CHAPTER 5

STEAM CONDENSERS

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 Steam Condensers
 Let steam be available to a steam turbine at pressure P 1 and temperature T1•
 If steam is allowed to expand in the steam turbine to obtain mechanical work
and exhausted into the atmosphere, the final state will be equal to the
atmospheric pressure Pa and temperature T2, as figure below.
 Keeping the initial properties the same (state 1), lowering the final temperature
increases the work output.
 If the final temperature is lowered below T3, then the corresponding saturation
pressure will be below the atmospheric pressure and the steam cannot be
exhausted to the atmosphere but to some form of a closed vessel. This vessel is
called condenser because the exhaust steam from the turbine is condensed in
this vessel.
 The condenser recovers the high-quality feed water for reuse in the cycle.

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 Steam Condensers
 Condensers may be broadly classified as:
1. Jet condensers or contact condensers;
2. Surface condensers.
Jet condensers,
 the steam to be condensed mixes with the cooling water and emerges as a
single stream.
 The condensate cannot be recovered for use as feedwater to the boiler.
 The temperature of cooling water and the condensate is same when leaving the
condensers.
 The cooling water must be pure in jet condensers.
 In jet condensers the condensing water is called injection water.
Surface condenser,
 there is no direct contact between the steam to be condensed and the circulating
cooling water.
 These are the most common type used in power plants.
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 In such condenser even impure water can be used for cooling purpose
 Steam Condensers
 Jet Condensers are further classified into:
 Low level jet condenser (Counter- flow type);
 High level jet condenser;
 Ejector condenser.
 Surface condensers may be classified as:
 Down - flow Type;
 Central-flow or regenerative condenser;
 Evaporative condenser.

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 Steam Condensers
1. Jet Condensers
a) Low Level Jet Condenser (Counter Flow Type)
 Cold water is drawn up in the condenser shell from the cooling pond due to the
vacuum created in the shell.
 No pump is required to deliver cooling water from the pond; but the vacuum
should be sufficient to overcome friction and provide the desired velocity head.
 The shell is arranged with two or more water trays with perforations to break
up the water into small jets. The exhaust steam and any mixed air ascend up
and cool down. The air is separated by a suction pump at the top.
 The mixture of condensate and cooling water descends down through a vertical
pipe to the extraction pump and pumped to the hot well. From the hot well, the
boiler feed pump delivers water to the boiler and the surplus water overflows to
the cooling pond.
 The boiler feed and the cool injection water mix, this type of condenser should
be used for small power plants where cheap and pure water is available.

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 Steam Condensers
b) High Level Condenser- (Barometric Condenser)
 The shell of the high level condenser is placed at a height greater than 10.34 m,
the barometric height of water column.
 If a long pipe more than 10.34 m in length is held vertical with one end
immersed in water vessel (hot well) open to the atmosphere and the other end
subject to suction pressure, the atmospheric pressure will hold the column of
water in the pipe equal to the suction pressure.
 The height of the shell necessitates a separate pump for injection of cool water.
The excess condensate and water will gravitate to the hot well and maintain a
column of water in the pipe, which depends on the vacuum in the condenser.

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 c) Ejector Condenser
 By discharging a jet of cold water under head of about 6 m through a series of
converging cones, the steam and associated air are drawn in through the hollow
truncated cones and led to the diverging cone.
 In the converging cones, the pressure energy of the cooling water is partly
converted to kinetic energy and a vacuum is created in the condenser.
 In the diverging cone the kinetic energy is again partly converted to pressure
energy so as to obtain pressure greater than the atmospheric to enable the
condensate and water mixture to be discharged to the hot well, which is open to
the atmosphere.
 At the start, steam and air are drawn in due to partial vacuum created due to the
expansion in the converging cones. This vacuum is further increased by the
condensation of steam.
 A non-return valve is fitted on the exhaust steam inlet to the condenser so that
the water from the hot well does not rush back into the turbine in case of cold
water injection failure.

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2. Surface Condensers
 The exhaust steam and the cooling water do not come into direct contact. They
are essentially shell-and-tube heat exchangers. The steam to be condensed is
made to flow over the outside of a nest of tubes through which the cooling
water circulates.
a) Down- Flow Type
 It consists of a cylindrical shell containing a large number of parallel tubes.
 The cooling water enters at the bottom and flows through the lower set of tubes
until it reaches the other end of the shell. It then rises up and travels in the opposite
direction through the upper set of tubes and escapes out through the outlet.
 The steam enters the shell at the top and flows downwards. The temperature of
cooling water rises. The condensate is collected in the hot well at the bottom of the
shell and is pumped by the condensate extraction pump connected to the hot well.
 The dry air pump suction pipe, which is provided near the bottom, is covered by a
baffle to prevent the entry of condensed steam into it.

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 b) Central Flow or Regenerative Condenser
 The exhaust steam enters at the top and flows downwards. The suction pipe of the
air extraction pump is placed at the center of the tube nest. This causes the steam to
flow radially inwards over the tubes towards the suction pipe. The condensate is
collected at the bottom and is then pumped by the extraction pump as shown in Fig.

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 Mixture of Air and Steam
 Dalton's Law of partial pressures for air- water vapor mixture states that "the
pressure of a mixture of air and water-vapor is equal to the sum of the partial
pressures which each constituent would exert if it alone occupied the volume
occupied by the mixture."
 Mathematically, the pressure in the condenser P c containing mixture of air and
water-vapor

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 Deaeration
 Air and other non-condensable gases enter the low pressure condenser.
The process of removing air and non-condensable gases is called
Deaeration.
 Air and non-condensable gases, which accumulate in the system, have
undesirable effects on equipment operation.
 They raise the total pressure of the system causing the
efficiency to drop.
 They act as blanket on the heat transfer surfaces resulting in a
severe decrease in the condenser performance.
 Some non-condensable gases cause corrosion.

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 Surface- Condenser Calculations
 Heat transfer in a surface condenser is given by the general heat transfer
equation:

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 FEED WATER HEATERS
 Regenerative feed water heaters are always used in steam power plants
to improve the cycle.
 They raise the temperature of the feed water before it enters the
economizer.
 Feed water heaters can be classified :-
Open type heaters:- in small industrial plants, only one open
feed water may be used.
Closed type heaters:- in large industries and utility plants, five to
seven closed heater and one open heaters are used. Shell and tube
heat exchanger.

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 CIRCULATING WATER SYSYTEM
 The circulating water system supplies cooling water to the turbine condenser
and thus acts as a medium through which heat is rejected from the steam cycle
to the environment.
 Cooling water can flow through the condenser in two methods
Once through system:-
 when there is a large source of water available.
 Water is taken from a natural body of water like a lake, river or ocean and
pumped through the condenser, where it is heated and then discharged back to
the source.
More efficient
Causes thermal pollution
Availability of huge quantity of water is shrinking
 It is the most efficient means of heat rejection but scarcity of circulating water
source and environmental regulations limit its use.

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Closed loop system:-
 warm water from the condenser is passes through a cooling device like a
cooling tower or a spray pond.
 The cooled water is then pumped back for condenser circulation.
 A natural body of water is still necessary nearby to supply the make up water
to replace the loss due to evaporation, blow down and so on….

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 COOLING TOWERS
 Cools the warm water discharged from the condenser and feed the cooled
water back the condenser. They, thus, reduces the cooling water demand in the
power plant.
 Cooling towers can be classified as :-
WET COOLING TOWERS
 warm water is sprayed into the tower near the top and allowed to fall through a
current of air passing up the tower.
 The warm water is cooled, mainly by evaporation, while the temperature of the
air is raised and it gets saturated with water vapor.

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 Assuming an adiabatic process:

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Approach (A):-
 the difference b/n the exit temperature of cooling water and the wet bulb
temperature of ambient air.

 Warm water from the condenser enters the cooling tower at temperature Tc1 and
is cooled to temperature Tc2, higher than the minimum value, the wet bulb
temperature twb.

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Cooling range or range (R) :-
 the difference in temperature of the incoming warm water (Tc1) and the
exiting cooled water (Tc2)

Range varies from 60C to 100C.

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 DRY COOLING TOWERS
 A dry-cooling tower is one in which the circulating water flows through finned
tubes over which the cooling air is passed.
 All heat rejection from the circulating water is in the form of sensible heat to
the cooling air.
 A dry-cooling tower can have either mechanical-draft or natural draft.
Advantages:
 They permit plant siting without regard for large supplies of cooling water.
 They are less expensive to maintain than wet cooling towers.
 They do not require large amounts of chemical additives and periodic
cleaning as do wet-cooling towers.
 There are two basic dry-cooling tower types:
Direct dry-cooling tower;
Indirect dry-cooling tower.

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 Direct Dry-Cooling Tower
 The condenser tubes are placed inside the tower itself.
 To lower the pressure drop, large diameter tubes are used.

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 Indirect dry cooling towers
 They are of two general designs:
 Indirect dry-cooling tower with conventional surface condenser.
 Indirect dry-cooling tower with an open-type condenser.

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By energy balance:-

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 Example-1
 A surface condenser receives 250t/hr of steam at 400C with 12%
moisture, the cooling water enters at 320C and leaves at 380C. The
pressure inside the condenser is found to be 0.078 bar. The velocity of
circulating water is 1.8 m/sec. the condenser tubes are of 25.4 mm OD
and 1.25 mm thickness, taking the overall heat transfer coefficient as
2600 W/m2 K, determine
a) The rate of flow of cooling water
b) The rate of air leakage in to the condenser shell
c) The length of tubes
d) The number tubes

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 Example-2
 Water at 300C flows into a cooling tower at the rate of 1.15 kg per kg of
air. Air enters the towers at the dbt of 200C and a relative humidity of
60% and leaves it at a dbt of 280C and 90% relative humidity. Make up
water is supplied at 200C.

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