Start-up circuit upgrading to reduce the erosion of the rotor blades of the last stages of steam turbines and prevent the mass strips of stellite plates

At turbine starts with low steam flow rates in idle mode, the low-pressure rotor blades consume energy, causing the ventilation heating of the stages and creating higher depression in them than in the condenser. This leads to the return steam flows in the exhaust of the low-pressure cylinder (LPC), reducing the heat due to the moisture of starting steam damps and cooling injections. It is shown that, as a result of upgrading with the transition to fully milled shroud platforms of rotor blades, the depression in the stages decreases and their cooling efficiency is reduced due to the removal of an elastic turn of the rotor blades under the action of centrifugal forces and seal of them by periphery. Heating the rotor blades of the last stages exceeds the temperature threshold of soldering resistance of stellite plates (150°C), and their mass strips begin. The start-up circuit providing both the temperature retention of the last stages lower the soldering resistance threshold due to overwetting the steam damps up to saturation condition and the high degree of removal from the dump steam of excessive erosive-dangerous condensed moisture was proposed, applied, and tested at the operating power unit. The investment in the development and application of the new start-up circuit are compensated in the course of a year owing to guaranteed prevention of the strips of stellite plates that lengthens the service life of the rotor blades of the last stages as well as increase of the rotor blade efficiency due to the sharp decrease of erosive wear of the profiles and reduction of their surface roughness. This reduces the annual consumption of equivalent fuel by approximately 1000 t for every 100 MW of installed capacity.