Effect of Uneven Cooling on Performance of Air-Cooled Condenser

Scientific Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Physics - Thermodynamics course: Heat transfer engineering language: English abstract: Air-cooled condensers (ACC) operating in vacuum are widely used at the cold end of contemporary thermal power plants. Proper functioning of the condenser is paramount for power plant efficiency. To adapt to changing process conditions because of changed ambient air temperature or power station load ACC streets are either taken out of or into service or module fan speed settings are selected appropriately. Even if all fans are running at same speed local variations of cooling air flow may arise as a consequence of e.g. fan location or local wind impact. The designer must ensure that no negative effect (i.e. no cold spot) may evolve at the steam side of the ACC caused by uneven air side cooling or fan control. The following note describes a theoretical method to assess the effect of air flow variations on ACC performance and provides simple rules to avoid potentially risky situations. An important role for safe operation plays the size of the secondary condenser. The procedure may be used as a guideline for proper sizing of the secondary condenser with respect to airflow maldistribution.