REGENRATIVE FEED HEATING SYSTEM

Economics of feed heating

If steam is bled from a turbine and is made to give up its latent and any superheat it may possess, to a heater, this system is called regenerative, because the fluid (steam) gives up heat, which would be otherwise wasted, to the fluid whilst in another state (water) to raise its temperature .The highest theoretical temperature to which the feed water may be raised in the heater is the saturation temperature of the bled steam. There is an optimum point at which the steam is bled from the turbine once a feed temperature is selected, a tapping point near the stop valve produces no gain in efficiency as practically live steam is used for heating. An intermediate point, if carefully chosen, gives maximum feed temperature rise with minimum loss of mechanical power at the turbine. The steam, having given up a proportion of lits work to the turbine, then gives up all its latent heat which would otherwise be lost to the condenser C.W. The heat gained in this way out weighs the loss of mechanical power, a smaller condenser can be used and the turbine exhaust annulus is smaller. The thermal gain resulting from feed resulting from feed water heating Can be illustrated by considering an example with approximate figures as follows (Single Feed Heater). A high pressure surface heater consists of a mild steel cylindrical body and some secured together to form a vessel, which houses a tube nest of carbon steel tubes suspended from a condensate inlet and outlet heater. A typical modern high-pressure heater has integral desuper heating and drain cooling zones in addition to condensing surfaces in the one shell. Shows a temperature /heat transferred diagram for or this heater. The outlet temperature difference is -0.56 (-1F) and drain cooling terminal difference is 5.56c (10F).

REGENERATIVE SYSTEM OF 210 MW UNIT

The regenerative system of the turbine consists of four low pressure (LP) heaters, two gland coolers, one dearator and three high pressure (HP) heaters. The condensate is drawn by condensate pumps from the hot well of condenser and is pumped to the dearater through gland cooler and low pressure heater where it is progressively heated up by steam extracted from seals and bled points of the turbine.The drain of condensed steam on LP

heaters No.2,3&4 flows in cascade.And is ultimately pumped into the main condensate line after heater no.2 or flows to condenser .The feed water after being dearated in the dearater is drawn by the boiler feed pump and pumped to boiler through high pressure heaters where it is heated up by the bleed steam from the turbine. The drain of condensed steam of HP heaters flows in cascade and under normal load conditions flows to the dearater. LOW PRESSURE HEATER No 1 The heater is of horizontal surface type consisting of two halves, each half has been located inside the upper part of each condenser. The two halves have been installed in parallel. The steam to bath is supplied from the same extraction point. The housing for the heater is fabricated from M.S. plates with stables with suitable steam inlet and drain connections. The tube plate is of the mild steel and is of mild steel and is secured to the water box and housing by means of studs and nuts. U shaped tubes have been used to ensure independent expansion of tubes and the shell. They are solid drawn admirality brass, 19mm external dia, 1mm and 0.75 mm thick and are expanded by rolling into the tube plate. The water box is of mild steel with suitable water inlet and outlet branches. It is of rectangular shapes and has been provided with suitable air vent and drain connections. LOW PRESSURE HEATER Nos 2,3, &4 a) construction These heaters identical construction are of vertical surface type and are designed for the steam to pass over the tubes and the condensate to flow through them. Following are main elements of these heaters. a) shell b) tube system c) removable water box Shell is a cylindrical construction with dished end welded at bottom and having a flange at the upper end for assembly of tube system and the

water box. The shell is provided with suitable steam inlet and drain connections along with other nozzle connections to accommodate various Fittings. M.S. baffles are provided to ensure effective distribution of steam in the condensing zone of the heater. Tube system consists of U-shaped admiralty brass tube, 16 mm external dia, 1mm thick and are expanded by rolling into tube plate at both the end, tube system has been provided with roller to facilitate drawal for tube replacement. Tube plate is of mild steel. b) Working principle The main condensate flows through the tubes in four paths leaving the heater. The heating system enters the shell through the pipe and flows over U-shaped tube nest.The partition walls installed in the tube system ensures zigzag flow of steam over tube nest. Condensate of heating system reffered as drain, trickles down the tubes and it taken out the lower portion of the shell by automatic level control valve installed on the drain line. HIGH PRESSURE HEATERS In the present work, energy analysis of a coal-based thermal power plant is done using the design data from a 210 MW thermal power plant under operation in India. The entire plant cycle is split up into three zones for the analysis:(1) only the turbo-generator with its inlets and outlets, (2) turbo-generator, condenser, feed pumps and the regenerative heaters, (3) the entire cycle with boiler, turbo-generator, condenser, feed pumps, regenerative heaters and the plant auxiliaries. It helps to find out the contributions of different parts of the plant towards energy destruction. The energy efficiency is calculated using the operating data from the plant at different conditions, viz. at different loads, different condenser pressures, with and without regenerative heaters and with different settings of the turbine governing. The load variation is studied with the data at 100, 75, 60 and 40% of full load. Effects of two different condenser pressures, i.e. 76 and 89 mmHg (abs.), are studied. Effect of regeneration on energy efficiency is studied by successively removing the high pressure regenerative heaters out of operation. The turbine governing

system has been kept at constant pressure and sliding pressure modes to study their effects. It is observed that the major source of irreversibility in the power cycle is the boiler, which contributes to an energy destruction of the order of 60%. Part load operation increases the irreversibility in the cycle and the effect is more pronounced with the reduction of the load. Increase in the condenser back pressure decreases the energy efficiency. Successive withdrawal of the high pressure heaters show a gradual increment in the energy efficiency for the control volume excluding the boiler, while a decrease in energy efficiency when the whole plant including the boiler is considered. Keeping the main steam pressure before the turbine control valves in sliding mode improves the energy efficiencies in case of part load operation. CONCLUSION: The efficiency of the Rankine cycle is less than that of the Carnot cycle because irreversible mixing of cold condensate with hot water reduces thermal efficiency. To cater to this, regenerative heating is used in which the expanding steam from the turbine is used to heat the feed water. In the regenerative feed heating cycle, the objective is to heat the feed water with the steam expanding in the turbine so that the feed water is supplied to the boiler at a higher temperature than that of the condenser.This system is also advantageous as the cold water entry into the boiler caused thermal shocks and damages. Thus regenerative feed heating cycle is a safer and more efficient cycle.However the ideal regenerative feed heating cycle is not practically achievable because of the following reasons: 1. Water cannot be passed through the turbine casing because of the risk of thermal shocks. 2. If feed water for heating is passed through the turbine casing then it would reduce the super heating of the steam and may cause the steam to become unsaturated and carrying water drops which is mechanically not safe for the turbine. Thus, in the practical regenerative cycle, the steam is taken out from a few points and fed to the heaters to heat the feed water.