Fundamentals of Air Cooled Steam Condensers

After Coal, Water to hit Indias Power Sector Is there

enough water to fuel Indias power expansion?
Avoid Usage of More Water and Conserve Water ..
P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
I I T Delhi
Introductory Remarks
The production of electricity requires a reliable, abundant,
and predictable source of freshwater.
A resource that is limited throughout the world.
The process of power generation from fossil fuels such as
coal, oil, and natural gas is water intensive.
In a country where hardly any city gets 24-hour supply of
drinking water
The per capita water availability is shrinking at an
incredible pace ..
Water levels of Indias dams are falling to record lows ..
Agriculture draws approximately 90% of domestic water ..
It is inevitable that India will be water stressed not in the
medium term but in the immediate short term.
The Scarcity of Water
With the present population of over 1,200 million, the per
capita water availability is around 1.170 m
3
/person/year.
This translates to 1170 litres/person/per year or less than 3
litres per day per person.
The urban area consumption is in upwards of 100-150
litres per day.
The Water Requirement
The water requirement for coal based plant with cooling tower
used to be about 7 m
3
/h per MW without ash water recirculation
and 5 m
3
/h per MW with ash water recirculation.
In recent past, plants have been designed with water
consumption requirement in the range 3.5 - 4 m
3
/h per MW.
This is important for a country like India, which has about 16%
of the worlds population as compared to only 4 per cent of its
water resources.
An installed capacity of 130,370 MW of thermal power plants if
assumed running even at 75% PLF would consume over 30 bcm
of water.
Water Withdrawal in Cooling Towers
Coal Power Plants
Water Withdrawal in Cooling Towers
Water consumption Vs Power Generation Technology
Alternative Cooling Systems
Direct Dry Cooling Systems.
Indirect Dry Cooling Systems.
Hybrid Cooling Systems.
Direct Dry Cooling Systems.
Indirect Dry Cooling Systems.
Hybrid Cooling System
Air Cooled Steam Condensers
Air Cooled Condensers Types
Natural Convection: Occurs when a heater with a reduction of
dense fluid is pressed left by a cooler denser fluid.
Forced Convection: Occurs when an outer force pushes a fluid,
such the same as water of air, to create it move about and transfer
heat.
Geometrical Designs
The nearly all accepted style of Air Cooled Condenser is the
modularized ('A' frame structured design), used on industries and
power plants of all sizes.
The 'A' frame structured designs are mostly used in the power
plants.
Coil Design : Advanced Smart Circuitry Coil Technology.
Natural Convection ACSC
Forced Convection ACSC
Mixed Convection ACSC
A Frame Mechanical Draught ACSC
Coil Type Mechanical Draught ACSC
World Market Evolution for large Power Plants with
ACSCs
Development of Design Conditions
The minimum amount of information required to establish
the simplest design point for an ACSC is:
Steam flow, W (tons/hr)
Turbine exhaust team quality, x (kg dry steam/kg turbine
exhaust flow)
Turbine backpressure, p
b
(mm Hga)
Ambient temperature, T
amb
(deg C)
Site elevation, (m---above sea level)
Site Characteristics
In addition to these basic quantities, the ACC design (and
cost) may be affected by a number of plant and site
characteristics which are listed below.
Site characteristics
Meteorology
Annual temperature duration curves
Prevailing wind speeds and directions
Extreme conditions (hottest day; freezing conditions)
Topography and obstructions
Nearby hills, valleys, etc.
Nearby structures, coal piles, etc.
Nearby heat sources---aux. coolers, plant vents, etc.
Other
Noise limitations
At ACSC
At some specified distance---neighbors, sanctuaries, etc.
Maximum height restrictions
Footprint constraints (length, width)
Location restrictions---distance from turbine exhaust
Basic Design Determination
Specification of the quantities and characteristics above are
sufficient to obtain a budget estimate from ACC
vendors.
Consider a case study to illustrate the considerations in
selecting an appropriate design point.
An ACC for installation at a 500 MW (nominal), gas-fired
combined-cycle plant located in an arid, desert region
selected the following design values:
Steam flow, W (tons/hr): 497.2
Quality, x (kg/kg) 0.95
Backpressure, p
b
(cm Hga) 10.16
Ambient temperature, Tamb (C) 27
Site elevation Sea level (p
amb
= 75.9968 cm Hga)
Number of Cells : Air-Cooled Steam Condenser
The number of cells (also referred to as modules) is
clearly an important part of the supplier data.
Obviously, the number of cells dictates the amount of
mechanical equipment (i.e. fans, motors, gear boxes).
Further, many current large-scale designs use components,
whose dimensions are optimized for shipping and erection.
For instance, use of 10 meter diameter fans and individual
tube bundle sections of approximately 11m and with 2.5m
bundle and 5 bundles per cell per side for a plan area of 11
m by 12.4 m per cell per side.
As a result, the number of cells often dictates a number of
features of the air-cooled condenser, including the
mechanical equipment as well as the amount of heat
transfer surface.
The total number of cells or modules is the sum of the
Primary and Secondary Modules.
The Primary Modules are responsible for the majority of
the heat transfer and condensing, while the Secondary
Cells are responsible for residual heat transfer and
condensables collection and evacuation
Number of Primary Modules The number of Primary
Modules is typically about 80 percent of the total number of
modules.
Length of Primary Modules - The length of the primary
modules is typically on the order of 10-13 m for a Single Row
Condenser type system.
Number Of Secondary Modules The number of Secondary
Modules is typically about 20 percent of the total number of
modules and there is typically one module per row (or street).
Length of the Secondary Modules these modules are
typically shorter than the primaries by about 1 1.5 m.
Primary Module Dimensions (Width) must be greater
than the fan diameter and typically run on the order of 15-25
percent larger than the fan diameter.
Fan Characteristics Fan diameters for ACCs used on
most recent power plant applications are typically 10-12m.
The number of blades per fan will minimally be 5 but may
be as many as 8-10 depending upon the fan supplier and
the performance requirements.
Motor Characteristics Fan motor power must be equal
to that required by the fan shaft power divided by the
motor and gear box efficiencies.
Often a margin of 5-10 percent if provided, in addition to
service factor margins.
Thermo-hydraulic Specifications of ACSC
Overall Heat Transfer coefficient, U, (based on air-side
surface area)
Total Air-Side Surface Area, A
Total Mass Flow Rate of Air at Each Design Condition,
m
air
Fan Static Pressure (p
static
) or the total system pressure
drop.
Log Mean Temperature Difference (LMTD)
Steam Duct Pressure Drop
Heat Exchanger Bundle Pressure Drop (Steam Side)
Important Global Parameters
Thermal Duty It is important to verify that the thermal
duty solicited (i.e. the amount of heat to be rejected) is matched
or exceeded by the suppliers offering.
Heat transfer Area This is calculated knowing the total heat
transfer area of the tubes in the ACCs.
For a Single Row Condenser (SRC), the ratio of the airside
surface area and the total face area is approximately 124.
Outlet Air Temperature The outlet air temperature is
obviously less than the steam temperature and can be calculated
from the following equation.
Face Velocity of the Air - The face velocity of the air, can be
calculated from the mass of air flow rate, the air density, and the
total face area of the ACC.
Typical values will run from about 1m/s) to as much as 3 m/s)
with the average being about midway between those limits.
Fan Static Pressure - Fan Static Pressures will vary
depending upon whether the fan is a low-noise or more
standard design.
Fan Static Pressure, which in essence is the force required
to overcome the system resistance (with the required
design air flow rate), will run on the order of ~100 Pa +/-
20%) for a standard fan and system design.
Fan Shaft Power or Brake Horsepower - Depending
upon the fan static efficiency, one can calculate whether
the fan system will deliver the appropriate amount of air.
Power Requirements - Total fan power can be calculated
using the aforementioned information and assuming
nominal gear box efficiencies of ~97% and motor
efficiencies ~92-94%.
Operating characteristics of an air-cooled steam
condenser - I
Operating characteristics of an air-cooled steam
condenser - II
Operating characteristics of an air-cooled steam
condenser -III
Performance Impacts
Wind Effects :Prevailing ambient winds can be high (>10-
20 mph) at some sites, leading to:
Flow separation at the fan inlet and poor fan performance,
Recirculation of the hot exit air into the air inlet of the
ACC, and
mal-distribution of the air in the plenum and across the
heat exchange surfaces.
Local Interferences
The location of the ACSC is necessarily closer to heat
sources such as service water cooling systems, turbine
exhaust piping, etc. than evaporative cooling towers
typically are from the Plant.
The entrained air from adjacent sources is very likely to be
warmer than design or ambient conditions and therefore
the performance of the ACSC is negatively impacted.
ACSC Unit with 30 A frames
Streamline plot: Global flow field
Volumetric effectiveness of fans
Air inlet temperature of the fans in row 6, and the
wind in the x-direction
Volumetric effectiveness of ACSC
Thermal effectiveness of ACSC
Ambient temperature and wind effect on saturation
temperature of the turbine exhaust steam.
Ambient temperature and wind effect on turbine
back pressure
Distribution of dimensionless heat rejection rate under
different wind speeds (a) 0 m/s (b) 6 m/s (c) 15 m/s.
Schematic of the deflecting plates
Dimensionless total heat rejection versus wind speed
Identifying the Steam-Condenser Problem
A successful air-cooled steam condenser must continuously and
completely gather and discharge all of the noncondensables in the
system.
These are the gases that result from atmospheric air leaks into the
vacuum portions of the steam-cycle equipment, and from the
chemicals used for boiler feed water treatment.
The noncondensables are left behind inside the tubes and headers
when the steam condenses.
They accumulate if not removed from the system at the release
rate.
Such trapping of noncondensables is responsible for the steam
condenser problem.
Steam-condensing system ties in with turbine and
with air-removal package
Trapping of noncondensables causes the steam-
condenser problem
Backflow Problems