The aim of this paper is to introduce a novel method for the detection of coarse water droplets in a low pressure part of steam turbines. The photogrammetry method has been applied for the measurement of coarse droplets in the low-pressure part of a steam turbine. A new probe based on this measurement technique was developed and tested in the laboratory and in a steam turbine in the Poþerady power-plant. The probe was equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation. The paper contains results from laboratory tests and the first preliminary measurements in a steam turbine. Possible applications of this method have been examined.

This paper presents the experimental research for the flow of the last stage of a turbine for saturated steam with the nominal output 1090 MW. In addition, the flows in 600, 800, and 1070 MW output turbines were also measured. Pneumatic probes were used to determine the distribution of static pressures and absolute angles at the outlets from the penultimate and the last stages of the turbine. Optical probes were used to measure wetness distribution and were placed in positions similar to the pneumatic probes. The courses of static pressures, angles, and wetness for all outputs respectively were compared and discussed. The difference between wetness courses on the left and right side of the turbine as well as before and behind last stage was minimal. Absolute angles of steam behind the last stage are strongly influenced by the vacuum level in the condenser. Big difference between the outlet angles from last stage on the left and right side of the turbine is confirmed. The influence of the tie-boss was evident in both pneumatic and wetness measurements. Differences of the flow field on the left and right sides of the turbine behind the penultimate stage are noted and discussed. These differences lead to a dynamic loading of the penultimate rotor blades and could reduce the service life.

The number of nanoparticles available as nucleation sites for heterogeneous nucleation of droplets in the steam turbine is an important parameter for the modelling of the non-equilibrium condensation process. In this paper, measurements of particles of sizes down to 3 nm are reported. Superheated steam was sampled at Power Plant Prunéřov II using a special sampling device avoiding sample condensation. Samples were taken at two pressure and temperature levels: 0.133 MPa, 174 C and 0.27 MPa, 250 C. The number of particles was determined as 1.5 Â 10 9 per kg of steam at the lower pressure and as 2.5 Â 10 9 at the higher pressure. A diffusion battery was used to determine the size distribution of particles instead of the previously used scanning mobility particle sizer. The size distribution was obtained by deconvolution of particle concentrations obtained for various numbers of screens. Compared to the scanning mobility particle sizer results, the diffusion battery revealed a smaller geometric mean particle size.

Abstract:The aim of this paper is to introduce the measurement capacity of a new generation of CTU's optical probes to determine the liquid phase distribution in steam turbines and other energy systems. At the same time the paper presents the first part of the results concerning output wetness achieved through the use of experimental research performed with the probes in a new low pressure (LP) part of the steam turbine 1000MW in the Temelin nuclear power plant (ETE). Two different probes were used. A small size extinction probe with a diameter of 25mm which was developed for measuring in a wider range of turbines in comparison with the previous generation with a diameter of 50mm. The second probe used was a photogrammetric probe developed to observe the coarse droplets. This probe is still under development and this measurement was focused on verifying the capabilities of the probe. The data processing technique is presented together with yielded examples of the wetness distribution along the last blade of the 1000MW steam turbine. The experimental measurement was done in cooperation with Doosan Škoda Power s.r.o. (DSP).