INPLANT TRAINING REPORT

CONDENSER

Condenser is an equipment working under vacuum,

which is used to condense exhaust steam from steam
turbine to re-use in power plant cycle.

 CONDENSER - FUNCTIONS

 Primary Functions:-

• Provide minimum temperature heat sink in the plant.

• Condense exhaust steam from turbine.
• Maintain constant back pressure at turbine exhaust, for
optimum turbine efficiencies.

 Secondary Functions:-

• Deaeration of condensate / make-up water.

• Removal of non-condensables.
• Provide storage capacity of condensate.
• Act as receiver of system drains.
 FEATURES OF GOOD CONDENSER DESIGN

 Lowest back pressure for condensing surface provided.

 Return condensate to cycle at the highest possible
temperature (i.e. minimum subcooling).
 Remove oxygen from condensate to reduce system
corrosion.
 Maximum venting of insoluble gases.
 Uniform pressure drop through any section of condenser.

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 MAIN PARTS OF CONDENSERS

 Shell.
 Hotwell.
 Exhaust hood.
 Tube-sheet & baffle plates.
 Condensing Tubes.
 Inlet & Return Water Box.

 Condenser Shell

 Section where condensation of steam over tubes

takes place.
 Consist of :-

• Shell side construction.

• Tube Bundle.
• Tube sheets.
• Support Plates.
• Air Removal Section.

 Condensers outermost body containing heat

exchanger tubes.
 Fabricated from C.S plates & stiffened as needed to
provide rigidity for the shell.
 Baffles are inserted as intermediate plates that
provide the desired flow path for the condensing steam &
provide support that prevents sagging of long tubes.

 Tube sheets

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At each end of the shell, a sheet of

sufficient thickness usually made of stainless steel is
provided, with holes for the tubes to be inserted and
rolled.

 Hold tubes firmly.

 Separate shell from water boxes.

 Tubes

 Tubes are made of stainless steel, copper alloys

such as brass or bronze, cupro nickel, or titanium
depending on several selection criteria.
 Use of copper bearing alloys such as brass or cupro
nickel is rare in new plants, due to environmental
concerns of toxic copper alloys.
 Titanium tubes are usually the best technical choice,
however the use of titanium condenser tubes has been
virtually eliminated by the sharp increases in the costs for
this material
 The tube lengths range to about 55 ft (17 m) for
modern power plants, depending on the size of the
condenser. The size chosen is based on transportability
from the manufacturers’ site and ease of erection at the
installation site.
 The outer diameter of condenser tubes typically
ranges from 3/4 inch to 1-1/4 inch, based on condenser

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cooling water friction considerations and overall

condenser size.
 Condenser Water boxes.

The tube sheet at each end with tube ends

rolled, for each end of the condenser is closed by a
fabricated box cover known as a water box, with
flanged connection to the tube sheet or condenser
shell.

 Receives & delivers cooling water to Circulating

water system.
 Inlet Water box: Receives cooling water from
circulating water system in the plant & passes the water
to the tubes.
 Outlet Water box: Receives water from the tubes &
delivers to the circulating water system.
 Return Water box: Acts as transition piece between
two passes in case of multi-pass condensers.
 The water box is usually provided with many holes
on hinged covers to allow inspection and cleaning.
 Inlet Water Boxes will also have flanged connections
for cooling water inlet butterfly valves, small vent pipe
with hand valve for air venting at higher level, and hand
operated drain valve at bottom to drain the water box for
maintenance.
 Similarly on the outlet water box the cooling water
connection will have large flanges, butterfly valves, vent
connection also at higher level and drain connections at
lower.

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 Hotwell

Hotwell hangs at the bottom of the shell to

collect the condensate water.

 Air-removal Section
 Removes accumulated air & non-condensable gases.
 Isolation of section of tubes.

 Support Plates
 Provides supporting structure to tubes.
 Minimizes tube vibration.
 Provides additional stiffening to shell from inside.

 Condenser Support
 Circular condensers are supported on saddles.
 Rectangular condensers are directly mounted on hot
well bottom plate.

 Baffles:
 Baffles are the metallic plates with holes or
corrugated strips for the tubes support.
 It also diverts the shell side fluid and gives it the
required number of passes.
 The clearance between the shell and baffles and
tubes and baffles must be minimum required; it avoids the
bypassing of fluid.
 However the clearance should be enough to permit
the insertion of tubes into baffles and the insertion of
whole tube bundle into shell.
 Baffles in steam generator are made up of Inconnel
strips.
 These are designed so to, provide a free flow of
secondary sodium.

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 These are aluminized to prevent damage of tube

outer surfaces.

 MATERIAL OF CONSTRUCTION

Typical Materials used in construction of Condensers.

 Tubes Stainless Steel -A213 TP304,316

•Al. Brass - B111 C44300

•Al. Brass - B111 C68700

•Al. Bronze - B111 C60800

•Cupro-Nickel - 90:10, 70:30

•Titanium - B338 Gr.1,2

 Pipes Carbon Steel - A106 Gr.B

• Stainless Steel - A312 TP304,316

 Boltings High Tensile - A193, A194

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 CONDENSER – TYPES

 Direct Contact Condenser

 Surface Condenser

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 Based on Number of Passes

Single Pass. Double Pass.

No Divisions. Single Divisions.

 Based on Number of Pressure Zones

Single Pressure. Dual Pressure.

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 Based on Steam Entry Location

Vertical Entry Side Entry

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 SURFACE CONDENSER - OPERATION

 Condenser Start-up
 Ensure readiness of Auxiliary Equipment like CEP,
evacuation system etc, for start-up.
 Shell side water fill-up test & tube side hydro test.
 Fill hot well up to NWL with make-up water and
prime the CEP lines.
 Circulate cooling water.
 Start Air Evacuation System.
 When condenser pressure reaches the desired
value, condenser is ready to receive steam from turbine
exhaust.

 Condenser Normal Operating Mode

 No dump steam.
 Condenser operating at designed parameters.

 Condenser Abnormal Operating Mode

 Steam Dump Operation.
 Higher Back Pressure.

 Condenser Shut-Down
 All flows to condenser stopped.
 Shut down Air Evacuation System.
 Condenser vacuum to be broken using vacuum
breaker.
 After shell side is cooled down, shut down circulating
water pump.

 CONDENSER MAINTENANCE

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 Periodic Inspection of Condenser.

 Accumulation of Debris, Scale Deposit inside Waterbox &
Tubes.

• Mechanical Cleaning.
• On-Line Tube cleaning System.

 Cathodic Protection Anode Check.

 Waterbox painting check.
 Gasket replacement.
 Tube Failure.

• Plugging of Tubes.

 Schedule of Preventive Maintenance.

• Every shut-down.
• Once in six month.

 Condenser Protection during shut-down.

 Deviation & their causes

 Low Vacuum.

• Primary Causes of Low Vacuum.

 Air leakage.
 Poor Heat Transfer.
 Faulty Air Removal System.
 Tube Leakage.

• Tube Rupture.
• Tube to tube sheet joint failure.

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 Air Leakage.

• Locations.
 Bolted Joints.
 CEP shaft seal leaks.
 Piping Valve Stem leaks.
 Weld Cracks.
• Air Leak Detection.
 Water Fill Test.
 Soap bubble Test.
 Flame test.
 Poor Heat Transfer.

• Low Quantity of Circulating Water.

• Air Blanketing of Tubes.
• High Circulating Water Inlet Temperature.
• Scale Built-Up.

 Faulty Air Removal System.

• Mal-functioning of Air Extraction Equipment.

• Internal Damage to Air Cooler Zone.
• Improper routing of Air Extraction Piping.

 Tube Leakage

• Tube Rupture.
• Tube to Tube sheet joint leakage.
• Can be detected using pH / conductivity analyzers.
• Tube Plugging.

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 L&T CONDENSERS

 FEATURES OF L&T CONDENSER

 Tube layout resulting into low pressure drop,

minimum sub-cooling, maximum reheating of condensate.

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 Minimum steam travel distance across the tube

bundle.
 Structural arrangements designed to minimize
obstructions in the high velocity steam paths assure
minimum back pressure.
 Centrally located and enclosed zone with ample
heat transfer surface effectively cools and removes
noncondensables from the tube bundle.
 Equal Tube Bundle penetration paths promote
effective use of all condensing surfaces.
 Full peripheral entry of steam results in low entry
velocities and negligible pressure drops.
 Internal provisions to reheat & deaerate the drains.
 Steam dump system designed to effectively
introduce and distribute large quantities of steam.
 Optimum design velocities within shell as well as
tubes.
 Use of sacrificial anodes resulting in minimum
corrosion of water boxes.

 Fabrication sequence for circular condenser

 Shell assembly.
 Both side annular ring and shell nozzle set up.

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 Hot-well and saddle set up.

 One side tube sheet set up.
 Baffle insertion and alignment.
 Air hood set up & deflector.
 Tubing.
 Second side tube sheet set up.
 Expansion from one side.
 Second side trimming and expansion.
 Inlet/outlet & return water-box set up.
 Shell side hydro.
 Tube side hydro.
 Shot blasting and painting.

 WHY CONDENSER OPERATES AT VACUUM?

 As the operating pressure of condenser is reduced,

enthalpy drop of the expanding steam in turbine will
increase. This will also increase the amount of available
work from the turbine.
 By lowering condenser pressure, following will occur
 Increased turbine output.
 Increased plant efficiency.

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