Steam condensers

A steam condenser is a device in which steam condenses (converted into water)

and heat released by steam is absorbed by water. It is fitted after engine or
turbine in steam power plant.

Functions:-
1) It maintains a very low back pressure on the exhaust side of the piston of the
steam engine or turbine. Due to this steam expands to a greater extent which
results in an increase in available heat energy for converting into mechanical
work. The shaded area in fig. i.e. area 4-5-5’-4’ shows the increase in work
obtained by fitting a condenser to a non-condensing unit. The thermal efficiency
of a condensing unit is higher than non-condensing unit for the same available
steam.

2) It supplies to the boiler pure and hot feed water as the condensed steam which
is discharged from the condenser in the hot well, can be used as feed water for
the boiler.

Advantages of condensing unit:-

1. It increases expansion ratio of steam, thus increases efficiency of the plant.
2. It reduces back pressure of the steam thus more work can be obtained.
 3. The reuse of condensate (condensed steam) as feed water for boilers
reduces the cost of power generation.
4. The temperature of condensate is higher than that of fresh water.
Therefore the amount of heat supplied per kg of steam is reduced.

Elements/Requirements of a steam condensing plant

1. Condenser:- Closed vessel in which steam is condensed.
2. Condensate pump:- Pump which removes condensate (condensed steam)
from the condenser to the hot well.
3. Boiler feed pump:- Pumps the condensate from hot well to the boiler.
4. Air extraction pump:-Removes air from the condenser.
5. Cooling tower:-Tower used for cooling the water which is discharged from
the condenser.
6. Hot well:- Sump between condenser and boiler, which receives condensate
pumped by the condensate pump.
7. Cooling water pump:- Circulates the cooling water through the condenser.
Classification of condensers
Condensers are of two types
1. Jet condensers
2. Surface condensers
Jet condensers:- In jet condensers, the exhaust steam and water come in direct contact with
each other and temp of the condensate is the same as that of cooling water leaving the
condenser. Cooling water is usually sprayed into the exhaust steam to cause rapid
condensation.
Surface condensers:- In this, exhaust steam and water do not come into direct contact. Steam
passes over the outer surface of tubes through which a supply of cooling water is maintained.
There may be single pass or double pass. In single-pass condensers, the water flows in one
direction only through all the tubes, while in two-pass condenser the water flows in one
direction through the tubes and returns through the remainder.

Comparison between Jet and Surface condensers:-

Sr.No. Jet Condenser Surface Condenser

1 Cooling water & steam are mixed up. Cooling water & steam are not mixed up.
2 Low manufacturing cost. High manufacturing cost.
 3 Requires small floor space. Requires larger floor space.
Condensate cannot be used as feed water Condensate can be reused as feed water as
4 in the boilers unless the cooling water is it does not mix with the cooling water.
free from impurities.
5 More power is required for air pump. Less power is needed for air pump.
6 Less power is required for water pumping. More power is required for water pumping.
7 It requires less quantity of cooling water. It requires large quantity of cooling water.
8 Condensing plant is simple. Condensing plant is complicated.
Less suitable for high capacity plants due More suitable for high capacity plants as
9 to low vacuum efficiency. vacuum efficiency is high.

Sources of Air leakages in Condensers:-

1. Leakage of air from atmosphere at joints of the parts which are internally
under a pressure less than atmosphere. These leaks can be reduced if
design and making of vacuum joints have done carefully.
2. Feed water dissolved with air to the boiler and is associated with the steam
to the condenser. Quantity of air depends upon the treatment which feed
water receives before it enters the boiler. Amount of air with this source is
relatively small.
3. In jet condenser, little quantity of air accompanies with the injection
water(in which it is dissolved)
Effects of air leakage in a condenser
1. Lowered thermal efficiency- Leaked air results in increased back pressure
on the prime mover which means there is loss of heat drop and
consequently thermal efficiency of the steam power plant is lowered.
2. Increased requirement of cooling water- Leaked air lower partial pressure
of steam which means a lowered saturation temperature of steam. As
saturation temperature of steam lowers, its latent heat increases, So it will
require increased amount of cooling water for increased latent heat.
3. Reduced heat transfer- Air has poor thermal conductivity. Hence leaked air
reduces the rate of heat transfer from the vapour and consequently it
requires surface of the tubes of the surface condenser to be increased for a
given condenser capacity.
4. Corrosion- The presence of air in the condenser increases the corrosive
action.
JET CONDENSERS
Classified as:
• Parallel flow type
Both exhaust steam and cooling water enters at the top of the condenser and then flow
downwards and condensate and cooling water finally collected at the bottom.
• Counter flow type
Exhaust steam and cooling water enter the condenser from opposite directions.
Generally exhaust steam travels in upward direction and meet the cooling water which
flows downwards.
• Ejector type
Parallel flow and counter flow condensers are further divided into two types:
• Low level type ii) High level type
 Ejector Condenser
Exhaust steam and the cooling water mix in hollow truncated cones. The cold
water having head of about 6 m flows down through the number of cones and as it moves its
velocity increases and drop in pressure results. Due to this decreased pressure exhaust steam
along with associated air is drawn through the truncated cones and finally lead to diverging
cone where a portion of K.E. gets converted into pressure energy which is more than the
atmosphere so that condensate consisting of condensed steam , cooling water and air is
discharged into the hot well. The exhaust steam inlet is provided with a non-return valve which
does not allow the water from hot will to rush back to the engine in case of failure of cooling
water supply to condenser.
 Surface Condensers
Classified on the direction of flow of condensate, the arrangement of the tubing and the
position of the condensate extraction pump.
• Down-flow type
• Central-flow type
• Inverted-flow type
• Regenerative type
• Evaporative type
Down-flow type
It consists of a shell which is generally of cylindrical shape. It has cover plates at the ends
and furnished with number of parallel brass tubes. A baffle plate partitions the water box into
two sections. Cooling water enters the shell at the lower half section and after travelling
through upper half section comes out through the outlet. The exhaust steam enters the shell
from the top flows down over the tubes and get condensed and is finally removed by an
extraction pump. As steam flows in a direction right angle to the direction of flow of water it is
also called cross-surface condenser.
In this condenser steam enters from the top and flows downwards over the
nest of tubes in which cooling water is under circulation. Air extraction pump is
fitted at the bottom of the condenser It sucks out any air from within the
condenser and creates vacuum. This causes downward flow of steam.
Cooling water enters the condenser shell from the bottom. It first flows
through the lower half of the tubes and then through the upper half as shown by
arrows. A baffle plate separates these two halves of the nest of tubes. Circulating
water which becomes hotter leaves the condenser from the top as shown.
Due to the fact that steam flows at right angles to direction of flow / of
water, it is also called cross - surface condenser.

Central flow surface condenser:

Figure shows the transverse section of a Central Flow Surface Condenser. In
this type, steam enters from the top and flows radially towards the nest of tubes
as shown by arrows. Tubes carry circulating water.
The radial flow of steam can be caused by locating air extraction pump at
the centre of tube nest. This type of condenser is more efficient than down flow
type because steam has access to whole peripheral surface of the tubes.

Shell and tube type condenser:

 Steam enters from the top and flows downwards over the nest of tubes
in which cooling water is under circulation. Air extraction pump is fitted at the
bottom of the condenser (not shown in Fig.). It sucks out any air from within the
condenser and creates vacuum. This causes downward flow of steam.
Cooling water enters the condenser shell from the bottom. It first flows through
the lower half of the tubes and then through the upper half as shown by arrows.
A baffle plate separates these two halves of the nest of tubes. Circulating water
which becomes hotter leaves the condenser from the top as shown.
Due to the fact that steam flows at right angles to direction of flow / of water, it is
also called cross - surface condenser.

Evaporative Condenser:
The exhaust steam is passed through a coiled and finned type pipe. The
cooling water is sprayed down as shown.
This water trickles over steam pipe and evaporates by absorbing latent heat of
evaporation from the steam. Excess water falls down into the tank from where it
is pumped to the header above. Evaporative condensers are more suitable to the
small plants and are employed where cooling water is not available in large
quantity
Cooling Towers:
Cooling Ponds:
Natural flow cooling pond:

Directed flow cooling pond:

Single deck and double deck cooling pond:

Spray pond with louvre fence:
Vacuum efficiency
It is defined as the ratio of actual vacuum in condenser as recorded by the
vacuum gauge to the ideal vacuum

Actual vacuum = Barometric pressure — Actual condenser pressure

Ideal vacuum = Barometric pressure — Ideal pressure
Ideal pressure (pi) is that which corresponds with condensate temperature or with the
temperature of steam entering the condenser. It can be read from steam tables.
Ideal vacuum means the vacuum due to steam alone when air is absent. In that case total
pressure in condenser will approach ideal pressure.