Increasing the Power Generation by Raising the Capacity of the Thrust Bearing Oil Cooling System in Hydroelectric Power
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TECHNICAL ARTICLE—PEER-REVIEWED
Increasing the Power Generation by Raising the Capacity of the Thrust Bearing Oil Cooling System in Hydroelectric Power Plants Go¨khan Kahraman
Submitted: 11 June 2020 / Accepted: 14 July 2020 Ó ASM International 2020
Abstract Cooling capacity decreases due to faults appearing over time in the thrust bearing oil cooling systems of hydroelectric power plants and cooling process cannot proceed sufficiently. For this reason, while the turbine-generator unit generates energy, the thrust bearing heats up. This temperature problem prevents the unit from operating at full capacity and therefore decreases in energy production. Producing deficient energy in hydroelectric power plants, which is a renewable energy source, causes long-term economic losses for countries. In this study, the thrust bearing cooling system of a vertical Francis turbine, which produces 150 MW of energy per hour, is investigated. The reduction in the cooling capacity over time in turbine thrust bearing cooling system is solved by using exchanger system with additional plate and the power produced by the turbine-generator unit is increased 15 MW/h. This improvement has greatly contributed to the national economy. The method of increasing the cooling capacity applied to the hydroelectric power plant thrust bearings can be applied to all hydraulic turbines. This method will increase the energy production amount of the unit by approximately 10% and it costs approximately 80% cheaper than completely replacing the existing cooling system. Keywords Hydroelectric power plant Thrust bearing Oil cooling system Failure analysis
G. Kahraman (&) Department of Mechanical Engineering, Munzur University, Tunceli, Turkey e-mail: [email protected]
Introduction Energy is an indispensable factor for the social and economic development of societies. The use of electricity is an indicator of the economic well being of nations [1]. Utilizing renewable energy resources while increasing energy production reduces the dependence of countries on foreign sources and does not pollute the environment while generating energy through renewable energy sources [2]. The most widely used renewable energy in the world is hydraulic energy. The economic and environmental benefits of hydroelectric power plants as well as their worldwide potential make an important contribution to the world’s energy needs [3]. For these reasons, it is of great importance to increase hydroelectric power production and also to increase the yield and capacity of existing hydroelectric power plants. Scientists are working to increase the yield and production amounts of hydroelectric power plants [4–7]. Hydroelectric power plants consist of certain sections [8]. One of the most important of these sections is the thrust bearings [9–11]. The weight of the entire rotating mass of the turbine-generator unit is carried by the thrust bearing. In order for the unit to produce energy in a regular manner, thrust bearing pads should be operated at temperatures at which
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