Steam Condesers ________ Note 2

Types of Condenser
Condensers are mainly of two types viz.,
1. Jet Condensers 2. Surface Condensers.
In case of jet condensers the exhaust steam and the cooling water come in
the direct contact and as a result the steam is condensed. The temperature
of condensate and coolant is same while leaving the condenser. These are
also called direct contact condensers.
These condensers are not usually employed since the condensate collected
cannot be reused due to the impurities of the coolant in the condensate.
The impure condensate will corrode the plant tubes and will give rise to the
scale formation in the boiler tubes. Scale formation will reduce the
efficiency of the boiler.
If the condensate is to be used as a feed water to boiler it is essential that
cooling water is treated before it is supplied to the condenser.
Such condensers are used for small power units.
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In case of surface condensers the cooling water flows through a network of
tubes and the exhaust steam is passed over these tubes. The steam gets
condensed due to the heat transfer to coolant by conduction and
convection.
In this type condensate collected is fit got reuse as feed water to boiler.
These are widely employed.

Jet v/s Surface Condensers

Sr. No. Jet Condensers Surface Condensers

1. Exhaust steam and coolant water Exhaust steam and coolant water
come in direct contact. dont come in direct contact.
2. Condensation of steam is due to Condensation of steam is due to
mixing with coolant. heat transfer by conduction and
 convection.
3. Condensate is not fit for use as Condensate is fit for reuse as boiler
boiler feed water until the treated feed.
cooling water is supplied.
4. It is cheap. It is costly.
5. Does not affect plant efficiency. It improves the efficiency of the
plant.
6. Maintenance cost is low. Maintenance cost is high.
7. Vacuum created is up to 600mm Vacuum created is up to 730 mm of
of Hg. Hg.

Jet Condensers
Classification

These types of condensers may be classified as:

a) Low level jet condensers.

i. Counter flow type.
ii. Parallel flow type.
b) High level jet condenser.
c) Ejector jet condensers.

Low level Counter Flow Jet Condenser

Schematic diagram is shown.

Exhaust steam is supplied from the bottom side of the condenser ad it
flows upward while the cooling water is supplied from the top of the
condenser.
The water flows downward through a series of perforated trays. The steam
gets condensed while it comes in contact with the falling water.
The air extraction pump is situated at the top of the condenser which draws
the air and any uncondensed vapor.
 The air pump always maintains the required vacuum in the condenser and
induces the cooling water to be lifted into the condenser upto a height of
5.5 m approximately.
The mixture of condensate and coolant is extracted with the help of
condensate extraction pump and it is discharged into a hot well.
The excess amount of condensate from the hot-well flows into the cooling
pond by an overflow pipe as shown and the remainder is pumped to the
boiler as feed water.
The capacity of air pump required is small since it is required to extract
cooled air and water vapor. The condensers can be installed directly below
the steam turbine. Such condensers have a disadvantage of flooding the
steam turbine if the condensate extraction pump fails.

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Low level Parallel Flow Jet Condenser

 In this type, exhaust stem and cooling water both flow in the same
direction.
The steam usually enters at the top of the condenser and the cooling water
just below it from the sides.
Other arrangements are similar to counter flow jet condenser.
The mixture of condensate, coolant and air are extracted with the help of
wet air pump. The limits the vacuum created in the condenser upto 600mm
of Hg.

High level Jet Condenser or Barometric Jet Condenser

It is called Barometric Jet Condenser since it is placed above the

atmospheric pressure equivalent to 10.33m of water pressure.
A long tail pipe more than 10.33m in length is attached to the bottom of
the condenser. This allows the condensate and the coolant to be
discharged from the condenser under the gravity action; hence, a
condensate extraction pump is not needed for such condensers.
 Another advantage of such arrangement is that the water from the hot well
will not be able to rise into the condenser and flood the turbine due to the
vacuum pressure maintained in the condenser.
The working and other details are similar to low level counter flow jet
condenser.

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Ejector Condenser

In this, the cooling water enters from the top the top of the condenser at
least under a head of 6m of water pressure with the help of centrifugal
pump and then it passed over the series of convergent nozzles and finally it
leaves through a convergent divergent nozzle.
The exhaust steam is induced through a non-return valve as shown in
figure. The non-return valve helps in preventing the rush of water from hot
well to the engine in case the cooling water supply fails.
 The steam mixes with the cooling water and it gets condensed. The
advantage of such a condenser is that it does not need ejector pump since
the cooling water passes through the nozzle gains the momentum which
forces out the condensate and air.
Though this system is reliable, simple and cheap but it also suffers the
disadvantage of mixing of condensate with the coolant.