Operating Principle of Steam Jet Vacuum Pumps

General
1 2 3 4 5 p0 p1 p Suction Chamber Steam Nozzle Inlet Cone Throat Discharge Cone Suction Pressure Motive Steam Pressure Discharge pressure

The Benefits

Diffusor

Available in a wide range of materials (ensures compatibility with the process streams) No moving parts (enable troublefree, continuous operation) Almost any vacuum duty can be accommodated including large suction flows Low maintenance costs Long equipment life Reliable operation (minimizes plant down times) Low operating costs as a result of expert design which matches system requirements perfectly

Fig. 1 Cross section of a steam jet vacuum pump

When selecting steam jet vacuum pumps, their special performance characteristics must be taken into account to ensure proper and most effective operation. This document is designed to provide general information regarding the operation of steam jet vacuum pumps. It is not intended as a substitute for the assistance of our experienced engineers who are at your disposal to ensure the best equipment selection for meeting your requirements. As indicated above, the basic parts of a steam jet vacuum pump are as follows:

suction chamber steam nozzle diffuser comprising inlet cone, throat and discharge cone. From a design point of view, the nozzle and the diffuser are the critical items. The operating principle is extremely simple: The steam nozzle converts the motive steam pressure into velocity Suction gas enters through the suction chamber and is entrained by the motive fluid

The mix is then propelled through the diffuser which compresses the mix to the discharge pressure In many cases, the velocity reached amount to a multiple of that of sound. Large volume flows at low pressure can be handled easily. Thus, jet pumps as ideally suited for vacuum applications. Chapter 2000 abl 1 "General Information about Jet Pumps" contains further information pertaining to the of operating principle of jet pumps.

E1

2000 gdp 1

Operating Principle of Steam Jet Vacuum Pumps

Multi-stage steam jet vacuum pumps
instance, 42.5 mbar corresponding to 30C, would require duplication of the cooling water consumption. To compress process gases from a pressure of 0.3 mbar to an inter-stage condenser pressure of 56 mbar (i.e. a compression ratio of 56 : 0.3 187), two jet stages are just sufficient, each handling a compression ratio of 14. For a process pressure of 0.1 mbar, again discharging to an inter-stage pressure of 56 mbar, 3 jet pumps must be arranged in stages, each handling a compression ratio of 8.25. The maximum compression ratio for a steam jet vacuum pump depends on the suction pressure and the pressure of the available motive steam. The condensers used are water-cooled, direct contact (fig.2) or surface type condensers (fig.3). If the availability of cooling water is limited, air-cooled condensers are used. Depending upon the operating conditions the direct contact condensers are designed as "equi-flow" or "counter-flow" condensers. Surface type condensers are available for "tube side" or "shell side" condensation. They can be supplied with fixed or removable tube bundles. The design follows the requirements of the various design standards including: GEA Standard, TEMA and others. Pressure vessel codes like AD-Regelwerk or ASME and others are applied to determine material thickness. At suction pressures below 6 mbar, the corresponding saturated steam temperature drops below 0C. Ice can then form inside the suction chamber affecting the operation. To avoid this, heating jackets are employed.

The compression ratio of a single stage steam jet vacuum pump is limited. In order to reach higher vacuum levels, steam jet vacuum pumps are arranged in series. Multi-stage steam jet vacuum pumps are available for suction pressures down to 0.01 mbar. If possible, inter-stage condensers are used to condense the motive steam of the preceding stage. This reduces the load in the following pump stage. Naturally, the utilisation of interstage condensers is limited to higher inter-stage pressures, as the condensation pressure, which can be reached is governed by the temperature of the available cooling water. For example, assuming a cooling water temperature of 25C and supposing a temperature rise of 10C, the attainable condensing temperature is 35C. This corresponds to a condensing pressure of 56 mbar. A lower condensing pressure of, for

Fig. 2 Five-stage steam jet vacuum pump utilizing direct contact condensers

Fig. 3 Three-stage steam jet vacuum pump utilizing surface type condensers

E2