Design of Condensers/Condensing Zones

P M V Subbarao
Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
I I T Delhi
HP CFWH
HP CFWH No. 8
Thermodynamic Layout of HP Closed Feed
Water Heater
Desuperheater
Condensing Shell
Drain Cooler
HP Turbine
TRAP
T
bi
, p
bi
, T
bsi

T
fi+1
T
fi


DS
TTD
Feedwater heater with Drain cooler and Desuperheater
-TTD=Terminal
temperature difference
C=Condenser
DC=Drain cooler
DS=Desuperheater
Bled steam
T
L
DC
C
Condensate
C DC
Feed Water in
DS
Bleed Steam
Feed Water out
Number of Tubes
The flow rate inside the tube is a function of the density of the
fluid, the velocity of the fluid, cross-sectional flow area of the
tube, and the number of tubes.
By using above Eq. and replacing A
c
by td
i
2
/4, number of tubes
can be calculated as
2
i t t
tube
t
d u
m
N
t

=
t c t t tube
N A u m =

where d
i
is the tube inside diameter.
Tubes in Shell and Tube Hx
The number and size of tubes in an exchanger depends on the
Fluid flow rates
Available pressure drop.
The number and size of tubes is selected such that the
Tube side velocity for water and similar liquids ranges from
0.9 to 2.4 m/s.
Shell-side velocity from 0.6 to 1.5 m/s.
The lower velocity limit corresponds to limiting the fouling,
and the
upper velocity limit corresponds to limiting the rate of
erosion.
When sand and silt are present, the velocity is kept high
enough to prevent settling.

Tube-Side Nusselt Number
For turbulent flow, the following equation developed by Petukhov-
Kirillov is used:
{ }
( ) | |
2
3
2
2
1
28 . 3 Re ln 58 . 1
1 Pr
2
7 . 12 07 . 1
Pr Re
2

|
.
|

\
|
+
=
t
t
t t
tube
f Where
f
f
Nu
Properties are evaluated at mean bulk temperature and constants
are adjusted to fit experimental data.
Validity range: 10
4
< Re
t
< 5 x 10
6
and 0.5 < Pr
t
< 2000 with
10% error.

For laminar flow, the Sieder and Tate correlation is be used.
3
1
Pr Re
86 . 1
(

=
L
d
Nu
i t t
tube
is applicable for 0.48 < Pr
t
< 16700 and (Re
t
Pr
t
d
i
/L)
1/3
> 2.
The heat transfer coefficient for the tube-side is expressed as
follows:
i
t
t t
d
k
Nu h =
Shell-diameter
2
4
S
tube pro t
shell
D
CTP
A N
A
t
= =

2
T tube pro
P CL A =

HP Closed Feed Water Heater

Condensate Loading
This can be used to calculate a Reynolds number
Perimeter
condensate of flow Mass
= I
tubes. al for vertic
0
d
m
condensate
t

= I
tubes. horiontal for
tube
condensate
L
m

= I
film
on condensati

I
=
4
Re
General values of condensate loading for horizontal tubes:
0.01 to 0.05 kg/m.s
Flow is considered laminar if this Reynolds number is less than 1800.
The driving force for condensation is the temperature difference
between the cold wall surface and the bulk temperature of the saturated
vapor

The viscosity and most other properties used in the condensing
correlations are evaluated at the film temperature, a weighted mean of
the cold surface (wall) temperature and the (hot) vapor saturation
temperature
surface vapour wall sat driving
T T T T T ~ = A
( )
4
3
4
3
driving
sat wall saturation sat film
T
T T T T T
A
= =
Onset of Turbulence & Turbulent Film Condensation
The transition film Reynolds number for the tube bundle is
adapted from a vertical plate turbulent transition criterion of
1600 (but also values of 1200, 1800 and 2000 have been
proposed).
Thus, the film will become turbulent on the tube bundle at Re

equal to 1600 and thus when Re

> 1600 the following

expression should be used.
The flow is nearly always laminar on single tube because of
the short cooling length around the perimeter

Wall Temperatures
It is often necessary to calculate the wall temperature by an
iterative approach.
The summarized procedure is:
1. Assume a film temperature, T
f

2. Evaluate the fluid properties (viscosity, density, etc.) at this
temperature
3. Use the properties to calculate a condensing heat transfer
coefficient (using the correlations to be presented)
4. Calculate the wall temperature. The relationship will
typically be something like





( )
coolant sat
o o
sat wall
T T
A h
UA
T T

=
1
1
5. Use the wall temperature to calculate a film temperature
6. Compare the calculated film temperature to that from the
initial step. If not equal, reevaluate the properties and repeat.
Laminar Flow Outside Horizontal Tubes
When vapor condenses on the surface of horizontal tubes, the flow is
almost always laminar.
The flow path is too short for turbulence to develop. Again, there are two
forms of the same relationship:
The constant in the second form varies from 0.725 to 0.729.
The rippling condition (add 20%) is suggested for condensate Reynolds
Numbers greater than 40.
( )
3
1
2
3
3
Re
51 . 1

=
f
v f f f
on condensati
cond
g k
h

( )
4
1
0
3
725 . 0

A

=
d T
gh k
h
driving f
fg v f f f
cond

Condenser tubes are typically arranged in banks, so that the
condensate which falls off one tube will typically fall onto a tube
below.
The bottom tubes in a stack thus have thicker liquid films and
consequently poorer heat transfer.
The correlation is adjusted by a factor for the number of tubes,
becoming for the N
th
tube in the stack
( )
4
4
1
0
3
725 . 0
N
h
d T N
gh k
h
top
driving f
fg v f f f
cond
=

A

=

The heat transfer coefficient on the N
th
tube row
The heat transfer coefficient on the N
th
tube row in the bundle
h(N) is
( )
4
3
4
3
1
) 1 (
) (
= N N
h
N h
Kern (1958) concluded from his practice experience in
designing condensers that the Jakob tube row expression was
too conservative and that this resulted in condensers that were
consistently over-surfaced.
To improve his thermal designs, he replaced the exponent of (-
1/4) in the Nusselt expression with a value of (-1/6) so that
corresponding equations become
) 1 (
) (
h
N h
N
Condensation on Horizontal Bundles: Prediction of
Heat Transfer Coefficient in Nth Tube Row
Falling Film Condensation on Horizontal Tubes
Falling-film heat exchangers are attractive because they
provide good heat transfer performance and low working-fluid
inventories.
The design of falling-film heat exchangers has been largely
based on empirical data.
A thorough understanding of the falling-film flow and heat
transfer interactions is important.
An ability to predict the falling film mode would allow better
data correlation and improve the modeling and analysis of heat
transfer and fluid flow.
Modes of Condensation on Tube Bundle
The droplet
mode
The jet mode The sheet mode
Flow Rate Vs Mode of Falling Film
Condensation on Horizontal Tube Bundles : Flow Map
Hu and Jacobi (1996) proposed flow mode transition equations
with Re

versus Ga+ (film Reynolds number vs. the Galileo

number) for the following principal flow modes: sheet flow,
column flow and droplet flow.
The mixed mode transition zones of column-sheet and droplet-
column were also considered as regimes, bringing the total to five.
Hence, they presented four flow transition expressions (valid for
passing through the transitions in either direction and hence the
symbol ):
Range of Validity of Model
Flow Transition Map
Identification Condensation Mode
Final Correlation
Onset of Turbulence & Turbulent Film Condensation
The transition film Reynolds number for the tube bundle is
adapted from a vertical plate turbulent transition criterion of
1600 (but also values of 1200, 1800 and 2000 have been
proposed).
Thus, the film will become turbulent on the tube bundle at Re

equal to 1600 and thus when Re

> 1600 the following

expression should be used.
Condensation on Horizontal Tube Bundles :
Turbulent Flow
Turbulent flow of the condensate film may be reached in a
condenser, which significantly increases heat transfer.
Comparatively little has been published on turbulent film
condensation on tube bundles compared to the information
available for laminar films.
Butterworth (1983) recommends adapting the Labuntsov
expression for turbulent film condensation on a horizontal
tubes for predicting local turbulent film condensation on the
N
th
tube row in horizontal tube bundles
h
Overall Heat Transfer Coefficient for the Heat
Exchanger
The overall heat transfer coefficient for clean surface (U
c
) is
given by
Considering the total fouling resistance, the heat transfer
coefficient for fouled surface (U
f
) can be calculated from the
following expression:
Outlet Temperature Calculation and Length of
the Heat Exchanger
The outlet temperature for the fluid flowing through the tube
is
The surface area of the heat exchanger for the fouled condition is :
and for the clean condition
where the LMTD is always for the counter flow.
The over surface design (OS) can be calculated from :
The length of the heat exchanger is calculated by
Wall Temperatures
It is often necessary to calculate the wall temperature by an
iterative approach.
The summarized procedure is:
1. Assume a film temperature, T
f

2. Evaluate the fluid properties (viscosity, density, etc.) at this
temperature
3. Use the properties to calculate a condensing heat transfer
coefficient (using the correlations to be presented)
4. Calculate the wall temperature. The relationship will
typically be something like





( )
coolant sat
o o
sat wall
T T
A h
UA
T T

=
1
1
5. Use the wall temperature to calculate a film temperature
6. Compare the calculated film temperature to that from the
initial step. If not equal, reevaluate the properties and repeat.
The heat transfer coefficient on the N
th
tube row
The heat transfer coefficient on the N
th
tube row in the bundle
h(N) is
( )
4
3
4
3
1
) 1 (
) (
= N N
h
N h
Kern (1958) concluded from his practice experience in
designing condensers that the Jakob tube row expression was
too conservative and that this resulted in condensers that were
consistently over-surfaced.
To improve his thermal designs, he replaced the exponent of (-
1/4) in the Nusselt expression with a value of (-1/6) so that
corresponding equations become
) 1 (
) (
h
N h
N
Condensation on Horizontal Bundles: Prediction of
Heat Transfer Coefficient in Nth Tube Row