CONDENSERS

Performance of Condensers
• Parameters for condenser performance
 Performance of Condensers
• Parameters for condenser performance- contd…
 Performance of Condensers
• The following needs to be computed:
1. Condenser heat load = Q x T x Cp

Parameter Details Unit

Q Water flow rate Kg/h
T Average CW temperature rise oC
Cp Specific heat kcal/kg oC

2. Calculated condenser vacuum =

Atmospheric pressure – Condenser back-pressure
3. Deviation in condenser vacuum =
Expected condenser vacuum - Measured condenser vacuum
4. Condenser TTD =
Saturation temperature – Cooling water outlet temperature
 Performance of Condensers
5. Condenser Effectiveness =
Rise in cooling water temperature
Saturation temperature - Cooling water inlet temperature
6. Condenser heat duty in kcal/h =
Heat added by main steam + heat added by reheater + heat
added by SH attemperation + heat added by RH
attemperation + heat added by BFP - 860 x (Pgen + Pgen
losses + heat loss due to radiation)
7. Condenser tube velocity (m/s) =
Cooling water flow rate (m3/h) x 106
3600 x tube area (mm2) x ( no. of tubes per pass - no. of
tubes plugged per pass )
 Performance of Condensers
8. Determination of actual LMTD
Tout - Tin
LMTD =
Tsat -Tin
Ln Tsat - Tout
9. LMTD expected = LMTD test x ft x fw x fq
ft: Correction for cooling water inlet temperature
0.25
Saturation Temperature during test – LMTD during test
ft = ( Saturation Temperature design – LMTD design
)
Tube velocity during test 0.50
fw = ( Tube velocity design ) fw: correction for
water flow rate
Condenser design duty
fq = (Condenser duty during test ) fq: correction for
cooling water heat load