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Power Plants: Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg

A power plant generates electrical power through various means. Thermal power plants burn fuel to create steam that spins turbines connected to generators. Nuclear power plants use nuclear fission in a reactor to create heat for steam. Solar thermal plants focus sunlight to heat a fluid and create steam. Hydropower plants use the kinetic energy of moving water from dams to spin turbines. All power plants ultimately convert this mechanical energy to electrical energy using generators.

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33 views12 pages

Power Plants: Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg

A power plant generates electrical power through various means. Thermal power plants burn fuel to create steam that spins turbines connected to generators. Nuclear power plants use nuclear fission in a reactor to create heat for steam. Solar thermal plants focus sunlight to heat a fluid and create steam. Hydropower plants use the kinetic energy of moving water from dams to spin turbines. All power plants ultimately convert this mechanical energy to electrical energy using generators.

Uploaded by

omkardashetwar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Power Plants

Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.


POWER PLANTS

 A power plant is a facility where electrical power is generated. A power


plant is also referred as power station, power house and generating
station.

 A power plant can be classified as below:

Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.


Thermal Power Plant

 In thermal power stations, mechanical power is produced by a steam turbine that transforms
thermal energy of steam, obtained often from combustion of fuel, into rotational energy.

Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.


Thermal Power Plant

• Steam boiler produces steam at high pressure and temperature that


is passed through the turbine.

• High pressure steam is expanded in the turbine to generate power


output.

• The expanded steam is then passed through the condensor, where,


steam is condensed to water before it is pumped back to boiler for
heat absorption.

• The combustion products/burnt gases are exhausted to atmosphere


through chimneys/ stacks.

P. R. Prabhu, Faculty, Dept. of Mechanical & Mfg. Engg. 4


Thermal Power Plant- A pictorial View

Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.


Nuclear Power Plant

 A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear
reactor.
 As is typical in all conventional thermal power stations the heat is used to generate steam
which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.
 The conversion to electrical energy takes place indirectly, as in conventional thermal
power plants. The heat is produced by fission in a nuclear reactor.
Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.
What is Criticality in a Nuclear Power Plant?
 When the atom-splitting reactor of a nuclear power plant is operating
normally it is said to be “critical” or in a state of “criticality.”

 Nuclear reactors use uranium fuel rods to create energy through fission.

 Fission is the process of splitting the nuclei of uranium atoms to release


neutrons that in turn split more atoms, releasing more neutrons.

 Criticality means that a reactor is controlling a sustained fission chain


reaction where each fission event releases just sufficient number of
neutrons to maintain an ongoing series of reactions.

 In the balanced state of criticality, fuel rods inside a nuclear reactor are
producing and losing a constant number of neutrons, and the nuclear
energy system is stable. (If the nuclear reactor is unstable, then what you
have in hand is a ‘nuclear bomb’).

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Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.
Working of Nuclear Power Plant

Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.


Solar Thermal Power Plant

 Solar energy can be turned into electricity either directly in solar cells, or in a
concentrating solar power plant by focusing the light to run a heat engine.
 A solar photovoltaic power plant converts sunlight into direct current electricity using
the photoelectric effect. This type of plant does not use rotating machines for energy
conversion.
 Solar thermal power plants are another type of solar power plant. They use either
parabolic troughs or heliostats to direct sunlight onto a pipe containing a heat transfer
fluid(HTF), such as liquid sodium.
Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.
Hydel Power Plant

 Hydro-electric power plant utilizes the potential energy of water stored in a dam built
across the river.
 The potential energy of the water is used to run water turbine to which the electric
generator is coupled. The mechanical energy available at the shaft of the turbine is
converted into electrical energy by means of the generator.

Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.


General Layout of Hydel Power plant

Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.


Surge Tank
 When the turbine gates suddenly opens due to requirement of more water due to increase in the
load demand on the generator, water has to rush through the pipe (penstock) and there is a
tendency to cause a vacuum in the pipe supplying the water. This can cause bursting of the
penstock.

 On the other hand, the penstock supplying the water must withstand the high pressures caused by
the sudden closing of the turbine gates when the load reduces. This can also cause damage to
the penstock.

 Both these effects are called as water hammer effect.

 The water hammer effect is defined as the change in the pressure rapidly above or below normal
pressure caused by sudden changes in the rate of water flow through the penstock according to
the demand of the prime mover.

 Surge tank is a small storage tank or reservoir required in the hydro power plants for regulating
the water flow during load reduction and sudden increase in the load on the hydro generator
(water flow transients in penstock) and thus reducing the pressure on the penstock.

 Simply put, surge tank prevents the water hammer effect.

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Dept. of Mech & Mfg. Engg.

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