Summer Training Experience

1. Introduction

Summer training is offered by the university and it is a requirement for students to finish their studies and graduate as engineers. The purpose of the summer training period is to spend a time in the work field and relate our theoretical knowledge to real life practices. I found an opportunity for summer training in the Center for Engineering Research department of Research Institute which is supervised by the Dean of Scientific Research. The Deanship of Scientific Research at KFUPM was originally established as part of the Deanship of Graduate Studies in the year 2000, and then became an independent Deanship in September, 2005. The Deanship is responsible for the planning, management, promotion and support of research activities that are carried out by the academic departments through internal and external funding. The Research Institute is the cornerstone of applied research activities at KFUPM. It has created a strong

The steam turbine has three main stages of work that converts energy from one form to another. First the thermal energy due to burning of fossil fuels will heat the water and tune it to steam giving it, the steam, the kinetic energy needed to rotate the turbine blades. After the steam is pressurized it will go through the turbine axis which consists of multiple moving and fixed blades that will cause it to turn and do mechanical work. Finally the produced rotary motion will be used to drive the shaft of the generator to generate electric power.

As a final stage of the working cycle of steam turbines, steam will go through a condenser that will reduce its heat and turn it back into water reducing the volume of steam, which also results in a pressure drop across the turbine enabling more energy to be extracted from the steam. Fig1 shows a basic block diagram of steam turbine power plant.