PROJECT: PROBLEM:

EID PARRY, PUDUKKOTTAI, 1 X 18.55 MW TG LOAD COULD NOT BE RAISED BEYOND 14 MW DURING RESTART OF TG AFTER BRIEF COGEN PLANT SHUT DOWN. FURTHER LOAD REDUCED DAY BY DAY TO THE LEVEL OF 7 MW.

ANALYSIS: The above problem of load could not be raised beyond 14 MW, was reported to us, by customer through mail. We requested customer to send the operating parameters. As per the parameters mailed by customer on 14/06/06, the actual load was 13.8 MW with set point of 18 MW. At the same time the HP control valve demand at control room was 100% and valve position at local is also indicated as full open. As per valve flow characteristics, at full open of valve, the inlet steam flow should be 110 tph. But the inlet steam flow was only 80 tph, for which the load of 13.8 MW was approximately matching with the steam map. The steam flow limitation (80 tph) leads to suspicion on restriction at control valve or within turbine. For further analysis, we requested for the parameters from the date of reaching full load along with wheel chamber pressure. Our site engineer furnished the data from 20th may 2006. The following are the observation. The wheel chamber pressure shows increasing trend after restart of the turbine on 11/06/06. The wheel chamber pressure of 65 kg/cm2 at full load and upto 11 th June 2006 is almost matching with HP regulation curve.

Also, the secondary oil pressure data indicates the control valve remains partial open till 11/06/2006 and later it became full open. The excessive wheel chamber pressure indicates the restriction is within turbine. It has lead us to conclude that deposits of salt and silica constricts the passage in the fixed and moving blades, thereby causing drop in efficiency and power output. The only reason for the deposit will be poor steam quality. We requested customer to look into the history of analysis of chemical regime of the steam. After analysis of DM plant, customer confirmed some problem in the RODM plant, which was causing impure water being fed into the boiler. BHEL/PSSR/TSX department advised Customer to shut down the unit and to clean the scale deposits on moving and fixed blades of turbine. The unit was shut down on 23.06.06. Customer has issued work order to SAS for carrying out the above works. The turbine was opened on 08/07/06, the photographs of turbine deposits is enclosed for reference. The turbine is being cleaned by Alumina blasting. CONCLUSION: The problem gives the lesson of how the steam purity affects the performance of Steam Turbine. Hence utmost importance has to be given for boiler water and steam analysis in any power plant of any size.