Enhancement of energy efficiency and loading of steam turbines through retrofitting 2-d designs with 3-d designs

Abstract

This paper presents improvement in energy efficiency and power loading of steam turbines through module retrofits accomplished by migration from 2-d designs to 3-d designs. Power output of overall turbine is expected to increase by ~14 MW (for original steam flow) or heat rate is expected to decrease by 6.6% (through reduced steam consumption). Operating turbine efficiency is expected to increase from 39.90% to 42.72%. The 3-d stack optimized design is expected to give an improvement of 6-7% over 2-d design. Loading of unit can be enhanced without any major hardware changes with a few improvements in boiler and generator and these will not limit unit loading.