Why vacuum is required in steam turbine?

The steam turbine is a device to convert the heat energy in steam to mechanical power. The difference between the heat of steam per unit mass at the inlet to the turbine and the heat of steam per unit mass at the outlet to the turbine represents the heat which is converted to mechanical power. Therefore, the more the conversion of heat per kilogram of steam to mechanical power in the turbine, the better is its efficiency. 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 of heat available for conversion to mechanical power. Why steam turbine heating required before starting? There are stages, fixed blades on the turbine shell and rotating blades on the rotor. They are very close together so, because the steam enters at one end of the turbine it heats that area first and it expands the metal there faster than at the other end causing it to rub. If you heat it slowly the turbine casing and the rotor grow at ~ the same rate so the stages don't rub together. If you heat too quickly, by just admitting a high volume of steam, the rotor heats up to fast, because of it has less metal to heat up, it rubs the fixed blades. This is called going long (the rotor is longer than the tolerances between the fixed blades on the casing)

Referring to steam turbine plants, why should the vacuum in the vacuum condenser never exceed 600mmHg-V? If you see the mollier chart, the expansion line of turbine matters for power output. The LP blading is designed to take this huge volume of low pressure steam and hence increase the turbine efficiency, the cold end is kept at vacuum for better efficiency. The condenser pressure is maintained with an ejector system or vacuum pumps and cooling water outlet temperature. but if the condenser vacuum starts going beyond lower limits , it can cause condensation in turbine and damage the blading and vice versa if it starts going above the higher limit , it can damage the blades of LP turbine. So that is why protection criteria of trips and bypass active are foreseen in the turbine when these abnormal pressure conditions occur! If you design a turbine and a cooling system with very low condenser vacuum, it will increase the cost of turbine and cooling water pumps and cooling tower heavily but the efficiency gain will be little in that case, normally cold end is optimized in thermal power plants for best condenser vacuum and cooling system with max efficiency!

How is vacuum affected by atmospheric pressure in a steam condenser? Actual vacuum in the condenser is not affected by atmospheric pressure. However, the instrument used to measure the vacuum maybe affected by (a change) in atmospheric pressure. In the case of a bourdon tube type of gage the vacuum exerts its force on the inside of the tube and the atmosphere exerts its force on the out side of the tube. As atmospheric pressure increases the condensers vacuum would also seem to increase (become more negative or closer to perfect = 30 inches Hg, or 0 psia). Of course the reverse is true if atmospheric pressure decreases.

>> When steam is condensed in a closed system, the pressure automatically comes down to vacuum. e.g. If steam is condensed at 66C by cooling water, the pressure will automatically come down to about 27"Hg vacuum (3"Hg Absolute), due to the huge change in volume from steam to water. However, when steam is condensing, some dissolved air is present which of course, does not condense. This will build up and destroy the vacuum. A barometric (surface) condenser has a double (primary & secondary) ejector system that 'pulls out' the uncondensables and maintains the vacuum. The primary ejector condenser, has a 'seal-loop' (about 34 feet of water) connected to the water outlet and connects to the surface condenser , the gases will build up above the water in the primary condenser and these are 'pulled out' by the secondary ejector set into its condenser that again has a seal-loop. The gases again, build up above the water and, as their pressure builds up to just above atmospheric, a check valve opens to vent the gases to atmosphere. Any mal-function of the ejectors and/or their condensers, or any air getting into the surface condenser by way of the turbine shaft seals, shaft leak steam system, condensate pump gland, control and other valve glands, poor gaskets in any associated pipe-work, depending on the rate of air ingress, will destroy the vacuum. Condensing Steam Turbine operations. Why gland steam is required in steam turbines?
The purpose of the gland steam system is to reduce steam leakage to a minimum and to prevent air ingress. Steam leakage leads to the requirement for increased make up; this increases the load on the feed and boiler water treatment chemicals and to a deterioration of the working environment surrounding the power plant. Air ingress leads to a loss of vacuum and hence reduction in plant efficiency , and causes problems of thermal stressing around the gland as well as increases oxygen content of the exhaust steam.