Evaporative Condenser

Evaporative Condenser is a kind of heat exchanger. Heat transfer takes place

between external and internal fluids where external fluid undergoes phase
change. Fig2. Shows Schematic view of evaporative condenser. The
evaporative condenser system consists of bundles of pipes / tubes arranged
vertically to from calandaria. The number of tubes are determined according
to required Heating surface area for a given heat load. These tubes are
simultaneously exposed to a spray of water and and flow of air facilitated by
Induced draft fan as shown fig.1.

The vapors act as hot fluid whereas water & air act as cold fluids. It uses a
system of tubes exposed to a constant flow of water and ambient air to cool
and condense vapors. The cooling and subsequent condensation of the vapors
is caused by a process of heat transfer that takes place when the water flowing
through tubes evaporates along with air, thus cooling the tube surface and
water. The condensate collected outside the tubes can be removed from
system with help of condensate pump.
Air
Water Water

Steam
Steam

Inner Tube

Condensate

Water

Saturated air

Fig1: Tube periphery in Evaporative Condenser

A portion of the water flowing through the tubes evaporates due to absorption
of heat from vapors outside the tubes. This evaporation mechanism do the
rapid cooling of the tube inside surface on which the vapors get condensed
and also cools the spraying water which is then collected in sump and
recirculated in a closed loop with help of recirculation pump. To compensate
the loss, makeup water is added as small portion of water. The incoming
ambient air will become saturated while passing through the tube periphery.

In mode of operation, the water is sprayed with help of specially designed

nozzles to maintain minimum film of water in tubes in order to promote
effective heat transfer. As large volume of vapors undergoes phase change
from gases to liquid the reduced volume results in vacuum generation. This
vacuum generation system could be employed at various duties depending
upon the requirement. The vacuum is created by a vacuum pump or ejector
system prior to start-up of the evaporative condenser and is maintained by
condensing the vapor by means of cooling water and air circulation.

The Non-Condensable Gases are removed by NCG header. 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.
Fig2: Schematic view of Evaporative Condenser