NEW DELHI, Nov 16: Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has developed and commercialised a new steam turbine which will considerably reduce erection and commissioning time of power generating sets.

The new design has been developed for combined high and intermediate pressure (HP-IP) steam turbines of 100 to 150 mw utility steam turbo-generator sets in thermal power stations. The module design of the new turbine has also been vetted by Siemens AG of Germany.

The turbine which replaces the existing 3-cylinder HMN series with 2-cylinder kn series, reduces erection time by more than 20 per cent and commissioning time to about 28 months compared to 36 months for the earlier ones.

The company has already received commercial orders worth about Rs 700 crore for these combined HP-IP turbines from Jindal Tractebel in Toranagullu and Gujarat Industries Power Development Corporation in Baroda.

The new turbine incorporates a high pressure electro-hydraulic governing system instead of low pressure governing of 3-cylinder machines, which reduces the number of components. It also ensures faster response and better stability during transient conditions.

The turbine has been developed with the help of Computer-aided design and the latest software.

Bhel spends around Rs 50 crore annually for research and development.

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