AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR TRENDING FEEDWATER HEATER PERFORMANCE Paul H. Klink EI International, Inc.‘An Improved Method For Trending Feedwater Heater Performance Paul H. Klink EI International, Inc. ABSTRACT Feedwater heater performance testing seeks to measure the effectiveness of heat exchanger performance by determining the heater changer’s terminal and (when applicable) the drain cooler approach temperature differences. Unfortunately these indices do not precisely define the performance characteris- tics of a heater resulting in difficulty comparing successive test results and their significance. This paper suggests a method by which the primary indices of monitored heater performance (i.e., TTD and DCA) are corrected back to standardized operating conditions, thus permitting what the author feels an improved performance trend- ing capability.1.0 INTRODUCTION Feedwater heater terminal temperature difference (TTD) and drain cooler approach (DCA) temperature difference have been historically used to quantify the perfor- mance of a feedwater heater. Heater TTD and DCA vary with load and other anticipated operating parameter variations including: 1. heater tube inlet temperature, 2. heater level control, and 3. known mechanical tube plugging. Since the purpose of heater monitoring (testing) is to detect abnormal and costly perfromance trends due to tube sheet leakage, tube fouling and air blanketing (etc.), the effects of these anticipated operating variations effec- tively masks the performance robbing phenomena (e.g., tube sheet leakage) sought in such tests. This paper describes a method for "normalizing out" the effect of known operat- ing variations that have an effect on monitored heater TTD and DCA temperature differences. 10-12.0 DESCRIPTION OF METHODOLOGY The correction begins by calculating the heat released by condensing steam. It is determined from a heater mass-energy balance. That heat release used to determine the temperature of tube-side water entering the condensate zone. The resulting tube- and shell-side temperatures and heat release rates are used to determine monitored (or tested) heater heat transfer coefficients and (HTC) for both condenser and drain cooling zones. The calculated HTC's are then used to predict heat pickup if no tubes were plugged and the anticipated (i.e., normal) total surface areas were available to heat transfer if drain cooler level were "normal". The feedwater heater tube inlet temperature used in this procedure is a "normal" value rather than the monitored temperature. The monitored HTC’s are reasonable for use in predicting heater heat pickup at normal conditions because the measured HTC’s predominantly reflect outside tube film conditions (i.e., HTC’s). The outside film condensing and drain cooling HTC’s does not change appreciably if tubes are plugged, tube inlet temperatures change or level is nonoptimally controlled. The calculation of heat pickup is iterative. The procedure begins with the calculation of heat pickup by tube-side flow in the drain cooler. The shell- side drain cooler inlet conditions (i.e., enthalpy), and the drain flow are initially assumed equal to monitored values. The temperatures of the drain and tube flows exiting the drain cooling zone are calculated followed by the cal- culation of the condensing zone heat absorption. The calculated heat uptake in the condensing zone is weighted against the heat available (i.e., heat in condensing steam above saturated liquid condition) in the "measured" steam and drain inlet flows. Should additional heat be required to balance the calculated tube heat absorption more extraction steam is required. The drain cooler-condensing zone calculations repeat until no in- cremental changes in extraction steam flow are required to balance calculated 10-2condensing zone tube heat uptake. At this point the normalized TTD and DCA approach temperatures are calculated. 10-33.0 THEORY 3.1 Determination of Tube-Side Temperatures and Shel]-Side Flows The measured heater shell pressure, drain exit, tube inlet and outlet tempera- tures are used to calculate TID and DCA per standard industry practive. That is TTD = TeatlP) - Tho Eq. 1) DCA = Tay > Teyi Eq. 2) where T,ay(P) = Saturation steam temperature at shell pressure, P. Teyir Teyo = Feedwater heater tube-side flow inlet and outlet temperatures. Given a measured tube temperature rise, the amount of condensing steam required to heat the tube-side flow is found per traditional practice as follows (Eq. 3) where Heys Heyo * Tube-side enthalpies entering and leaving, m., tubes. = Condensate and steam flow rates. 10-4Higgs Ngo = Enthalpy of shell-side steam at shell inlet and outlet. mg; Hyg * Drain inlet flow and enthalpy. The shell mass flow rate at the drain of the heater (mg) is calculated Mo = Mss * Mi ¢ (Eq. 4) Now supposing heater level control is maintained at least sufficiently well to permit total condensation of the shell inlet steam flow (m..), then the heat given up, Qj, ¢+ in the condensing zone is Ginye = Mss (Hee . Heat) * {Ging (Eq. 5) where Heat, ~ Saturation enthalpy of liquid water at the condensing shell pressure. When drain inlet flows are present they can contribute additional heat (i.e., Qgi,g)> If drain inlet enthalpies are greater than Hay, the drain inlet flows "flash" and the heat in the drain inlet flows (i.e., enthalpies >H.44 1) are released and absorbed by the tubes in the condensing zone. The renaining heat per pound of drain inlet flows relative to drain exit conditions are released in the drain cooler (1.e-) Qj 1)+ Therefore, the heat given up in the drain cooling zone, Q;, go» is determined as: 10-5nde“ ss Hsat,1 ~ Mdo) * dir (Eq. 6) Knowing the heat absorbed in drain cooling and condensing regions permits us to determine the tube temperature profile. The enthalpy of the tube-side flow exiting the drain cooler region (Hy- ey) iS! _ tine Hycwex “ome Hawi (&q. 7) The enthalpy of the tube side flow exiting the condensing zone is the enthalpy (Hex) of the measured exit temperature or calculated as follows: . (Eq. 8) Tube-side flows are typically well below saturation conditions. This being the case, water temperatures are approximately a function of enthalpy only. This means a precise knowledge of tube-side pressure profiles is unnecessary and the drain tube-side exit temperature (T, ) is quickly and co, de: accurately found from steam table[1] relationships. Teo,de ~ FP Hgc-ex) (Eq. 9) where P = Arbitrary pressure. Conveniently, the heater tube flow inlet pressure. 10-6With the completion of the foregoing, all measured tube- and shell-side tempera- tures and flows are known, thus permitting the calculation of measured heat- exchanger zonal heat transfer coefficients. 3.2 Measured Condensing Zone Heat Transfer Coefficient A heat transfer coefficient (HTC) is an index that describes how well an area within a heat exchanger transfers heat between fluids/gases at different temperatures. To determine the condensing zone heat transfer coefficient (HTC.), we begin by calculating the condensing zone heat transfer area (A.). .0.Lg.N. F(Tevel) (Eq. 10) where D = Outside diameter of tubes. by = Mean effective length of tubes between the tube sheet and drain cooler exit. N = Number of tubes in bundle undergoing heat transfer. (level) = Area penalty to reflect flooding of condensing zone. Finally, the measured value of HTC, is found by evaluating the following expression{2] relating condensing heater effectiveness and HTC. Teer et fuo~ Teode _ ) _ g NTU (Eq. 11) « = Effectiveness = —¥ sat,1 ~ 'co,de 10-7where NTU Number of transfer units = HTC..AQ/K(M—,;-Cppy;)> Tey; aNd Cpgy; = Nass flow rate of tube side flow and its specific heat. Note that a measurement of zone cleanliness can also be made at this point by comparing HTC, to HTC. sqeqy> where HTC. sqoq1 can either be a historical value (i.e., a constant or curve produced value which is a function of load) or the result of a heat transfer correlation. The "Nusselt Condensing Correlation" [3] is typically used for horizontal heat exchangers. Cleanliness correlations can signal tube fouling and/or gas blanketing which both rob performance. 3.3. Measured Drain Cooler HICy. A similar applicable area is calculated for the drain cooler. Rag = WeDebge: (fgg (level) -N (Eq. 12) where le = Mean effective length of drain cooler tubes. fg (level) = Increased area of heat transfer factor should heater level be greater than "normal". The following equation[(2] relates drain-cooler effectiveness to HTCy. for the most typically encountered mode of drain cooler heat transfer (i.e., counter flow). It is solved to find the measured HTC4.- 10-8Toot 1-7 B(o(ce/cea) ~Sat.1 —_do_ eo Beattie 2. 2 (max/Snin (fa. 13) sat,1 ~ "wi where Cray "Mg Cp * tube side flow times its specific heat Cain = Bao Cp = Shell-side drain flow times its specific heat. o = 1 - NUCH in/Cmax) (Eq. 14) HTC, nu = (Eq. 15) ‘min The cleanliness of the drain cooler is calculated as the value of the ratio of the monitored to ideal HTCy,. The ideal HTCy, is either a historical value or traditionally calculated as the sum of the reciprocals of the outer and inner tube film coefficients. The Dittus-Boelter Correlation[4] is typically used to calculate inner tube film coefficients and the McAdams, Drew and Bays Correlation[5] is used to calculate outer tube film coefficients. 3.4 Normalizing Measured TID/DCA’s Equations 11 and 13 are next solved using recalculated heat transfer areas (i.e., Ag and Ag.) replacing in Equation 10 and 12 the nunber of tubes N with Neotar (8+ Ngotay = Total number of tubes in bundle) and eliminating the area penalties for loss-of-level control. Equation 13 is solved assuming T.4 1 and system flows (mg.’ and m,) are initially the same as measured. The equation is solved using a "standard" value 10-9for Try,’ (and Hey;’) rather than its measured value. The equation is solved to predict Tyo’, where Ty, and Hy,’ denotes the predicted drain cooler shell exit temperature and enthalpy. From a mass-energy balance the predicted tube exit enthalpy (Hye ex’) 18 found and the tube outlet temperature To 9,’ determined. That is: Myo’ (H, = Hye’) Hgc-ex’ = my + Hews (Eq. 16) and Tgc-ex’ = PoHyc-ex’)» from steam table[1] lookups. The resulting tube side temperature is substituted for T., g- in Equation 11 (i.e., after re-evaluating the zone’s area to represent unplugged and unflooded conditions). The predicted tube exit temperature, Tp,,’, is calculated and its enthalpy Hp,q/ obtained from the steam tables. ‘The heat absorbed in the condensing zone is recalculated next. Qin c! = Predicted Heat Absorption =m. (Hgyo’ - Hycex’) + (Eq. 17) in,c The difference between monitored and predicted (i.e., normalized) zonal heat duty is found aMn,e Sine’ ~ Gine * (Eq. 18) 10-10The incremental amount of shell-supply steam (am,.) requierd to supply this heat is calculated: 29 ins am, — : (Eq. 19) ss Hse = Heat, The incremental shell steam flow must be considered in the prediction of normal- ized drain cooler response. Therefore, my,’ is calculated as Mgt amg + My (Eq. 20) The iterative process continues until the change in the value of my, between successive iterations is approximately zero. At this point corrected TTD’ and DCA’ are found 11D’ (Eq. 21) Tsat,1 7 Two! DCA’ Twi’ . Tyo! . (Eq. 22) The method converges rapidly and is numerically very stable. 10-11REFERENCES Silvestri, G. J., McClintock, R. B., et al., ASME Steam Tables, Fourth Edition, 1967. London, A. L. and Kay, W. M., "Compact Heat Exchangers", McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1964. Bergles, A. Collier, J. et al., "Two-Phase Flow and Heat Transfer", Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, New York, page 345, 1981. Dittus, F. W. and Boelter, L.M.K., Univerisity of California (Berkley), Pub. Eng. Volume 2, p443, 1930. "Trans. Am. Soc. Mech. Engineers, 62, 627 (1940). 10-12