Steam Turbine Power Plant: Operation, Maintenance, and Control Course

Power plant produce electricity by converting chemical energy contained in fuel into thermal energy in steam; by converting the thermal energy in the steam into mechanical energy in the turbine/generator into electrical energy.One of the critical steps in this process, the conversion of Thermal energy into mechanical energy, takes place in the Turbine sections of the turbine/generator. Plant operators are responsible for maintaining proper turbine operation to insure that the energy conversion takes place safely and efficiently.

In power stations today, different types of turbines are used in a series, e.g. one high pressure, two medium and four low Pressure turbines. This coupling leads to an excellent efficiency (over 40%), which is even better than the efficiency of large diesel engines. This characteristic and the Relatively favorable production makes the steam turbine Competition less in power stations. Coupled with a generator and fired by an atomic reactor, they produce enormously much electric current. The strongest steam turbines achieve today performances of more than 1000 Megawatts.