Condenser Performance

Factors affecting Condenser Performance

• Temperature Difference
• Circulating water Quantity
• Air presence in Condenser
• Undercooling
• Change in Engine Power
Temperature Difference- why do we need
• It must be understood that, thermodynamically, the pressure at which the
condenser will condense the exhaust steam is determined solely by the
temperature of the heat sink, i.e. by the sea temperature.
• Thus if the sea temperature is say, 15.0°C, then theoretically the condenser
should condense the exhaust steam at a pressure of 0.017 bar (i.e. that
pressure whose saturation temperature is 15.0°C).
• just as it is necessary to have a pressure difference to cause a fluid to flow
from one vessel into another, so it is necessary to have a temperature
difference between the exhaust steam and the circulating water to cause
heat to flow from the steam to the water, i.e. the steam temperature must
be higher than the water temperature at any point in the condenser.
• Economy of Condenser
 Temperature Difference
The quantity of heat, kJ/s, which can be transmitted from
steam to water is directly proportional to this
temperature difference,
Q=UA (T1-T2)
If the temperature difference between steam and water
is doubled, then twice the quantity of heat can be
removed in the same time.
the mean temperature difference is not the arithmetic
mean of θ1 and 02 ,
but is the logarithmic mean, viz.

Logrithmic
The resistance to heat flow

The quantity of heat transmitted by unit

surface in unit time with unit mean
temperature difference varies inversely as
the thermal resistance to heat flow, e.g. if
the resistance is halved, the quantity of heat
transmitted is doubled
The resistance to heat flow
• At first it might appear that the only resistance encountered by the
heat flowing from the steam to the water is the metal of the tube wall
• This however is far from the truth, since in actual fact the thermal
resistance of the tube wall itself is usually quite small compared with
the other resistances
• The water has a certain viscosity, or stickiness, causing it to tend to
adhere to, and form a water film on, the inside surface of the tube.
• At the same time, the water velocity along the tube is tending to tear
any such film off the inside surface of the tube.
 The resistance to heat flow
we may regard the thermal resistance of
the water film on the inside of the tube as
being controlled by the water velocity and
the mean water temperature.

The higher the velocity and mean

temperature, the thinner is the water film
and the lower the thermal resistance

Depending therefore on the saturation

temperature at which the steam is
condensing, and on the rate of steam
loading of the tube, there exists on the
outside surface of the tube a stagnant water
film of a certain thickness,

The higher the temperature and steam

loading, the thinner is the water film and
the lower the thermal resistance.
Circulating water velocity through the tubes
• As stated previously, the actual rate of heat transmission which it is
possible to achieve depends in the first place largely on the circulating
water velocity through the tubes.
• The higher the water velocity, the thinner is the water side film, the
faster the heat is carried away, and hence the higher the rate of heat
transmission
• With an increased value of K, examination of equation (1) will show
that for a given value of 0m , the surface S would be reduced,
resulting in a smaller condenser for any given condenser pressure and
heat load.
The resistance to heat flow
The inside surface of the tube may become fouled by
deposits from the circulating water. Of these, the most
serious is scale, a hard deposit formed by calcium
sulphate from the heated circulating water.
oil
The condenser tubes can also become fouled on the steam Hot steam

steam side by impurities in the steam.

Air act as a resistance
• there is always present in the condenser a quantity—however small it
may be—of air and incondensible gas.
• By far the worst offender in opposing heat transmission is the blanket
of air and incondensible gas surrounding the tube on the steam side,
since air is a very poor conductor of heat indeed.
• If the thermal resistance of a brass tube wall 1.2 mm thick is taken as
1.0, the other thermal resistances are of the following order:
• Water film 0.25 mm thick-100
• Scale film 0.25 mm thick -100-200
• Air film 0.25 mm thick -2000
The Resistance to flow
Change of sea temperature
• Again referring to Figure 6.9, if the sea temperature t1 rises, all other
conditions remaining constant, the entire water temperature line
t1-t2 will rise and tend to reduce 0m . The same 0m however is
required to transmit the heat to condense the steam, hence the
steam temperature line ts will also rise, which means that the steam
pressure will rise. Hence, if the sea temperature rises, and no
corrective action is taken, the condenser pressure will rise.
Change of sea temperature
-The condenser pressure then increases from that corresponding to ts to that
corresponding to ts’.
-The increase in condenser pressure will cause the main engine steam
consumption to increase
-It will increase the condenser heat load H.
-This will tend to cause the condenser pressure to rise further.
-At the same time however, the higher water and steam temperatures reduce
the viscosity of the circulating water inside the tubes and of the condensate
formed on the outside of the tubes.
-causing the water films on the inside and outside of the tubes to become
thinner
-The thermal resistance of these films will diminish, hence there will be some
increase in the overall rate of heat transmission K.
-In the condenser equation H = KSQm , the increase in H would probably be just
about balanced by the increase in K, leaving Θm unaltered.
Change of sea temperature
• With increased condenser pressure due to increased sea
temperature, less work is available from each 1 kg of steam in the
main engines. To maintain full power therefore, we can either
• 1. Accept the increased condenser pressure and put more steam
through the main engines, or,
• 2. Increase the speed of the circulating pump to reduce the
condenser pressure, thus requiring more steam for the circulating
pump.
• Whatever method is used, some additional steam, and therefore
some additional fuel will be required, and the object must be to keep
this to a minimum.
Change of sea temperature
• If the sea temperature falls below design, the opposite state of affairs
occurs. The condenser pressure diminishes, and the work per 1.0 kg of
steam is increased, thus requiring less steam and less fuel. With falling sea
temperature, this continues until the limiting condenser pressure is
reached, i.e. the point at which the main engines cannot take advantage of
any further reduction of condenser pressure
• If the sea temperature continues to fall after this point is reached, a
further saving in steam and fuel can be made by shutting in the circulating
pump so that it is putting only sufficient water through the condenser to
maintain the limiting condenser pressure.
• The c.w. quantity must not be reduced below that which corresponds to a
tube velocity of 0.5-0.6 m/s, otherwise the change to laminar flow could
drastically reduce the rate of heat transmission
Circulating water quantity
• For a given condenser heat load and t1, the circulating water
temperature rise r°C is determined by the circulating water quantity.
Hence if, with any given heat load, the circulating water quantity is
reduced, the water temperature rise will increase. Again referring to
Figure 6.9, an increase in r will tend to cause Θm to diminish, but
since the heat load is constant, the steam temperature line ts will rise
to restore the same 0m which existed with the full water quantity.
Hence if the c.w. quantity diminishes, and no corrective action is
taken, the condenser pressure will rise
Condenser tube fouling
• Condenser tubes which were initially clean, gradually become fouled
in service. On the water side, fouling may be due to scale formation,
marine biological growth, accumulations of sand, weed, etc., or
protracted operation in polluted dock or river water. On the steam
side, it may be due to oil, or impurities in the steam.
• Any such fouling of course means that there is increased thermal
resistance to heat flow from steam to water, with the result that the
overall rate of heat transmission diminishes, and if no corrective
action is taken, the condenser pressure gradually rises. Depending on
the nature and the rate of fouling, and on the intervals at which
condenser tube cleaning can be carried out, there exists the tendency
to continuous deterioration of efficiency
Fouling Factor
• it has become customary to build margins into the condensing plant to
enable some corrective action to be taken to eliminate, or at least to
moderate the loss of efficiency due to fouling.
• To this end, the calculated overall rate of heat transmission K-kW/m2°C
based on the design tube velocity, steam and water temperatures and steam
loading is reduced by a fouling factor before being applied to the condenser
equation H = KSΘm .
• This fouling factor—which may be of the order of 0.85 to 0.95— means that
we build into the condenser some extra surface over and above that
required by the design calculations. At design conditions therefore, when the
tubes are clean, the condenser pressure will be lower than design.
Change of main engine power
• If, with all other factors constant, the main engine power is reduced,
the condenser heat load diminishes, hence the c.w. temperature rise
diminishes and0m tends to increase. Because of the reduced heat
load however, a smaller 0m is required, and the steam temperature
line ts falls. Hence if the engine power is reduced, and no corrective
action is taken, the condenser pressure will decrease.
Condenser surface
• The condenser surface S is the total external surface area, m2 , of all
the tubes between the inner faces of the tube plates. The quantity of
heat, kj/s, transmitted is directly proportional to the surface area
which is transmitting the heat. Hence if say 10.0 per cent of the tubes
become blocked with sand, weed, etc., all other conditions remaining
as before, the quantity of heat transmitted would tend to diminish by
the same percentage, but to enable the full quantity of heat to be
transmitted, and so to maintain condensation, the mean temperature
difference would increase accordingly, again leading to increased
condenser pressure, if no corrective action is taken. Thus if a
proportion of the tubes become blocked and no corrective action is
taken, the condenser pressure will rise.
Air in surface condenser
• Even in a well designed, well operated and well maintained steam
plant, there is always a certain quantity of air present in the
condenser
• some of this being due to atmospheric air leakage into those parts of
the system which are at subatmospheric pressure,
• some entering with the exhaust steam due to there having been
some air in solution in the feed water.
 Air in surface condensee
The additional air in the condenser tends to
increase air blanketing of the tubes, i.e. the air
film surrounding a tube becomes thicker. Since
air is one of the worst heat conductors, even a
very slight increase in the thickness of the air
film significantly increases the resistance to
heat flow from steam to water, hence the
overall rate of heat transmission Κ diminishes.
Now the condenser heat load = KS6m , and the
condenser surface S is constant, hence the heat
load can be maintained only if 6m increases.