When installed and operated properly, general purpose steam turbines are
reliable and tend to be forgotten, i.e., out of sound and out of mind.
But, they can be sleeping giants that can result in major headaches if
ignored. Three 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 big steam or gas turbine is one of the most frightening
of industrial accidents.
- The high cost of an extensive overhaul due to an undetected component
failure. A major steam turbine repair can cost ten or more times that
of a garden variety centrifugal pump repair.
- Costly production loses due an extended outage if the driven pump or
compressor train is unspared. The value of lost production can quickly
exceed repair costs.
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 start-up
scenarios, such as:
- Commissioning a newly installed steam turbine
- Starting ups after a major steam turbine repair
- Starting up a proven steam turbine after an outage
- Overspeed trip testing
It is not enough to simply have a set of procedures in the control room
for reference. To be effective, operating procedures must be clearly
written down, taught, and practiced--until they become habit.
