What are the reason for low vacuum?

The main factors for abrupt vacuum reduction are: full water in the condenser. halt of steam supply from the bearing seal. fault at the water jet pump. improper operation at the vacuum system valve.

What is the reason for loss of vacuum in condenser?

A common cause of poor condenser vacuum is excessive air ingress or leakage. Any fall in condenser vacuum would have consequent rise in turbine heat rate vis-à-vis plant heat rate.

What are the factors that affect the performance of steam turbines?

The significant operating parameters of a steam turbine are the steam inlet temperature and pressure, and the exhaust back pressure or the vacuum drawn for condensing steam turbines. The variations in these parameters affect steam consumption and efficiency.

What is a vacuum condenser?

Process vacuum condensers are an integral part of a vacuum system. So often, a process vacuum condenser is considered stand-alone equipment, with little consideration given to how best to integrate it into a vacuum system. Common practice has the vacuum condenser specified as just another heat exchanger.

What is vacuum efficiency?

It is defined as the ratio of actual vacuum in condenser as recorded by the vacuum gauge to the ideal vacuum. In that case total pressure in condenser will approach ideal pressure. Vacuum efficiency is also defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of steam to the measured condenser pressure.

How do you maintain a steam turbine?

Steam turbine bearings and seals should be physically inspected every two to three years. This entails opening the bearing housings; removing and inspecting the bearings and seals; and replacing any components as needed. The work is generally done during a planned shutdown.

What affects turbine efficiency?

A small increase in firing temperature has a significant effect on produced horsepower and on engine efficiency. Gas turbine site power is determined by elevation, temperature, inlet conditions, outlet conditions, humidity, and fuel conditions.

How do you increase steam turbine efficiency?

At present, the most popular approaches to improve the total efficiency of a steam turbine include increasing the initial steam parameters, decreasing final steam parameters, installing a feed-water heater, and applying combined-cycle technology.

What makes a condenser more efficient?

Reducing cooling water temperatures is a sure-fire way to improve condenser performance: A decrease in cooling water temperature of 10 degrees F can improve the overall heat rate of a power plant by 1\%.

What causes condenser vacuum to drop during steam turbine running time?

In this article, we discussed the causes of dropping condenser vacuum during a running time of turbine and also when we started the steam turbine The main signals of the condenser vacuum reduction during turbine running are: temperature rise at the exhaust cylinder; reduction at the vacuum meter and obvious terminal difference of the condenser.

What is the importance of the vacuum being maintained in steam condenser?

The importance of the vacuum being maintained in the steam condenser: 1. By maintaining a vacuum in the steam condenser, the efficiency of the steam-power plant can be increased as greater the vacuum in the system, greater will be the enthalpy drop of steam. Therefore, more work will be available per kg of steam condensing.

What happens when steam is blown out of a turbine?

Steam blowing from a turbine gland also creates condensate, causing undue moisture in plant equipment. When vacuum lost suddenly from running condenser, shut down immediately. The condenser cannot stand the steam pressure, the condenser tubes may leak from excessive temperature.

How is a vacuum created in a steam jet?

Vacuum is created in condenser by steam jet ejectors, where high pressure 8–12 kg/cm2 steam is passed through nozzle which is connected to air line from condenser. This creates high negative pressure there by evacuating air from condenser.