Effective oversight and management of steam turbine lubrication system using smart sensors

Abstract

The 210 MW HP, IP, and LP Turbine Rotor are mounted in the log bearings that are lubricated to prevent friction. You should not have direct contact with each other with the rotor shaft and bearings. Direct contact is avoided by developing an oil film layer between the shaft and the bearing [1]. To allow the oil film to be formed, the lube oil header pressure should be maintained at 2.8 ksc. The separate lube oil scheme provides the bearings with continuous lubrication. The header pressure monitoring, main oil tank level, redundancy scheme, and the lube oil coolers for lube oil pumps [3] are concerned with the relevant monitoring and control of the lube oil system. The current monitoring and controlling device is relay logic and each function is run separately. This research work has included level monitoring of MOT, pressure monitoring of lube oil coolers, and redundancy devices using the PIC Microcontroller for lube oil pumps in a single system.