Lecture 5

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Turbine Components (Part II)
Turbine Components
Labyrinth Seals
Turbine shaft of HP and LP rotors come out of casing at both ends
Labyrinth packings are provided to seal the steam flow from inside to outside and
airflow in LP from outside to inside
Labyrinth packings are sharp edged teeth made in two halves
These are made of babbitt, aluminum, brass, bronze; for high temperature, they
are made of stainless steel or alloy steel
In case of rubbing, the packing wears out and damage to the shaft is minimum
Labyrinth packings are supplied with external steam for sealing
Steam pressure is controlled by a regulator. This is called the steam seal regulator.
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Turbine Components
Labyrinth Gland: Working Principle
The labyrinth gland provides a series of very fine annular clearances in the gap
between the cylinder wall and the shaft
The steam is throttled through this gap and its pressure is reduced step by step
In expanding through each clearance, the steam develops kinetic energy at the
expense of its pressure energy
Due to abrupt changes in volumes, the generated turbulences convert the kinetic
energy into heat with no recovery of pressure energy
In this way, the pressure is progressively broken down and the leakage may be
significantly reduced
Glands must allow for axial expansion of the shaft and casing to take place without
causing a rub including those due to shaft vibration
The sector can be replaced readily if they are damaged
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Turbine Components
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Labyrinth Glands
Turbine Components
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Spring Loaded Sectors of Labyrinth Gland
Turbine Components
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A Cut-Out View of Labyrinth Gland
Turbine Components
Moisture Separator and Reheater (MSR)
HP exhaust steam quality is improved in MSR before being fed to LP turbine
Moisture of the wet steam gets separated in moisture separation section of MSR
In NPPs, two stage reheating is done, first stage by steam bled from HP stage and
other directly from the live steam tapped from the main steam line
Working principle of a typical moisture separator and its combination with
reheater as used in nuclear plants is being described further

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Turbine Components
Chevron or Corrugated Plate Separator
Chevron Mist eliminators work on the principle of direct impaction combined with
centrifugal force
In the left illustration (shown in the next slide), the liquid collection troughs (Point
A, B, C) are critically located to remove the majority of entrained moisture droplets
with minimum pressure drop
Performance is good at higher steam velocity
Compact in size
Provision of good channeling protects re-entrainment of moisture with steam
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Turbine Components
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Chevron Separators
Turbine Components
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Two Stage MSR with Chevron Spacers
Turbine Components
Journal Bearings
The purpose of a journal bearing in turbine is to:
Retain the rotor system in its correct radial position, relative to the cylinders
Provide a low friction support to withstand the static and dynamic loads of shaft
rotation
Two bearing normally support each section of the turbine shaft with solid coupling
Plain white metal journal bearings with hydrodynamic oil lubrication are invariably used
because of their high loading capacity, anti-friction properties, reliability and absence of
wear
The high pressure oil film formed by dragging and wedging of oil by the rotation of shaft
at high speed in these bearings is able to support the load and prevent metal-to-metal
contact and damage to bearings and
shaft
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Turbine Components
Shaft Turning (Barring) Gear
Following turbine shutdown, distortion in the stationary rotor and cylinder may
occur due to temperature differential at the upper and lower halves of turbine
cylinder because of steam condensation
When turbine is kept shutdown for long period, sagging of rotor may take place
ETG (Electrical Turning Gear or Barring Gear) is provided to rotate the turbine
generator rotor at low speed for a span of time when the unit is shutdown
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Turbine Components
Shaft Turning (Barring) Gear (contd...)
It circulates the steam air mixture to minimize the temperature difference
between top and bottom halves of the cylinders
Also during startup after a long shutdown, barring operation straightens the rotor
sagging. (The shaft should be rotated for a period of two hours or more prior to
startup on the turning gear.)
Turning the rotor with ETG after shutdown during cooling and maintaining a flow
of cooling oil to the bearings prevent damage to the bearing from heat transferred
along the shaft from high temperature sections of the rotor
ETG may be used to rotate the turbine rotor for maintenance purpose
The turning gear is arranged to engage automatically as the turbine shaft slows
down and reaches barring speed
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Turbine Components
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Barring Gear and Other Turbo-Supervisory Sensors Arrangements
Turbine Components
Atmospheric Relief Valve/Diaphragms
In the event of failure of low vacuum trips, the pressure in LP turbine exhaust may
rise to an excessively high level
Due to large size of LP outer casing, the design pressure is generally low
To protect against excessive internal pressure, atmospheric relief valves/rupture
diaphragms are provided in the exhaust hoods
Each valve assembly has approximately 1 mm thick gasket clamped between valve
seat and valve disc
In case of high pressure (say 1.2 bar abs.) the valve disc tries to lift and thereby
rupture the gasket ring, thus allowing the steam to exhaust into the atmosphere


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