Specialists from "ZiO-Podolsk" (a subsidiary of the machine-building division of Rosatom State Corporation) have designed and manufactured a set of two intermediate centrifugal separators for the main turbogenerator of the serial nuclear icebreaker of the new generation "Chukotka". They will also be installed on the serial nuclear-powered ship "Yakutia".
The separators are used to dry the steam after the high-pressure turbine to reduce erosion of the low-pressure turbine's blading. They help to achieve and maintain the required percentage of steam humidity before entering the low-pressure turbine. Tests on the stands have already been completed.
The uniqueness of the testing is the ability to test the main turbogenerator at steam parameters close to and exceeding the loads of real operating conditions. This, in turn, eliminates the risk of turbine failure during sea trials. According to the results of the tests, the steam humidity, as measured by standard moisture meters in the nominal power mode, was no more than 0.5%, which is significantly less than the specified indicators. Thus, we were able to confirm the effectiveness of this separator design for nuclear icebreakers.
The assigned resource of each such separator is 320 thousand hours, the assigned service life is 40 years.
