GEK 46508D

Revision D, December 1993

GE Power Systems
Steam Turbine

Extraction System Check Valves Design Recommendations

I. INTRODUCTION

The energy contained in the extraction and feedwater heater system of a steam turbine–generator power cycle
is often sufficient to contribute significantly to the magnitude of the turbine–generator rotating speed upon an electri-
cal load rejection or trip–out and must be prevented from doing so by some means, the most common of which is
by the use of check valves. This energy is in the steam contained in the piping from the turbine to the feedwater heat-
ers and in the heater shells, as well as in the water contained in the feedwater heaters and heat in the metal parts.

After load rejection, the steam admission valves will close, causing the pressure of the steam already in the
turbine to decay. This decay allows the steam in the extraction piping and heater shell to flow back into the turbine
giving its energy to the rotor. This will cause the heater pressure to decay so that the water which was saturated at
the heater pressure under normal operating conditions will become superheated momentarily, flash into steam, and
flow through the turbine giving up its energy to the rotor. The heat of the metal components provides some of the
necessary latent heat of vaporization.

In applications where steam volumes and water volumes are large, check valves in the extraction piping are
considered necessary to protect the turbine from this energy. The number and type of check valves recommended
by General Electric depends upon the steam and water volumes and includes the free swing and power assisted types.
Two power assisted check valves in series (with proper maintenance and testing) are considered to afford the maxi-
mum protection necessary. General Electric steam turbine design rules and code requirements specify that the tur-
bine controls will be capable of preventing the turbine speed from rising above a certain maximum value after a full
load rejection or trip. Under this condition, the speed will rise due to the delays in getting the steam admission valves
closed and due to the energy contained in the bottle–up volumes of steam within the turbine. Part of the latter is the
extraction system volume. The amount of speed increase contributed by the extraction system is held to below a
certain maximum value by the use of check valves. The consequences of check valve failure are considered when
determining how many and what type check valves are needed.

The turbine valve control system is made up of two separate systems such that if the first fails, the second
should operate. Each part of the control system is extremely reliable so that this redundancy results in an exceptional-
ly reliable protection against excessive turbine overspeed. This philosophy of extremely reliable protection must
be employed in the selection of extraction check valves as well. For example, if the energy of a particular extraction
point is sufficient to cause a speed rise exceeding the maximum allowable limit, then one check valve must be backed
up with another in series with the first, and both are to be the positive assist type actuated by the turbine emergency
trip system.

These instructions do not purport to cover all details or variations in equipment nor to provide for every possible
contingency to be met in connection with installation, operation or maintenance. Should further information be desired or
should particular problems arise which are not covered sufficiently for the purchaser’s purposes the matter should be
referred to the GE Company.
 1993 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY
GEK 46508D Extraction System Check Valves Design Recommendations

Therefore, it can be seen that a considerable amount of importance is attached to the protection of the turbine
rotor from experiencing excessive speed, and the cost of protecting the turbine against the energy of the extraction
system by the use of extraction check valves is minute compared to the cost of repairing turbine or generator parts
damaged by overspeed.

II. CHECK VALVE DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

With this background, it should be understandable why the design requirements of the extraction check
valves, listed below, must be adhered to.

A. GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS OF CHECK VALVES USED FOR OVERSPEED PROTECTION

1. The valve specifications sent to valve vendors should include all, but not be limited to, the specifications
outlined below. These specifications are intended to provide an extraction system that has reliable, ade-
quate protection against overspeed.

The valve vendors recommendations as to maximum velocity through the valve should be observed to
maintain reliability. Too small a velocity will cause the valve to remain partially open causing continu-
ous fluttering. Too large a velocity may prevent closure of the valve during testing. Typical ranges of
maximum velocity could be between 125 to 200 f/s (41 to 66 m/s) at rated load.

2. The valve vendor should be supplied with the maximum design flow through each extraction check
valve, the pressure and temperature (the pressure and % moisture if the extraction is wet) of the steam,
and the system air pressure supplied to the air relay dump valve on the turbine.

3. The check valve must be located in the extraction pipe such that allowable overspeed criteria discussed
later are met. The valve should also be located with consideration of the vendors recommendations to
minimize vibration problems on the valve. For example, the vendor may recommend locating the valve
in a straight run of pipe 10 pipe diameters downstream from any elbow in the pipe and 5 pipe diameters
upstream from the next elbow.

B. SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE FREE SWING PORTION OF THE CHECK VALVE

1. The free swing portion of the check valve must be such that it will freely close with no flow in the extrac-
tion line.

2. The pivot shaft should be a single shaft.

3. On check valves with a circular disc attached to a swing arm, there should be a means of preventing
rotation of the disc.

4. On check valves with separate check valve discs and swing arms, there should be two different positive
means of assuring the disc will not come off the swing arm. Just pinning the nut to the disc threads is
not satisfactory. It is preferred that the disc and swing arm assemblies be secured by the valve vendor
such that field removal can only take place by pulling the pivot shaft and removing the whole assembly
rather than allowing internal removal of the disc off the swing arm.

5. Field tests have shown that on a turbine load rejection, small diameter high pressure check valves stroke
from full open to closed position in 0.1 seconds. As the valves increase in diameter and the steam pres-
sures decrease, the stroke times increase to approximately 0.6 seconds. The check valves should be ca-
pable of these repeated closures without sustaining permanent deformation that would prevent shutoff
of steam on reverse flow.

2
Extraction System Check Valves Design Recommendations GEK 46508D

6. Disc to seat sealing shall be accomplished with metal to metal seals. There shall be no seal ring screwed
into the disc, unless there are two provisions for locking the screws in place. Example, bottoming screws
torqued and staked securely in place. There shall be no screwed in seats, unless they are seal welded
in place.

7. The disc must be designed such that it will cause minimum pressure drop when open.

8. The use of a counterweight on a lever, external to the valve body, to balance the weight of the disc for
the purpose of reducing pressure drop is permissible, but only if the following conditions are met:

a. The lever should be short enough so that it is impossible to develop more than 50% of the torque
required to open the valve under no flow conditions no matter where the weight is positioned on the
lever.

b. The weight should be secured positively on the lever. For example, the weight could be pinned in
place on the lever, then the pin should be staked.

c. The shaft seal should meet the criteria set forth in the next items. This will probably lead to applica-
tions where external counterweighting would not be permitted.

9. Shaft sealing has a significant impact on the reliability of the check valve to perform satisfactorily.
Based on field experience, the following restrictions are placed on the type of shaft sealing:

a. To avoid a potential water source of water induction to the turbine, and to prevent quenching and
distortion of the valve, water sealing the shaft is not permitted.

b. To avoid binding of the free swing check valve disc due to overtightening of packing material, the
valve must be designed with shaft seals such that it is not possible to overtighten packing to restrain
free swing motion.

10. Possible means of sealing the shaft include:

a. Hardened steel bushings with gasketed end caps where the shaft does not protrude through the valve
body.

b. Hardened steel bushings with an intermediate steam leak off to the turbine steam seal system with
no soft packings.

c. Packing arrangements that cannot be overtightened enough in the field restrain motion.

d. Soft packing, but with the lost motion device internal to the valve so that the packing does not restrict
free swing motion. This implies that any counterweighting required must be internal to the valve.

11. On check valves with double “D” swing plates:

a. The plates should not open to an angle of greater than 85° perpendicular to the flow, so that reverse
flow will force the plates closed.

b. There should be 11/2 in. (40 mm) dia. hole drilled through one plate to ensure positive drainage.

c. The spring should be selected so that it is stressed below its endurance limit.

3
GEK 46508D Extraction System Check Valves Design Recommendations

C. SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE POWER ASSISTED PORTION OF THE CHECK VALVE.

1. The power assisted portion of the check valve shall consist of an actuator designed such that, on tripping
the air system of the turbine air relay dump valve (ARDV), a spring will cause the actuator to close the
check valve.

2. Upon supplying air to the cylinder, the air should compress the spring and allow the check valve to open.
It must not restrict the free swing motion of the check valve disc in the closed direction.

3. To help assure a fast response when the air system is tripped, the air cylinder and spring are to be sized
so that with the cylinder connected to the valve and with no steam flow:

a. Approximately 30 psig [200 kPa (gauge)] [2.0 kg/cm2 (gauge)] air pressure is required to lift the
piston from its closed end stop.

b. Approximately 60 psig [400 kPa (gauge)] [4.0 kg/cm2 (gauge)] air pressure is required to hold the
piston against its open end stop. Assuming air supply pressure to be in the 60 to 100 psig [400 to
700 kPa (gauge)] [4.0 to 7.0 kg/cm2 (gauge)] range.

4. To help assure an adequate force level to overcome valve friction, the air cylinder and spring are to be
sized so that:

a. With the cylinder in the closed position, there must be enough spring force to exceed, by a factor
of at least four, the force required to overcome the combined normal friction levels of the air piston,
linkage and valve disc.

b. With the power assist actuator hooked up to the valve, with the check valve disc free to move, with
full steam flow down the extraction line, and with normal friction levels in the valve and actuator,
there will be enough spring force to close the disc to the point where the disc will have closed off
10% of the cross–sectional flow area. If the 10% flow point is not known, it is acceptable to size the
spring to shift the disc from 100% open to 90% open position of angular travel against the above
conditions of full resistance force. At the 90% position reverse steam flow is to be a positive closing
force on the disc.

5. Power assist actuator should have a stroke such that it would move the check valve to the point where
the check valve disc would have closed off at least 3/4 of the cross–sectional flow area.

6. The power assist actuator should be designed with a convenient means for local daily testing that the
free swing portion of the check valve is still free to move. The testing feature should be located such
that the operator testing the valve can be sure that the valve moves freely through stroke. Because rod
end seals in the top of conventional air closing cylinders tend to develop excessive leakage with time,
testing force margin can be lost. To overcome this maintenance problem, the heater high level solenoid
can be used to accomplish the daily check valve test. This option is shown in Figure 3 and can also be
used in any of the other arrangements.

D. SPECIFICATIONS FOR THE PERFORMANCE OF THE AIR SYSTEM

1. The extraction air piping from the turbine air relay dump valve (ARDV) to the individual power assist
actuators must be designed so that the air in the cylinders will depressurize rapidly. With full rated air
pressure in the system and the check valve disc in the closed direction, this rate of decay should be fast
enough for the air pistons to go through full stroke in the check valve closing direction within two sec-
onds of tripping the air relay dump valve. Careful attention to the size and routing of all the air piping

4
Extraction System Check Valves Design Recommendations GEK 46508D

is required to minimize the volume of air contained in the system and yet minimize the response time
of the critical air pistons. In general the following has been used successfully in the field. The main
manifold run from a single ARDV

ARDV at the turbine end standard down to the first or second tee for the closing cylinders has worked
well when sized to one inch inside diameter. Note that for two ARDVs tied together the main header
flow area could be doubled. The individual runs to single air closing cylinders have worked well with
the equivalent of one half inch tubing. Sub manifolding lines were sized in between the main header
and individual runs. Minimizing the number of elbows is important. Because of the variety of field in-
stallations the above information is only intended as a guide. The architect engineer and customer are
responsible for determining their optimum station layout which will meet the two second timing re-
quirement.

It is common practice to provide check valves of the power assisted type even when it has been deter-
mined that only a free swing check valve is required for adequate overspeed protection. The extra air
piping and volume involved can make it very difficult for those valves requiring power assist for over-
speed reasons to have a satisfactory response time. The following two subsections describe possible
alternatives for arranging the critical and non–critical power assists. Subsection (a) is for a single air
relay dump valve (ARDV) and subsection (b) is for a system with two ARDV’s.

a. On units with only one air relay dump valve (ARDV), use the arrangement shown in Figure 1. Run
the air piping from the ARDV (again giving careful attention to the size and routing) only to those
critical check valves on which power assist actuators are required for overspeed protection. Install
or utilize a pressure switch (used for opening extraction drains) in the outlet of the ARDV (again
minimizing size and routing). Run an air supply line directly to the remaining power assist actuators.
This air supply will not go through the ARDV. Dumping of the air from these cylinders will be by
means of an automatic three–way valve in each individual air line. The pressure switch on the outlet
of the ARDV should provide a signal to these automatic valves so that they will dump the air to these
non–critical cylinders on activation of the ARDV. If the critical check valves which are to be con-
nected to the ARDV are also tripped by this pressure switch, then a modified timing requirement
is imposed. The pressure switch trip has to meet the two second closure; and with the pressure switch
trip temporarily disconnected, the critical air cylinders are to close in less than five seconds by action
of the ARDV.

b. On units with two air relay dump valves (ARDV1 & ARDV2), use the arrangements shown in Figure
2 or 4. Run the air piping from ARDV1 (again giving careful attention to the size and routing) to
only those valves in which positive assist check valves are required for overspeed protection. Run
the air piping from ARDV2 to the remaining valves. If the air volume in the runs of critical lines
exceeds the non–critical lines, then manifolding the lines together as shown in Figure 3 is acceptable
since the trip times of the critical valves will be reduced.

As a guide in analysis of the system response time, the turbine front standard contributes a loss of
about 7.5 velocity heads per extraction relay dump valve based on a 1.063 in. (27 mm) ID pipe.

2. No more than twelve critical power assisted check valves should be connected to a single ARDV. On
most units shipping after 1980, two ARDVs are supplied. With two ARDVs this rule can easily be met.

3. There must be no possibility of restricting air decay from air cylinders on power assist check valves
required for overspeed protection by the location of a valve in the air line. This means that there must
be no two–way shutoff valves in the air lines from an ARDV, which has critical power assist check
valves hooked to it, through to the individual air cylinders on any check valve.

5
GEK 46508D Extraction System Check Valves Design Recommendations

OTHER CRITICAL
ACTUATORS
AIR RELAY DUMP VALVE
TURBINE
ARDV1 AIR SUPPLY
EXTRACTION TURBINE
LINE PS SOLENOID
PRESSURE SWITCH VALVE
HAND EXTRACTION
TEST LINE
VALVE
OTHER SOLENOIDS
IN NON–CRITICAL
M
ACTUATOR AIR LINES M

C HAND
CRITICAL POWER TEST VALVE
ASSISTED CHECK NON–CRITICAL POWER
VALVE ASSISTED CHECK VALVE

HEATER #2

SYSTEM SHOWN IN THE TURBINE TRIP

HEATER #3
MODE, HAND TEST VALVES IN THE
NON–
TEST POSITION.

Figure 1. Pressure Switch Activation of Non–Critical Positive Assist Cylinders

OTHER CRITICAL
ACTUATORS
AIR RELAY DUMP AIR SUPPLY
VALVE #1
TURBINE
ARDV1 TURBINE
EXTRACTION
LINE
EXTRACTION
LINE
HAND ARDV2 AIR RELAY DUMP
TEST VALVE #2
VALVE
HAND
OTHER TEST VALVE
M NON–CRITICAL M
ACTUATORS
C
CRITICAL POWER NON–CRITICAL POWER
ASSISTED CHECK ASSISTED CHECK VALVE
VALVE

HEATER #2

SYSTEM SHOWN IN THE TURBINE TRIP

MODE, HAND TEST VALVES IN THE
HEATER #3
NON–
TEST POSITION.

Figure 2. Air Relay Dump Valve Activation of Non–Critical Power Assist Actuators

6
Extraction System Check Valves Design Recommendations GEK 46508D

OTHER CRITICAL
ACTUATORS
AIR RELAY DUMP AIR SUPPLY
TURBINE VALVE #1
ARDV1 TURBINE
EXTRACTION
LINE 3–WAY
SOLENOID
I 3–WAY EXTRACTION
V VALVE
C LOCAL
ARDV2 SOLENOID LINE
TEST AIR RELAY DUMP VALVE #2 V VALVE
PUSHBUTTON C
I LOCAL
OTHER NON–CRITICAL
ACTUATORS TEST
PUSHBUTTON
M M

C
NON–CRITICAL POWER
CRITICAL POWER ASSISTED CHECK VALVES
ASSISTED CHECK
ELECTRICAL
VALVE
SIGNALS

HEATER #2 LS

HI–HIGH LEVEL
SWITCH

HEATER #3 LS SYSTEM SHOWN IN THE TURBINE

TRIP MODE, AND 3–WAY SOLENOID
HI–HIGH LEVEL
VALVES IN HEATER LEVEL NORMAL
SWITCH
CONDITION.
Figure 3. 3–Way Solenoid Valves in the Air Lines to Each Cylinder

OTHER CRITICAL
ACTUATORS
AIR RELAY DUMP
VALVE #1 AIR SUPPLY
TURBINE
ARDV1
TURBINE
EXTRACTION
LINE LOCAL
TEST EXTRACTION
PUSHBUTTON LINE
ARDV2

OTHER NON–CRITICAL
ACTUATORS 3–WAY
SOLENOID
M M
VALVE
C
NON–CRITICAL POWER
CRITICAL POWER ASSISTED CHECK VALVE
ASSISTED CHECK
VALVE ELECTRICAL
SIGNALS

HEATER #2 LS

HI–HIGH LEVEL
SWITCH

HEATER #3 SYSTEM SHOWN IN TURBINE

LS
TRIP MODE, NON–TEST
HI–HIGH LEVEL POSITION, & HEATER
SWITCH LEVELS NORMAL.

Figure 4. 3–Way Solenoids in Air Lines to the Spring Side of the Air Piston

7
GEK 46508D Extraction System Check Valves Design Recommendations

4. Any three–way solenoid valves in the air lines from the ARDV to each air cylinder hooked up to an
ARDV with critical power assist check valves must not pose any problems in restricting flow on tripping
the air system from the ARDV. See Figure 3 for the arrangement. Thus, the solenoid valve must be of
the direct acting type, must have been selected for fast dumping of the cylinder through the cylinder
to inlet port direction. Fast dumping through the cylinder to the vent connection is not as important as
through the cylinder to the inlet connection.

This is because the cylinder to vent connection is used on heater high level as a protection against water
induction. Water from a leaking feedwater heater is a relatively slow process. Flow rates for such an
event have been given in ASME TWDPS–1 for use in timing when shutoff valves have to close. This
has resulted in time, typically in the order of 30 to 90 seconds.

5. Bypassing any solenoid valve in the air lines with another solenoid valve and/or a check valve to im-
prove the response time in dumping the cylinders through the inlet port of the solenoid valve via the
ARDV is not permitted if that ARDV has any critical power assist check valves hooked up to it.

6. The above restrictions on the solenoid valve do not apply if the solenoid valve is used to equalize pres-
sures around the air cylinders as in Figure 4. The solenoid valve is now in the air line to the spring side
of the air piston rather than the non–spring side. In this position, it has no influence at all on dumping
the cylinder via the ARDV. Note this is still fail–safe, as loss of air still always calls for valve closure.

II. FIELD MODIFICATIONS

Any field modifications to the extraction system should be approved by the General Electric Company so
that the integrity of the overspeed control system can be maintained. The approved system is that shown on the ex-
traction diagram in this Instruction Book.

NOTE

For units shipped after 1987, the extraction diagram is no longer issued.

III. WATER INDUCTION PROTECTION

The extraction check valves do not provide positive protection against water backing up the extraction line
from leaking feedwater heater tubes, as the valve will not see a positive pressure differential and could be subject
to temperature distortion. They may, however, slow down the rate of flow of water to the turbine. They do provide
protection from either hot auxiliary steam or saturated steam on heater flashback.

The power assist cylinder should be used to help close the check valves on heater high level. The arrangement
in Figure 3 or Figure 4 are schematics of the way to accomplish this.

GE Power Systems

General Electric Company

One River Road, Schenectady, NY 12345
518 • 385 • 2211 TX: 145354