Energy and Power Engineering, 2013, 5, 566-569
doi:10.4236/epe.2013.54B108 Published Online July 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/epe)
The Condenser Performance Test and Thermal
Performance Analysis of Variable Conditions in TQNPC
Qingsen Zhao1, Debing Deng1, Yong Liu1, Wei Chen1, Jiayong Wang1, Jun Xiang2, Song Hu2
1The Mal Power Technology Center, Suzhou Nuclear Power Research Institute, Suzhou, China
2State Key Laboratory of Coal Combustion, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Received March, 2013
ABSTRACT
Condenser is one of the important auxiliary equipments in nuclear power plants. The thermal efficiency of the entire
unit was depended on the condenser performance. Cleanliness factor and condenser corrected pressure are the two most
important evaluation indexes. The definition and derivation of these two evaluation indexes were elaborated and clari-
fied in this paper. And the condenser performance at variable con ditions was analyzed. The seawater temperature, pipe
plugging rate and seawater volume rate effect on unit output was calculated. The calculation method was simple, which
can provide reference guidance for similar power plant.
Keywords: Condenser; Performance Test; Variable Condition; TQNPC
1. Introduction
Condenser is one of the important auxiliary equipments
in nuclear power plants. The thermal efficiency of the
entire unit was mostly depended on the condenser per-
formance.
The main factors affect the operation of the condenser
performance in the following areas, through the analysis
and comparison of the condenser performance impact
factors. For example: cooling water inlet temperature,
cooling water flow rate, condenser thermal load, cooling
tubes fouling, the amount of air leaking into the con-
denser, condenser cooling area. The cooling water inlet
temperature and the condenser heat transfer area were
depended entirely on the natural conditions and design
value. In general, condenser cooling area had sufficient
margin. The cooling water flow rate could meet the need
of the heat transfer in VWO condition, unless the circu-
lating pump and circulating water system failure. For the
operating condenser, the condenser thermal load, the
cooling tubes fouling and the amount of air leaking into
the condenser were the key factors to influence perform-
ance of condenser.
Cleanliness factor and condenser corrected pressure
are the two most important evaluation indexes. But the
definitions and calculation methods had some different
meaning, in this paper, the performance test data of
TQNPC was used to evaluate the condenser performance,
and to elaborate and clear these two definitions.
2. The Formulas
The thermal balance equation of condenser was:
21
(-)
ln(1/)
p
ww pm
QWcttWct KAt
KAt t



 (1)
and
2ww
tt t
1

 (2)
w2 w1
msw1
sw2
ln
tt
ttt
tt

 

(3)
2
s
w
tt t


 (4)
The condenser overall heat transfer coefficient K was
important parameter to description condenser perform-
ance, which combined a variety of factors effected con-
denser performance. In this paper, the international Heat
Transfer Society (HEI) formula was used, as follows
01
H
EIctm
KK



(5)
3. Condenser Cleanliness Coefficients
The condenser cleanliness coefficients was one of the
parameters to characterize the tube dirt degree, which
indicated that the ratio of heat transfer coefficient about
the old and the new tubes at the same flow rates and
steam temperature. The condenser cleanliness coefficient
was the average of all the cooling pipe cleanliness coef-
ficients [1].
Assuming the same operating conditions, the heat
transfer coefficient of the new cooling pipes was Kc, the

Q. S. ZHAO ET AL. 567
old cooling pipes of the heat transfer coefficient was Kf,
so cleanliness coefficient as follows[2]:
/
f
f
CKKc (6)
Hu Honghua [3] proposed another algorithm of Cf, as
follows.
T
f
D
HEI
K
Cf C
K
 (7)
CfD was the selected cleanliness coefficient during the
calculation of KHEI according the HEI standard [4].
In addition, the reference [5] proposed the following
cleaning coefficient calculation method.
c0tm
K
K



 (8)
βC was cleanliness coefficient, K0 was heat transfer coef-
ficient, βt was the cooling water inlet temperature correc-
tion factor, βm was Pipe material and tube wall thickness
correction factor.
These cooling pipe cleaning coefficient formulas
seemed contradict, their relationship was as follows.
Kf and Kc in formula 6 was heat transfer coefficients of
fouling pipes and new pipes，respectively. But they were
measured by the fouling resistance test. In formula 7, the
author proposed that the cleanliness coefficient was the
ratio of test transfer coefficient and KHEI, and was cor-
rected with CfD. In formula 8, the expression of cleanli-
ness coefficient was different with formula 7, it was de-
duced by formula 6, and corrected CfD was eliminated.
So formulas 7 and 8, actually were a calculation method.
The formula 6 and 7 and 8, although the same physical
meaning, but has a completely different calculation and
methods of expression.
Reference [4] lists various components test data which
impacted the heat transfer coefficient. These experimen-
tal data had proven to be more accurately. In China we
also refer to these data in national standard. Therefore,
these test data was used to judge the condenser cleanli-
ness coefficient.
The following equations were obtained by fitting these
test data in HEI standard.
2
01260.7 1609.63162.88
K
V V
1
t
h
1 1
(9)
2
11
0.6383 0.022980.00029
tt
   (10)
2
1.05573 0.22650.03104
mh
  (11)
The equation 12 was obtained by the differentiation of
equation 4.
1
01
0
01
(1609.632 162.88 )
( 0.226520.03104 )
(0.0229820.00029 )
ct h
ct
ch
th c
K
VV
K
hh
K
tt
K





 
 
 

(12)
Then we calculated the condenser performance of
TQNPC using the equation 12 and test data. The results
were shown in Table 1.
We can get the values of the pipes cleanliness using
the above equations, and we can also get the amount of
influence of factors on heat transfer coefficient. The
condenser cleanliness coefficient was 0.82 in PT-01,
which reduced the rate of 3.12% compared with the de-
sign value. In PT-02 the condenser cleanliness coeffi-
cient was dropped to 0.77, which reduced the rate of
10.23% compared with the design value.
4. The Condenser Correction Pressure
We can get the following conclusions according to the
condenser heat transfer equation in HEI standard [4]. The
higher the cooling temperature, the higher the heat trans-
fer coefficient; larger the cycle water volume flow, the
higher the heat transfer coefficient. In the same, the
cleaner the cooling water pipes, the higher the heat
transfer coefficient, and vice versa.
The cooling water temperature was not likely to be
exactly the design value (eg. 20℃) when the condenser
performance test carried on. Neither was the cooling wa-
ter volume flow.
The heat transfer coefficient correction equation was
as follows:
ctvtc
K
KFFF

(13)
D
v
T
V
FV  (14)
Table 1. The calculation of condenser cleanliness coefficient.
Parameters Unit
Design
value PT-01 PT-02
Pipe diameter mm 25.4 25.425.4
Wall thickness mm 0.65 0.650.65
seawater flow rate m/s 1.97 2.021.98
Inlet Water temperature ℃ 18.8 18.814.9
Outlet Water temperature ℃ 27.8 27.523.8
Cleanliness coeffici e n t 0.85 0.820.77
Heat transfer coefficient kW/(m2·℃) 2880 28252483
Total changes of heat
transfer coefficient kW/(m2·℃) -54.7-396.6
Influence of flow rate kW/(m2·℃) 34.78.2
Influence of wall thickness kW/(m2·℃) 0 0
Influence of water
temperature kW/(m2·℃) -1.2-150.8
Influence of fouling kW/(m2·℃) -89.5-252.9
The ratio of test cleanliness
coefficient and design value% 3.1 10.2

Q. S. ZHAO ET AL.
568
1
tD
t
T
F


 (15)
f
D
cD
c
cT fT
C
FC


 (16)
In the above equations, Kc was the corrected heat
transfer coefficient, Fc was flow rate corrected factor，Ft
was water temperature corrected factor, and Fc was cor-
rected factor of cleanliness coefficient.
The corrected condenser pressure of TQNPC was cal-
culated though the above equations. The results were
shown in Table 2. It can be seen that the corrected pres-
sure was 4.91kPa, which was larger than the design value
4.90 kPa. It indicated than the condenser performance
was worse than the design value.
5. Condenser Thermal Performance
Analyses of Variable Conditions
The steam condensation temperature ts were decided by
equation 17 in operating condition. The saturation pres-
sure corresponding to the steam condensation tempera-
ture was condenser pressure.
1s
tttt

 (17)
The condenser pressure curve under different sea wa-
ter temperature can be obtained using the above equation
1,2,3,4, 17 and through iterative calculation, as shown in
Figure 1.
It can be seen than at the same condenser heat transfer
area, structure form, heat load, cooling water volume
flow, vacuum tightness and cooling pipe cleanliness co-
efficient, the cooling water inlet temperature rise, then
the condenser pressure increases. As the temperature
increases continually, the condenser pressure increases
faster and faster.
According to the operating parameters of seawater
temperature, seawater volume flow and condenser design
data, we can also get the relation curve of condenser
pressure and unit output with the cooling pipes plugging
rate using the above equations. The results were shown
in Figures 2 and 3.
Table 2. The results of condenser corrected pressure.
Parameter Unit
Design
value PT-01 PT-02
Condenser heat load kW 1328146 1340349.91338410.7
Condenser pressure kPa 4.90 4.89 4.20
Inlet water temperature ℃ 18.8 18.8 14.9
Outlet water temperature ℃ 27.8 27.5 23.8
Sea water volume flow m3/s 36.13 37.48 36.80
Cleanliness coefficien t 0.85 0.82 0.77
Corrected saturated water
temperature ℃ 32.58 32.56
Corrected condenser pressure kPa 4.91 4.91
10 15 20 25 30
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
condenser pressure(kPa)
seawater temperature(℃)
Figure 1. Condenser pressure curve under different sea-
water temperature.
0% 0.5% 1% 1.5% 2% 2.5%
3.70
3.71
3.72
3.73
3.74
3.75
condenser pressure(kPa)
pipe plugging rate(%)
Figure 2. The condenser pressure under different pipe
plugging rate.
0 0.5%1%1.5%2%2.5%
-0.15
-0.10
-0.05
0.00
change of unit output(?
pipe plugging rate(%)
Figure 3. The unit output under different pipe plugging rate.
From the Figures 2 and 3, it can be seen that the cor-
rected condenser pressure was 4.93 kPa when the pipe
plugging rate was 2%. It can be concluded that there was
no obvious impact on the unit output when the pipe
plugging rate was low.

Q. S. ZHAO ET AL.
569
design flow test flow5%10%15%20%
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
change of unit output(%)
change of seawater volume flow(%)
Figure 4. The unit output under different seawater volume
flow.
The seawater volume flow at test conditions was larger
than design values. So the impact of seawater volume
flow on unit power was also analyzed. The calculation
results were shown in Figure 4.
The seawater mass flow was 39441.2 kg/s, which was
6.5% larger than the design value 36833.5 kg /s. Ac cord-
ing to the slight increase of output method [6,7], if the
seawater mass flow decrease to design value, the unit
output decrease 1.7 MW. If the seawater flow increase
10%, and the unit output can improved 1.9 MW.
Based on the seawater pump curve and the pump
power, it calculated that the pump power could save
380.7 kW, but the unit output decrease 1.7 MW, so the
unit economic efficiency at test condition was better than
the design volume flow.
6. Conclusions
Condenser is one of the important auxiliary equipments
in nuclear power plants. The thermal efficiency of the
entire unit was mostly depended on the condenser per-
formance. Cleanliness factor and condenser corrected
pressure are the two most important evaluation indexes.
The definition and derivation of these two evaluation
indexes were elaborated and clarified in this paper. And
the condenser performance at variable conditions was
analyzed. The seawater temperature, pipe plugging rate
and seawater volume rate effect on unit output were cal-
culated. The calculation method was simple, which could
provide reference guidance for similar power plant.
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