HEAT EXCHANGERS

CLASSIFICATION BASED ON
APPLICATION.

osman
BADRALDEEN WALID OSMAN
Introduction :-

A notable by-product of many industrial and manufacturing processes is heat.

While thermal energy may be beneficial to some production processes, it may
also cause significant damage to sensitive machinery and control systems if
improperly regulated.

Most industrial systems have mechanisms in place to dissipate excessive heat. A

popular thermoregulation device employed in this regard is a heat exchanger.
Simply put, this is a device that removes unwanted heat from the industrial
process that helps keep production temperatures within optimal ranges.

Defintion:-

Heat exchanger are devices that facilitates exchange of heat between two fluids
that are at different temperatures while keeping them from mixing with each
other. Heat exchangers are commonly used in practice in a wide range of
applications, from heating and air-conditioning systems in a household to
chemical processing and power production in large plants. Heat exchangers
differ from mixing chambers in that they do not allow the two fluids involved to
mix. Heat transfer in a heat exchanger usually involves convection in each fluid
and conduction through the wall separating the two fluids. In the analysis of heat
exchangers, it is convenient to work with an overall heat transfer coefficient U
that accounts for the contribution of all these effects on heat transfer. The rate of
heat transfer between the two fluids at a location in a heat exchanger depends
on the magnitude of the temperature difference at that location, which varies
along the heat exchanger.

Applications of heat exchangers:-

 Chemical process.
 Oil and gas.
 Power production.
 Waste heat recovery.
 Electronics cooling.
 Refrigeration and air conditioning.
 Automotive.
 Industrial heat exchangers can be classified into three broad groups
based on:

 The manner of heat exchange

 The physical states of the interacting fluids
 The design/ flow pattern of the heat exchanger

The Manner of Heat Exchange:-

 Direct heat exchangers place both fluids in direct contact with one another within
a tubing system. Although this method is highly effective, it cannot be used in
situations where the two fluids may create a volatile mixture or alter the results of
an industrial process.
 Indirect heat exchangers keep the cooled and heated fluids separate from one
another and heat exchange occurs across a physical barrier.
 The Physical States of the Interacting Fluids

Thermal exchangers may also be divided into various categories based on the
physical state of the interacting media into:

 Gas-Solid exchangers
 Liquid – Gas exchangers
 Liquid-Solid exchangers

The Design/ Flow Pattern of the Heat Exchanger

Industrial heat exchangers come in different designs with varied patterns of heat
exchange flow. The main types are considered below.

 Parallel flow heat exchangers have a design that allows both the cool and heated
fluids to move in the same direction.
 Counter-flow heat exchangers are designed to allow both the heated and cooling
fluids to enter from opposite ends of the device. This is the most effective method
of heat exchange. This design permits the most efficient heat conduction
between the interacting fluids per unit mass.
 Crossflow heat exchangers drive the heated process fluid and coolant in
directions that are perpendicular to each other.
We can also classify the heat exchanger according to the following:-

Classification of heat exchangers based on application:-

 Boilers.
 Condensers.
 Liquid to vapor phase change exchangers.
 Chillers.
 Heaters.
 Coolers.
 .
Water cooled condenser

 Condensers:-
Condensers are devices which accept a vapor stream and convert it to a liquid using
heat transfer and/or compression. A condenser may refer to a heat exchanger used
specifically for cooling gases and process fluids below their boiling points. However,
condensing units (such as those in air conditioners) are used in systems which cool
the outside environment. These systems may include a compressor, an evaporator,
fans, and other components in addition to a heat exchanger (condenser) section.
The most used construction in this type is shell and tube

We can classify the condensers as follows:-

the application Direct contact condensers transfer heat through direct contact
between the gas and the liquid. Since there is no boundary for separation, both
the liquid and the gas must be of the same material (e.g. water and steam).

Indirect contact condensers transfer heat through a thermally conductive

boundary layer, typically a plate, shell, or tube. The boundary layer permits heat
transfer but prevents mixing or contamination of the fluid streams.

Surface condensers are heat exchanger condensers most commonly designed

for steam turbines in thermal power plants. Typically, these devices have a large
well to collect the condensed steam. Surface condensers also have connections
for air ejectors or other vacuum equipment to remove air and other substances
that will not condense.
 Laboratory condensers include a range of laboratory glassware parts used to
remove heat from fluids. They are an essential component in distillation setups.
Shell and tube is the primary design for condenser heat exchangers, but other
types such as plated and air-cooled are also used, depending on application.

Automobile air conditioning system

Condensers vary significantly based on the application they are built for.The
most common condenser applications.

 Automotive - condensers designed for use in automotive or vehicular air

conditioning systems (e.g. cars, planes, trains).
 Building - condensers used to provide central air conditioning for buildings.
They can be mounted outdoors, either on the ground or rooftop.
 Process - condensers used in cooling units for in-process fluids.
 Refrigeration - condensers used in refrigeration systems.
 Steam power turbine - Surface condensers used in power generation
facilities such as nuclear power plants to condense turbine exhaust steam
into water.

 Chillers:-
A chiller (cooling water circulation device) is a general term for a device that
controls the temperature by circulating a liquid such as water or heat medium as
a cooling liquid whose temperature was adjusted by the refrigerant cycle. In
addition to maintaining the temperature of various industrial devices and
laboratory instruments, equipment and apparatuses at a constant level, it is also
used for air conditioning in buildings and factories. It is referred to as a “chiller”
because it is often used for cooling.

A chiller can supply chilled water continuously while circulating water in a cooling
device. It is used a lot as a suitable device to cool heat generating parts and air
conditioning equipment such as laser processing devices and high frequency
heating devices at a constant temperature, solves various cooling problems and
can reduce running costs while improving energy efficiency.

In the industrial field, highly efficient and highly accurate heat source machines
that can supply a large amount of water at a stable water temperature are
required to improve the quality and efficiency of production, and there is a
demand for these heat source machines in a wide range of facilities such as
factories, supermarkets, leisure facilities, hydroponics and aquaculture farms.
Cooling required for the manufacturing process, such as suppressing heat
generation in production and processing machines, cooling products and water
temperature adjustment required for production, is referred to as “process
cooling”, and this is especially used for factories that produce chilled water and
low temperature heat source machines. A chiller is used to cool products,
machines and factory machinery from a wide range of industries, and the
contents are roughly divided into "equipment cooling" and "article cooling".
The purpose of equipment cooling is to suppress heat generation due to the
operation of the processing equipment and avoid malfunctions and deterioration
of processing accuracy and is used in a wide range of applications such as
cooling of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, medical equipment such as
CT and MRI, printers and laser processing machines and component analyzers.
On the other hand, the purpose of article cooling is to cool the heat generated by
processing products and to maintain and cool the temperature required for
processing and storage, and is used for cooling plastic molded products, metal
processing products, plating solvents, cutting oil and brewing tank and cooked
foods.

In the field of air conditioning, it is common to use a chiller, which is a cooling

device, for cooling, but currently, it is used as a device for cooling and heating.
The basic mechanism is to generate both chilled and hot water by heat exchange
between the cooling water of the cooling tower and the refrigerant in the chiller,
and the function of heating and cooling is realized by transporting it to the heating
and cooling terminal. The chiller and cooling tower are extremely similar devices,
but strictly speaking, each has a different role. The function of a cooling tower is
to cool the cooling water mainly in air conditioning equipment. The cooling water
with rising temperature is cooled using the power of the outside air to lower its
temperature.
On the other hand, chillers are also used to cool the liquid inside the machine,
but its purpose is not only cooling.
The purpose of a chiller is to utilize the power of outside air and water to maintain
the target temperature at a constant level. Therefore, it can be used to cool or
heat. Because it is necessary to keep the temperature constant at all times, it is
not limited to cooling. Of course, it is often used for cooling, but sometimes it is
used for heating, which is a major difference between a chiller and cooling tower.
By knowing this difference, it can help you understand the mechanism and
structure of a cooling tower.

Cooling towers are used for air conditioning equipment of a building and uses
outside air to keep the cooling water cool. The cooling water can be reused by
cooling it, and you can continue to use it in a way that circulates air conditioning
equipment, etc. Without a cooling tower, the water cannot be cooled, and when
the temperature of the cooling water rises steadily it becomes unusable.

A chiller draws removes from the target device and cools it. The removed heat needs to be
exhausted by the chiller itself, and as a heat exhaust method, there are those that use
chlorofluorocarbons called refrigerants and those that consist of water circuits that circulate
water. There are various types of cooling methods, such as the air-cooled type and water-
cooled types of cooling methods, such as the air-cooled type and water-cooled type.

Air cooled chiller

This is a type of system that sends wind to the heat exchanger and cools
the refrigerant with air. There is a built-in fan motor inside the chiller, and it is
easy to install, but because exhaust heat is generated in the room, exhaust
equipment may be required in tight spaces. The gas compressed with the freezer
(compressor) is cooled by a condenser (radiator) and liquefied. It is comprised of
a refrigerant gas cycle and a circulating water cycle, and refrigerant gas is used
as a heat medium to cool the circulating water.
By passing liquefied gas through the expansion valve, the pressure is reduced,
and it becomes a cooling gas, and a water cooler (heat exchanger) exchanges
heat with the circulating water to cool the circulating water. Because there is no
freezing or clogging, aquarium cleaning maintenance is easy. Also, in the case of
the air-cooled chiller, the heat of vaporization due to the evaporation of rainwater
lowers the temperature of the radiator when rainwater comes into contact with
the cooling tower when it rains, and because the temperature drops due to the
evaporation of rainwater around the air-cooled chiller, the cooling efficiency can
be maintained regardless of the rise in humidity, such that the cooling efficiency
improves even if the humidity is high.

Water cooled chiller

This is a type of system that uses a cooling tower to cool water. Cooling
water for the refrigerator is required, but it offers advantages such as excellent
cooling efficiency and does not generate exhaust heat in the room.
A water-cooled chiller that uses water, which is active in the field of large-scale
air conditioning, as a refrigerant, is referred to as a natural chiller (absorption
chiller) and is adopted as a heat source refrigerator for central air conditioning of
air conditioning equipment for medium and large-scale buildings. The system
configuration is comprised of an evaporator, absorber, regenerator and
condenser, and produces chilled water (hot water) with pressure control by
circulating the refrigerant sealed in the equipment (cooling water circulation
device).
It is a cooling cycle, but by changing the pressure of the refrigerant in the
equipment, chilled water (hot water) is produced by changing its composition to
gas and liquid (latent heat transfer) inside an airplane. It can be stably operated
throughout the year, and a compact design is possible so that it can be installed
in small spaces.
One of the main features is that it offers a high degree of freedom in
designing the main unit installation location and water piping system. The chiller
uses a method of producing chilled water and sending water to the chilled water
coil of the air conditioner, so depending on the combination, it can be used for
various purposes such as large capacities and large spaces. On the other hand,
there is generally no need to consider the difference in the height of the
refrigerant pipe and the limitation of the pipe length like a direct expansion type
(air conditioner).
Furthermore, steam and hot water such as factory exhaust heat can also be
used, and it is possible to construct a cogeneration system that uses waste heat
(hot water) of a generator.

 Coolers:-

Air Cooled Condenser (ACC) is a cooling system where the air-cooled

condenser directly cools and condenses the vapor exhausted by the
turbine into water, with air used as a cooling medium.
 The figure is an example of air cooling system: the system consist
horizontal multi-tube structure
Air-cooled heat exchanger (air cooler for short), is the ambient air as a
cooling medium, the fan forced air to sweep outside the fin tube, so that
the high temperature process fluid in the tube to be cooled or condensed
heat exchange equipment. The air cooler unit consists of three basic parts
of fin tube bundle, fan, frame and blinds, access platform, ladder and other
auxiliary parts. The use of natural air as a cooling medium saves valuable
water resources, reduces the discharge of industrial sewage and protects
the natural environment.

Components:
● Single row air cooled condensing bundles ● Steel structure
● Fan system ● Vacuum system ● Steam duct and condensate piping
● Bundle cleaning system for ACC ● Control system

 The advantages of this system is as follows

 The use of air temperature rise cooling, saving valuable water
resources.
  The air can be freely obtained, the location is not restricted
 Air corrosive small, long service life of equipment.

This system is applied chemical, petroleum, electric power, metallurgy,

building materials, polysilicon, PVC, cement plants, waste incineration
power generation and other industries.

 Heaters:-

Electric circulation heaters are very versatile and useful process

heaters. Common applications will flow liquids or gasses through the heater and
provide very stable reliable temperatures for these processes. The exchange of
heat is dependent upon the liquid flowing, the flow rate and the residence time or
time through the heater.

Many critical processes require heat to be created and passed to the

process. Most of these are flowing, and the tried and true method of doing this is
with a shell and tube heat exchanger:

There are many types of fluids and vapors that can be passed through the
tubes to heat the tank fluid. Steam, glycol/water, hot oils, water…just to
name a few. The management of these fluids involves a great deal of
equipment. It is a tried and true method of heating many processes. There
are many different styles of this type of heat exchanger as well.
Electric heat exchanger have electrically resistive wires inside the tubes
(called heating elements) that creates heat.
Electric heating elements are very efficient in transferring heat to the
product flowing through the vessel.
When voltage is applied to the resistor within the heating element, heat is
created. Transferring this heat to a process is just as easy as it is with a heat
exchanger.

The product requiring the heat is passed over the elements. Temperature
sensors verify both the process temperature, and the temperature of the heating
elements to make sure that it does not get too hot.

Heat exchangers rely heavily on the indirect heating of the heating medium that
they need in the process. No matter the medium, the process or the
temperature, there are a certain amount of btu’s required (btu= the amount of
energy required to heat a product).

Once a process can define the needed btu’s, many heating methods can be
considered to do that job. Electric circulation heaters should be considered for
this job.

There are several reasons why-

 The heat created by an electric heater produces no Nox Emissions. If

your company has a sustainability or green initiative, looking into
 converting your process to an electric source of heat could help you to
meet those objectives.
 Electric heat is 100% efficient- or so they say. Think about it…every
ounce of electricity is converted into heat- so… 100%.
 Electric heating control systems have nearly an infinite turn down ratio. If
your system needs to run at 8%, that’s all you pull power wise. Sampling
rates can be as often as 6 times per second, and with the proper power
control system, outputs can be adjusted faster than that (as fast as
1/120th of a second if the sampling rate could keep up!). You will only pull
the amperage that is needed to keep your system running.
 Much easier to maintain. No steam, steam lines or steam traps. No heat
transfer fluids or expansion tanks or condensate return lines. Just push
your liquid or gas through the heater chamber and into your process.
 Redundancy is a big factor. Many of you are familiar with the concept of
building redundancy into your pumping systems as one example. Two
pumps are installed for one duty. When one goes down, you have one
100% spare. That way you can work on the other unit while the system is
still running. The same can be designed for electric circulation
heaters…by designing 2x the capacity in the heater itself, or by having a
second heater.
 Higher heat flux can be achieved by an electric heater. You have to be
careful here though as higher heat flux or what is referred to as watt
density on electric heaters can be harmful to both the electric heater and
your process.

Two phase heat exchanger:-

In a two-phase heat exchange process there is a phase change on the cold side,
the warm side or both.

If heat is added to a liquid, the temperature of the liquid will rise until it reaches its
boiling point. Adding further heat will not raise the temperature. Instead, it
increases the gas content of the liquid, resulting in a two phase mixture of liquid
and gas. The gas generated forms bubbles during the boiling process. The
temperature will not rise until all liquid has been vaporized. When the
temperature of the gas becomes higher than the boiling point, the gas is
described as superheated. This process is typical of what happens inside an
evaporator in a cooling system. The refrigerant enters the evaporator as liquid
and leaves as superheated gas.

The opposite occurs in a condenser. First, superheated gas is cooled until it

reaches its saturation point, where liquid droplets are formed. When all the gas
has been transformed to liquid, the bubble point is reached. Maintaining the
same pressure in the vessel while further cooling the liquid leads to a lower
temperature, the result being described as a sub-cooled liquid.
The heat added or lost when the temperature changes within a phase is called
sensible heat, while the heat added or lost in a phase-change is called latent
heat. The latent heat of the phase transition between liquid and gas is many
times higher than that of the liquid phase. The latent heat that must be added to
transform water (100°C, 1 atm) to steam (100°C, 1 atm) is 2257 kJ/kg, while the
sensible heat added in transforming water (0°C, 1 atm) to water (100°C, 1 atm) is
only 419 kJ/kg.

The water example illustrates that the reason for the commercial utilization of
evaporation and condensation is to gain or lose, respectively, the large amount of
latent heat involved in the phase-transition between liquid and gas.

Impact of sensible and latent heat.

the advancements in nanomaterial and nanotechnology have led to the
development of new surface modification methods for enhanced phase change
processes including micro, nano, and hybrid surface texturing, surface coating
via nanoparticles, nanofibers, or nanofilms, porous nano-/micro-structures, liquid
infused coatings, and functional coatings.
The ability to provide high-quality thermal management in a natural and easily
customizable manner has been one of the biggest advantages of modern phase-
change cooling technology. This has given companies the ability to dramatically
reduce the costs associated with keeping their electrical enclosures and other
technologies properly cooled, as well as lower their overall energy consumption
rates. The eco-friendly nature of phase-change cooling has also helped
companies significantly reduce their overall environmental footprints, making
their green energy and greener business efforts more manageable and
successful.

Boiliers:-
A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid
does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in
various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central
heating, boiler-based power generation, cooking, and sanitation.

In a fossil fuel power plant using a steam cycle for power generation, the primary
heat source will be combustion of coal, oil, or natural gas. In some cases
byproduct fuel such as the carbon monoxide rich off gasses of a coke battery can
be burned to heat a boiler; biofuels such as bagasse, where economically
available, can also be used. In a nuclear power plant, boilers called steam
generators are heated by the heat produced by nuclear fission. Where a large
volume of hot gas is available from some process, a heat recovery steam
generator or recovery boiler can use the heat to produce steam, with little or no
extra fuel consumed; such a configuration is common in a combined cycle power
plant where a gas turbine and a steam boiler are used. In all cases the
combustion product waste gases are separate from the working fluid of the
steam cycle, making these systems examples of external combustion engine.

The source of heat for a boiler is combustion of any of several fuels, such
as wood, coal, oil, or natural gas. Electric steam
boilers use resistance- or immersion-type heating elements. Nuclear fission is
also used as a heat source for generating steam, either directly (BWR) or, in
most cases, in specialised heat exchangers called "steam generators"
(PWR). Heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs) use the heat rejected from
other processes such as gas turbine.

Boilers can be classified into the following configurations:

Pot boiler or Haycock boiler/Haystack boiler
A primitive "kettle" where a fire heats a partially filled water container from
below. 18th century Haycock boilers generally produced and stored large
volumes of very low-pressure steam, often hardly above that of the
atmosphere. These could burn wood or most often, coal. Efficiency was
very low.
 Diagram of a fire-tube boiler

Fire-tube boiler:-
Here, water partially fills a boiler barrel with a small volume left above to
accommodate the steam (steam space). This is the type of boiler used in
nearly all steam locomotives. The heat source is inside a furnace
or firebox that has to be kept permanently surrounded by the water in
order to maintain the temperature of the heating surface below the boiling
point. The furnace can be situated at one end of a fire-tube which
lengthens the path of the hot gases, thus augmenting the heating surface
which can be further increased by making the gases reverse direction
through a second parallel tube or a bundle of multiple tubes (two-pass or
return flue boiler); alternatively the gases may be taken along the sides
and then beneath the boiler through flues (3-pass boiler). In case of a
locomotive-type boiler, a boiler barrel extends from the firebox and the hot
gases pass through a bundle of fire tubes inside the barrel which greatly
increases the heating surface compared to a single tube and further
improves heat transfer. Fire-tube boilers usually have a comparatively low
rate of steam production, but high steam storage capacity. Fire-tube
boilers mostly burn solid fuels, but are readily adaptable to those of the
liquid or gas variety.
 Diagram of a water-tube boiler.
Water-tube boiler
In this type, tubes filled with water are arranged inside a furnace in a
number of possible configurations. Often the water tubes connect large
drums, the lower ones containing water and the upper ones steam and
water; in other cases, such as a mono-tube boiler, water is circulated by a
pump through a succession of coils. This type generally gives high steam
production rates, but less storage capacity than the above. Water tube
boilers can be designed to exploit any heat source and are generally
preferred in high-pressure applications since the high-pressure
water/steam is contained within small diameter pipes which can withstand
the pressure with a thinner wall. These boilers are commonly constructed
in place, roughly square in shape, and can be multiple stories tall.

Flash boiler:-
A flash boiler is a specialized type of water-tube boiler in which tubes are
close together and water is pumped through them. A flash boiler differs
from the type of mono-tube steam generator in which the tube is
permanently filled with water. In a flash boiler, the tube is kept so hot that
the water feed is quickly flashed into steam and superheated. Flash
boilers had some use in automobiles in the 19th century and this use
continued into the early 20th century.

Fire-tube boiler with water-tube firebox:-

 Sometimes the two above types have been combined in the following
manner: the firebox contains an assembly of water tubes, called thermic
siphons. The gases then pass through a conventional firetube boiler.
Water-tube fireboxes were installed in many Hungarian locomotives,but
have met with little success in other countries.
Sectional boiler
In a cast iron sectional boiler, sometimes called a "pork chop boiler" the
water is contained inside cast iron sections. These sections are
assembled on site to create the finished boiler.

Superheated steam boiler

A superheated boiler on a steam locomotive

When water is boiled the result is saturated steam, also referred to as "wet
steam." Saturated steam, while mostly consisting of water vapor, carries some
unevaporated water in the form of droplets. Saturated steam is useful for many
purposes, such as cooking, heating and sanitation, but is not desirable when
steam is expected to convey energy to machinery, such as a ship's propulsion
system or the "motion" of a steam locomotive. This is because unavoidable
temperature and/or pressure loss that occurs as steam travels from the boiler to
the machinery will cause some condensation, resulting in liquid water being
carried into the machinery. The water entrained in the steam may damage
turbine blades or in the case of a reciprocating steam engine, may cause serious
mechanical damage due to hydrostatic lock.
Superheated steam boilers evaporate the water and then further heat the steam
in a superheater, causing the discharged steam temperature to be substantially
above the boiling temperature at the boiler's operating pressure. As the resulting
"dry steam" is much hotter than needed to stay in the vaporous state it will not
contain any significant unevaporated water. Also, higher steam pressure will be
possible than with saturated steam, enabling the steam to carry more energy.
Although superheating adds more energy to the steam in the form of heat there
is no effect on pressure, which is determined by the rate at which steam is drawn
from the boiler and the pressure settings of the safety valves.[12] The fuel
consumption required to generate superheated steam is greater than that
required to generate an equivalent volume of saturated steam. However, the
overall energy efficiency of the steam plant (the combination of boiler,
superheater, piping and machinery) generally will be improved enough to more
than offset the increased fuel consumption.
Superheater operation is similar to that of the coils on an air conditioning unit,
although for a different purpose. The steam piping is directed through the flue
gas path in the boiler furnace, an area in which the temperature is typically
between 1,300 and 1,600 degrees Celsius (2,372 and 2,912 degrees
Fahrenheit). Some superheaters are radiant type, which as the name suggests,
they absorb heat by radiation. Others are convection type, absorbing heat from a
fluid. Some are a combination of the two types. Through either method, the
extreme heat in the flue gas path will also heat the superheater steam piping and
the steam within.
The design of any superheated steam plant presents several engineering
challenges due to the high working temperatures and pressures. One
consideration is the introduction of feedwater to the boiler. The pump used to
charge the boiler must be able to overcome the boiler's operating pressure, else
water will not flow. As a superheated boiler is usually operated at high pressure,
the corresponding feedwater pressure must be even higher, demanding a more
robust pump design.
Another consideration is safety. High pressure, superheated steam can be
extremely dangerous if it unintentionally escapes. To give the reader some
perspective, the steam plants used in many U.S. Navy destroyers built
during World War II operated at 600 psi (4,100 kPa; 41 bar) pressure and 850
degrees Fahrenheit (454 degrees Celsius) superheat. In the event of a major
rupture of the system, an ever-present hazard in a warship during combat, the
enormous energy release of escaping superheated steam, expanding to more
than 1600 times its confined volume, would be equivalent to a cataclysmic
explosion, whose effects would be exacerbated by the steam release occurring in
a confined space, such as a ship's engine room. Also, small leaks that are not
visible at the point of leakage could be lethal if an individual were to step into the
escaping steam's path. Hence designers endeavor to give the steam-handling
components of the system as much strength as possible to maintain integrity.
Special methods of coupling steam pipes together are used to prevent leaks, with
very high pressure systems employing welded joints to avoided leakage
problems with threaded or gasketed connections.
Supercritical steam generator

Boiler for a power plant

Supercritical steam generators are frequently used for the production of electric
power. They operate at supercritical pressure. In contrast to a "subcritical boiler",
a supercritical steam generator operates at such a high pressure (over 3,200 psi
or 22 MPa) that the physical turbulence that characterizes boiling ceases to
occur; the fluid is neither liquid nor gas but a super-critical fluid. There is no
generation of steam bubbles within the water, because the pressure is above
the critical pressure point at which steam bubbles can form. As the fluid expands
through the turbine stages, its thermodynamic state drops below the critical point
as it does work turning the turbine which turns the electrical generator from which
power is ultimately extracted. The fluid at that point may be a mix of steam and
liquid droplets as it passes into the condenser. This results in slightly less fuel
use and therefore less greenhouse gas production. The term "boiler" should not
be used for a supercritical pressure steam generator, as no "boiling" occurs in
this device.