raw water to water with a very low content
of dissolved solids known as µdematerialized water. No doubt, this plant has to be engineered very
carefully keeping in view the type of raw water to the thermal plant, its treatment costs and overall
economics.

Figure 3.6 Water treatment plant

The type of demineralization process chosen for a power station depends on three main factors:
i. The quality of the raw water.
ii. The degree of de-ionization i.e. treated water quality.
iii. Selectivity of resins.
Water treatment process is generally made up of two sections:
• Pretreatment section
• Demineralization section

PRETREATEMENT SECTION:
Pretreatment plant removes the suspended solids such as clay, silt, organic and inorganic matter,
plants and other microscopic organism. The turbidity may be taken as two types of suspended solid
in water; firstly, the separable solids and secondly the non-separable solids (colloids). The coarse
components, such as sand, silt, etc; can be removed from the water by simple sedimentation. Finer
particles, however, will not settle in any reasonable time and must be flocculated to produce the
large particles, which are settle able. Long term abilityto remain suspended in water is basically a
function of both size and specific gravity
.

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DEMINERALIZATION:
This filter water is now used for dematerializing purpose and is fed to cation exchanger bed, but
enroots being first dechlorinated, which is either done by passing through activated carbon filter
or injecting along the flow of water, an equivalent amount of sodium sulphite through some stroke
pumps. The residual chlorine, which is maintained in clarification plant to remove organic matter
from raw water, is now detrimental to action resin and must be eliminated before its entry to this
bed.

Figure 3.7 Demineralization

3.1.3 TURBINE MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT:

TURBINE CLASSIFICATION:
1.Impulse Turbine: In impulse turbine steam expands in fixed nozzles. The high velocity
steam from nozzles does work on moving blades, which causes the shaft to rotate. The
essential features of impulse turbine are that all pressure drops occur at nozzles and not
on blades.

2. Reaction turbine: In this type of turbine pressure is reduced at both fixed and moving
blades. Both fixed and moving blades act like nozzles. Work done by the impulse effect of
steam due to reverse the direction of high velocity steam. The expansion of steam takes place
on moving blades.

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 Figure 3.8 A95 MW GENERATOR AT NTPC, BARH

MAIN TURBINE:
The 210MW turbine is a cylinder tandem compounded type machine comprising of H.P, I.P and
L.P cylinders. The H.P. turbine comprises of 12 stages the I.P turbine has 11 stages and the L.P
has four stages of double flow. The H.P and I.P. turbine rotor are rigidly compounded and the I.P.
and L.P rotor by lens type semi flexible coupling. All the 3 rotorsare aligned on five bearings of
which the bearing number is combined with thrust bearing.The main superheated steam branches
off into two streams from the boiler and passes through the emergency stop valve and control valve
before entering the governing wheel chamber of the H.P.
Turbine.After expanding in the 12 stages in the H.P. turbine then steam is returned in the
boiler for reheating.The reheated steam from boiler enters I.P. turbine via the interceptor valves
and control valves and after expanding enters theL.P stage via 2 numbers of cross over pipes. In
the L.P. stage the steam expands in axially opposed direction to counteract the thrust and enters
the condenser placed directly below the L.P. turbine. The cooling water flowing through the
condenser tubes condenses the steam and the condensate the collected in the hot well of the
condenser. The condensate collected the pumped by means of 3x50% duty condensate pumps
through L.P heaters to deaerator from where the boiler feed pump delivers the water to the
boiler through H.P. heaters thus forming a closed cycle.

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STEAM TURBINE:

A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steamand
converts it into useful mechanical work.From a mechanical point of view, the turbine is ideal,
because the propelling force is applied directly to the rotating element of the machine and has not
as in the reciprocating engine to be transmitted through a system of connecting links, which are
necessary to transform a reciprocating motion into rotary motion. Hence since the steam turbine
possesses for its moving parts rotating elements only if the manufacture is good and the machine
is correctly designed, it ought to be free from out of balance forces.If the load on a turbine is kept
constant the torque developed at the coupling is also constant.
A generator at a steady load offers a constant torque. Therefore, a turbine is suitable
for driving a generator, particularly as they are both high-speed machines.A further advantage of
the turbine is the absence of internal lubrication. This means that the exhaust steam is not
contaminated with oil vapour and can be condensed and fed back to the boilers without passing
through the filters. It also means that turbine is considerable saving in lubricating oil when
compared with reciprocating steam engine of equal power. A final advantage of the steam turbine
and a very important one is the fact that a turbine can develop many time the power compared to
a reciprocating engine whether steam or oil.

STEAM CYCLE:

The thermal(steam) power plant uses a dual(vapor + liquid) phase steam, regenerative feed water
heating and re heating of steam cycle. It is a closed cycle to enable the working fluid (water) to
be used again and again.

Figure 3.9 Steam cycle diagram

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Figure 3.10 Turbine & Turbine Cycle

35
 The selection of extraction points and cold reheat pressure has been done with a view to achieve
a high efficiency. These are two extractors from H.P turbine, four from I.P turbine and one from
L.P turbine. Steam at1.10 and 1.03 g/sq.cm .As is supplied for the gland scaling. Steam for this
purpose is obtained from deaerator through a collection where pressure of steam is regulated. From
the condenser, condensate is pumped with the help of 3*50% capacity condensate pumps to
deaerator through the low-pressure regenerative equipments.Feed water is pumped from deaerator
to the boiler through the H.P. heaters by means of 3*50% capacity feed pumps connected before
the H.P. heaters.

TURBINE COMPONENTS:
➢ Casing.
➢ Rotor
➢ Blades
➢ Sealing System
➢ Stop & control valves
➢ Coupling & Bearing
➢ Barring Gear
TURBINE CASINGS:
HP Turbine Casing:
• Outer casing: a barrel-type without axial or radial flange.
• Barrel-type casing suitable for quick startup and loading.
• The inner casing- cylindrically, axially split.
• The inner casing is attached in the horizontal and vertical planes in the barrel casing so that it can
freely expand radially in all the directions and axially from a fixed point(HP- inlet side)
.
I.P Turbine Casing:
• The casing of the IP turbine is split horizontally and is of double-shell construction.
• Both are axially split and a double flow inner casing is supported in the outer casingand
carries the guide blades.

ROTORS:
HP Rotor:
• The HP rotor is machined from single Cr-Mo-V steel forging with integral discs.
• In all the moving wheels, balancing holes are machined to reduce the pressure difference
across them, which results in reduction of axial thrust.
• First stage has integral shrouds while other rows have surroundings, riveted to the blades
are periphery.
I.P Rotor:
• The IP rotor has seven discs integrally forged with rotor while last four discs are shank
fit.

36
BLADES:
• Most costly element of the turbine.
• Blades fixed in stationary part are called guide blades/ nozzles and those fitted inmoving
part are called rotating/working blades.
• Blades have three main part:
i. Aerofoil: working part.
ii. Root.
iii. Shrouds.
• Shroud is used to prevent steam leakage and guide steam to next set of moving blades.

VACUUM SYSTEM:
This comprises of:
Condenser: 2 for 200MW unit at the exhaust of L.P turbine.
Ejectors: One starting and two main ejectors connected to the condenser located near the turbine.
C.W Pumps: Normally two per unit of 50% capacity.

CONDENSER:
There are two condensers entered to the two exhausters of the L.P. turbine. These are surface-type
condensers with two pass arrangement. Cooling water pumped into each condenser by a vertical C.W.
pump through the inlet pipe.

Figure 3.11 A Typical Water Cooled Condenser

Water enters the inlet chamber of the front water box, passes horizontally through brass tubes to the
water tubes to the water box at the other end,takes a turn, passes through the upper cluster of tubes and
reaches the outlet chamber in the front water box. From these, cooling water leaves the condenser through
the outlet pipe and discharge into the discharge duct.Steam exhausted from the LP turbine washes the
outside of the condenser tubes, losing its latent heat to the cooling water and is connected with water in the
steam side of the condenser. This condensate collects in the hot well, welded to the bottom of the
condensers.

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EJECTORS:
There are two 100% capacity ejectors of the steam eject type. The purpose of the ejector is to
evacuate air and other non-condensation gases from the condensers and thus maintain the vacuum
in the condensers. The ejector has three compartments. Steam is supplied generally at a pressure
of 4.5 to 5 kg/cm² to the three nozzles in the three compartments. Steam expands in the nozzle thus
givinga high-velocity eject which creates a low-pressure zone in the throat of the eject. Since the
nozzle box of the ejector is connected to the air pipe from the condenser, the air and pressure zone.
The working steam which has expanded in volume comes into contact with the cluster of tube
bundles through which condensate is flowing and gets condensed thus after aiding the formation
of vacuum. The non-condensing gases of air are further sucked with the next stageof the ejector
by the second nozzle. The process repeats itself in the third stage also andfinally the steam-air
mixture is exhausted into the atmosphere through the outlet
.
Deaerator:
The presence of certain gases, principally oxygen, carbon dioxide and ammonia, dissolved in
water is generally considered harmful because of their corrosive attack on metals, particularly at
elevated temperatures. One of the most important factors in the prevention of internal corrosionin
modern boilers and associated plant therefore, is that the boiler feed water should be free as far as
possible from all dissolved gases especially oxygen. This is achieved by embodying into the boiler
feed system a deaerating unit, whose function is to remove

Figure 3.12a Deaerator

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PRINCIPAL OF DEAERATION:
It is based on following two laws.
• Henry’s Law
• Solubility
The Deaerator comprises of two chambers:
• Deaerating column
• Feed storage tank

Boiler Feed Pump:

This pump is horizontal and of barrel design driven by an Electric motor through a hydraulic
coupling. All the bearings of pump and motor are forced lubricated by a suitable oil lubricating
system with adequate protection to trip the pump if the lubrication oil pressure falls below a
preset value.
3.2.2 COAL HANDLING DEPARTMENT:
As coal is the prime fuel for thermal power plant, adequate emphasis should be given for its proper
handling and storage. Also it is equally important to have a sustained flow of this fuel to maintain
uninterrupted power generation. Coal is used as the fuel because of the followingadvantages
.
Advantages of coal as fuel:
• Abundantly available in India
• Low Cost
• Technology for power generation well developed.
• Easy to handle,transport, store and use.

COAL CYCLE:

Figure 3.13 Coal cycle Diagram

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COAL HANDLING SYSTEM:
In the coal handling system of NTPC, three coal paths are normally available for the direct
conveying of coal. These are:
• Path A: From track hopper to boiler bunker.
• Path B: From track hopper to stock yard.
• Path C: From stock yard to boiler bunkers.

Figure 3.14 Coal handling system

The storage facilities at the stockyards have been provided only for crushed coal. The coal handling
system is designed to provide 100% standby for all equipments and conveyors.The 200 mm coal
as received at the track hopper is fed to the crusher house for crushing.Crusher of 50% capacity is
provided and these are preferred to two crushers of 100% capacity because of increased reliability
and possible higher availability. A series of parallel conveyors are designed thereafter to carry
crushed coal directly to the boiler bunkers or to divert it to the stockyard.

Figure3.15Coal handling division at NTPC,Barh

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COAL HANDLING EQUIPMENTS
i. PULLEY :
They are made of mild steel. Rubber lagging is provided to decrease the friction factor in
between the belt and pulley.
ii. SCRAPPER:
Conveyors are provided with scrappers at the discharge pulley in order to clean the carrying
side of the belt built up material on idler rolls. Care should be taken to ensure that scrapper
is held against the belt with the pressure sufficient to remove material without causing
damage to the belt due to excessive force exerted by the wiper. The following categories
of scrapper are common in use :
• Steel blade scrapper
• Rubber/fabric blade scrapper
• Nylon brush scrapper
• Compressed air blast scrapper.

iii. IDLERS:
These essentially consist of rolls made out of seamless steel tube enclosed fully at each end
and fitted with stationary shaft,anti-friction bearing and seals. They support the belt and
enable it to travel freely without much frictional losses and also keep the belt properly
trained.

Figure3.16 an Idler

iv. CONVEYOR BELT:

The conveyor belt consists of layers or piles of fabric duck, impregnated with rubber and
protected by a rubber cover on both sides and edges. The fabric duck supplies the strength to with
stand the tension created in carrying the load while the cover protects the fabric arecas. Heat
resistant belting is always recommended for handling materials at a temperature over 66˚ C.

41
 Figure 3.17 Coal Storage Area of the barh superThermal Power Station,

v. VIBRATING SCREEN:The function of vibrating screen is to send the coal of having size
less than 20 mm to the crusher. The screen is operated by four v-belts connected to motor.
vi. CRUSHER:The role of crusher is to crush the coal from 200 mm to 20 mm size of coal
received from the vibrating screen. This is accomplished by means of granulators of ring type.
There are about 37 crushing elevations; each elevation has 4 granulators-2 of plain type and 2
of toothtype, arranged alternately.The granulators are made of manganese steel because
of their work hardening property. The coal enters the top of the crusher and is crushed between
rotating granulators and fluid case path. The crushed coal through a chute falls on belt
feeder. Normally these crushers have a capacity round 600tonnes/hr.
vii. MAGNETIC SEPAROTERS: This is an electromagnet placed above the conveyor to attract
magnetic materials. Over this magnet
There is one conveyor to transfer these materials to chute provided for dumping at ground
level.Because of this, continuous removal is possible. It can remove any ferrous impurity from
10gms to 50kg.

42