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Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

(OP)
Anyone have any ideas besides our friends from Graham??

RE: Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

What is it you are actually looking for, is it a direct contact condenser or a surface condenser.

You could try Croll Reynolds or Schutte & Koerting or in the case of a surface condenser have someone do you a calculation and TEMA sheet and have an ASME code shop build you one.

I am assuming you are USA based, if not then there are lots of options depending where in the world you are

RE: Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

(OP)
Surface condenser....

We need someone to rate the HXs and frabricate them. Commerical software are not reliable for these low pressures....

pressures as low as 0.15 kpa abs

RE: Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

HEI has a software for surface condensers for steam for not much cost.  I think I remember it being like $65.00.  I have used it extensively for steam and it is very reliable.

For other condensables, I have no suggestion.

You can do the googling on HEI.

rmw

RE: Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

Espnloser,

The real answer to your question depends on the scale of the condenser.  If you are talking about a small vacuum condenser, there are many good custom designed exchanger manufacturers who can to the job.  Most of them use B-Jac for their ratings.

However, if you are looking at a large-scale surface condenser, as one would use in a power plant witn a steam turbine, then you are limited to just a few manufacturers who have the capability of building large shells and drilling large diameter tubesheets.  By Large, I mean 8 feet in diameter or larger.

Regards,

Speco (www.stoneprocess.com)

RE: Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

(OP)
The vacuum condenser is for the petrochemical industry and process fluid is mostly styrene and not steam.

We use HTRI to rate shell and tube HXs but at these low pressures, the software is not reliable. On their website Graham states that below 50 torrs commerical software is not reliable. Correspondence from HTRI suggests that there measured data is only to certain pressure (around 4 kPa abs ). Our operating pressure is much lower.  

And I have no idea the size of these condensers. I cannot accurately size them. Pressure drop is very important here and if we oversize them (thus increasing dp)we will be in hot water.

I rememeber in school a HT professor said that all these correlations are good for operating conditions in the middle of the pack but once you reach the end points they are questionable.

thanks

RE: Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

One of the people who have delt with your type HX is Yuba.
It's been several years since I've been involved with them, but I assume they haven't lost any of their expertise.
I've seen references to them by several members hopefully one of them like metengr will jump in.

 
http://www.yuba.com/index.html

RE: Need help for Vacuum Condenser Vendors?

If I am wrong about this I am sure my peers will correct me, but it is my belief that B-Jack is an excellent Hx rating program,  and many use it for condensing applications and it works for them, but it is not a condenser rating program.

Condensers normally have to deal with the removal of non-condensables and that is a different animal than the run of the mill shell and tube Hx.  It requires special non condensable off take sections that run of the mill Hx's don't have.  

Be careful with this.

rmw

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