Air-cooled steam condenser with improved second stage condenser
AssigneeEvapco, Inc.
InventorsJean-Pierre Libert, Mark Huber
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Large scale field erected air cooled industrial steam condenser having heat exchanger panels with primary and secondary condenser sections, in which the secondary condenser section comprises 10% or less of the total heat exchanger, and in which the tubes of the primary condenser sections have narrowed outlet orifices having an area that is 50% or less than the cross-sectional area of a corresponding tube. The invention permits the reduction of secondary condenser tubes while reducing the outlet header pressure sufficiently to minimize backflow, sweep non-condensables and prevent the formation of dead zones.
Claims9
A large scale field erected air cooled industrial steam condenser connected to an industrial steam producing facility, comprising:
- a condenser street comprising a row of condenser modules, each condenser module comprising a plenum section having a single fan or multiple fans drawing air through a plurality of heat exchanger panels supported in a heat exchanger section, and each heat exchanger panel having a longitudinal axis and a transverse axis perpendicular to its longitudinal axis;
- each heat exchanger panel comprising a plurality of tubes, a top bonnet connected to and in fluid communication with a top end of each of said plurality of tubes, a bottom bonnet connected to and in fluid communication with a bottom end of at least a subset of said plurality of tubes, said bottom bonnet having a single steam inlet;
- said condenser street further comprising a steam distribution manifold beneath said heat exchanger section and arranged along an axis that is perpendicular to longitudinal axes of said heat exchanger panels at midpoints of said heat exchanger panels and extending a length of said condenser street beneath said plurality of heat exchanger panels, said steam distribution manifold having at its top surface a plurality of connections, each of said plurality of connections adapted to connect to one or more of said single steam inlets;
- wherein each heat exchanger panel comprises a primary condenser section, a secondary condenser section, and a top bonnet connected to and in fluid communication with a top end of each tube in said secondary condenser section and said primary condenser section, and each said top end of each said tube in said primary condenser section comprises an outlet flow orifice having a narrower area than a cross-sectional area of a corresponding each said tube in said primary condenser section, said bottom bonnet connected to and in fluid communication with a bottom end of each tube in said primary condenser section, each heat exchange panel further comprising an internal secondary chamber inside the bottom bonnet connected to and in fluid communication with a bottom end of each tube in said secondary condenser section.
A method for reducing an amount of secondary condenser tubes in an ACC while reducing the outlet header pressure to minimize backflow, sweep non-condensable gases and prevent the formation of dead zones in primary condenser tubes, comprising using primary condenser tubes each having an outlet orifice having an area that is 50% or less of the cross-sectional area of a corresponding primary condenser tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.