HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER PLANT
A power plant that utilizes the
potential energy of water for the
generation of electrical energy is
known as a hydroelectric power
plant.
Hydroelectric power plants are
generally located in hilly areas
where dams can be built easily,
and large water reservoirs can be
made.
In a hydropower plant, a water
head is created by building a
dam across a river or lake.
From the dam, water is fed to a
water turbine.
Working Principle of Hydroelectric Power Plant
The water turbine changes the kinetic energy of the
falling water into mechanical energy at the turbine
shaft.
In simple words, falling water spins the water turbine.
The turbine drives the alternator coupled with it and
converts mechanical energy into electrical energy.
This is the basic “working principle of hydroelectric
power plant.”
Hydroelectric power plants are very popular because
the stores of fuels (i.e., oil and coal) are exhausting
day by day.
They are also beneficial for irrigation and flood control
purposes.
The main components are
• Water reservoir
• Dam
• Spillway
• Gate
• Pressure tunnel
• Surge tank
• Penstock
• Water turbine
• Draft tube
• Tail race level
• Powerhouse
Water reservoir:
In a reservoir the water collected from the catchment
area during the rainy season is stored behind a dam.
Catchment area gets its water from rains and
streams.
Continuous availability of water is a basic necessity
for a hydroelectric power plant.
The level of the water surface in the reservoir is
called the Headwater level.
The water head available for power generation
depends on the reservoir height.
Dam:
The purpose of the dam is to store the water and to
regulate the out going flow of water.
The dam helps to store all the incoming water.
It also helps to increase the head of the water.
In order to generate a required quantity of power, it
is necessary that a sufficient head is available.
Spillway:
Excess accumulation of water endangers the stability
of dam construction.
Also in order to avoid the overflow of water out of the
dam especially during rainy seasons spillways are
provided.
This prevents the rise of the water level in the dam.
Spillways are passages that allow the excess water
to flow to a different storage area away from the dam.
Gate:
A gate is used to regulate or control the flow of water from
the dam.
Pressure tunnel:
It is a passage that carries water from the reservoir to the
surge tank.
Draft Tube:
It is connected to the outlet of the turbine.
Tailrace:
It refers to the downstream level of water discharged from
turbine.
Penstock:
It is a passage through which water flows from
reservoir to turbine.
Surge Tank :
It is installed along the penstock (between turbine
and reservoir)
To control or regulate the sudden water over flow
and to protect the penstock from bursting.
It reduces the pressure and avoids damage to the
penstock due to the water hammer effect.
When the load on the turbine is decreased there will
be a back flow, which causes increase or decrease
in pressure. It is known as water hammer.
Power House:
The powerhouse accommodates the water turbine,
generator, transformer, and control room.
As the water rushes through the turbine, it spins the
turbine shaft, which is coupled to the electric generator.
The generator has a rotating electromagnet called a
rotor and a stationary part called a stator.
The rotor creates a magnetic field that produces an
electric charge in the stator.
The charge is transmitted as electricity.
The step-up transformer increases the voltage of the
current coming from the stator.
The electricity is distributed through power lines.
Hydroelectric Power Plant Advantages:
The advantages of Hydroelectric Power Plant are as
follows.
By the usage of the hydropower plant, environmental
pollution is almost zero.
The efficiency of this system is high.
It is a renewable source of energy and that's the
reason, it is installed on every dam for the generation
of free power.
Hydraulic Turbine's running cost is less compared to
other turbines.
Hydroelectric Power Plant Disadvantages:
The disadvantages of Hydroelectric Power Plant are
as follows.
The installation cost is very high.
When water is not available, it does not produce
electricity. So the engineers have to make sure that
the water will be always in surplus.
For the installation setup, it needs a large surface
area where there might be a loss to the farmers
who have crops over there.
The population of fishes can be impacted.
NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
HOW NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS WORK?
The working principle of nuclear power plant depends
upon mainly four components.
[Link] Reactor
[Link] Exchanger
[Link] Turbine
[Link]
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANT:
Nuclear reactor is used to produce heat and heat
exchanger performs to convert water into steam by using
the heat generated in nuclear reactor.
This steam is fed into steam turbine and condensed in
condenser.
Now steam turbine is turn to run an electric generator or
alternator which is coupled to steam turbine and thereby
producing electric energy.
This is a very basic working principle of Nuclear power
plant.
Nuclear Reactor:-
Nuclear reactor is the main component of nuclear power
plant and nuclear fuel is subjected to nuclear fission.
Nuclear fission is a process where a heavy nucleus is spitted
into two or more smaller nuclei.
A heavy isotope generally uranium-235(U-235) is used as a
nuclear fuel in the nuclear reactor because it has the ability to
control the chain reaction in the nuclear reactor.
Nuclear fission is done by bombarding uranium nuclei with
slow moving neutrons.
The energy released by the fission of nuclei is called nuclear
fission energy or nuclear energy.
By the braking of uranium atom, tremendous amount of heat
energy and radiation is formed in the reactor and the chain
reaction is continuously running until it is controlled by a
reactor control chain reaction.
A large amount of fission neutrons are removed in this
process, only small amount of fission uranium is used to
generate the electrical power.
BLOCK DIAGRAM OF NUCLEAR REACTOR:
Moderator
The moderator of a nuclear reactor is a substance that
slows neutrons down.
In traditional nuclear reactors, the moderator is the same
thing as the coolant: it's water! When fast neutrons strike
the hydrogen atoms in H2O, they slow down a lot
Control Rods
A control rod is a device that is used to absorb neutrons so
that the nuclear chain reaction taking place within
the reactor core can be slowed down or stopped completely
by inserting the rods further, or accelerated by removing them
slightly.
Control rods are made up of Boron or Cadmium
Coolant
Liquid sodium is used as a coolant in nuclear reactors to
absorb the energy released from the reaction and transfer it
to the water in steam generators to produce steam which is
then used to turn the turbines to generate electricity.
Other coolants include heavy water, air, carbon dioxide,
helium, liquid sodium, and a sodium-potassium alloy.
Solar Power Plant Block Diagram
Parabolic troughs solar
collectors concentrate
sunlight to heat a
synthetic oil, which then
heats water to create
steam. The steam is
piped to an onsite
turbine-generator to
produce electricity. On
cloudy days, the plant
uses a supplementary
natural gas boiler to
generate additional
steam to drive the
turbine-generator.
There is increasing interest in the use of solar energy for
generating electricity through thermal energy conversion.
In large-scale (central station) installations the sun's rays are
concentrated by lenses or mirrors.
Both require accurately curved surfaces and steering
mechanisms to follow the motion of the sun.
Concentrators may be designed to follow the sun's seasonal
movement, or additionally to track the sun throughout the day.
The former is less expensive and concentration of the sun up
to 30 times has been obtained.
BLOCK DIAGRAM WIND POWER GENEARTION