Created by Ankur Sharma, Gurudayal Srivastava, Vikram Singh, Sanket Tamhane

1. Vaccum loss occurred in fresh water generator. How will you come to know without pressure gauge?
We can check through the sight glass that water is not getting boiled or the boiling is not that efficient at the
same jacket water temperature or we can put our finger on the vaccum cock attached to the generator casing.
If finger is not getting sucked, it shows fresh water generator is not creating vaccum.
2. Fresh water generator principle?
The saturation temperature of water is directly proportional to the vapor pressure of the liquid. As the pressure
decreases, the saturation temperature of water decreases, thereby if we reduce the pressure well below vapor
pressure of the liquid at certain temperature, evaporation takes place.
Pressure and temperature are related by Gay-Lussacs law: P1/T1=P2/T2
3. Start the fresh water generator, principle of fresh water generator and working of ejector?
Starting the Fresh Water Generator

1.
Before starting the fresh water generator we have to check that the ship is not in congested water, canals and is 20
nautical miles away from the shore. This is done because near the shore the effluents from factories and sewage are
discharged into the sea can get into the fresh water generator.
2.
Check whether engine is running above 50 rpm, the reason for this is that at low rpm the temperature of jacket
water which is around 60 degrees and not sufficient for evaporation of water.
3.

Check the drain valve present at the bottom of the generator is in close position.

4.
Now open suction and discharge valves of the sea water pump which will provide water for evaporation, cooling
and to the eductor for creating vacuum.
5.
Open the sea water discharge valve from where the water is sent back to the sea after circulating inside the fresh
water generator.
6.

Close the vacuum valve situated on top of the generator.

7.

Now start the sea water pump and check the pressure of the pump. The pressure is generally 3-4 bars.

8.
Wait for the vacuum to build up. Vacuum should be at least 90% which can be seen on the gauge present on the
generator. Generally the time taken for the generation of vacuum is about 10 minutes.
9.
When vacuum is achieved open the valve for feed water treatment, this is to prevent scale formation inside the
plates.
10. Now open hot water (jacket water) inlet and outlet valves slowly to about half. Always open the outlet valve first
and then inlet valve. Slowly start to increase the opening of the valves to full open.
11.

Now we can see that the boiling temperature starts increasing and the vacuum starts dropping.

12. The vacuum drop to about 85% which is an indication that evaporation is started.

13.

Open the valve from fresh water pump to drain.

14.

Switch on the salinometer if it has to be started manually. Generally it is on auto start.

15.

Now start fresh water pump and taste the water coming out of the drain.

16. When fresh water starts producing it is seen that the boiling temperature drops again slightly and vacuum comes
back to the normal value.
17. Check the water coming out of the salinometer is not salty and also check the reading of the salinometer. This is
done to see if the salinometer is working properly or not and to prevent the whole fresh water from getting contaminated
with salt water. The value of salinometer is kept below 10ppm.
18. After checking the taste of the water coming out of the salinometer, open valve for tank from the pump and close
drain valve.

Stopping:
1.

Close the jacket water inlet valves. Generally inlet is closed first and then the outlet valve.

2.

Close the valve for feed water treatment.

3.

Stop fresh water pump.

4.

Switch off the salinometer.

5.

Stop sea water pump (also known as ejector pump).

6.

Open vacuum valve.

7.
Close sea water suction valve and overboard valve. This is generally not required as they are non- return valves.
However, in case of valve leaking or damage, these valves are to be closed without fail.

Working of ejector:

Air Ejector Theory

It works on the principle of convergent /divergent nozzle as it provides the venturi effect at the point of diffusion as the
tube gets narrows at the throat the velocity of the fluid increases and because of the venturi affect it pressure decreases,
vacuum will occur in the diffuser throat where the suction line will be provided.
An air ejector which uses the high pressure motive fluid such as air or steam to flow through the convergent nozzle the
function of the convergent nozzle is to convert the pressure energy of the motive fluid into the velocity energy.
As in convergent nozzle the following effect takes place,

P1-pressure of the fluid entering the nozzle.

V1- velocity of the fluid entering the nozzle.
P2- pressure of the fluid leaving the nozzle.
V2- velocity of the fluid leaving the nozzle.
By Bernoullis theorem:
P1 V1 = P2 V2.
As the pressure energy before entering the convergent nozzle is greater and the velocity is less for the fluid. At the point
of discharge the pressure energy is converted into the velocity so the velocity will be greater and the pressure will be
less during the discharge.
Divergent nozzle the opposite effect takes place velocity energy is convert into pressure energy, at the point of diffusion
there is a low pressure or vacuum is created which is used to
suck the other
fluid for the motion.
In the fig: C- Convergent Nozzle.

D- Divergent Nozzle.
V- venturi Point or Diffuser Point.

Air Ejector

4. How will you start fresh water generator?

Covered above.
5. Fresh water generator working, air ejector working, salinometer working?
Working of the FWG
The hot jacket water from the diesel engine is passed through the evaporators heated nest. The sea water enters the
evaporator through the flow meter and due to the low pressure of the chamber; it boils and gets converted to steam.
Generally the feed of the seawater is kept half the stated quantity to facilitate adequate boiling of sea water. The steam
then passes through a steam separator, in which the water particles in the steam are separated and collected.
The steam then enters the condenser, where it cools down to form fresh water. It is then removed from the condenser
with the help of a distillate pump. The remainder sea water particles or the brine which gets collected at the bottom is
drawn out with the help of an ejector pump.

Air ejector working already covered.

Salinometer working:
Water purity, in terms of the absence of salts, is essential
where it is to be used as boiler feed. Pure water has a high
resistance to the flow of electricity whereas salt water has a
high electrical conductivity. A measure of conductivity, in
Siemens, is a measure of purity. The salinity measuring unit
shown in Figure 15.21 uses two small cells each containing
a platinum and a gunmetal electrode. The liquid
samplepasses through the two cells and any current flow as
a result of
conductance is measured. Since conductivity rises with
temperature a compensating resistor is incorporated in the
measuring circuit. The insulating plunger varies the water
flow in order to correct values to 20C for a convenient
measuring unit, the microsiemens/cm3 or dionic
unit. A de-gassifier should be fitted upstream of this unit to
remove dissolved carbon dioxide which will cause errors in
measurement.
6. FWG not producing vaccum-reasons?
1. Hole in the chamber, ejector or the pipeline connecting chamber to ejector.
2. If there is a crack in chamber body.
3. If the vaccum releasing cock is not holding.
4. If the line from chamber to ejector is choked.
5. If the sea water ejector pump is not creating sufficient pressure.
7. Fresh water generator working and problems?
8. Principle of fresh water generator, reverse osmosis?
Principle of Reverse Osmosis
As the name suggest, this methods works on reversing the osmosis principle.
When a chemical solution is separated from pure water by a semi permeable membrane (allowing passage of water not
salt) then the pure water flows through the membrane until all the pure water has passed through or until the hydrostatic
pressure head of the salt solution is sufficiently big enough to arrest or stop the process.
Reverse osmosis is the use of this phenomenon in reverse direction. This results in water being forced through the
membrane from the concentrated solution toward the more dilute one. This is achieved by applying pressure of the
osmotic pressure of the concentrated solution.

Working
The osmotic pressure of sea water is 28 bars but to overcome system losses and the fact that the sea water concentration
increases as it passes through the length of the membrane, much higher pressure around 40-70 bar, depending upon the
plant size, is required.
A triplex plunger pump is popularly used to produce high pressure across the membrane. The membrane used has a very
fine barrier of dense holes which only allows water and gases to pass through, while preventing the passage of solutes
such as salt and other impurities.
The fresh water produced after this stage is treated with chemicals and ultraviolet treatment to make it drinkable and
useful for other purpose.