LEAKAGE AND SEALS ITS RESTORATION IN HYDRO POWER STATION.

. Hydro Power Station, as the name implies use water at high potential for driving of turbine-generator combine set to generate electricity. Besides running of turbine, water is also used for cooling of component of hydro-generating unit and other work. Hydraulic oil is being used for servo mechanism control, lubrication and heat transfer of the hydrogenating set. Generator ransformer, Potential ransformer, !urrent ransformer, !apacities "oltage, Station Service ransformer used transformer for insulation and also for heat transfer from the core and winding. #ll these components work very fine when they are controlled and not allow to go out from there designate position. $hen they come out of the enclosed position, we called it leakage. !ontrolled of this leakage is one of the main components in %anagement of Hydro Power Station. #ir in Power Station is used for pneumatic braking of rotor for maintain &P' at high pressure and also used for servicing work. (n olden days, air at high pressure is used for !ircuit Breaking in the form of #ir Blast !ircuit Breaker. However, this has become obsolete to space and slow in operation. he recent turned is the used of S)* gas in !ircuit Breaker. #nother leakage, which is not including in the above but of utmost importance, is the electricity current leakage. %any of the damage of electricity e+uipment are due to the uncontrolled of this item. Here we will discuss only the mechanical leakage as mention above and electrical leakage will be dealt with another time. ,et us know how hydropower work, before we proceed to e-plain the leakage, its source and how to tackle with it. Basically hydropower station gets its energy from the storage water at a higher level. his water is taken through conduct, which may be turned, concrete liner or steel liner or both, to the power station. &n reading the power station, the water is taken to the spiral casing and thereafter to the turbine. he inflow to the spiral casing is contracting by %ain (nlet "alve .%("/ and to the turbine by the wicket gates or Guide "anes. #fter doing its work, the water is discharge to the tailrace through the draft tube. #ll through, the water is sub0ected to various pressure. he turbine is turn device the shaft which is coupled to the generator and power is generated. (n order to enable the shaft to rotate in particular a-is, it is guided by difficult bearing, like turbine guide bearing, upper or lower guide bearing or both. he whole weight of the rotating component are support by thrust bearing. 1uring rotation, heat is developed in this bearing and is being cooled by oil lubricant which are immense in a sump or force from outside by a pump. his oil take away the heat form the bearing beside lubricating it and it is being cooled by &il cooler. his oil cooler used water at around 2kgkm2 to cool the oil, through cooling water pump. he water is confined in turbine and not allows to leak along the shaft by using shaft seal arrangement. 1raft tube is used to guide the water after runner. he turbine on rotating will have to be controlled so that it will remain at constant speed under different load condition. his is achieved by control the opening and closing of water inlet to the runner i.e. by controlled the guide vane opening. his is achieved by governor action through guide vane servomotor and gate mechanism, which used hydraulic oil at high pressure as medium for transfer of mechanical power. Similarly, opening and closing of %(", Pressure 3elief "alve and achieved in similar way. he oil is kept at high pressure in oil pressure tank and this high pressure is achieved by compressed air or nitrogen. &n stopping the unit, the speed come doom slowly and it ahs to be brought to stand still to avoid damage to the hrust Bearing. (n most power station, pneumatic brake are used, while in other hydraulic oil is used for braking. ,eakage can be classified in two categories .a/ 4-ternal leakage 5 ,eakage from inside the conduct, machine to atmosphere.

.b/ (nternal leakage 5 ,eakage inside without coming out to atmosphere. Basically there are two types of fluid leakage namely (nternal ,eakage and 4-ternal ,eakage. (nternal ,eakage are those leakage which leak out inside the enclosure without coming out to the atmosphere whereas 4-ternal ,eakage of fluid are those type of leakage where the fluid leaks out from inside the enclosure at high pressure to the atmosphere. Both type of leakage are coming loss to the power house. he internal leakage will not hamper the working personnel but it is e-tremely dangerous for the generating unit. he e-ternal leakage may cause flood, damage to the personnel and also to the hydro-generating unit. (t is most difficult and challenging task to conceal both type of leakage. (t is for this reason that all the 0oints are sealed by special type of sealing material depending in the location where the seal is fitted. (n the case of water the e-ternal leakage may occur at runnion of %(" due to damage of cup-seal Spiral casing manhole. 1ue to damage of seal. &utput pipe of by pass valve due to damage of the pipe by cavitations after prolong use. )rom the flange of at different part- of %(", by-pass valve and others due to damage of gasket or looseness of bolts. .v/ urbine top cover from the guide vane stem due to damage of cup-seal. .vi/ Prominently from the shaft due to failure of shaft seal. .vii/ )rom man-hole of draft tube gate due to faculty seal or damage of the cone. .viii/ )rom the cooling water of piping due to damage of seal. .i/ .ii/ .iii/ .iv/ (nternal leakage of water normally occur at the following7.i/ #t the %(" during closed passing due to damage of seal, this leakage is very dangerous not only that precious water is lost but also it will damage the guide vane in the long run. .ii/ ,eakage at the by-pass valve or sealing valve due to failure of seal. .iii/ #t the guide vane, this leakage is also very dangerous as it will not only cause loss of water of water out reduction in the efficiency of the machine and damage to the lower part of the turbine. .iv/ ,eakage form the P3". his leakage will cause loss of water and also turbulence to the water entering the turbine further it may damage the PP3" discharge ,iner. Beside the above leakage of water there is another type of internal leakage where the water leaks in to the oil cooler to the bearing sump due to cooler failure. his is very ha8ardous to the hydro generating unit as the water may enter the bearing. Parts and subse+uently damage the bearing namely GB, ,GB, 'GB 9 B. (n such cases if its happen the immediate solution for the maintenance engineer of a hydro Power Station, repair:replace the leaked cooler to put the unit under shutdown thoroughly before a fresh oil or filtered out is put back. Similarly, leakage of water in to the oil in ;-inner will cause a low insulation to the ;-inner and if not control will damage the out and subse+uently the ;-inner. his is more prominent in case of those type of ;-inner where forced water is used for cooling the oil. $ater may also ingress in to the ;-inner oil thru the damaged gasket or thru the improper use of air breather. ,eakage in the case of oil may occur e-tremely at the following points7 G" servomotor shaft seal. (n most cases the leakage through the servomotor shaft occurs due to damaged seal. his is because due to pressure of impurities in oil. (n source cases it may be happen due to loose fitting of adapter ring. .ii/ )rom the P3" shaft. his is also from the servomotor. .iii/ )rom the (nlet "alve servomotor piston. .iv/ )rom servomotor by-pass valve:sealing valve. .i/

.v/ .vi/ .vii/ .viii/ .i-/

)rom the control valve and piping. &il also may leak from the sealing end where &-ring is used in the end cover of the servomotor. &il may also leak in the 0acking system. ;-inner oil leakage may also occur in ! :!" due to damaged seal.

his type of leakage should be control or repair at the earliest so as to avoid loss of oil and also damaged to the environment. (nternally the oil may leak in the servomotor of %(": By-pass:Scaling "alve:P3":G" Servomotor due to failure of piston seal. (f the re is a leakage of such cases there is a loss of pressure oil to the sump thru leakage unit. his type of leakage can be observed by the fre+uency of pump loading. (n e-treme cases it may not be possible to operate the servomotor due to e-cessive leakage. (n such cases the unit has to be put immediately under emergency Sub-1ivision. #ir leakage is usually out in nature. he use of air in hydro power station we mostly limited to brake system and &P' system. So the possible leakages occur also in those areas. he leakage can easily be detected because it will make a lot of noise when leaked. Some year<s age when #B!B are in used in Switch =ard leakage of air is very alarming as the breaker will not be able to operate if the leaks occur. (n working days due to less available of space an improvement of technology S)* breaker are being used and probable leakage of S)* gas may happen from the piping:valve and 0oints. (t is because of the above leakage the personnel of hydropower station needs to monitor regularly to avoid wastage:malfunctioning of the generating unit and its accessories. (n order to eliminate or running the leakage of fluid in hydro power station, proper uses of seals are necessary. he following are the type of seal that are prominently used to control the leakage, they may be either made of leather or nitrite rubber. >ow a days the used of leather is decreasing to cost factor and also difficult replacement. >itrite rubber is of many types depending o the percent of carbon added to the rubber. Proper selection of nitrite is very important otherwise the seal may not be able to sustain the pressure for e.g. the nitrite rubber seal is to sustain the movement of piston at high pressure where as the stationery seal may not be sub0ected to same pressure. he following are the type of seal used in hydro power station. .i/ !up seal 5 his seal are so made in the form of " shape. his is to enable it to increase the surface area and when pressure is applied it will cause the sealing. hey are used in cup sealing of %(" trunnion, cup-seal of G" stem where the rotary movement is small and at slow speed. .ii/ ?-Packing. SEALS Seals have been used since ancient times and have evolved into a wide variety of shapes and materials. )or those who are not familiar with sealing technology, the number of options available can be confusing. Selecting the most suitable product for a given application can be difficult. Sealing Theory Static v ! Dyna"ic Sealing 4very seal, whether static or dynamic, must seal against at least two contacting surfaces. (n static applications, both surfaces are non-moving relative to one another. (n dynamic applications at least one

surface is in motion relative to the other sealing surface.s/. )or e-ample, in a standard hydraulic cylinder, the rod and piston seals would be classified as dynamic seals, while the seal between the bore and the head gland would be considered a static seal. (n both static and dynamic applications, a certain amount of s+uee8e or compression is re+uired upon installation to maintain contact with the sealing surfaces and prevent fluid leakage. 1ynamic applications in particular involve other variables and re+uire that additional factors be evaluated to ensure proper system performance. hese variables are discussed in the following sections. Lea#age $ontrol $hen choosing a sealing system, the desired result is ultimately leakage control. Seal design and material improvements have made it possible not only to have seal combinations that provide 8ero leakage, but also provide e-tended life in a variety of applications. #side from the seals themselves, a thorough understanding of system parameters is necessary to obtain the best results. &ptimal sealing is best achieved by taking a systems approach to the seal package rather than considering components individually. &ur profiles have been designed specifically to complement one another to create high performance systems. )or e-ample, pairing a rod seal with a wiper minimi8es fluid leakage and ma-imi8es contamination e-clusion. Some rod seals are designed with knife-trimmed lips to ensure the best possible film breaking. his dry rod technology permits the wiper to be e-tremely aggressive, e-cluding contamination without building up oil leakage around the wiper. #nother systems approach to effectively control leakage is to incorporate multiple sealing lips. 4ven when appropriate seals are specified, it is still possible to e-perience leakage due to factors e-tending beyond the seals themselves. 4-amples are hardware considerations like surface finish and installation damage, seal storage, chemical wash downs, maintenance and contamination. #dhering to the design recommendations found herein not only for seals, but also for the mating hardware will provide the greatest likelihood of minimi8ed leakage. Seal may be broadly classified depending on .a/ .b/ .i/ .ii/ he material use like he shape of the seal.

he material used7 ,eather Seal 5 this type of seal are commonly now a days due to many reason which are technical and non technical. %etal seal 5 his type of seal are used in area where there is high pressure is encounter like sealing of %(", by-pass valve, sealing valve, guide vane, runner seal. (n case of sealing of %(", by-pass valve and sealing valve there is no tolerance as the moveable seal will contact with seat, but in the case of guide vane and runner seal some clearance are given to avoid contact with the seal. 3unner seal is very delicate seal and e-plain in detail in the subse+uent paragraph. Seal "aterial .iii/ hermoplastics 4ngineered 3esins

4ngineered resins such as >ylons, sometimes called hard plastics. hese compounds e-hibit high tensile and compressive strength and are typically used in wear rings for bearing support and in au-iliary devices for e-trusion resistance. .iv/ hermoset 4lastomers B 3ubber 'nlike thermoplastic elastomers, thermoset elastomers gain their strength from an irreversible cross linking process that occurs when the compound is sub0ected to pressure and heat. 1uring this process, or CcureD, special chemical agents within the compound react to the heat and pressure to vulcani8e the molecules together. &nce cured, thermoset compounds obtain the necessary physical properties needed to function in fluid sealing applications. 3eheating thermoset compounds will not cause them to melt as thermoplastics do. .v/ >itrile .>B3/ >itrile rubber .>B3/ is the general term for acrylonitrile butadiene copolymer. >itrile compounds offer good resistance to abrasion, e-trusion, and compression set. he acrylonitrile .#!>/ content influences the physical properties of the compound. #s the #!> content increases, oil and solvent resistance improve, tensile strength, hardness and abrasion resistance increase, while permeability, low temperature fle-ibility, and resilience decrease. Ty%e o& Seal 'e%en'ing on their ha%e an' location o& there ( e' .a/ Gasket 5 gasket will be needed flanged oil and water pipe connections, oil tubes, generator air coolers, the packing bo- and other similar application. .b/ &-ring 5 o-ring material are seal which are formed in the form of letter E&<. hey may be precasted or 0oint at site depending on the re+uired. Basically for this type of seal is nitrile rubber nylon, through some other material are used. hey are used as a seal on the head cover, oil tube cover, servomotor cover and any other area of static sealing. hey are most commonly used seal. .c/ ?-seal 5 his type of seal are used fro sealing which guard against e-ternal leakage and are one of the most vital component of the sealing system. hey found their use in piston shaft seal of all the servomotor in power station like guide vane, by-pass valve, P3", sealing valve etc. .d/ ,-seal 5 his type of seal is in the form of letter E,< and are mostly used as piston seal in servomotor to prevent oil leakage from one chamber to another. 4-ample of such seal are G" servomotor seal, %(" servomotor seal, P3" servomotor seal, Brake and 0ack piston seal. 4arlier leather seals are being used but now a days nitrile rubber are being used. .e/ !up-Seal 5 his type of seal is in the form of capatical E'< and are used in the sealing of 3od:Shaft as static seal. $ith the advent of technology, the shape of the seal has undergone drastically and this seal are used in piston seal also. he most common use of this type of seal is in sealing of runnion of %(", sealing of Guide "ane stem .both top and bottom/. .f/ !heck Plate or liner 5 his seal, made of metal, are used in sealing of water in turbine guide vane stem. hey are stationery and fi-ed in top cover and bottom ring of the turbine. 1uring closing of guide vane, they prevent the water from leakage and are designed such that their hardness is less than the guide "ane to avoid damage to Guide "ane due to silt etc. the are replaceable. .g/ 3unner Seal 3ing - he purpose of seal rings or wearing rings in turbine, as they are also called, is to provide a renewable seal or leakage 0oint between a turbine runner and its casing. he small clearance between the stationary and rotating rings limits the flow of water from the high pressure

areas to low pressure areas of the turbine. #s the clearance increases over time, the amount of water flowing through the seal rings increases, decreasing the efficiency of the turbine. #s seal ring clearances increase to 2GG percent of the manufacturerHs design clearance, the efficiency can decrease as much as 2 percent. (deally, seal rings should last 2G years or more. his type of longevity is not always possible, but to achieve the longest life possible, the seal rings are constructed of materials that are resistant to wear and corrosion. $ear can occur as a result of cavitations or abrasive erosion. #brasive erosion caused by silt or other suspended particles in the water is usually not a concern in turbines that receive their water from deep reservoirs, but it can be a problem in pump-turbines or turbines that receive their water from a canal or other shallow waterway. !avitations erosion is dependent on the amount of head of the unit, the seal ring clearance, and the hydraulic characteristics of the unit. he occurrence of corrosion will depend on the seal ring material and the +uality of the water. he galling resistance between the rotating and stationary ring materials must also be considered. 'nder normal operating conditions, the rings should never touch. However, in some circumstances such as the failure of the turbine guide bearing, failure of a seal ring, or during unit alignment, they can come in contact. (f contact is made between materials that are prone to galling, the rings can be severely damaged, and in e-treme cases, the rings may sei8e Sha&t Seal >ormally two types of shaft gland seals are in use in different power stations7 i/ !arbon or ferrobestos segment. ii/ 3ubber flap type 6 $ar)on or *erro)e to Seg"ent Ty%e he seal segments are housed in the stuffing bo-. Stuffing bo- being always in touch with the shaft is sub0ected to e-cessive wear and tear. he overhauling of the stuffing bo- becomes necessary when it is observed that consumption of cooling water has considerably increased or e-cessive water in top cover appears to be coming. (n general maintenance of the seal is re+uired to be done annually. 2 R())er &la% ty%e %aintenance of rubber flap type gland seal is comparatively simpler and easier. &nly precaution during assembly of rubber gland is 0ointing of the rubber seal in the proper way. he +uality of rubber used plays a very important role for satisfactory performance of the rubber gland. (n one of the recently commissioned power stations rubber gland seal used to fail very fre+uently. he cause of fre+uent failure was found to be due to +uality of rubber.