Operation and Maintenance of Thermal Power Stations : Best Practices and Health Monitoring

This book illustrates operation and maintenance practices/guidelines for economic generation and managing health of a thermal power generator beyond its regulatory life. The book provides knowledge for professionals managing power station operations, through its unique approach to chemical analysis of water, steam, oil etc. to identify malfunctioning/defects in equipment/systems much before the physical manifestation of the problem. The book also contains a detailed procedure for conducting performance evaluation tests on different equipment, and for analyzing test results for predicting maintenance requirements, which has lent a new dimension to power systems operation and maintenance practices. A number of real life case studies also enrich the book. This book will prove particularly useful to power systems operations professionals in the developing economies, and also to researchers and students involved in studying power systems operations and control. 

Dr. Pradip Chanda, has more than 34 years of experience as a power plant professional in various capacities at the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), India. Starting his career as a commissioning engineer of 200 MW and 500 MW thermal sets, has given him exposure to the intricacies of behaviour of equipment and subsystems of thermal power plants. Working as a shift-charge engineer in a 1600 MW super thermal power station and heading the efficiency department of a thermal power station for more than nine years has enriched him with knowledge on operation and maintenance practices, different standards of efficiency and testing procedures. The journey carried him through corporate planning of NTPC for 5 years along with a rich 7 years’ experience in the training and development wing of NTPC as a senior faculty member. Currently he is serving as General Manager (HR) at an NTPC power station. Dr Chanda graduated as an Electrical Engineer from the erstwhile Bengal Engineering College. He received his M.Tech and PhD degrees from IIT Delhi. He has published a number of research papers in various journals and conferences. His areas of research interest include mathematical modelling of physical systems, heat transfer and control system.  

Suparna Mukhopadhyay, M.Tech, Ph.D, is a mechanical Engineer from NIT Agartala with her graduate degrees from Jadavpur University. She has a unique combination of industrial and research/teaching experience of more than 20 years. Presently, she is serving at the National Thermal Power Corporation as a senior manager. Prior to that she was a visiting scientist in the Engineering Mechanics Unit, JN Centre for Advanced Scientific research, Bangalore and Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering in Kalyani Government Engineering College, Kalyani, West Bengal for a combined period of more than 15 years. Dr. Mukhopadhyay has already published a textbook on fluid mechanics and a large number of research publications.