THE STEAM POWER PLANT

The function of a steam power plant is to convert the energy in nuclear reactions of in coal, oil or gas into mechanical or electric energy through the expansion of steam from a high pressure to a low pressure in a suitable prime mover such as a turbine or engine. A noncondensing plant discharges the steam from the prime mover at an exhaust pressure equal to or greater .than atmospheric pressure. A condensing plant exhausts from the prime mover into a condenser at a pressure less than atmospheric pressure.

In general, central-station plants are condensing plants since their sole output is electric energy and a reduction in the exhaust pressure at the prime mover decrease the amount of steam required to produce a given quantity of electric energy. Industrial plants are frequently noncondensing plants because large quantities of low-pressure steam are required for manufacturing operations. The power required for operation of a manufacturing plant may often be obtained as a by-product by generating steam at high pressure and expanding this steam in a prime mover to the back pressure at which the steam is needed for manufacturing processes.

The steam-generating unit consists of a furnace in which the fuel is burned, a boiler, superheater, and economizer, in which high-pressure steam is generated, and-an air heater in which the loss of the energy due to combustion of the fuel is reduced to a minimum. The boiler is composed of a drum, in which a water level is maintained at about the mid-point so as to permit separation of the steam from the water, and a bank of inclined tubes, connected to the drum in such a manner as to permit[1] water to circulate from the drum through the tubes and back to the drum. The hot products of combustion from the furnace flow across the boiler tubes and evaporate part of the water in the tubes. The furnace walls are composed of tubas which are also connected of the boiler drum to form very effective steam-generating surfaces. The steam which is separated from the water in the boiler drum then flows through a superheater which is in effect[2] a coil of tubing surrounded by the hot products of combustion. The temperature of the steam is increased in the superheater to perhaps 800° to 1100° F, at which temperature the high-pressure superheated steam flows through suitable piping to the turbine.

Since the gaseous products of combustion leaving the boiler tube bank are at a relatively high temperature and their discharge to the chimney would result in a large loss in energy, and economizer may be used to recover part of the energy in these gases. The economizer is a bank of tubes through which the boiler feed water is pumped on its way to the boiler drum.

A reduction in gas temperature may be made by passing the products of combustion through an air heater which is a heat exchanger cooled by the air required for combustion. This air is supplied to the air heater at normal room temperature and may leave the air heater at 400° to 600° F, thus returning to the furnace energy that would otherwise be wasted up the chimney. The products of combustion are usually cooled in an air heater to an-exit temperature of 275Q to 400°T, after which they may be passed through a dust collector which will remove objectionable dust and thence through an induced-draft fan to the chimney. The function of the induced-draft fan is to pull the gases through the heat transfer surfaces of the boiler, superheater, economizer and air heater and to maintain a pressure in the furnace that is slightly less than atmospheric pressure. A forced-draft fan forces the combustion air to flow through the air heater, duct work, and burner into the furnace.

Coal is delivered to the plant in railroad cars or barges which are unloaded by machinery. The coal may be placed in storage or may be crushed and elevated to the overhead raw-coal bunker in the boiler room.

The coal flows by gravity from the overhead bunker to the pulverizer or mill through a feeder which automatically maintains the correct amount of coal in the mill. In the mill the coal is ground to a fine dust. Some of the hot air from the air heater is forced through the mill to dry the coal and to pick up the finely pulverized particles and carry them in suspension to the burner where they are mixed with the air required for their combustion and discharged into the furnace at high velocity to promote good combustion.

The high-pressure, high-temperature steam is expanded in a steam turbine which is generally connected to an electric generator. From 3 to 5 per cent of the output of the genera­tor is needed to light the plant and to operate the many motors required for fans, pumps, etc. in the plant. The rest of the generator output is available for distribution outside the plant.

The condensed steam, which is normally at a temperature of 70° to 100° F, is pumped out of the condenser by means of a hot-well pump and is discharged through several feed-water heaters to a boiler feed pump that delivers the water to the economizer.

Most steam power plants of large size are now being built for operation at steam pressures of 1500 to 2400 psi, and in some plants pressures up to 5000 psi are being used. Steam temperatures of 1000° to 1100° F are in general use. Turbine-generator capacities of 250,000 kw (1 kilowatt = 1.34 horsepower) are common, and units of 500,000 kw are in operation. Steam-generating units capable of delivering 3,000,000 lb of steam per hr are now in operation. Overall efficiency of the plant from raw coal supplied to electric energy delivered to the transmission line depends upon size, steam pressure, temperature, and other factors, and 40 per cent is now being realized on the basis of a full year of operation.