CONDENSATION

By

Sai Nikhil
 contents
• Definition
• Applications
• Types
• Film condensation on flat vertical plate
Definition:
Condensation is the change of the
physical state of matter from gas
phase into liquid phase, and is the
reverse of evaporation. It can also be
defined as the change in the state of
water vapour to liquid water when in
contact with a liquid or solid surface
 According to chemistry,

A condensation reaction, is a chemical reaction in which two molecules or

moieties (functional groups) combine to form a larger molecule, together
with the loss of a small molecule.[1] Possible small molecules lost are water,
hydrogen chloride, methanol, or acetic acid but most commonly in a
biological reaction it is water
 Why the condensation ?
Cooling or compressing a vapour causes it to shrink in volume,
which causes a reduction in the velocity of the molecules that make
up the gas. As the molecules slow down and get closer together,
they are more likely to join together. Eventually, enough molecules
join together to form droplets of the liquid state of the substance
and condense.
 applications
• Water cycle
• Distillation process for making alcohol, perfume etc.
• In car cooling system
• Air conditioning system
• water collector in dry region, large "nets" are placed to capture moist in the
air, this converts vapour into water.
• Condensers in power plants
 applications

• Many structures—such as fog fences, air wells, and dew ponds—are made
solely for the purpose of collecting water from condensation

• Such systems can be used to retain soil moisture in areas where active
desertification is occurring
 Types of condensation

• Film wise condensation

• Surface wise condensation
 Drop wise condensation
• Occurs when liquid condensate doesn't wet the whole surface
• Condensate collects in the form of droplets
• Rate of heat transfers is very much high
• Drops grow in size and coalesce with neighbouring droplets and eventually
roll off the surface
• It is purely difficult to maintain the drop wise condensation
 Film wise condensation

• Occurs when liquid condensate wets the surface

• rate of heat transfer is low compared to drop wise
• In usual practise every heat transfer equipment is constructed based on the
assumption that is of film type
 Assumptions of film condensation on flat
vertical plate
• Fluid properties remain constant (density, viscosity….).
• Liquid-vapour interface is at the saturated temperature(Ts).
• Momentum effects in the film are negligible.
• The vapour exerts no shear force at the interface.
• The temperature distribution in the film is linear.
• enthalpy changes associated with sub-cooling of the liquid is negligible