Steam Turbine Efficiency
The efficiency of any turbine or engine can be defined as its ability to convert the input energy into
useful output energy which is expressed in the form of the following equation.
Efficiency (ɳ) = Output / Input
An ideal turbine with 100% efficiency is the one which converts all its input energy into output work
without dissipating energy in the form of heat or any other form. But in the real world, it is not
possible to build a turbine with 100% efficiency because of friction in the parts of turbines, heat loss,
and other such losses. In the case of steam turbines following factors decides the overall efficiency f
the turbine.
Velocity of input steam (which in turn depends on the temperature and pressure of steam)
Angle of guiding vanes
Blade angle on the rotor
Radius of rotor
The electrical generating efficiency of standard steam turbine power plants varies from a high of
37% HHV4 for large, electric utility plants designed for the highest practical annual capacity factor, to
under 10% HHV for small, simple plants which make electricity as a byproduct of delivering steam to
processes or district heating systems.
There are two types of steam turbines; impulse turbine and reaction turbine. Both types of steam
turbines have different efficiency due to their different working principles but the efficiency of both
types of steam turbines is expressed by the following equation.
Efficiency (ɳ) = Work Done / Input Kinetic Energy
Here input kinetic energy totally depends on the absolute velocity of the steam at the inlet of steam
turbine but work done depends on lots of factors including drop in heat content of steam within the
turbine, the angle of guide vanes especially at the inlet of turbines, blade angles, relative velocity of
steam in the turbine, etc. It is fairly difficult to calculate work done by turbine because of all these
factors and in some cases it is not possible to accurately calculate certain factors like velocity,
temperature, or pressure of steam. There are two ways of calculating steam efficiency. These
methods referred as blade efficiency (ɳb) and stage efficiency (ɳs). Blade efficiency is calculated
using the velocity of the steam while stage efficiency is calculated by measuring changes in the
enthalpy of the steam. Enthalpy is referred to the heat content of the steam. In both cases the angle
of guide vanes at the inlet plays an important role which is represented by α1. The cosine of this
angle plays the central role in defining the efficiency of both impulse and reaction steam turbine.
The following figure 1 is showing the graph of blade efficiency for both types of steam turbines. This
figure is indicating that reaction turbine is more efficient than impulse turbine.
Figure 1: Blade efficiency of impulse and reaction steam turbine
The maximum efficiency of impulse steam turbine is achieved at zero degrees angle of inlet blades
because this angle keeps the friction at the minimum by reducing the surface area of the blade. It is
also possible to link several turbines in series to utilize maximum energy from steam before sending
it back to the condenser. In this type of arrangement stage efficiency calculation method works best.
An important point to note here is that all this discussion did not include the energy loss in heating
water and condensing steam. Commercial industries also calculate efficiencies of these operations
to find out the overall efficiency of the entire setup.
Different Efficiencies of Steam Turbines
Isentropic Efficiency: This is the efficiency which compares the actual output with the ideal
isentropic output to measure the effectiveness of extracted work.
CHP Electrical Efficiency: Combined Heat and Power (CHP) electrical efficiency measures the
amount of boiler fuel converted into electrical energy or electricity. It can be calculated by following
equation
CHP electrical efficiency = Net electricity generated/Total fuel into boiler
Total CHP Efficiency: This efficiency measures total output including electricity and steam energy
by the boiler fuel. It is calculated by following formula.
Total CHP efficiency = (Net electricity generated + Net steam to process)/Total fuel into boiler
Effective Electrical Efficiency: This efficiency is calculated by the formula
(Steam turbine electric power output) / (Total fuel into boiler – (steam to process/boiler efficiency))
It is equivalent to 3,412 Btu/kWh/Net Heat Rate and
Net Heat Rate = (total fuel input to the boiler – the fuel that would required to generate the steam to
process assuming the same boiler efficiency/steam turbine electric output (kW)
Heat or power ratio is also an important factor in this discussion and it can be calculated by the
formula
Power/Heat Ratio = CHP electrical power output (Btu)/ useful heat output (Btu)
The heat rate is the amount of energy required by an electrical generator
or a power plant to produce one kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity. It is
the rate of heat input required to generate unit power. Heat rate can also
be defined as the ratio between thermal power inputs to electrical power
output.
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized
steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work.
Factors affecting Turbine cycle Heat rate
Reheater pressure drop
• Superheater spray flow
• Reheater spray flow
• HP cylinder efficiency
• IP cylinder efficiency
• Generator hydrogen pressure
• Grid frequency.
Sensitive Analysis of Turbine Efficiency on Heat Rate 1 % change in HP or IP Turbine
Efficiency in a 500 MW unit leads to change in HR by about 4.5 kcal/kWh and having
cost implication of about Rs 57 lakhs per year (rail fed station)
• A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized
steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work.
The heat rate is the amount of energy required by an electrical generator
or a power plant to produce one kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity. It is
the rate of heat input required to generate unit power. Heat rate can also
be defined as the ratio between thermal power inputs to electrical power
output.
A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized
steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work.
Factors affecting Turbine cycle Heat rate
Reheater pressure drop
• Superheater spray flow
• Reheater spray flow
• HP cylinder efficiency
• IP cylinder efficiency
• Generator hydrogen pressure
• Grid frequency.
Sensitive Analysis of Turbine Efficiency on Heat Rate 1 % change in HP or IP Turbine
Efficiency in a 500 MW unit leads to change in HR by about 4.5 kcal/kWh and having
cost implication of about Rs 57 lakhs per year (rail fed station)
• A steam turbine is a mechanical device that extracts thermal energy from pressurized
steam, and converts it into useful mechanical work.
