Ways toward updating the low-pressure cylinders for high-capacity turbines (a feasibility study)

The positive results achieved by the ABB Company (Germany) in the use of radial-axial stages in combination with the tangential steam supply to the cylinders of high-capacity steam turbines [1] give reason to believe that this technical innovation will not be left unheeded by domestic manufacturers of steam turbines. It has been noted in [2] that design studies conducted by the All-Russia Heat Engineering Institute (VTI) in collaboration with industrial manufacturers provide ways toward optimizing, in both cost and reliability, supercritical pressure units - possibly, using the above principle of radial-axial stages with the tangential steam supply to high-pressure, medium-pressure, and low-pressure cylinders (HPC, MPC, and LPC, respectively). In this paper, we consider the potential use of this technique as applied to the LPC of high-capacity steam turbine plants at the Leningrad Metal-Working Plant (LMWP) JSC.