What is the work of condenser in thermal power plant?

In thermal power plants, the purpose of a surface condenser is to condense the exhaust steam from a steam turbine to obtain maximum efficiency, and also to convert the turbine exhaust steam into pure water (referred to as steam condensate) so that it may be reused in the steam generator or boiler as boiler feed water.

How does a condenser work?

A condenser is designed to transfer heat from a working fluid (e.g. water in a steam power plant) to a secondary fluid or the surrounding air. The condenser relies on the efficient heat transfer that occurs during phase changes, in this case during the condensation of a vapor into a liquid.

Which condenser is used in power plant?

A surface condenser or steam condenser is a water-cooled shell and tube heat exchanger used to condensate the exhaust steam from the steam turbine in thermal power stations: the steam is converted from gaseous to liquid state at a pressure level below atmospheric pressure.

What is condenser in thermal engineering?

Function of Condenser: The function of condensers in steam power plants is to maintain a low temperature. This is necessary to obtain the maximum thermal efficiency from a given plant. The lowest temperature attained depends upon the temperature of the circulating water which condenses the steam.

What is the function of condenser in thermal power plant Mcq?

Detailed Solution. The steam condenser is a device that converts the low-pressure exhaust steam from the turbine into water. In other words, Condenser condenses the steam which comes from the turbine into water at very low pressure. It does so with the help of cooling water circulated into it from the cooling tower.

Why do we need condenser?

A condenser is the necessary cooling step analog to the boiler. Without a condenser, the heat engine would only take in heat and output work. This cannot operate at steady-state. Eventually the steam in the cycle would get as hot as the boiler and no heat transfer could occur.

Why do we use condenser?

What is the temperature of condensate?

Significant fuel savings occur as most returned condensate is relatively hot (130°F to 225°F), reducing the amount of cold makeup water (50°F to 60°F) that must be heated. A simple calculation indicates that energy in the condensate can be more than 10% of the total steam energy content of a typical system.

Why is an air pump used in a condenser?

Air pump is a machine which is used in the condenser to remove condensate air from the condenser. Basically,Air pump creates a vacuum in the condenser as nearly as possible, corresponding to exhaust steam temperature. It is used in the condenser to remove both air and condensate from the condenser.

Why vacuum is used in condenser?

A vacuum is maintained in the condenser so that steam can easily flow and more work can be extracted from the steam in the turbine; this is the reason why vacuum is maintained in condensers. Therefore, some methods must exist to initially cause a vacuum to exist in the condenser.

What is condenser efficiency?

The thermal efficiency of a condenser is defined as the ratio of actual rise in temperature of cooling water to the maximum possible rise.

How is condensate formed?

Condensate is the liquid formed when steam passes from the vapor to the liquid state. In a heating process, condensate is the result of steam transferring a portion of its heat energy, known as latent heat, to the product, line, or equipment being heated.

How do you calculate condensate?

Calculate the total condensed liquid flow based on the heat load from the process reactor. This is determined by dividing the total heat removed by the system by the latent heat contained in the steam. The calculation is 30,000 / 794, which is 37.8 lb/hr of liquid condensate.

What is condenser unit?

The condenser unit is the workhorse of an air conditioning system. The condenser unit is essentially where the “magic” happens, cooling the refrigerant over and over to provide cool, fresh air.

Why air pump is used in condenser?

The main function which an air pump performs is that it maintains vacuum in the condenser as nearly as possible equal to that corresponding to the exhaust steam temperature by removing air from the condenser. It may also remove condensate together with air from the condenser.

What is the function of condenser in thermal power plant?

In a thermal powerpalnt, condensor is a device that is used to convert dry saturated stream in water. Further process is to condense this steam at CONSTANT PRESSURE to water. For this process condensors are used. Basically, it is a heat exchenger in which cooling of steam is carried out by the cooling water taken from reservoir like river or lake.

What is the working principle of a thermal power plant?

Thermal power station’s working principle is “Heat released by burning fuel which produces (working fluid) (steam) from water. Generated steam runs the turbine coupled to a generator which produces electrical energy in Thermal Power Plants.

How to increase the efficiency of the condenser in a plant?

An average improvement of the condenser vacuum by 0.35 inches Hg or 12 mBar (1.6 %) will improve the thermal efficiency of the plant by around 3 – 3.5%. This average efficiency or output increase could be realized if the condenser tubes would be kept clean continuously for constant optimal heat transfer efficiency.

What is a condenser in a steam turbine?

In general terms, Condenser is a device which dissipates the heat to sink. Lets consider a hypothetical condition to operate a cycle without condenser. So steam is formed in the boiler then subsequently it is passed through turbine to produce the work then again to the pump. this is how a cycle will generate shaft work.