Electric and hydroelectric power plants

Electricity from eucalyptus may not be the most effi­cient system of turning the energy of the sun into power, but it shows the ingenuity of our scientists in finding new ways and means to provide mankind with more and more energy; and that means: to raise its standard of living. In the old days, the stage of civilization reached by a nation used to be measured in pounds of soap per head a year; to­day it is the amount of horsepower or kilowatt-hours avail­able to everybody which indicates the degree of civiliza­tion.

Electric power is generated at electric power plants. The main unit of an electric power plant comprises a prime mover and the generator which it rotates.

The order to actuate the prime mover energy is required. Many different sources of energy are in use nowadays. To these sources belong heat obtained by burning fuels, pressure due to the flow of air (wind), solar heat, etc.

According to the kind of energy used by the prime mover, power plants are divided into groups. Thermal, hydraulic (water-power) and wind plants form these groups. According to the kind of prime mover, electric power plants are classed as:

a) Steam turbine plants, where steam turbines serve as prime movers. The main generating units at steam turbine plants belong to the modern, high-capacity class of power plants.

b) Steam engine plants, in which the prime mover is a piston-type steam engine.

Nowadays no large generating plants of industrial importance are constructed with such prime movers. They are used only for local power supply.

c) Diesel-engine plants; in them diesel internal combustion engines are installed. These plants are also of small capacity, they are employed for local power supply.

d) Hydroelectric power plants employ water turbines as prime movers. Therefore they are called hydroturbine plants. Their main generating unit is the hydrogenerator.

The sum total of the electric power plants, the net works that interconnect them and the power utilizing devices of the consumers is called a power system. All the components of a power system are interrelated by the common processes of protection, distribution and consumption of both electric and heat power. In a power system, all the parallely operating plants takel part in carrying the total load of all the consumers supplied by the given system.

An economical utiliztaion of the power plant installations and of the sources of power is achieved by inter-connected operation of a series of power plants in a common power distribution system.

Modern wind-electric power plants utilize various turbines; these plants as well as the small capacity hydroelectric power plants are widely used in agriculture.

Hydroelectric power plants are built on rivers. Large-capacity hydroelectric power plants are commonly located at considerable distances from the consumers of electric power. The production process at these plants is rather simple: the water flows into the hydroturbine runner, acts upon the runner blades and rotates the runner and the turbine shaft.

The generator shaft is connected to the turbine runner shaft. The difference in the water level influences the power; capacity of a plant, i.e. the magnitude of the water head and the daily inflow of water fluctuates considerably according to the season. The production process is different at power plants of different constructions and of different kinds. In atomic power plants, for example, it is not so simple as in hydroelectric plants.

PHRASES & WORD COMBINATIONS TO THE TEXT

1. power plants - электростанции

2. generate - производить, порождать

3. generator - генератор

4. comprise - охватывать, заключить в себе

5. prime - главный, основной

6. mover - двигатель, движитель

7. to rotate - вращать(-ся)

8. to actuate - побуждать

9. to require - требовать

10. to obtain - достигать, приобретать, применяться, получать

11. fuel - топливо, горючее

12. pressure - давление, (эл) напряжение, (тех) прессование

13. due to - благодаря

14. thermal - тепловой, термальный

15. steam turbine plant - электростанции с паровой турбиной

16. hydraulic - гидравлический

17. capacity - (тех) мощность

18. a pistone-typc steam engine - (тех) паровой двигатель поршневого типа

19. diesel engine plants - электростанции с дизельным двигателем

20. diesel internal combustion engines - дизельный двигатель внутреннего сгорания

21. to install - устанавливать; (тех) проводить

22. to employ - применять, использовать

23. total - (все)общий, суммарный

24. to utilize - использовать, утилизировать

25. to estimate - оценивать

26. consumption - потребление, расход

27. double - двойной

28. to double - удваивать

29. to belong to - принадлежать, относиться

EXERCISES

TASK 1. Answer the questions:

1. What plants generate electric energy? __________________________________

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2. What kinds of energy do prime movers employ? _________________________

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3. What sources of energy are in use nowadays? ___________________________

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4. What power plants do you know? _____________________________________

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5. How are plants with different kinds of prime movers called? _______________

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6. What are the main generating units at steam turbine plants? ________________

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7. In that plants are combustion engines employed? _________________________

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8. What are diesel-engine plants? _______________________________________

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9. How are plants employing water turbines called? _________________________

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10. Where are wind-electric power plants widely used? ______________________

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TASK 2. Fill the gaps with the verbs:"to build", "to locate", "to fluctuate", "to belong":

1.At what distance are hydroelectric power plants ________from their consumers?

2.Low-capacity power plants are _______________ in agricultural areas.

3.The daily inflow of water ________________ considerably.

4.Steam turbine plants ______________ to the modern high-capacity class of power plants.

TASK 3. Fill the gaps using such words: "to employ", "to obtain", "to require":

1.Water power is ____________ in order to activate water turbines.

2.Using different kinds of fuels we ______________energy.

3.Power plants are named according to the kind of fuel they ________________.

4.Small-capacity power plants ________________diesel combustion engines.

TASK 4. Translate into Russian:

1.Mendeleyev's Periodic Table is spoken of as one of the greatest discoveries of the 19th century. ____________________________________________________

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2.A surface covered by rhodium (родий) is not affected by air. ________________

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3.Lectures on the use of the atomic energy in industry are always listened to with great interest. _______________________________________________________

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4.That law was soon followed by another one. _____________________________

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5.They were influenced by his good example. _____________________________

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6.The conference will be attended by many guests from abroad. _______________

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7. All these questions will be answered. __________________________________

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TASK 5. Translate into Russian:

The world's consumption of fuel energy is increasing at an astronomical rate. Man is using more and more the organic fuel sources — coal, oil, wood and others. The use of these fuels in the 19th century was equal to almost half the total used in all the preceding nineteen centuries. According to estimates, consumption is expected to double and then double again before the year 2000....

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