Performance Analysis of Power Plant

Condensers

P M V Subbarao
Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
I I T Delhi

A Device Which makes Power Plant A True Cycle..

A Device Solely Responsible for Recycling of
Working Fluid
Flow Cycling : A Holistic Process in for A Power
Plant
A Device to Convert Dead Steam into Live Water

Dead Steam

Water ready to take

Rebirth
Layouts of A Condenser
Layouts of A Condenser
An Integral Steam Turbine and Condenser System
 Steam Condenser

Steam condenser is a closed space into which steam exits the turbine
and is forced to give up its latent heat of vaporization.
It is a necessary component of a steam power plant because of two
reasons.
It converts dead steam into live feed water.
It lowers the cost of supply of cleaning and treating of working fluid.
It is far easier to pump a liquid than a steam.
It increases the efficiency of the cycle by allowing the plant to operate
on largest possible temperature difference between source and sink.
The steams latent heat of condensation is passed to the water flowing
through the tubes of condenser.
After steam condenses, the saturated water continues to transfer heat
to cooling water as it falls to the bottom of the condenser called,
hotwell.
This is called subcooling and certain amount is desirable.
The difference between saturation temperature corresponding to
condenser vaccum and temperature of condensate in hotwell is called
condensate depression.
Two-Pass Surface Condenser
 Thermal Processes Occurring in Condensers
The condenser never receives pure seam from the turbine.
A mixture of steam and non-condensable gases (Air-steam
mixture) enters the condenser.
The ratio of the quantity of gas that enters the condenser to the
quantity of steam is called the relative air content.

m air

mc,s
The value of , depends on type, capacity, load and design dimensions
of the condenser plant.
 Variation of Steam-air Mixture Parameters

m c , s m air
pc psteam
Tsat
pc psteam pair

'
e
p s pae
Tc Tse
 Using Dalons Law:
pc p s p a

Gas laws:
pa v a m a RaTa & ps v s m s RsTs

Volumes and temperatures are same.

pa Ra m a
0.622
ps Rs m
s
pc
ps
1 0.622
 At the entry to condenser the relative content of air is very low
and partial pressure of steam is almost equal to condenser
pressure.
As air-steam mixture moves in the condenser, steam is
condensed and the relative content of air increases.
Accordingly, the partial pressure of steam drops down.
The pressure in the bottom portion of condenser is lower than
that of the top portion.
The pressure drop from inlet to exit of condenser is called steam
exhaust resistance of a condenser.

pc pc pce
The partial pressure of air at the bottom of the condenser
cannot be neglected.
 The temperature of steam is a
function of condenser pressure.
As the air-steam mixture moves
through the condenser and the pc psteam
steam is condensed, its Tsat
temperature deccreases owing
to decreasing partial pressure
of saturated steam.
This is due to increase in
relative content of air in the
mixture.
The pressure also decreases Ts
due to resistance to flow of
steam.
The zone of intensive ' T
condensation. c
The zone of cooling of air-
pse pae
steam mixture. Tc Tse
Effect of Air Leakage & Irreversibilities On Condenser
Performance

m c , s m air
pc psteam
Tsat
pc psteam pair

'
e
p s pae
Tc Tse
Variation of Steam Partial Pressure & Saturation Temperature

70

60

50 Saturation Temperature, 0C
Tcw,out
40

30 Tcw,in

20
Steam Partial Pressure, kPa
10

0
1 2 3 4 5 6

Inlet exit
 Condensate Depression
The temperature of condensate is always a few degrees
lower than the coincident condensing steam
temperature.
Subcooling of condensate is undesirable on two accouts:
It lowers the thermodynamic efficiency of the power
cycle.
It enhances the propensity of the condensate to
reabsorb non-condensibles.
 Energy Balance of A Condenser

Energy balance:

m c hc h m CW CW TWe TWi

e
c

The temperature rise of cooling water:

6 to 7 degree C for single pass.
7 to 9 degree C for single pass.
10 to 12 degree C for four pass.
A Device to Convert Dead Steam into Live Water

Dead Steam

Water ready to take

Rebirth
 Effect of Air Leakage on Condenser Pressure
Condenser Pressure, mm of Hg

Air pump controlling the back pressure

Condenser controlling the back pressure

Air pump controlling the back pressure

Condenser controlling the back pressure

10 30 40 50
20
Cooling water Inlet Temperature
Power Loss Due to Excess Back Pressure
Performance Loss Due to Scaling & Fouling
 Thermal Model of A Steam Condenser
m steam & Ts ,in

m cw & Tcw,out
m cw & Tcw,in

m steam & Ts ,out

 Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient for the
Condenser

The overall heat transfer coefficient for clean surface (Uc)

Considering the total fouling resistance, the heat

transfer coefficient for fouled surface (Uf) can be
calculated from the following expression:
 Cooling Water Outlet Temperature
Calculation

The outlet temperature for the fluid flowing through

the tube is
m steam h
Tcw,out Tcw,in
m cwc p ,cw

The surface area of the heat exchanger for the fouled con

Q transfer AsurfaceU f F LMTD m h

Correlations for Condensing Heat Transfer

Choice of a correlation depend on whether you are looking

at horizontal or vertical tubes, and whether condensation is
on the inside or outside.
Preliminaries
The condensate loading on a tube is the mass flow of
condensate per unit length that must be traversed by the
draining fluid.
The length dimension is perpendicular to the direction the
condensate flows;
the perimeter for vertical tubes,
the length for horizontal tubes.
 Condensate Loading

Mass flor of condensate

Perimeter
m condensate
for vertical tubes.
d 0
m condensate
for horizontal tubes.
Ltube
This can be used to calculate a Reynolds number
4
Re condensation
film
 Flow is considered laminar if this Reynolds number is less than 1800.
The driving force for condensation is the temperature difference
between the cold wall surface and the bulk temperature of the saturated
vapor

Tdriving Tsat Twall Tvapour Tsurface

The viscosity and most other properties used in the condensing
correlations are evaluated at the film temperature, a weighted mean of
the cold surface (wall) temperature and the (hot) vapor saturation
temperature

3 3Tdriving
T film Tsat Tsaturation Twall Tsat
4 4
 Wall Temperatures
It is often necessary to calculate the wall temperature
by an iterative approach.
The summarized procedure is:
1. Assume a film temperature, Tf
2. Evaluate the fluid properties (viscosity, density, etc.)
at this temperature
3. Use the properties to calculate a condensing heat
transfer coefficient (using the correlations to be
presented)
4. Calculate the wall temperature. The relationship will
typically be something like
1
UA T T
Twall Tsat sat coolant
1
ho Ao
 5. Use the wall temperature to calculate a film
temperature
6. Compare the calculated film temperature to that
from the initial step. If not equal, reevaluate the
properties and repeat.

Laminar Flow Outside Vertical Tubes

If condensation is occurring on the outside surface of vertical tubes, with

a condensate loading such that the condensate Reynolds Number is less
than 1800, the recommended correlation is:

k 3f f f v g
1
3
1.47
hcond
f
2
condensation
3 Re
 Since the vapor density is usually much smaller than that of the
condensate film, some authors neglect it and use the film density
squared in the denominator.
The presence of ripples (slight turbulence) improves heat transfer, so
some authors advocate increasing the value of the coefficient by
about 20%.

Another form of writing h is :

k f f v g
1
3 3
f
hcond 0.925
f

this may also be compensated for rippling (0.925*1.2=1.11).

 Turbulent Flow Outside Vertical Tubes

When the condensate Reynolds Number is greater than 1800, the

recommended correlation is :

1
k f
3
f f v g
3

hcond 0.0076 Re
0 .4

f
2

 Laminar Flow Outside Horizontal Tubes
When vapor condenses on the surface of horizontal tubes, the flow is
almost always laminar.
The flow path is too short for turbulence to develop. Again, there are two
forms of the same relationship:
k f f v g
1
3 3
1.51 f
hcond
f
2
condensation
3 Re

k f f v gh fg
1
3 4
f
hcond 0.725
f Tdriving d 0
The constant in the second form varies from 0.725 to 0.729.
The rippling condition (add 20%) is suggested for condensate Reynolds
Numbers greater than 40.
Condenser tubes are typically arranged in banks, so that the
condensate which falls off one tube will typically fall onto a tube
below.
The bottom tubes in a stack thus have thicker liquid films and
consequently poorer heat transfer.
The correlation is adjusted by a factor for the number of tubes,
becoming for the Nth tube in the stack

k f f v gh fg
1
3 4
f htop
hcond 0.725
N f Tdriving d 0 4
N
Splashing of the falling fluid further reduces heat transfer, so some
authors recommend a different adjustment

k 3f f f v gh fg
1
4
htop
hcond 0.725
N f Tdriving d 0 6
N
 Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient for the
Condenser

The overall heat transfer coefficient for clean surface (Uc)

Considering the total fouling resistance, the heat

transfer coefficient for fouled surface (Uf) can be
calculated from the following expression: