Air Cooled Condenser retrofit

<we are oky to live with the lower efficiency due to back pressure and we have land space available. Will the turbine operate on its rated load without altering steam parameters . will the steam turbin ehave any mechanical or thermal limitation?>

• You agreed to living with lowered efficiency.
• You can maintain 'status quo ante'(ALMOST) if you spread out the aircooled surface Condenser.
• Limitations Mechanical and Thermal? :But you retained 'status quo ante'. So apart from a couple of% derating -nothing would have changed. So no Limitation.

mm

Air cooled condensers and Air Cooling Towers for water have been designed and are used throughout the world for your situation.Very small to huge are in operation.Power availability,cost,people,conditions,capacity,climate,mechanical and chemical needs must all be considered.I worked and mechanically maintained both types in our plant for over 30 years.

Unless you are a large operation,you should be able to buy a unit and have it installed or find/buy the prints to build your own.Alfred

The answer is in the question. By downrating the condenser, the output from the turbine will be lower, as the exhaust conditions are higher.

A lot of machines are able to operate with back pressure at or above atmospheric without any problem other than the expected loss of HP for the increased back pressure.

I cannot tell you if there is a possibility of mechanical problems without a good bit more information about the machine or a look at the manufacturer's data. The manufacturer of the machine is who I would go to for this question. They will know the capabilities of their machine and know how far you can operate outside of rated conditions without damaging something.

If you are able to maintain the rated vacuum at full load there will be no problem.

If the vacuum is compromised/back pressure is allowed to rise because of a less effective condenser there will be less KW/horsepower developed because of the loss of pressure differential. There will also be more heating of the exhaust end of the turbine.

You may run into problems with pressure limitations or temperature limitations if the exhaust pressure is allowed to rise above rated conditions.

You may be able to get some information from the people who have worked on the machine before if the manufacturer is unavailable for some reason.

You may even have to pay a small fee for an engineering study to determine whether there is any problem with your planned change.

Do yourself a big favor and find out from someone who will stand behind their answer. The information you get here is worth, perhaps as much as you paid for it, perhaps less.