Design Features of Steam Turbines for Use in the Sugar Industry

Steam turbines employed in the sugar industry require high thermodynamic efficiency and absolute reliability. The AEG-KANIS Steam Turbine Company, situated in Nuremberg, West Germany, and for many years a supplier to the South African industry, developed such turbines based on 30 years of experience with turbines for all industrial purposes. A special feature of these typical turbines used for power generation in the sugar industry is that they have no control wheel and that they have two clearly defined load points, one at approximately 60-70 per cent load and the other at the maximum load point. Via two valves the steam is directly admitted to the reaction blading. In the maximum load point both valves are totally open. The major portion of the steam flow is, however, fed into the turbine via the second valve and in this way a small number of initial stages are bypassed, so using the high efficiency values of the reaction blading design over the total enthalpy drop in the turbine. The design which incorporates shrouded blades guarantees a paramount vibration insensitive construction together with the advantages of high thermodynamic properties.