02 - Condensers & Cooling Towers PDF

Condensers & Cooling Towers
Condensers
The contents provided in this presentation are for reference purpose & the related detailed theory to be read/written from respective text book
The Function of a Condenser:

condenser is defined as a closed vessel in which exhaust steam from
steam turbine is condensed by cooling water and vacuum is
maintained, resulting in an increase in work done and efficiency of
the steam power plant and use of condensate as the feed water to
the boiler.
The advantages of a condenser incorporated in steam power plant:
(i) Improved work done and efficiency due to low pressure (vacuum)
of condenser.
(ii) Recovery of the condensate to be fed to the boiler as a high
quality feed water for reuse.
(iii) Reduced steam consumption for the same power output due to
increased work done.
(iv) Reduced thermal stresses due to high temperature of feed water
entering to boiler.
(v) Economy in water softening plant as only make-up water is to be
treated instead of full feed water.
Effect of Condenser Pressure on p-v and T-s diagrams

Cooling system:
The cooling system of condenser is one of the most important
system of power plant. The cooling medium may be water or air.
About 50 to 60% of the heat supplied in the cycle is rejected in the
condenser. The cooling water requirement in open system is about
50 times the flow of steam in the condenser. Even with closed
system using cooling towers the requirement of cooling water is
considerably large, about 5 to 8 kg/kWh. This means that 2000 MW
station will need at least 24 x 104 tons of water per day and out of
this about 5% is evaporated in cooling tower, so make-up cooling
water needed will be 12 x 103 tons per day.

Elements of a Water Cooled Condensing and Cooling System:

Fig. shows the main elements of a steam condensing unit (closed).
The main elements are :
(a) A closed vessel, condenser in which steam condenses. This is a
heat exchanger.
(b) A dry Air Extraction Pump (AEP) whose purpose is to remove air
(leaked into condenser through joints) and other noncondensable
gases from the condenser in order to maintain vacuum constant.
(c) A Condensate Extraction Pump (CEP) which extracts the
condensed steam collected in hot -well of the condenser and pumps
it to the feed water line. Some times, a wet air pump serves the
purpose of CEP and AEP.
(d) A Circulating Cooling Water Pump (CCWP) to circulate the cooling
water in condenser.
(e) A Boiler Feed Water Pump (BFP) to pump the condensate to the
boiler and is located below the deaerator.

(f) A cooling tower or spray pond to recool the circulating water in
the condenser which is heated due to condensation of steam in a
closed system. Cooling tower is essential where there is a scarcity of
water. Cold and hot water flow in open channel with flow gates in
open system.
(g) A relieve valve to relieve the steam from the condenser when
condenser is not in working order. Using this, the plant becomes noncondensing.
(h) A make-up cooling water pump with screen at its inlet to supply
make-up cooling water to the condenser as 2 to 5 % of cooling water
gets lost due to evaporation in cooling lower.

Types of Condensers:
Broadly condensers are classified in two categories:
(1) Direct contact type: where the cooling water and steam directly
meet and come out as a single stream.
(2) Surface condensers (Indirect type): where there is no mixing of
cooling water and steam. It is a shell and tube type heat exchanger
The heat released upon condensation is transferred to circulating
cooling water through the walls of the tubes.
(1) Direct contact type:
They are classified into three categories:
(a) Spray condenser
(b) Barometric Condenser
(c) Jet condenser

(a) Spray condenser:
Fig. shows the schematic of a spray condenser. The cooling water is

sprayed into the steam and due to direct mixing, the steam gets
condensed and mixed with cooling water. The exhaust steam from
the turbine at state 2 mixes with cooling water at state 5 to produce
saturated water at state 3, which is pumped to state 4. A part of the
condensate (m4), equal to the turbine exhaust flow (m2) is sent back

to the plant. The remaining condensate is cooled in a dry cooling
tower to state 5 which is finally sprayed in the condenser on
entering exhaust steam. The main drawback of direct contact spray
condenser is the requirement of very high quality cooling water
since a part of the condensate is used as feed water to the boiler.
The mass and energy balances yield:
m3 = m2 + m5 KKKK eq.1
m2 h2 + m5 h5 = m3 h3 KKKK eq.2
From eq.1 & 2, we get :
m5 h2 h3
=
m2 h3 h5
as m2 = m4

(b) Barometric condenser:
The
schematic
of
barometric
condenser is shown in Fig. In this case
the cooling water is made to fall in a
series of baffles to expose large
surface area for the steam fed from
below to come in direct contact.
Condensation of steam takes place and
the mixture falls in a tail pipe to the
hot well below. As a consequence of its
static head, the tail pipe compresses
the mixture to atmospheric pressure.
Thus the height of tail pipe (H) is
expressed as:

patm pcond + p f = gH
Where is the density of mixture, p f = pr drop due to friction
For low values of p f H is around 9.5m
Barometric condenser also suffers from the same drawback of spray
condenser i.e. requirement of very high quality cooling water.
Mixture is split and cooled in the same manner of spray condenser.

(c) Jet condenser:
Fig. shows the schematic diagram
of a jet condenser. Baffles of
barometric type are replaced by
cascade and to reduce the height of
tail pipe, diffuser is provided. The
diffuser acts on the same principle
as the diverging section of a
convergent-nozzle in subsonic flow.
In this case also, the mixture is split
and cooled in the same manner as
in spray condenser.

(2) Surface condensers (Indirect type):
Schematic of a Two-Pass Surface Condenser


Almost all the steam power plants employ surface condensers. They
are essentially shell and tube type of heat exchanger where cooling
water flows through tubes and exhaust steam fed into the shell
surrounds the tubes. As a result of heat transfer from the steam to
tube wall and then to cooling water, steam condenses outside the
tubes.
Fig shows the schematic of a surface condenser with two passes on
the water side. The shell is made of steel with water boxes on each
side. The right water box is divided to allow for two water passes.
Tube sheets are provided at each end into which the water tubes are
rolled and also present leakage of circulating water into the steam.
An expansion Joint is provided which allows different rate of
expansion between the tubes and shell. In order to provide support
to the long tubes and to present tube vibration, vertical plates at
intermediate points between the tube sheets are provided. The hot
well provided at the bottom acts as a reservoir of the condensate

with a capacity equal to the total condensate flow for a certain
period of time (say five minutes) from where the condensate is
extracted by a extraction pump and fed to the feed line.
Tube Materials:
The tube material selected has to withstand the temperature
difference, pressure differential and load. The tube material can be
(a) cupronickel (70% copper, 30% nickel), (b) aluminium brass (76%
copper, 22% zinc and 2% aluminium, (c) aluminium bronze (95%
copper and 5% aluminium), (d) muntz metal (60% copper and 40%
zinc). (e) admiralty alloy (71% copper, 28% zinc and 1% tin) and (f)
stainless steel, etc. The outside diameter of the tubes is either 22
mm, 23 mm or 25.4 mm. The tube length for single pressure
condenser varies from about 9 to 15 m while for multi-pressure
condensers these ranges to about 21 to 27m.

Design Aspects of Surface Condensers:
The calculations of heat transfer for determining the tubes and total
surface area required by a surface condenser are the main aspects
of condenser design. They require the knowledge of the total heat
load on the condenser, the heat transfer mechanism and coefficients
in various parts of the condenser.
Points to be taken care for condenser design:
1. When the condenser is new, the outside surfaces are usually clean
but quickly develop an oily film that changes condensation from
dropwise to filmwise condensation. Thus the shell side heat transfer
coefficients are conservatively based on the lower filmwise
condensation.
2. The shell side heat transfer coefficient depends upon the
difference between the steam saturation temp and tube wall temp,
the relative position of tubes, steam velocity & turbulence, the
extent of noncondensables and the existence of superheated steam,
if any.
3. The circulating water side heat transfer coefficient depends upon

its velocity, temp & cleanliness of the inside surface. Algae and other
deposits accumulate on the inside surface of tubes which in turn
affects the heat transfer. This necessitates the frequent cleaning of
tubes.
Design Basis: Manufacturers have usually based their design in
general proposed by the Heat Exchange Institute (HEI) standards for
steam surface condensers. This method is based on the usual heat
transfer equation for heat exchanger as below:
Q = U0 A0 Tm
Where Q = heat load on condenser (W)
U0 = Overall condenser heat transfer coefficient based on outside
tube area (W/m2-K)
A0 = Total outside tube surface area (m2)
Ti Te
Tm = Log mean temp diff in condenser (Deg C) Tm =
Ti
ln(
)
Te

Where Ti = Diff between saturation steam temp & inlet circulating
water (Deg C)
Te = Diff between saturation steam temp & outlet circulating
water (Deg C), also called TTD (Terminal temp diff)
A. HEI Method:
Temp
distribution in
condenser

The overall heat transfer coefficient (U0) is expressed empirically
by:
U0 = C1.C2.C3.C4.Cw
Where Cw = circulating cold water velocity in tubes at inlet (m/s)
C1 = dimensionless factor depending upon the tube outer diameter,
considering heat transfer coefficient, C2 = dimensionless correction
factor for circulating water inlet temp, C3 = dimensionless
correction factor for tube material and gauge, C4 = constant values
as per standard tables.
By knowing the values of Tm and U0, A0 can be calculated for a
known value of heat load.

B. Conventional Method:
In conventional method, the usual head transfer equations are used
to calculate U. For filmwise condensation the average heat transfer
coefficient on steam side for a horizontal tube is given by Nusselt:
Where N = number of horizontal tubes in a vertical tier, = Tsat Twall,

hfg = latent heat of condensation of steam, f = viscosity of
condensate (fluid), f = density of condensate (fluid), kf = thermal
conductivity of condensate (fluid), do = outside tube diameter.
Nusselt's equation for ho gives a conservative value for the
condensing film coefficient for heat transfer. However, this value will
also be influenced by many factors such as superheat, vapor velocity,
turbulence, and the inside released gases and air leaked.

The inside heat transfer coefficient on the water side is given by Mc
Adams equation:
where Re = Reynolds number due to flow of circulating water

through tubes, Pr = Prandtl number = Cp /k
The overall heat transfer coefficient for a condenser is given by:
Where hscale = = heat transfer coefficient of scale formed

Xscale = wall thickness
Kwall = thermal conductivity of wall
Ain = mean inside area including scale formed

For simplicity, the tube wall resistance due to thin tube and good
thermal conductivity may be neglected. Hence:
It is to be noted that h0 is much larger than hi and U0 mainly depends

on water velocity as hi Cw0.8

The rate of heat transfer from the condensing vapor to the cooling
water is expressed as:
Q = m s ( hsteam hcondensate ) = m c c pc (Tc 2 Tc1 ) = U 0 A0 Tm
Where m s = mass flow rate of steam entering to condenser
m c = mass flow rate of coolant

and Tc1 & Tc2 are inlet & outlet tem p
m s ( hsteam hcondensate )
Mass flow rate of coolant m c =
c pc (Tc 2 Tc1 )
m s ( hsteam hcondensate )
And A0 =
= n d 0 l
U 0 Tm
Where n = number of tubes
The
provided in this
are for reference
& the related detailed
to be read/written from respective text book
l contents
= length
ofpresentation
one tube
(forpurpose
a single
passtheory
condenser)

n 2
d i w cw
Further m c =
4
where w = density of water

c w = velocity of water
Therefore, the length and number of tubes can be calculated from
above equations. Generally, tube length and diameter are selected so
the estimation is made for number of tubes. In the case of large size
power plant, the number of tubes may be as high as 50,000 or even
more.

Non-condensable Gases (air) Removal or Deaeration:
(1) Air cooler section:
Air cooler section (Side)
Air cooler section (Central)

For the convenience of noncondensable gases removal, an air cooler
section is provided in the condenser shell. This aircooler section may
be provided either at the side below the centre position or in the
centre. most of the condensation is carried out on the main bank of
the tubes and the air is drawn over another smaller bank (about 5 to
6%) which is shielded from the main bank by a baffle and is called aircooler. Here, further condensation takes place at a lower
temperature, and thus there is a saving in feed water as well as in air
injection load. In the central air cooler section, the air cooling tubes
(about 5 to 6%) are in the centre of the condenser and the air is
removed from this section. The incoming steam passes all round the
bank of tubes and some is drawn upward to centre. This air cooler
section in baffled to separate the noncondensables from the main
steam flow. The noncondensables flow toward the cold and of the
condenser, where they connect to a vent duct that leads to the
venting equipment.
Condensers
&
Cooling
Towers
(2) Venting Equipment:
A Two-Stage Steam Jet Air Ejector

The venting equipment includes reciprocating compressor (called
dry vacuum pump) and Jet pump, called steam-jet air ejector (SJAE),

the latter is now invariably used. SJAE uses steam jet as their motive
or driving flow. They are usually multistage units, usually two or
three. Fig. shows a two-stage SJAE. It uses main steam at a reduced
pressure that enters a driving-flow nozzle in the first-stage ejector.
from which it exits with high velocity and momentum but at reduced
pressure. This reduced pressure draws the noncondensables from
the condenser and as a result of momentum exchange, the gases are
entrained by the steam jet. The combined flow of steam and gas is
now compressed in the diffuser of the first stage ejector and
discharged into a small intercondenser, where the steam is
condensed by passing across cooling pipes similar to the main
condenser. The condensed steam is drained and returned to a low
pressure part of the cycle. The noncondensable and any remaining
steam are then passed to the second stage ejector, where they are
compressed and passed to an afterconedenser (also known as vent
condenser). The steam if any get condensed and noncondensables
(air) at higher pressure than atmospheric pressure is vented out.

Circulating Water System:
It supplies cooling water to the turbine condensers and thus acts as
a vehicle by which heat is rejected from the steam cycle to the
environment Circulating water system is broadly classified as:
(a) once- through
(b) closed loop
(c) combination system

(1) Once-through Cooling System:

Fig. shows once- through system. In this case, water is taken from a
natural body of water such as a lake, river or ocean and pumped
through the condenser where it is heated and then discharged back
to the source. There are mainly three methods of discharge namely
(i) surface discharge, (ii) submerged discharge and (iii) diffuser
discharge.
Once-through cooling system, is thermodynamically, the most
efficient means of heat rejection. Due to scarcity of water or other
environmental regulation, closed loop system is universally used.

(2) Closed-loop Cooling System:

Closed-loop water cooling is shown in Fig. In this case, hot water
coming out from the condenser is passed through a cooling device
(such as cooling towers, spray ponds, spray canals and cooling lakes)
and is returned to the condenser, with the help of a pump. A nearby
natural body of water necessary to supply make-up water to replace
the lost by evaporation during the cooing process (say in cooling
tower) and to receive blowdown from it.
(3) Combination Cooling System:
Combination cooling system is such in which wet cooling tower is
used and as per requirement either the cooling water out from
cooling tower is led to the open mode or closed mode as per
availability or scarcity of water.
Cooling Towers

Cooling Towers: The purpose of cooling tower is to cool the warmed
water discharged from the condenser and feed the cooled water
back to the condenser. By this way, the cooling water requirement
get reduced to make-up water supply only. The cooling tower may
be wet or dry type.
(A) Wet Cooling Towers:
Wet cooling towers cool the hot water
by dissipating heat to the environment
through the mechanism of (i) addition
of sensible heat to the air and (ii)
evaporation of a portion of the
recirculation water itself. When
operated in the open mode, there is a
third mechanism (iii) addition of
sensible heat to the natural body of
water as a result of terminal temp
difference.

Wet cooling towels employ a hot-water distribution system that
showers or sprays the water evenly over a lattice work of closely set
horizontal slats or bars called fill, or packing. Since the water
splashes down from one fill level to the next by gravity, there is a
thorough mixing of falling water with air moving through the fill.
Outside air enters the towers via louvers in the form of horizontal
slats on the side of the tower. The slats are arranged in such way
that they usually stop downward to keep the water in. The intimate
mix between water and air results in the enhancement of heat and
mass transfer (evaporation) which cools the water. The cold water
gets collected in a concrete basin at the bottom of the tower from
where it is pumped back to the condenser in closed system or
returned to the water body in open system. The resulting hot and
moist air leaves the tower at the top.

Unsaturated air enters the cooling tower and as it comes in contact
with the water spray, water continues to evaporate till it become
saturated. From this, it follows that the minimum temperature to
which water can be cooled is the adiabatic saturation or wet bulb
temperature (Twb) of the ambient air.
Performance Parameters:
A cooling tower is characterized by three performance parameters
namely (a) approach (b) range and (c) Cooling efficiency. The
approach temperature (A) is defined as the difference between the
exit temperature of cooling water and the wet bulb temperature of
the ambient air. Thus,
A = Tc2 Twb
Where Tc2 = cooling water exit temperature from cooling tower
Twb = the wet bulb temperature of air
This approach temperature (A) varies from 6 to 8 Deg C

The cooling range (R) is defined as the difference in temperature of
the incoming warm water (Tc1) and exiting cooler water (Tc2). Thus,
R = Tc1 Tc2
This range R varies from 8 to 10C
The cooling efficiency is defined as the ratio of actual cooling of
water to the maximum cooling possible. Thus
cooling
Tc1 Tc 2
Actual cooling
=
=
Maximum cooling possible Tc1 Twb

Classification of Wet Cooling Tower:
(1) Mechanical Draught Cooling Towers:
Fig. shows the schematic of mechanical draught cooling tower. In this

case, the air is moved by one or more mechanically driven fans. The
fan could be of the forced-draught (FD) type or induced draught
(ID) type. The FD fan (b) is mounted on the lower sides to force air
into the tower while ID fan (a) is located on the top of the tower.
Though, FD fan is thermodynamically superior as it handles cold air
but it has shown some disadvantages because of air distribution
problems, leakage, recirculation of the hot and moist exit air back to
the tower and frost accumulation at fan inlets during winter
operation. As a result, the majority of mechanical-draught cooling
towers for utility application are therefore of the induced-draught
(ID) type. In this case, air enters the sides of the tower through large
openings at low velocity and passes through the fill. The fan located
at the top of the tower exhausts the hot, humid air to the
atmosphere. The fans are propeller type and driven by electric motor
The blades of fans are usually made of cast aluminium, stainless steel
or fiber glass to safeguard against corrosion.

The advantages of mechanical-draught cooling towers include:
the assurance of moving the required quantity of air at all loads and
climatic conditions,
low initial capital costs and
low physical profile
The main disadvantages include:
power consumption
operating and maintenance costs and
greater noise generated born fans

(2) Natural Draught Cooling Towers (NDCT):
Natural Draught Cooling Tower
Counter-flow Natural Draught

Cooling Tower
There is no fan used by natural draught cooling tower. They depend

for air flow upon the natural driving pressure caused by the difference
in density between Cool outside air and the hot humid air inside. The
driving pressure differential is expressed as:
pd = (o - i) g H
where H = height of tower above the fill (m)
o and i = density of outside and inside air respectively (in m3/kg)
Since (o - i) is relatively small, so H must be large to cause desired
pd, and as a result natural draught cooling tower are therefore very
tall. The tower body, above the water distribution system and the fill,
is an empty shell of circular cross-section but with vertical hyperbolic
profile and due to this natural draught towers are called hyperbolic
lowers. The advantage of natural draught hyperbolic cooling tower
include its superior strength and greatest resistance to outside wind
biding compared to other shape. The natural draught may be counterflow or crossflow type. In counter-flow the fill is inside whereas in
cross-flow, the fill sits in a ring outside the tower outside the stilts.

Mechanical draught towers are selected when:
The approach temperature (A) is low
When the broad range of water flow is expected. The latter is met
easily because they are usually built as multi ceII units with a
variable airflow fan which offers versatility and good response to
changes in cooling demands and parameter.
Natural draught cooling towers are selected under the following
conditions:
(i) In cool humid climates (low wet-bulb temperature and high relative
humidity) (ii) when there is combination of low wet-bulb temperature
and high condenser-water inlet and outlet temperatures and (iii) in
cases of heavy winter loads. In general, they are preferred for very
large power plants where fewer and large towers can be built.

(a) The Water Distribution System: It distributes hot condenser water
evenly over the fill. There are various types of distribution system
such as (i) gravity distribution (ii) spray distribution and (iii) rotary
distribution.
Gravity distribution system mainly used in cross-flow towers, consists
of vertical hot-wire risers that feed into an open concrete basin from
which the water flows by gravity through orifices to the fill kept
below.
Spray distribution is used mainly on counter flow towers and has
cross piping with spray downward nozzles.
Rotary distribution comprises of two slotted distributor arms that
rotate about a central hub through which water comes in under
pressure. The slots are aimed downwards but slightly to one side
which provides a curtain of water at an angle and a reaction force
that rotate arms. There is always some water loss (about 2.5%) in the
cooling tower due so (a) evaporation, (b) drift and (c) blowdown.
Cooling
Towers
(b) The Fill: Condensers
The fill or packing &
is supposed
to be
the heart of cooling
tower. It should provide good water-air contact for high rates of heat
transfer and low resistance to air flow to minimize work input to fan.
Further, it should also be strong, light and deterioration resistant.
Basically, there are two types of fill namely (i) splash type and (ii) film
or nonsplash type.
Splash packing is made of bars stocked in decks that breaks the water
into drops as it falls from deck to deck. The bars may be of different
shapes, narrow, square or grid and made of different materials such
as redwood high impack polystyrene or polyethylene.
Fill film is generally made of vertical sheets that adheres to the
vertical surfaces. As a result this exposes the maximum water surface
to the air without breaking into drops. They are made of redwood
battens, cellulose corrugated sheets, asbestos, cement sheet,
waveform metal or plastic. Film type fill also provide less resistance to
air flow and requires less area. At present, the trend in materials for
wet cooling towers is for concrete structure with plastic fill, drift
eliminators,
fan
stacks,
blades
manifolds,
and
The
contents provided in this
presentation
are forfan
reference
purpose &and
the related
detailed theory tovalves
be read/written
fromnozzles.
respective text book
Fills

(c) Drift and Drift Eliminators:
Types of Drift
Eliminators
Drift Eliminators

Drift is water fine droplets entrained by and carried with the air as
an unevaporated drizzle. This is lost to the circulating water system
and does not contribute to heat removal system. Drift is minimized
by drift eliminators which are nothing but baffles placed in one, two
or three rows. The function of the baffles is to change suddenly the
direction of air. Due to the momentum, the heavier drops get
separated out from the air and impinges against the baffles, thus
forming a thin film of liquid that falls into the tower. The materials
of baffles may be wood, metal or plastic. The drift eliminators are
situated at the air exit from the fill.

(B) Dry Cooling Towers:
A dry-cooling tower is one in which the circulating water is passed
through finned tubes over which the cooling air is passed. As a
result, all the heat rejected from the circulating water is thus in the
form of sensible heat to the cooling air. It can also use mechanical
or natural draught. The operation of all dry cooling towers is in the
closed mode.
They are very suitable where there is scarcity of water (not even
makeup water). The plant could be located on fuel source site to
avoid transportation cost. They are less expensive to maintain free
from thermal (moist air) and blowdown pollution. The main
disadvantage is less efficient than wet type, work at high back
pressure which lowers plant output and efficiency.
Dry cooling towers are of two types- direct and indirect

(a) Direct Dry-Cooling Towers:

Fig shows a direct dry-cooling towers. In this case, turbine exhaust
steam is admitted to a steam header through large ducts to
minimize pressure drop and is condensed as it flows downward
through a large number of finned tubes or coils arranged in parallel
which are cooled by atmospheric air flowing in a natural draught
cooling tower or by forced draught fan. A system is provided to
prevent freezing in cold weather. The condensate flows by gravity
and gets collected in condenser receiver from where it is pumped to
plant feed water system.

(b) Indirect Dry-Cooling Towers: There are three design concepts
available for indirect dry-cooling tower.
(i) The First Concept:
An indirect Dry-Cooling Tower With Conventional Surface Condenser


It uses a conventional surface condenser in which circulating water
leaving the condenser goes through finned tubing cooled by
atmospheric air in the tower. The finned may either be cooled by air
through natural draught or induced draught system. This design
encompasses two heat exchangers in series and thus two
temperature drops, one between steam and water and one
between water and air. This double irreversibility imposes a server
penalty on turbine back pressure, thus necessitating operating at
condenser pressure of about 0.17 to 0.27 bar compared with 0.034
to 0.069 for once through system. As a result, there is increased
heat rejection and low plant efficiency.

(b) The Second Design Concept:
An Indirect Dry-Cooling Tower With an Open-Type Condenser


It eliminates the intermediate water loop of first design concept and
uses an open or direct contact condenser (jet or spray condenser).
Since the operation is in the closed mode and no atmospheric or
surface water impurities enter the system through make-up, the
circulating water can be mixed with the steam from the plant
and hence use of open-type condenser is justified. The exhaust
steam from turbine enters the open condenser where the cold
circulating water is sprayed into the steam for intimate mixing. The
condensate (including cooling water) falls to the bottom of
the condenser, from which most of it is pumped by recirculation
pump under positive pressure to finned tubing or coils in the tower.
This part of the condensate is cooled and is returned to the
condenser sprays. The balanced of the condensate, equal to the
steam flow, is pumped to the plant feed water system by the
condensate pump. This design concept of indirect dry cooling tower
is efficient, more economical and more feasible for large plants.

(c) The Third Design Concept:
Indirect dry-cooling Tower With a Surface Condenser and Ammonia

as Coolant

This design concept uses a circulating vaporizing coolant instead of
water. Currently, one plant that has been developed uses ammonia
as the heat transfer medium between steam and air. Nearly
saturated liquid ammonia enters the surface condenser and is
vaporized to saturated vapor. The vapor flows to the lower finned
coils and is condensed to saturated liquid and finally pumped to the
condenser. Due to boiling and condensation of ammonia the heat
transfer coefficient on the tube side is very high as compared
convective heat transfer in single phase fluid. Thus use of ammonia
reduces the size and power requirement of the equipment as
temperature differences between steam and ammonia, and air get
reduced.

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Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

The Function of a Condenser:

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Effect of Condenser Pressure on p-v and T-s diagrams

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Fig. shows the schematic of a spray condenser. The cooling water is

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Schematic of a Two-Pass Surface Condenser

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

3. The circulating water side heat transfer coefficient depends upon

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Where N = number of horizontal tubes in a vertical tier, = Tsat Twall,

Condensers & Cooling Towers

where Re = Reynolds number due to flow of circulating water

Where hscale = = heat transfer coefficient of scale formed

Condensers & Cooling Towers

It is to be noted that h0 is much larger than hi and U0 mainly depends

Condensers & Cooling Towers

water is expressed as:

Q = m s ( hsteam hcondensate ) = m c c pc (Tc 2 Tc1 ) = U 0 A0 Tm

Where m s = mass flow rate of steam entering to condenser

m c = mass flow rate of coolant

Condensers & Cooling Towers

where w = density of water

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Air cooler section (Side)

Air cooler section (Central)

Condensers & Cooling Towers

A Two-Stage Steam Jet Air Ejector

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Fig. shows the schematic of mechanical draught cooling tower. In this

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Condensers & Cooling Towers

Natural Draught Cooling Tower

Counter-flow Natural Draught