The Hindu Business Line : BHEL's R&D support for power projects in AP

THE BHEL's Ramachandrapuram unit and the corporate research and development (R&D), Hyderabad, have jointly developed the largest vertical coal grinding mill in the country, to meet the upcoming super thermal power stations of 660 MW and 800 MW ratings.

The first of the `BHEL 280 Mill' has been commissioned recently at the Chandrapur Thermal Power Station of the Maharastra State Electricity Board (MSEB). It has a capacity to grind 91 tonnes/hour of coal, compared to the existing one, which can grind 77 tonnes/hour.

The BHEL R&D has incorporated several features into the bowl mill to ensure less wear and tear of grinding elements, reduced consumption of power, less wasteful rejects and uniform output.

Normal bowl mills have single stage classification, which consists of a static classifier, which separates the coarse coal particles from the fine ones in the pulverised coal. In the new designed mills, a set of rotating blades, which provide the necessary force separate the particles, and allows the fine ones to reach the burner.

This facilitates less power consumption. Further, the size of the particle can be controlled, which helps in cutting down on unwanted environmental emissions, a problem with power plants.

Another significant innovation from the R&D this year has been the Gravimetric Feeder Control System to deliver coal. It marks a major milestone in the indigenisation of power plant control system, explained BHEL officials.

The system gives the total weight of the coal fed during any interval of time and enables performance calculations. Developed in collaboration with BHEL, Tiruchi, the system has been installed at the Vijayawada Thermal Power Station (VTPS), Unit 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation (APGenco) in February 2005.

Based on the feedback from VTPS, an order for 12 units of the feeder system has been placed by BHEL, Tiruchi for the New Parli Thermal Power Plant and the Paras Thermal Power Power Plant.

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