A study on the performance of heat exchangers used for cooling of turbine guide bearings

Water is the most important element of life. As being the cleanest and the mostefficient source for electricity generation, it is indispensable. Kinetic energy of flowingwater is converted to mechanical energy by hydropower turbines and mechanical energy toelecrical energy by generators. To operate Hydropower plants safely and efficiently,generators and turbine guide bearings should be designed appropriately and should be keptunder continuous control during operation.In this study, heat distribution at oil film of turbine guide bearings of Keban HPPUnit-8 is examined under different circumstances to determine the most dangerousconditions for turbine guide bearings of Unit 8. By rechanging current operatingconditions, a more efficient operation of the unit is maintained. Optimum operatingconditions of turbine guide bearings is determined. Also, older and newer methods forcooling of the oil in turbine guide bearings are compared and with the help of theexperimental studies, optimum conditions of new methods have been obtained.