CHAPTER 6

STEAM CONDENSERS

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 Steam Condensers
 Let steam be available to a steam turbine at pressure P 1 , 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 atmospheric Pa,T2.
 Keeping the initial properties, lowering the final
temperature increases the work output.

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 Steam Condensers
 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.
 The condenser recovers the high-quality feed water for
reuse in the cycle.

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 Steam Condensers
 Condenser is a device in which steam
coming out from the turbine condenses into
liquid state at constant pressure.
 In the condenser, steam rejects latent heat
and gets converted into water. (condensate)
 Cooling is obtained by circulating cooling
water

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 Functions of Condenser:
 It lowers back pressure at turbine exhaust.
Hence the steam expands through high
pressure ratio. (increased work done, more
efficiency)
 Enables recovery and reuse of pure feed
water to boiler. Hence saves cost of water
treatment and cost of fresh water.
 Enables removal of air and non-condensable
gases from steam. Hence improved heat
transfer.

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Elements of Condensing Plant:

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 Types of Condensers
 Jet condenser:
Water and steam come in direct contact.
Water sprayed on steam
 Surface condenser:
Water and steam do not come in direct
contact.
Water can be reused.
Costly compared to jet condensers.

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 Types of 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.

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 Types of Condensers
Surface condenser,
 there is no direct contact between the steam and
the circulating cooling water.
 The most common type used in power plants.
 Impure water can be used for cooling purpose

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 Types of Jet Condensers:
 Low-Level Jet Condenser
1) Counter-flow type
2) Parallel-flow type
 High-level jet condenser
 Ejector jet condenser

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 Steam Condensers
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 water trays to break up the
water into small jets. 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.
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 Steam Condensers
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.
 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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Advantages and Disadvantages
of High Level Jet Condenser:
 Advantages:
1. Less floor area
2. Requires only Circulating Pump
 Disadvantages:
1. Due to high level, long pipes needed
2. Not readily accessible for maintenance

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 Ejector Condenser
 By discharging a jet of cold water under head of
about 6 m through a series of converging cones.
 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.

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 Ejector Condenser
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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 Surface Condensers
 No direct contact of water and steam.
 Hence, condensate can be reused.

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Types of Surface Condensers:
 Shell and tube type
◦ Down flow condensers
◦ Central flow condensers
◦ Inverted flow condensers
 Evaporative Condensers

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 Shell Outlet

Channel Inlet

Channel
Outlet

Shell Outlet

SINGLE SEGMENTAL TRANVERSE BAFFLES

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 Down-flow Condensers:
 Exhaust steam enters the top and flows
downward over the water tube
 Cold water flows in lower tubes first and then in
upper side in reverse direction
 Extraction pump is connected at the bottom to
draw condensate out of condenser.
 Air extraction pump is located at the bottom to
separate air and non-condensable gases.

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 Central Flow Condensers:
 Air extraction pump is located in the
centre of condenser tubes.
 Steam flows radially inwards.
 Condensate extraction pump is located at
bottom to collect the condensate.
 More heat transfer rate compared to down
flow condensers.

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Central Flow Condensers:

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 Inverted flow Surface
Condensers:
 Steam enters the bottom of the shell and
moves upward.
 Air extraction pump is located at the top.
 Steam condenses to water and condensate
flows down.
 Condensate extraction pump is located at
the bottom.

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Evaporative Condensers:

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 Advantages of surface
condensers:
 High vacuum efficiency, hence suitable for large
power plants.
 Pure condensate.
 Saving in cost of water treatment and cost of
fresh water
 No direct contact of water and steam, hence low
quality cooling water can be used
 Low power air extraction pump can be used

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 Disadvantages of Surface
Condensers:
 Indirect cooling-hence large amount of cooling
water required.
 High cost (Installation and maintenance).
 Large floor area.

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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."
 Mathematically, the pressure in the condenser Pc
containing mixture of air and water-vapor

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 Surface- Condenser Calculations
 Heat transfer in a surface condenser is:-

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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.
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.
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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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.

It is the range by which warm water from the
condenser is cooled.
The cooling efficiency
 the ratio of the actual cooling of water to the maximum
cooling possible.

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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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