How Does A Steam Generator Produce Electricity

Riznic in steam generators for nuclear power plants 2017.

How does a steam generator produce electricity.

Each steam generator can contain anywhere from 3 000 to 16 000 tubes each about 75 inches 19 mm in diameter. The turbine being built in the image may generate up to 65 megawatts of electricity. In commercial power plants there are two to four steam generators per reactor. A steam turbine generator works by heating water to extremely high temperatures until it is converted into steam then the steam energy is used to rotate the blades of a turbine to create mechanical or rotational energy.

Instead it uses the mechanical energy supplied to it to force the movement of electric charges present in the. The pressure of the steam acts as a force to rotate a turbine which will produce electricity inside of a generator. They transfer heat from the primary reactor coolant to the secondary side to produce steam which then powers turbine generators to produce electricity. Water is heated turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator after it passes through the turbine the steam is condensed in a condenser the greatest variation in the design of steam electric power plants is due to the different fuel sources.

It is important to understand that a generator does not actually create electrical energy. An electric generator is a device that converts mechanical energy obtained from an external source into electrical energy as the output. A turbine converts the potential and kinetic energy of a moving fluid liquid or gas to mechanical energy. Electricity generation is from electric power plants that use a turbine or similar machine to drive electricity generators.

Steam generators sgs are large shell and tube heat exchangers containing several thousand tubes. It does not include the efficiency loss in the combustion chamber and boiler inconverting the chemical energy of the fuel to heat energy in the steam nor does it include the efficiency losses incurred in the generator if the turbine is used to generate electricity. This rotational energy caused by the high pressured steam turbine is used to generate electricity from an attached generator. The steam electric power station is a power station in which the electric generator is steam driven.

The high pressure of the steam pushes on the many angled blades of the turbine causing the shaft to rotate. This mechanical energy is converted to electricity by using the power form the rotating shaft to turn an electrical generator. Electricity can be generated by steam by using a steam turbine generator.