CONDENSER IN POWER PLANT

Introduction:
Steam Condenser: It is a device or an appliance in which steam condenses and heat released by steam is absorbed by water. Classification of Condensers 1. Jet condensers 2. Surface condenser Jet Condensers: The exhaust steam and water come in direct contact with each other and temperature of the condensate is the same as that of cooling water leaving the condenser. The cooling water is usually sprayed into the exhaust steam to cause, rapid condensation. Surface Condensers: The exhaust steam and water do not come into direct contact. The steam passes over the outer surface of tubes through which a supply of cooling water is maintained.

PARALLEL-FIOW TYPE OF JET CONDENSER: The exhaust steam and cooling water find their entry at the top of the condenser and then flow downwards and condensate and water are finally collected at the bottom.

Fig. Parallel flow type condenser

COUNTER-FLOW TYPEJET CONDENSER: The steam and cooling water enter the condenser from opposite directions. Generally, the exhaust steam travels in upward direction and meets the cooling water
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which flows downwards.

Fig. Low level counter flow type condenser LOW LEVEL JET CONDENSER (COUNTER-FLOW TYPE JET CONDENSER) Figure Shows, L, M and N are the perforated trays which break up water into jets. The steam moving upwards comes in contact with water and gets condensed. The condensate and water mixture is sent to the hot well by means of an extraction pump and the air is removed by an air suction pump provided at the top of the condenser.
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HIGH LEVEL JET CONDENSER (COUNTER-FLOW TYPE JET CONDENSER) It is also called barometric condenser. In this type the shell is placed at a height about 10.363 meters above hot well and thus the necessity of providing an extraction pump can be obviated. However provision of own injection pump has to be made if water under pressure is not available.

Fig. High level counter flow type condenser

EJECTOR CONDENSER FLOW TYPE JET CONDENSER:

Here the exhaust steam and cooling water mix in hollow truncated cones. Due to this decreased pressure exhaust steam along with associated air is drawn through the truncated cones and finally lead to diverging cone. In the diverging cone, a portion of kinetic energy gets converted into pressure energy
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which is more than the atmospheric so that condensate consisting of condensed steam, cooling water and air is discharged into the hot well. The exhaust steam inlet is provided with a non-return valve which does not allow the water from hot well to rush back to the engine in case a failure of cooling water supply to condenser.

Fig. Ejector flow type condenser

SURFACE CONDENSERS
DOWN-FLOW TYPE: The cooling water enters the shell at the lower half
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section and after traveling through the upper half section comes out through the outlet. The exhaust steam entering shell from the top flows down over the tubes and gets condensed and is finally removed by an extraction pump. Due to the fact that steam flows in a direction right angle to the direction of flow of water, it is also called cross-surface condenser.

CENTRAL FLOW TYPE: In this type of condenser, the suction pipe of the air extraction pump is located in the centre of the tubes which results in radial flow of the steam. The better
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contact between the outer surface of the tubes and steam is ensured, due to large passages the pressure drop of steam is reduced.

Fig. Shows Central flow type INVERTED FLOW TYPE: This type of condenser has the air suction at the top, the steam after entering at the bottom rises up and then again flows down to the bottom of the condenser,
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by following a path near the outer surface of the condenser. The condensate extraction pump is at the bottom.

REGENERATIVE TYPE: This type is applied to condensers adopting a regenerative method of heating of the condensate. After leaving the tube nest, the condensate is passed through the entering exhaust steam from the steam engine or turbine thus raising the temperature of the condensate, for use as feed water for the boiler.

EVAPORATIVE TYPE: The principle of this condenser is that when a limited quantity of water is available, its quantity needed to condense the steam can be reduced by causing the circulating water to evaporate under a small partial pressure.

The exhaust steam enters at the top through gilled pipes. The water pump sprays water on the pipes and descending water condenses the steam. The water which is not evaporated falls into the open tank (cooling pond) under the condenser from which it can be drawn by circulating water pump and used over again. The evaporative condenser is placed in open air and finds its application in small size plants.

Fig. Evaporative type

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Evaporative condensers: In evaporative condensers, both air and water are used to extract heat from the condensing refrigerant. Figure 22.7 shows the schematic of an evaporative condenser. Evaporative condensers combine the features of a cooling tower and water-cooled condenser in a single unit. In these condensers, the water is sprayed from top part on a bank of tubes carrying the refrigerant and air is induced upwards. There is a thin water film around the condenser tubes from which evaporative cooling takes place. The heat transfer coefficient for evaporative cooling is very large. Hence, the refrigeration system can be operated at low condensing temperatures (about 11 to 13 K above the wet bulb temperature of air). The water spray countercurrent to the airflow acts as cooling tower. The role of air is primarily to increase the rate of evaporation of water. The required air flow rates are in the range of 350 to 500 m3/h per TR of refrigeration capacity. Evaporative condensers are used in medium to large capacity systems. These are normally cheaper compared to water cooled condensers, which require a separate cooling tower. Evaporative condensers are used in places where water is scarce. Since water is used in a closed loop, only a small part of the water evaporates. Make-up water is supplied to take care of the evaporative loss. The water consumption is typically very low, about 5 percent of an equivalent water cooled condenser with a cooling tower. However, since condenser has to be kept outside, this type of condenser requires a longer length of refrigerant tubing, which calls for larger refrigerant inventory and higher pressure drops. Since the condenser is kept outside, to prevent the water from freezing, when outside temperatures are very low, a heater is placed in the water tank. When outside temperatures are very low it
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is possible to switch-off the water pump and run only the blowers, so that the condenser acts as an air cooled condenser. Another simple form of condenser used normally in older type cold storages is called as atmospheric condenser. The principle of the atmospheric condenser is similar to evaporative condenser, with a difference that the air flow over the condenser takes place by natural means as no fans or blowers are used. A spray system sprays water over condenser tubes. Heat transfer outside the tubes takes by both sensible cooling and evaporation, as a result the external heat transfer coefficient is relatively large. The condenser pipes are normally large, and they can be either horizontal or vertical. Though these condensers are effective and economical they are being replaced with other types of condensers due to the problems such as algae formation on condenser tubes, uncertainty due to external air circulation etc.

Effect of air and non-condensable:

This is usually a problem with high boiling point refrigerants such as R 11, R 113 and R718 (water), which operate under vacuum leading to air leakage into the system. In addition, some air may be left behind before the system is evacuated and charged with refrigerant. If some non-condensable gases or air enters the system, it will collect in the condenser where they affect performance in two ways: 1. Condensation takes place at saturation pressure corresponding to condenser pressure, which will be the partial pressure of refrigerant in mixture of refrigerant and air in this case. The air will have its partial pressure proportional to its amount in the condenser. The total pressure will be the sum of these two partial pressures, which will be high and the compressor has to work against this pressure ratio hence the work requirement will increase.
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2. Non-condensable gases do not diffuse throughout the condenser as the refrigerant condenses. They cling to the tubes and reduce the precious heat transfer area. The reduction in heat transfer area causes the temperature difference between cold water and refrigerant to increase. This raises the condenser temperature and the corresponding pressure thereby reducing the COP.

Air Leakage
As both the exhaust of the steam turbine and the condenser are operating under a substantial vacuum, air is bound to leak into the system. This leakage occurs through the gland seals on the steam turbine and through minute holes in the piping connections associated with the surface condenser itself. Over a period of years, Heat Exchange Institute has determined the normal quantity of air that should leak through properly designed turbines and piping systems, and these are specified in their "Standards for Surface Condensers ." Manufacturers have similarly standardized their ejector sets so that several standard sizes are available for specific air which are the only moving parts in a surface condenser system should be supplied in duplicate. Power plant practice usually requires twin air Ejector sets, one a standby, but for air conditioning installations, a single set is sufficient.

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Materials of Construction
Materials used in construction of steam surface condensers. Use of copper alloy tube sheets in steam surface condensers with the Accompanying requirement that tube sheets be bolted to the shell by Means of collar bolts is a carryover from marine practice. There is No reason why a steel tube sheet cannot be used, in view of the fact That the refrigeration condenser just upstream of the steam condenser Uses this type of construction. When a steel tube sheet is used, The specification should indicate that it may be welded to the shell.

Copper based alloy(ASTM B 111,B543) Stainless steel (ASTM A268, B268, A249,
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A213, A269) Titanium( ASTM B 338 Gr 1&2) Carbon steel (ASTM A 179,A214)

REASON FOR REMOVING AIR/GAS:

The gases will increase the operating pressure of the condenser. This rise in pressure will decrease the turbine output and efficiency. The gases will blanket the outer surface of the tubes. This will severely decrease the heat transfer of the steam to the circulating water. Again, the pressure in the condenser will increase. The corrosiveness of the condensate in the condenser increases as the oxygen content increases. Oxygen causes corrosion, mostly in the steam generator. Thus, these gases must be removed in order to extend the life of cycle
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components.

EFFECT OF AIR INGRESS:

For maximum thermal efficiency, corresponding to a minimum back pressure, a vacuum is maintained in the condenser. However, this vacuum encourages air in- leakage. Thus, to keep the concentration of noncondensable gases as low as possible, the condenser system must be leak tight, together with any part of the condensate system that is under vacuum. Failure to prevent or remove the noncondensable gases may cause serious corrosion in the system, lower heat transfer properties, and/or increase plant heat rate due to the back pressure rise associated with a high in leakage. The cost of excess back pressure in terms of additional fuel or increased heat rate.

CONDENSER TUBE CLEANING:

Macro-fouling (accumulation of debris), not only reduces the cooling water flow rate through the tubes it can cause tube corrosion and tube erosion failures. Micro-fouling (biological growth) and scaling reduces the heat transfer coefficient and could cause under deposit corrosion resulting in premature tube failures.

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 Various tube cleaning options are available to reduce or eliminate the micro/macro fouling and scaling. off-line on-line methods. (Sponge balls or brushes may be automatically recirculated through the condenser).

Cycle Isolation:
Generating plants often suffer from power losses/heat rate due to leakages through valves to condenser. Check incoming drain lines, feedwater heater high level dumps, minimum flow valves, and steam traps for leakage or improper operation which could add unexpected heat load to the condenser. To minimize leakages through valves to condenser , Select all control valves (e g emergency drain of heaters) to condenser with leakage class v and Select all isolating /drain valve to condenser with leakage class MSS SP 61.

REFERENCE
The TEXT book of POWER PLANT ENGINEERING by R.K Rajput .
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 Wikipedia

Refrigeration and Air conditioning by P.L. Balloney, Khanna Publishers.

Refrigeration and Air conditioning by C.P. Arora, Tata McGraw Hill.

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CONCLUSION
As from this we know all the functions of
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different types of steam condenser that are used in Thermal Power plant. We know how Jet Condenser works and how a steam condenser works. And also we know different challenges found in a power plant related to condensers. From this we know all about the uses and function of steam condenser in thermal power plant.

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