All about Thermal Energy & Thermal Power Plant
Summary
Have you ever wondered what makes something hot? The temperature of an object increases when the molecules make up the object move faster. Thermal energy is energy possessed by an object due to the movement of particles within the object or the system. Thermal energy is one of the various types of energy, where 'energy' is defined as 'the ability to do work.'
Picture courtesy: J.D.Jones
Work is the movement of an object due to an applied force. Therefore, thermal energy can be described as the ability to do work due to the movement of its particles. As the thermal energy occurs due to the movement of particles, it is a type of kinetic energy, which is the energy due to motion.
Application of Thermal Energy A heated pot on a stove contains thermal energy, and the more you turn up the stove, the more internal energy occurs. We can't see the molecules moving, but they are present. The faster the molecules move, the more internal thermal energy they produce.
In this context, heat is the term we use to refer specifically to the transfer of thermal energy from one object or a system to another, the transfer is the key. The thermal energy is the energy possessed within the object or within the system due to the movement of particles. They're different - heat and thermal energy.
You can feel the heat if you hold your hand above the stove. The heat speeds up the molecules within the pot and the water. If you place a thermometer in the water, when the water heats up, you can watch the temperature rise.
Working Components of Thermal Power Plant Thermal Power Plant consists of a few steps in series for producing electricity. The fuel is transported from mines via trains to the fuel storage facility in a power plant. The fuel transported to the plant is generally big in particle size and before it is fed to the boiler it is broken down into smaller pieces using crushers. The fuel is then fed to the boiler generating a large amount of combustion heat. Treated water is free from impurities and air is fed to the boiler drum where the combustion heat from the fuel is transferred to water to convert into high pressure and temperature steam.
Generally, flue gases from the boiler exhaust are at high temperature and if this heat is not utilized will lead to a large number of losses resulting in reduced boiler efficiencies. So generally this waste heat is recovered by heating either air required for combustion or preheat water before sending it into a boiler.
Fuel storage and handling plant: The most essential part of any power plant is to store fuel safely in a decent amount so that the plant can run smoothly in normal days as well as when the supply of fuel from mines is improper. So a fuel storage facility is defined in a plant to store an adequate amount of fuel.
In a thermal power plant, the first step in of power generation process is that the fuel is brought to breaker house with the help of belt conveyor, here light dust is separated with the help of a rotary machine. It further goes to the crusher where it is crushed to a size of about 50mm.
Water Treatment Plant: In thermal power, plant water is used in large quantity and this water is converted into steam and used to rotate the turbine so the water and steam come into direct contact with the boiler, boiler tubes, and boiler accessories. Normal water is taken from the river, which contains a lot of dirt, suspended particulate matter (SPM), dissolved minerals and dissolved gases such as air, etc.
After gravity separation, water softening is done by the ion exchange process. As the hardness comes through the carbonates and bicarbonates of sodium and magnesium, these salts are removed from water anion exchange and cation exchange process.
Water also contains dissolved oxygen and this leads to corrosion and fouling of boiler tubes and surfaces when it comes in their contact. So removing dissolved oxygen from water is done by adding oxygen scavengers and by using a Deaerator tank.
Boiler: A boiler is a pressure material which is used to generate high-pressure steam at a saturated temperature. At high pressure and temperature generally, bi-drum water tube boilers are used. Thermodyne Engineering Systems manufactures water tube boilers of various sizes and capacities that can run on various fuels. Water-tube boiler consists of a furnace which is enclosed by the water tubes membrane. Then the crushed fuel from the crushers is fed into the boiler furnace over the grate. The hot air from the Forced Draft (FD) fan is mixed with the crushed fuel causing combustion of fuel.
Conclusion Thermal energy is produced from heat and thermal power plan is a combination of several components. In thermal power plan heat is used to make water and stream rotate a turbine. There are a few essential parts used in Power Plant. Those are Compression packing, Insulation, Graphite sealing products, Lubricants, etc. The thermal power plant has few disadvantages too that is It pollutes the atmosphere due to the production of a large amount of smoke and fumes. The heated water that is the output of a thermal power plant has an adverse effect on the lives in the water and disturbs the ecology.
