Case Study on Cuproplex cleaning of Generator Stator Bars 500

MW Unit # 4 NTPC Korba

Introduction:

Unit Number 4 of KSTPS NTPC Korba 500 MW was commissioned in the year 1986-87. It is
one of the oldest 500 MW unit in the country. After commissioning of unit NTPC reported the
problem of High differential Pressure across the Primary water inlet and Outlet of the stator
windings. BHEL advised the customer to perform acid cleaning of the stator windings. Acid
cleaning of the stator was carried out in 1991.Acid cleaning of the stator windings resolved the
problem for the time being. But again after one year the problem aroused. NTPC Performed Air
water scouring and high velocity flushing of the stator bars. They also noticed that around 30-40
mm of Primary water pipeline was made of carbon steel instead of stainless steel. It resulted in
iron oxide deposition in stator bars. The air water scouring cleaning process was attempted
several times 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010. From August 2012 differential Pressure of the
Primary water inlet and outlet increased to 2.11 Kg/cm2. Also the slot temperature of bar number
33 increased to 80 deg. Celsius. BHEL and Siemens both advised to run the machine on part
load. Again air water flushing was carried out in 2013 but it minimally resolved the problem.
After the cleaning process Differential pressure remained at 1.65 kg/cm2.

NTPC decided to perform Cuproplex cleaning of the stator bars in consultation with Alstom.
This case study embodies the Procedure of the Cuproplex cleaning of the stator bars with hollow
copper conductors. Performance of the machine after the cleaning of the stator winding bars.
And how BHEL can exploit the below mentioned process to its own benefit.

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Brief Description of the Problem
Generator stator bars corrosion build up has been the cause of concern for the authors
specifically for 500 MW units. The stator windings of the 500 MW units are water-cooled and
designed to operate in low oxygen regime. In many cases there are twenty hollow conductors in
one stator bar and the bars are transposed at 540 degrees in the slot portion across the total length
of the stator. The corrosion of the hollow conductors in 500 MW units is inhibited by formation
of passive layer of cuprous oxide (Cu2O). The high differential pressure (DP) across the stator
windings results in partial blockage of the hollow conductors, which prevents proper cooling of
the individual stator bars.
The fluctuation of oxygen levels in stator water system has led to corrosion problems in hollow
conductors. Although operators like NTPC take enough care to maintain low oxygen content in
stator water system but fluctuations were caused during the makeup of the lost stator water. The
makeup therefore, needs to be controlled in such a way so that abnormal shift in the oxygen
regime cannot take place. The sudden mix in the stator water system can raise the oxygen level
and push the operating unit in highly corrosive environment.
One article published by power-eng.com shows that those bars whose temperatures were rising
had their inlet and outlet water connections lower than the bars themselves (see Figure 1 and
Figure 2). This means that the bars that are drained during most outages are the ones that were
fouling. Alternatively, the bars that get their water connections higher than the active portion of
the bars, and therefore remain filled during outages, showed little to no signs of fouling.

It means that draining of Primary water during the long outages is also not advisable.

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Chemistry Behind the cleaning Process

Three main chemicals were used in cuproplex cleaning were:

1) Na2H2EDTA·2H2O (di-sodium salt of Ethylene-diamine-tetra acetic acid, dihydrate) or it

is called as EDTA. The Main Purpose of EDTA is to form heavy molecules with copper
ions which can be mechanically flushed later.

2) 5% H2O2 solution hydrogen peroxide solution. It is used to remove the Cu2O molecules
which are not efficiently removed by EDTS solution.

3) Alstom was using an inhibitor 1206. This inhibitor’s chemical composition was not
revealed by Alstom. The purpose of inhibitor was to slow down the reaction of hydrogen
peroxide (H2O2) which is a very strong oxidizing agent. But according various articles
published online it could be sodium phosphate Na3PO4.

Cuproplex cleaning process

The cleaning chemicals are recirculated through individual stator bars that have been
disconnected from the stator cooling water system. It is based on the complexing agent EDTA
(Ethylene diamine tetra acetic acid), which is applied through the whole system by recirculation.
It dissolves only copper oxides and does not react with copper metal. It is very efficient for CuO,
but not for Cu2O, which is also important in the oxide mixture in a generator. To increase its
efficiency towards Cu2O, H2O2 (hydrogen-peroxide) is added. This also oxidizes Cu-particles
that could be present in the system.
Inhibitors are added at some stages in order to delay the reaction of H2O2 with Cu so that H2O2
reaches all parts of the system.

Cuproplex OFF-LINE is performed by injecting the chemicals into the running pure-water
system and recirculating. The chemicals are applied in dilute form, sequentially over several
cycles.

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For cuproplex cleaning process following materials were used.

1. Equipment for Doppler flow measurement.

2. Boroscope of suitable dimensions for visual inspection of hollow conductor ends, with
photography ability.
3. Two nos. Heavy Duty HDPE Tank with Cover, 120 L, Cole Parmer # 06317-70.
4. Carboy bottle PP 20 liters, Cole Parmer # 06063-22
5. Plastic bottles for water samples for water analysis, 125 ml (for example Nalgene #2104-
0004 = Cole Parmer #06047-30)
6. Tool for mechanical cleaning.
7. Plastic barrel or tank approx. 150 L for waste water.
8. Injection pump (compressed air diaphragm pump), chemicals injection manifold as seen
in paragraph Error! Reference source not found. and process monitoring equipment.

Mechanical Device for cleaning Chromatography instrument

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Typical Setup for Mechanical/Chemical Cleaning

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Overall flowchart of cleaning process

1. Preparation

2. Mechanical bar cleaning

3. Cuproplex-S chemical bar cleaning

4. Stator bar turnover

5. Cuproplex off-line system cleaning

Cleaning finished

Typical Setup of Cuproplex cleaning of stator and stator bars

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Preparation
 Installation of injection / sampling equipment.
 Verifying that the tube connections in the generators are of solid quality.
 Pressurizing cleaning loop with pressurized air of 4-6 bar, then
- check for leaks with a pressure decay test
- If required, check all connections (also inside generator) as well as water boxes for
leaks.
 Filling 20-30 liters of pure water into an injection tank.
 Test injection with pure water, re-cycle the withdrawn water.
 Pressurizing cleaning loop with water to 2-7 bar , then
- Visually check all connections (also inside generator) as well as the water boxes for
leaks.
- Check for leaks with a pressure decay test.
 Perform initial measurement of pressure drop across the stator bar (with air and/or with
water).
 Repeat above each time a connection is made to a new stator bar before cleaning process.

Mechanical cleaning of single bars

 Drain water and blow dry.
 Visual inspection of the bar faces with a boroscope.
 Clean the bar faces with appropriate mechanical device.
 Blow out debris with air from both sides.
 Visual inspection of the bar faces with the boroscope.

Chemical cleaning of single bars

 Application of chemicals through the stator bar from and back into the chemicals tank. At
start 5 Min forward flow of H2O2 mixture done, and again for next 5 min reverse flow of
H2O2 done.
 Blow out liquid and dry with air.
 Flush with clean water.

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  Then bar was flushed with EDTA solution in forward direction for 5 min and backward
direction for 5 min. This repeated cycle of forward & reverse continued for about 1 hr.
 After EDTA cycle air purging for 5 min done followed by water purging and flow
measurement with water after every cycle.
 This whole operation was taken as one cycle.
 After 3rd cycle of EDTA cleaning outlet of Teflon hose was removed Boroscopic view of
the outlet water box was seen and mechanical cleaning was performed.
 Perform measurement of pressure drop across the stator bar (with air and/or with water).
 Repeat above (‘cleaning cycle’) until the cleaning efficiency has decreased, as well as the
pressure drop across the stator bar has stabilized.

Turnover of cleaned stator bars for reconnection to the stator

cooling water system.
 Flushing with a minimum of 5 cleaning loop volumes of demineralized water.
 Pressurization cleaning loop with DM water to 2-7 bar, then visually check all
connections (also inside generator) as well as the water boxes for leaks. Check for leaks
with a pressure decay test.
 Blow dry with pressurized air until no water mist exists with the air.

Result of Cuproplex-S (single bar) Cleaning.

According to the problem reported by NTPC officials there was major blockage in top bar
number 33. Hence it was decided to do the cleaning of 33T first. For Bar no 33T this cycle was
repeated five times. Since flow measurement did not showed further improvement between 4th
& 5th cycle and copper pick up in spectrometer was also constant hence no further cleaning was
done.

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Graphical representation of improvement of flow in bar no 33T with
every cycle of Cuproplex-S cleaning.

Representation of flow after every cleaning of Bar number 33T

Graphical representation between amounts of copper extracted and time of the reaction

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The same cycle of cuproplex cleaning was performed with other 4 bars identified, but in
those four bars only two or three cycles improved the flow to desired level. Hence rigorous
cleaning was not performed in other bars.

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Statistical representation of 5 individual bars after cleaning

Statistical representation of 5 individual bars after cleaning

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 Boroscopic view of bars before and after cleaning

Before Cleaning After Cleaning

After cleaning of single bars whole system was normalized. The Teflon hoses were
connected and the stator was filled with water from the head tank. First, the system operated
several hours on bypass between the inlet and outlet of the upper tank. The ceiling of the tank
was pressurized with nitrogen. The purpose was to decrease the oxygen concentration in the
cooling water. The pumps were started with the mixed bed in operation. Cuproplex Offline
cleaning was performed after Cuproplex-S cleaning.

Process of Off-line Cuproplex Cleaning

• CUPROPLEX OFF-LINE is performed by injecting the chemicals into the pure-water
system and recirculating. The chemicals are applied in dilute form, sequentially over
several cycles.
• The application of the chemicals is modified according to the response of the system to
the chemical changes. Cleaning is essentially finished when the reaction yield decreases,
that is, when no, or only a little more copper is dissolved as new chemicals are added.
• The cleaning started Sunday, July 13th, 2014 18:00 and ended Thursday, July 17th 13:30.
It was performed with 9 cleaning cycles.
• The progress of cleaning was monitored by periodic chemical analysis, every 5 minutes.

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• These analyses were instantly evaluated and converted to graphical presentations of key
parameters via portable PC. Thereby, the reaction was monitored and controlled and
actions taken accordingly.
• The quantity of chemicals to be injected and duration of the cleaning cycle was
determined by an algorithm based on the experience.
• The reaction yield dropped to below 20 % in the 7th cleaning cycle indicating that most
of the available oxides within the system had been removed.

Chemicals used for offline cleaning.

• Mixed bed resin Tulsion MB 106 (supplier Thermax, India).
• Disodium-salt of EDTA, 30% H2O2, Na2SO4.
• CUPROPLEX Inhibitor I206.

Setup for cuproplex offline cleaning

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Tracer test: The tracer test is performed in order to calibrate injection and to observe system
response. A tracer with well-defined conductivity was injected into the system in order to
determine the system volume, check demineralizer performance and document system
kinetics.

Graphical response of the tracer test

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Due to the presence of reddish turbid stator cooling water, the whole system was drained and
filled with demineralized make-up water before cleaning cycle no 8. Inspection of the main
filter indicated the presence of red magnetic deposits. ICP-MS analysis of the turbid water
samples indicated elevated iron concentrations of 100-200 ppb. The conical filters on the
generator were also inspected and showed minor red deposits.

Result of Cuproplex-S and offline cuproplex cleaning.

1) Doppler Flow measurements before cleaning performed.

Before cleaning, the following 5 top bars with deviation of more than 20 % from
average flow of all bars were identified.

Deviation [%] from average before

Bar #
cleaning

T33 -38

T32 -26

T36 -23

T34 -21

T40 -20

Deviation from average flow (14.3 l/min at Δp of 1.35 bar).

2) Cuproplex S chemical cleaning done on stator top bars no 32, 33, 34, 36, and 40
from 9th till 12th of July 2014.
Cuproplex S cleaning included chemical and mechanical cleaning.
Visual inspection of inlet and outlet water boxes of the five stator bars before and
after Cuproplex S cleaning was carried out. Pictures of outlet before and after
cleaning are shown (inlet showed significantly less deposits).

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 3) Cuproplex off-line cleaning was performed with 9 cleaning cycles from 13th till
17th July 2014 and improved Δp from 1.3 to 1.1-1.2 bar at a reference flow of 17
l/s
1.9 kg of copper originating from copper oxides was removed.

4) Doppler Flow measurement of all the bars was carried out after cleaning and
showed an improvement of average flow of all bars combined together from 14.3
to 15.6 l/min at Δp of 1.35 bars.
5) The final performance after Cuproplex cleaning was evaluated by observing the slot
temperatures at full load operation, which was found significantly less than the data
recorded before cleaning.

T33 outlet (DE) before cleaning T33 outlet (after Cuproplex S cleaning)

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T32 outlet (DE) before cleaning T32 outlet (after Cuproplex S cleaning)

T34 outlet (DE) before cleaning T34 outlet (after Cuproplex S cleaning)

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T36 outlet (DE) before cleaning T36 outlet (after Cuproplex S cleaning)

T40 outlet (DE) before cleaning T40 outlet (after Cuproplex S cleaning)

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 How BHEL can exploit this process to its own benefit
There are around 60+ 500 MW machines currently operating in India. This problem can be
faced in any of these machines. According to survey done by Siemens Germany, Water
chemistry of Primary water in Asia is among the worst in world. This type of problem is majorly
in machines which are on major shutdowns for 2-3 months continuously for long durations of
time. In this condition hollow conductors of copper are very prone to oxidization. This problem
is faced by many operators. Recently newly commissioned 500 MW machine of BTPS Bhusaval
unit # 5 was observed. Differential pressure across inlet and outlet of Primary water was
hovering around 3.00 KSC. They contacted an external agency to perform air water scouring
(Mechanical cleaning) of individual bars. But it resolved the problem marginally. There are
around 15 machines which are 20+ years old. This includes Korba, Vindhyachal, Ramagundam,
Tata Trombay etc. But according to our experience in Bhusaval this problem can even occur in
new machines also. As the water chemistry maintained by some operators is below par.

If this Process can somehow imbibed by BHEL, It can add great value to customers. There are
very rare agencies in whole world which performs this type of chemical cleaning. This process
will not only add value to our existing customers but also to the operators who are operating non-
BHEL sets. This type of cooling system is used in mostly all designs of machines ranging from
200 MW to 800 MW. There was very less information provided by Alstom due to fact that this is
their patented process. But BHEL is a very large organization it can put some resources may be
from R&D to brainstorm on this process. Using this type of process can put BHEL on World
map. It may happen that we may get request from overseas customers to perform this type of
cleaning.

All we have to do is put some resources and little bit of effort to make this thing work.

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Food for Thought

1. Is this Process will really add value to BHEL’s Services after Sales?
2. What resources will be required to implement this process to reality?

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