Performance Analysis of Surface Condenser in 525MW Thermal Power Plant

Abstract

Abstract-This paper presents off design performance evaluation and calculation methodology of a surface type condenser. Best condenser pressure which can be achieved in actual off design conditions has been evaluated by real time parameters. Condenser performance study has been carried out for cooling water flow, cooling water inlet temperature, and for air ingress/dirty tubes. This method can be proved useful in the case where no curve regarding variation of condenser back pressure verses cooling water inlet temperature is available. All data for performance has been collected and evaluated from a 525MW operating unit of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.Keyword -Surface Condenser; Heat Transfer; Steam Condenser; Heat Load; Condenser performance; Power Plant I. INTRODUCTION This paper is based on performance analysis of condenser in a 525MW thermal power plant. A thermal power plant consists of five major components -(1) boiler, (2) steam turbines -high pressure turbine, intermediate pressure turbine and low pressure turbine, (3) condenser, (4) feed water pumps -condensate extraction pumps and boiler feed pumps, (5) feed water heaters -one feed water heater (steam bled from high pressure turbine exhaust), one feed water heater (steam bled from intermediate pressure turbine) and three feed water heater for which steam is bled from low pressure turbine [1]. In boiler, constant pressure heating of feed water takes place in economizer, evaporator and in superheater. Superheated steam then goes to high pressure turbine, expands to produce work. Some part of steam is extracted here for feed water heating process. Steam then is reheated to high temperature and enters in intermediate pressure turbine. Some steam is again bled for regeneration process. Steam then enters in low pressure turbine where again some portion of steam is extracted for feed water heating process. After passing through the low pressure turbine, steam goes to condenser where this steam converts into saturated water. Low pressure feed water pumps (condensate extraction pumps) pump condensate water to the low pressure heaters where this condensate water gets some heat from extracted steam. After low pressure heaters, condensate water goes to Deaerator and then with the help of high pressure feed water pumps (boiler feed pumps) feed water enters the boiler via high pressure heaters. And this way whole cycle repeats itself. Condenser is an essential component in thermal power plant. It is a type of heat exchanger in which steam undergoes phase change by giving latent heat and converts into water. In turn coolant water gains sensible heat. As specific volume of steam is more than that of specific volume of condensed water. A vacuum (negative pressure) develops in shell side of condenser which extracts more steam from low pressure turbine exhaust and thus creates a self suction natural phenomenon. Condenser reduces the turbine exhaust pressure so as to increase the specific output of turbine. Vikram Haldkar, Abhay kumar sharma, R.K Ranjan, and V.K Bajpai...

Adverse Effects of Condenser Cooling Seawater Temperature, Fouling, and Salinity on the Output Power and Thermal Efficiency of BWR NNPs

“…( 6) Fixed total surface area of condenser tubes and material properties. (7) There is no pressure drop across the condenser. (8) Constant condenser heat transfer area and heat load.…”

“…Reference [6] investigated, by a thermodynamic model, the impact of flow rate, temperature and velocity of the cooling water on the heat transfer and condenser effectiveness, for a coal fired plant, and found that 1 °C increase in the inlet temperature of cooling water leads to deviation of the condenser pressure by 0.59 kPa, which reduces the cycle heat transfer rate by 0.36% and the unit generation by 33 MW. An experimental work on the performance of a steam condenser in a 600 MW thermal PP depicted that the plant efficiency increased from 38.83% to 39.45% by reducing the condenser pressure to 65.21 bar [7] . A research on the effect of the condenser [8] .…”

Quantification of Nucleation Site Density as a Function of Surface Wettability on Smooth Surfaces

“…[ 3,13–15 ] The efficiency of atmospheric water collection (as well as the efficiency of processes of industrial relevance, such as heat transfer in cooling towers) depends on the ability of a surface to first nucleate water droplets at a high rate, and shed those droplets at low volumes, so they can be collected. [ 16–19 ]…”

“…[3,[13][14][15] The efficiency of atmospheric water collection (as well as the efficiency of processes of industrial relevance, such as heat transfer in cooling towers) depends on the ability of a surface to first nucleate water droplets at a high rate, and shed those droplets at low volumes, so they can be collected. [16][17][18][19] Classical nucleation theory teaches that the free energy barrier for nucleation ΔG is lower for ideal planar surfaces that are highly wettable by water (low water contact angle), and can be estimated by the following equation [20]…”

Performance Analysis of a Large-Scale Steam Condenser Used in a Steam Power Plant

“…Steam condenser efficiency, amount of heat transfer, vacuum pressure inside the chamber, and the performance and energy generation of the LP part of the steam turbine are assessed. Masiwal et al [11] presented off-design performance evaluation and calculation methodology of a surface type condenser. Condenser performance study has been carried out for cooling water flow, cooling water inlet temperature, and air ingress/dirty tubes.…”