Operator’s Guide to General Purpose Steam Turbines: An Overview of Operating Principles, Construction, Best Practices, and Troubleshooting 1st Edition,by Robert X. Perez, David W. Lawhon.
Contents:
1 Introduction to Steam Turbines
2 General Purpose Back Pressure Steam Turbine
3 Routine Steam Turbine Inspections
4 Steam Turbine Speed Controls and Safety Systems
5 Th e Importance of Operating Procedures
6 Overspeed Trip Testing
7 Centrifugal Pump and Centrifugal Compressor
Start-ups with a Steam Turbine Driver
8 Centrifugal Pump and Centrifugal Compressor
Shutdowns with a Steam Turbine Driver
9 Installation, Commissioning and First Solo Run
10 Reinstating Steam Turbine aft er Maintenance
11 Steam Turbine Reliability
12 Introduction to Field Troubleshooting
13 Steam Turbine Monitoring Advice
14 Beyond Start-ups, Shutdowns, and Inspections
Preface: If you operate steam turbines in your plant you are probably asking: Why do I need a whole book devoted to steam turbine operations? Th e short answer is because we all want our steam turbines to operate reliably and safely during their lifetimes and to avoid nasty surprises, such as massive failures, unexpected outages or injuries. Owners of steam turbines should continuously strive to protect life, limb and property and minimize the life cycle costs through the use of proven operating practices like those contained in this book. Th e best practices presented in this book can be used as a basis for your plant’s steam turbine reliability program and operating procedures.
Th e life cycle cost (LCC) of a machine is the total of the purchase, installation, repair, and operating costs incurred throughout its lifetime. As an operator the only way to aff ect a steam turbine LCC is by minimizing maintenance cost. Th is is accomplished by employing proven start-up procedures that will minimize undue stresses and erosion and by monitoring them in order to detect minor issues before they lead to costly repairs. General purpose (GP) steam turbine drivers present operators with special challenges because they tend to have a minimum of automation and instrumentation which makes their reliability dependent on the skill and knowledge of their caretakers. In other words, their reliability is dependent on the quality of human implemented procedures and human-based monitoring methods. When installed and operated properly, GP steam turbines are reliable and tend to be forgotten, “out of sight, out of mind”. But these sleeping giants can create major headaches if ignored. Th ree real steam turbine undesirable consequences that immediately come to mind are:
• Injury and secondary damage due to an overspeed failure. An overspeed failure on a large steam or gas turbine is one of the most frightening of industrial accidents. A huge amount of thermal, chemical, and mechanical energy is contained within a large steam turbine when it is in service. If the rotational speed of the steam turbine ever exceeds its safe operating limits, the main shaft and impeller wheels can be pulled apart by centrifugal force, releasing a tremendous amount of energy. In the worst case, the disintegrating parts can break through the turbine housing and fl ing hot, fast-moving shards of metal in all directions. Th e results of such a failure are always very costly due to the peripheral equipment damage and can sometimes be fatal to personnel in the area.
• Th e high cost of an extensive overhaul due to an undetected component failure. Th e cost of a major steam turbine repair can run ten or more times that of a garden variety centrifugal pump repair. If an early failure is not detected, it will usually result in a more costly failure. For example, a simple packing leak can result in oil contamination, which can lead to a bearing failure, which can lead to major rotor damage. Repair cost can rapidly escalate if the chain of failure events is not stopped early, i.e., in the primary stage.
• Costly production losses due an extended outage if the driven pump or compressor train is unspared. The value of lost production can quickly exceed repair costs. Extending the mean time between repairs though the implementation of best practices will in turn reduce production downtime and dramatically increase overall profits.
A major goal of this book is to provide readers with detailed operating procedure aimed at reducing these risks to minimal levels. Start-ups are complicated by the fact that operators must deal with numerous scenarios, such as:
1. Overspeed trip testing
2. Starting up a proven steam turbine driver aft er an outage
3. Shutting down a steam turbine driving a centrifugal pump or centrifugal compressor
4. Commissioning a newly installed steam turbine
5. Starting up aft er a major steam turbine repair
It is not enough to simply have a set of procedures in the control room for reference. To be eff ective, operating procedures must be clearly written down, taught, and practiced—until they become habit. Operators must be fully committed to following the prescribed steam turbine operating procedure every time and carefully monitoring them in the fi eld in order to detect signs of early failures before serious damage is done. To support this commitment this book will:
• Provide operators with a broad exposure to the principles of steam turbine design and operations
• Explain common failure modes and how they can be prevented or mitigated and
• Provide proven operating procedures that can protect your steam turbines from costly and dangerous failures.
Th e authors hope the reader will fi nd the contents of this book to be useful and applicable in their present assignment. We also hope the ideas and suggestions provided here compel you to commit yourself to operational excellence.
“Robert X. Perez and David W. Lawhon”
Book Details:
⏩Edition: 1st
⏩Authors: Robert X. Perez, David W. Lawhon
⏩Puplisher: Wiley-Scrivener
⏩Puplication Date: August 11, 2016
⏩Language: English
⏩Pages: 323
⏩Size: 4.26 MB
⏩Format: PDF
Download Operator’s Guide to General Purpose Steam Turbines: An Overview of Operating Principles, Construction, Best Practices, and Troubleshooting 1st Edition,by Robert X. Perez, David W. Lawhon. in pdf format for free.
