Steam Station Research Articles

Minimum Recommended Protection, Interlocking and Control for Fossil Fuel Unit-Connected Steam Station I. Overall Protection

Minimum protection, interlocking and control of a fossil fuel unit connected steam station requires accurate sensing of the process variables, and coordinated interlocked tripping to prevent or minimize damage to the process. Equally important in preventive protection is logical sequences for starting and stopping the unit, containing interlocks and/or operating instructions to enforce the correct procedures. The paper covers the overall protection of a fossil fuel, unit-connected Boiler-Trubine-Generator unit and becomes part of a set of companion papers that describe the start-up by systems.

Minimum Recommended Protection, Interlocking and Control for Fossil Fuel Unit-Connected Steam Station V. Turbine-Generator System

The various systems that make up a fossil fuel unit-connected Boiler-Turbine-Generator require minimum interlocking, control and accurate sensing of the process variables for starting them in a coordinated order to insure proper start-up. This paper becomes part of a set of companion papers that describe start-up and safe shut-down of the Boiler-Turbine-Generator unit.

Minimum Recommended Protection, Interlocking and Control for Fossil Fuel Unit-Connected Steam Station II. Plant Auxiliaries, Circulating Water, Service Water, and Condensate and Feedwater

The various systems that make up a fossil fuel unit-connected Boiler-Turbine-Generator require minimum interlocking, control and accurate sensing of the process variables for starting them in a coordinated order to insure proper start-up. This paper becomes part of a set of companion papers that describe start-up and safe shut-down of the Boiler-Turbine-Generator unit.

Minimum Recommended Protection, Interlocking and Control for Fossil Fuel Unit-Connected Steam Station III. Boiler Water Systems

The various systems that make up a fossil fuel unit-connected steam station require minimum interlocking, control and accurate sensing of the process variables for starting them in a coordinated order to insure proper start-up. This paper becomes part of a set of companion papers that describe start-up and safe shut-down of the Boiler-Turbine-Generator unit.

Minimum Recommended Protection, Interlocking and Control for Fossil Fuel Unit-Connected Steam Station IV. Air and Fuel Systems

The various systems that make up a fossil fuel unit-connected steam station require minimum interlocking, control and accurate sensing of the process variables for starting them in a coordinated order to insure proper start-up. This paper becomes part of a set of companion papers that describe start-up and safe shut-down of the Boiler-Turbine-Generator unit.

Case Study of Power Plant Noise in a University and Residential Neighborhood

Noise surveys were conducted in the vicinity of and inside the Niagara Mohawk Power Company 365 Mw, four-unit steam station at Oswego, New York. Neighborhood SPL measurements were made both day and night at nine sites within 600 to 2000 ft of the plant. An inventory of the land usage in the area is presented. Typical octave band sound pressure-level measurements are given along with dBA contours around the plant. Measurements taken within the plant delineate the primary noise sources and reverberant noise levels. Comparisons made of the measured and calculated SPLs in the community confirm the suspected noise escape paths. Criteria are established for a new 800-Mw unit based upon a nondegradation policy toward the present sound levels. Special recommendations are made for the wall and roof construction, ventilation silencers, and fan room enclosures to ensure that the new unit meets the specified criteria.

Boiler Column Straightening Upper Load Conditions

An accidental boiler explosion that occurred at Southern California Edison Company's Alamitos Steam Station provided engineers with an opportunity to test their design under extreme loading conditions. A background of the amount and type of structural damage a major explosion may inflict on a structure is provided together with the resistance afforded by such a structure when properly designed, and finally what may be considered a unique method in straightening a major deflected column, under load, to its initial position is presented. A complete and thorough survey was made of the entire structure. Information obtained was analyzed, and a planned and carefully controlled procedure for its repair was established. Restoration of the structure was planned with the following in mind: Noninterference with other reconstruction efforts, maintenance of proper safety requirements, and keeping costs within desirable limits. A method of cold-pulling the deflected column to its pre-explosion position by the use of lift-slab jacks was used. The use of lift-slab jacks allowed great flexibility in the reconstruction effort in that the jacks were relatively small, easily installed in areas that would not interfere with other efforts, readily available, easily controlled, and of a capacity that would meet job requirements.

Discussion of “Civil Engineering Design of TVA Steam Station”

Discussion of “Civil Engineering Design of TVA Steam Station”

Auxiliary Systems for 600-1,500-Mw 3,500-Psig Steam-Turbine-Generator Units

An investigation was made to determine economic design of steam station auxiliary systems for units of 600 to 1,500 mw (megawatts). The study is accomplished in two parts, both of which have the initial assumption that mechanical drive will be used for the main boiler feed pumps. Basic system configurations are used to determine switchgear duty, thus establishing necessary system voltages. This paper presents the methods used in the analysis, the limiting assumptions, and, finally, a comparison of costs of the various system designs.

Civil Engineering Design on TVA Steam Station

The Tennessee Valley Authority has 11,550 megawatts of capacity installed or under construction in nine modern steam electric stations, all constructed since 1949. The individual stations are designed for a total ultimate capacity ranging from 1,200 megawatts to more than 4,000 megawatts. All of these stations were designed by the Division of Design of the TVA, and this paper examines the civil engineering design practices developed in regard to site layout; location and orientation of powerhouses; condenser cooling water facilities; highway, railroad, and water transportation provisions; access of transmission facilities; concrete substructures of powerhouses; structural steel framing of powerhouses; and concrete chimneys. This paper is written to serve as a basis for comparison with similar design practices of other organizations and to stimulate critically constructive discussion of these design features.

TVA's Paradise Steam Plant

Construction of steam station in Western Kentucky coal fields is described; station is to have initial installation of two 650-Mw generating units; problems involved in planning, site selection, fuel supply, design, and construction of largest generating units in world (as of 1962) are reported.

115-Kv Bus Switching Surges

In 1955, at the Black Dog Steam Station of Northern States Power Company (NSP), a 97-kv lightning arrester on the 115-2.4-kv reserve auxiliary transformer failed while de-energizing the 115-kv transfer bus with an air-break switch. The replacement of this arrester failed in 1957 when the 115-kv transfer bus was being energized through an air-break switch. These two arresters were not manufactured by the companies with which the authors are associated. Considering these failures as more than coincidental, a thorough investigation was initiated by NSP to attempt to explain how this transfer bus switching influenced the arrester failures. Analytical and Anacom (General Purpose Transient Analyzer) studies supplemented by field tests indicated sufficiently high overvoltages could be created by the transfer bus switch operation, due to a prestrike or restrike, to cause the lightning arrester to operate.

Minimum Recommended Protection for Unit-Connected Steam Stations AIEE Committee Report

Minimum Recommended Protection for Unit-Connected Steam Stations AIEE Committee Report

Studies of Air Pollution Control by Southern California Edison Company

The relative contribution of various pollutants found in the Los Angeles area is discussed. Processes designed to curtail the emission of oxides of sulfur and nitrogen are described, as well as some results of experiments at the Southern California Edison Company’s El Segundo Steam Station.

Ocean Cooling Water System for 800 MW Power Station

Construction of system for Southern California Edison Co's Huntington Beach Steam Station located on coastline 30 mi south of Los Angeles; initial capacity of station is 400,000 kw with provision for future expansion; use of ocean water for cooling presents special problem; effects of corrosion, control of fish, and control of marine growth; model studies conducted; consideration given to earthquake problem.

Reduction of Condensate-Line Corrosion

Abstract General accumulation of iron oxide and copper oxide or copper on boiler surfaces during service is almost always due to corrosion by water in the preboiler system beginning at the point where steam first condenses. The reduction of this corrosion will result in cleaner boilers and permit longer operation of the boilers between cleanings. This paper reports progress made in reducing iron and copper corrosion using ammonia, cyclohexylamine, morpholine, and sodium sulphite. The work was done at the Southern California Edison Company steam plants. This company supplies electric power to a large portion of Southern California by means of its hydroinstallations and its four steam plants. The reduction of corrosion in the condensate system at the Long Beach Steam Station and at the Redondo Steam Station is discussed.

The First Year’s Operation of the Dunkirk Steam Station

Abstract The Dunkirk Steam Station went into commercial service on November 19, 1950, when the first unit was placed in regular operation. The second unit went into commercial operation on December 28 of the same year. The first year’s operation has not been without troubles which are likely to occur in breaking in a plant incorporating several new and untried developments. Nevertheless, its performance has been generally satisfactory. Operation of the reheat units has introduced no new limitation in flexibility nor increase in operating personnel over the non-reheat units, and the improved economy has more than justified its adoption.

Cost Curves for Electricity Generation

A problem of some interest and importance is the variation in cost per unit of electricity generation for different sizes of plant. Cross-sectional data, of the kind used here, relating to costs in different generating stations at the same time, when graphed, will give a rough approximation to the long-run cost curve, that is, the envelope of the short-run cost curves for individual stations. Strictly, of course, it cannot be assumed that undertakings are operating at the minima of their short-run curves. Particularly is this true when the commodity is in short supply and produced by local monopolies. The first point is the different meanings to be attached to the term cost . Prior to nationalisation, the Electricity Commission and, later, the Ministry of Fuel and Power, published information on works cost of generation which includes fuel, salaries and wages of generating station staff, maintenance and repairs. No separate information about such generation overheads as management expenses, interest charges, and depreciation provision or sinking fund payments was provided. Examination of data, however, in a small sample of complete local authority accounts suggests that these other items behave in a manner not significantly dissimilar from works cost, so perhaps the inevitable concentration on the latter is not without justification on grounds other than availability of the statistics. Next is the fact that there are several different systems of generation. In I947, the last year for which the Ministry of Fuel and Power reported, in 202 of 334 stations operating the prime-mover was a steam engine, in eighty-two an oil engine, and forty were driven by water-power. On the criterion of size the predominance of steam generation was even more marked. The steam stations accounted for 96.9 per cent. of the total units generated, while 2.8I per cent were generated by water-power. It is thus reasonable, in examining costs, to concentrate on the dominant type-

Cooling Towers for Steam-Electric Stations—Economic Applications

Abstract The paper outlines a method of making economic comparison as between the use of a cooling tower and a direct-condensing arrangement for a steam station; the method is illustrated by analyzing a specific problem. Remarks on the placing of cooling towers are included, and problems requiring research are mentioned.

An Investigation of Economies of Large Size in Steam Stations

easier to analyze than the costs of other types of plants for two reasons: First, the product, electricity, is homogeneous in a physical sense, in contrast to the output of, say, a steel rolling mill. Second, the accounting records of steam stations approach comparability more closely than those of many types of plant owing to the uniform system of accounts prescribed by the Federal Power Commission and the several state public utility commissions. The present study was undertaken in the hope that with these advantages it would be possible to get some general notion, at least, of the relation between size of station and the cost of steam-generated power. It must be emphasized that this investigation is not a general study of the factors influencing the cost of power from steam stations. The rise in prices which has occurred in recent years, for example, is of interest only secondarily. The purpose of the investigation is specialized: it is to uncover the relation between size and cost, other things being equal. The work was undertaken with the fear that the results would be crude but in the