Steam and Combustion Driven Turbines

John Jensen posted
Turbine at a powerhouse in an abandoned textile finishing plant.
Bud Norwood I worked on a steam turbine similar to that. From the early 1900s. The old guys that actually built those machines really were the rocket scientists of their day! We have generations of millwrights who are familiar with turbines now days but those boys were out there on the cutting edge of new technology in their day!
Bud Norwood Just to bring this discussion back to the machining aspect, several jobs I was on required in-place machining on turbine joints. Several times the rotor (155 tons) was placed in a portable lathe to machine the bearing journals. It was interesting work.

The blade wheels get bigger as the steam progresses through the turbine because the steam looses pressure.

Jeremy Hutton posted
LPT coming out at ANO!

In the 1800's, electricity was generated by pistons driving a crankshaft. Today, most of our electricity is generated by turbine driven alternators. Initially, the turbines were steam driven from coal-fired boilers. Then nuclear power was introduced to generate the steam. Now some boilers have been converted to burn natural gas instead of coal because fracking has reduced the cost of natural gas. But all three of these fuel sources use steam driven turbines.

During World War II, Germany and other countries were developing turbines that could be driven directly from burning fuel. These turbines were called jet engines. Now gas-burning turbines have been scaled up to generate electricity. But the modern versions of these plants also use steam-driven turbines because the residual heat from the gas turbine is used to make steam. I'm willing to bet that over half the electricity consumed in America is still made with steam turbines.

Update:

John Abbott posted
Birmingham steel turbine

I never knew horizontal turbines were this small until I saw this photo. GE was making vertical turbines during this period.

Bob Ciminel posted
Westinghouse turbine-generators, 1904
Gregg Sandor: Those old buildings were a work of art! Take a look at those ceilings, not a bunch of pipes and wire trays.
Greg Kulp: About 40 years ago my previous job gave me the opportunity to visit some of these grand old places. I was quite impressed by Con-Ed’s East River Station, Toledo Edison’s Acme Station, and the municipal power station of Ames, Iowa. The Ames station is on the edge of a city park. The original turbine hall is just a few steps off the street with the cute retired turbines still in place. Apparently the turbine hall was open to the public many years prior and had a window where they could pay their bills. While not a power plant, another highlight was the Davie Shipbuilding dry dock pumphouse in Lauzon, Quebec. It was maintained with all the spit and polish of many years prior. A working museum with you could eat off the floor pride.

John Abbott posted
[This is supposed to be at Facebook resolution. I determined that the text reads: "Electricity generating steam turbine failure: damage to low pressure rotor was caused by excessive vibrations."]

Gary Smith posted
new ip [I presume that ip = Intermediate Pressure.]

0:24 video of a Siemens V84.2 with the top off

Brian Lockwood: 17 stage air compressor 4 stage turbine twin vertical combustors.

Phil Jadlowiec: Combustion turbine?

Bruce Bennett: Phil Jadlowiec Yes it runs on natural gas or fuel oil. 100MW’s or so depending on ambient.

Caleb Johnson posted two photos with the comment: "A few quick pics of the most recent turbine overhaul on our largest (88mw) unit."

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Tim Sullivan updated

Tres Chutz posted two photos with the comment: "Got a chance to see the #1 bearing today on the steam turbine. We’re doing some turning gear work. It’s been decades since this stuff has seen daylight. Pretty cool to see."

Tres adding in a comment: "Big Cajun 1 in New Roads LA."

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Tim Tobey posted
NHHS Unit 1 HP blade little pitted.
Jeff Cataudella: What kind of turbine is this rotor from? Or what plant?
Tim Tobey: Jeff Cataudella New Haven Harbor Station. Unit 1. 477 mwg turbine
Blade broke and went through the Turbine.
Jeff Cataudella: Tim Tobey I visited that station in the mid 70s. I remember setting up a high speed Brush recorder. Can’t remember why. The 1st stage HP blades on a GE steam turbine would be a Curtis Wheel with blades about 2” long. I worked at Middletown Station for 9 years.

Kasey Artmayer commented on Tim's post
Miami fort unit 7. We ran this another year before rebuild.

Comments on Tim's post

An animation of the disassembly of the turbines. The whole video is great. It illustrates why the old power houses used to have some really big wrenches hanging on the wall. I choose this scene because I'm trying to decide if the diameter of the shaft for the high-pressure and mid-pressure turbines (left side) is smaller than the low-pressure turbine (right side). I would expect the low-pressure shaft to be larger because the it has to handle the horsepower of all three turbines. But if it is larger, than it is not much larger.

3:75 video @ 2:17

 

Jeremy Hutton posted
LPT coming out at ANO!
[Some comments indicate this is Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1.
https://goo.gl/maps/jeyGu2a8cJyKGtcZ9]

 

Sri Lankan Seafarer posted
Gas Turbine
Nicholas Chavasse: no its a steam turbine
DeniseandMartin Jones: Yes . Its a steam turbine set, with the astern set at the other end of the rotor. I worked on them for a while within the engine shop @ Vickers Barrow in the 50's Martin Jones.
Allen Garbutt: Nicholas Chavasse it’s not steam turbine,there are no low pressure crossing for the low stage to the condenser.
Mark Baumgartner: Nicholas Chavasse Keep your alternative facts to yourself.

Innovation Discoveries posted
1975 photo of at 325 Megawatt Steam Turbine

 

Ocean mariner posted
𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐓𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐞   🔥‼️‼️
[The comments agree, this is for a power plant, not a ship. The best comment:]
Bob George: I sailed as engineer on turbine driven ships. The hp lp lp turbines were not inline as the photo but side by side and geared via gear wheels to a main gear wheel which drove the prop shaft and prop. Hence I see this photo as a power station engine.

Until I found a better "home" for it: moisture separators for steam generators