Wetter (Ruhr) is a town in western Germany, in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the district of Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis. The river Ruhr flows through the urban area, separating the district of Alt-Wetter from the districts of Esborn, Volmarstein and Wengern. The cities of Dortmund and Bochum are within 20 minutes by road or rail.
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.
Tube cleaning describes the activity of, or device for, the cleaning and maintenance of fouled tubes.
Josef Taprogge was a turbine engineer in a power plant nearby Essen and was responsible for the cleaning of the turbine condenser tubes. Cleaning had to be performed while the turbine was out of operation, with the power station not being able to supply any electrical energy to the grid during the turbine outage. On the other hand, the careful elimination of fouling from inside of the tubing is important for a high vacuum in the condenser and thereby for the optimal efficiency of the energy generation through water vapour.
Essen is the central and second largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of 583,393 makes it the ninth largest city of Germany, as well as the fourth largest city of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. On the Ruhr and Emscher rivers, Essen geographically is part of the Rhineland and the larger Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Region. The Ruhrdeutsch regiolect spoken in the region has strong influences of both Low German (Westphalian) and Low Franconian.
A turbine is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced by a turbine can be used for generating electrical power when combined with a generator. A turbine is a turbomachine with at least one moving part called a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades so that they move and impart rotational energy to the rotor. Early turbine examples are windmills and waterwheels.
A power station, also referred to as a power plant or powerhouse and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Most power stations contain one or more generators, a rotating machine that converts mechanical power into three-phase electric power. The relative motion between a magnetic field and a conductor creates an electrical current. The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely. Most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to generate electricity. Cleaner sources include nuclear power, biogas and an increasing use of renewables such as solar, wind, wave and hydroelectric.
To avoid economic losses caused by shutdowns, Josef Taprogge invented a continuously working cleaning system which kept the condenser free from fouling during the operation of the steam turbine. A prototype was installed into the cooling water pipe leading to the condenser. During the time of the German Wirtschaftswunder, the process which was marketed and further developed by Taprogge GmbH was widespread and very well received in the power stations due to its efficiency. The efficiency of the power stations that are equipped with the systems increases by around 2 – 4%. The cleaning process became well known and the name "Taprogge System" has been used in the technical literature.
The term Wirtschaftswunder, also known as the Miracle on the Rhine, describes the rapid reconstruction and development of the economies of West Germany and Austria after World War II. The expression referring to this phenomenon was first used by The Times in 1950.
Tube cleaning systems
A typical assortment of cleaning balls
The patented process uses sponge rubber balls which are injected into the cooling water flow (1) before it enters into the condenser. The diameter of the cleaning balls is only slightly bigger than the nominal diameter of the condenser tubing. Due to their elasticity they generate a contact pressure on their way through the condenser tubes by which fouling is removed from the inner tube walls. At the condenser outlet a strainer (2) is installed in the connecting pipe which separates the balls from the water flow and feeds them into a DN 80 pipe. From there the balls are pumped back to their starting point by a 4kW impeller pump via a DN 80 pipe. To inject the balls into the cycle, a pressure vessel with detachable cover is installed downstream of the pump. This so-called collector (3b) is equipped with a screen and a flap. At open flap, the balls can pass and with closed flap they remain in the collector and can be replenished or exchanged. The process works continuously and the tubes remain free of mud, algae, bacteria and scaling. The operation of the system is monitored via sight glasses and electronicmeasuring instruments. The screen surfaces are arranged on shafts with pivoted bearings and can be turned on demand to have fouling removed by the water flow. In this process the balls are caught in the collector. This time-consuming procedure is automatized (3c), gear motors (M) operate the relevant actuators. The minal diameters of the screens have been adjusted to respond to the developments in power station technology and are produced in sizes from nominal diameter 150mm to 3600mm. The cleaning ball diameters range from 14 to 30mm and filling one collector normally requires several hundred of them. However, some cleaning systems can require well over a thousand cleaning balls. The lifetime of the cleaning balls which are produced of biodegradable natural rubber is around 4 weeks.
In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the center of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest chord of the circle. Both definitions are also valid for the diameter of a sphere.
In physics, elasticity is the ability of a body to resist a distorting influence and to return to its original size and shape when that influence or force is removed. Solid objects will deform when adequate forces are applied to them. If the material is elastic, the object will return to its initial shape and size when these forces are removed. Hooke's law states that the force should be proportional to the extension. The physical reasons for elastic behavior can be quite different for different materials. In metals, the atomic lattice changes size and shape when forces are applied. When forces are removed, the lattice goes back to the original lower energy state. For rubbers and other polymers, elasticity is caused by the stretching of polymer chains when forces are applied.
Pressure is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure is the pressure relative to the ambient pressure.
A specialized technology is the production of tube cleaning systems for seawaterdesalination plants. As the heated seawater called brine has a particularly corrosive effect, excellent corrosion resistant yet heat conducting materials (like Titanium) have to be used for such systems. Due to the large tube diameters in the evaporators, the cleaning balls have diameters of up to 45mm.
Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5%. This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately 35 grams (1.2 oz) of dissolved salts. Average density at the surface is 1.025 kg/L. Seawater is denser than both fresh water and pure water because the dissolved salts increase the mass by a larger proportion than the volume. The freezing point of seawater decreases as salt concentration increases. At typical salinity, it freezes at about −2 °C (28 °F). The coldest seawater ever recorded was in 2010, in a stream under an Antarctic glacier, and measured −2.6 °C (27.3 °F). Seawater pH is typically limited to a range between 7.5 and 8.4. However, there is no universally accepted reference pH-scale for seawater and the difference between measurements based on different reference scales may be up to 0.14 units.
Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in soil desalination, which is an issue for agriculture.
Brine is a high-concentration solution of salt in water. In different contexts, brine may refer to salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% up to about 26%. Lower levels of concentration are called by different names: fresh water, brackish water, and saline water.
Debris filtration systems
Backwash filter with large nominal diameter
In the 1970s, the product range was extended by backwash filters to protect the heat exchangers and condensers from macro fouling, like stones, pieces of wood, fibres, plastic sheeting, and mussels. Foreign matter will first settle on the filter surface. As fouling builds up, differential pressure between filter inlet and outlet increases and the filter has to be cleaned by backwashing. For this purpose an electrically driven rotor covers the filter surface which is connected with a pipe leading outside. Installed in this pipe is a valve that is opened during the backwash process. The accumulated fouling is drawn off and discharged via the pipe which, downstream of the condenser, leads to the main cooling water pipe or a debris container. This technology was spread in power stations and industrial plants the world over. Depending on the flow rates to be filtered, the filters are produced in nominal diameters from 150mm to DN 3200mm. The filter surface consists of stainless steel with punched holes. For difficult types of debris, filter surfaces of plastic or grids can be used. A further type produced by the company are fine filters with filtration degrees from 50 to 1000μm.
In marketing, a product is an object or system made available for consumer use; it is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy the desire or need of a customer. In retailing, products are often referred to as merchandise, and in manufacturing, products are bought as raw materials and then sold as finished goods. A service is also regarded to as a type of product.
A rock is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition and the way in which it is formed. Rocks are usually grouped into three main groups: igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks and sedimentary rocks. Rocks form the Earth's outer solid layer, the crust.
Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic material - a natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin that resists compression. Wood is sometimes defined as only the secondary xylem in the stems of trees, or it is defined more broadly to include the same type of tissue elsewhere such as in the roots of trees or shrubs. In a living tree it performs a support function, enabling woody plants to grow large or to stand up by themselves. It also conveys water and nutrients between the leaves, other growing tissues, and the roots. Wood may also refer to other plant materials with comparable properties, and to material engineered from wood, or wood chips or fiber.
Water intake systems
Airflushed intake filter called TAPIS
Since the late 1990s, Taprogge offers another filter system which retains fouling already at the intake into the cooling water system – in this way the entire system and the long cooling water pipes can be protected. The system called TAPIS (Taprogge Air Powered Intake System) is installed in the water at the cooling water pipe inlet in the form of a polyhedralhousing with plain filter surfaces. It is cleaned by pressurized air blast. In contrast to submarine rakes for seaborne matter, the stainless steel filter has no moving parts and masters biggest water flows. The filter surfaces are made of coated plastic provided with drilled holes.
Literature
Heat Exchanger Fouling, Fundamental Approaches and Technical Solutions; Editor: Prof.Dr.-Ing. Hans Mueller-Steinhagen ISBN3-934736-00-9.
Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) uses the temperature difference between cooler deep and warmer shallow or surface seawaters to run a heat engine and produce useful work, usually in the form of electricity. OTEC can operate with a very high capacity factor and so can operate in base load mode.
A heat exchanger is a system used to transfer heat between two or more fluids. Heat exchangers are used in both cooling and heating processes. The fluids may be separated by a solid wall to prevent mixing or they may be in direct contact. They are widely used in space heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, power stations, chemical plants, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, natural-gas processing, and sewage treatment. The classic example of a heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion engine in which a circulating fluid known as engine coolant flows through radiator coils and air flows past the coils, which cools the coolant and heats the incoming air. Another example is the heat sink, which is a passive heat exchanger that transfers the heat generated by an electronic or a mechanical device to a fluid medium, often air or a liquid coolant.
Condenser may refer to:
A heat pipe is a heat-transfer device that combines the principles of both thermal conductivity and phase transition to effectively transfer heat between two solid interfaces.
A cooling tower is a heat rejection device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and cool the working fluid to near the wet-bulb air temperature or, in the case of closed circuit dry cooling towers, rely solely on air to cool the working fluid to near the dry-bulb air temperature.
A solar thermal collector collects heat by absorbing sunlight. The term "solar collector" commonly refers to a device for solar hot water heating, but may refer to large power generating installations such as solar parabolic troughs and solar towers or non water heating devices such as solar air heaters.
A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid via a vapor-compression or absorption refrigeration cycle. This liquid can then be circulated through a heat exchanger to cool equipment, or another process stream. As a necessary by-product, refrigeration creates waste heat that must be exhausted to ambience, or for greater efficiency, recovered for heating purposes.
In dairy farming a bulk milk cooling tank is a large storage tank for cooling and holding milk at a cold temperature until it can be picked up by a milk hauler. The bulk milk cooling tank is an important piece of dairy farm equipment. It is usually made of stainless steel and used every day to store the raw milk on the farm in good condition. It must be cleaned after each milk collection. The milk cooling tank can be the property of the farmer or be rented from a dairy plant.
A shell and tube heat exchanger is a class of heat exchanger designs. It is the most common type of heat exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical processes, and is suited for higher-pressure applications. As its name implies, this type of heat exchanger consists of a shell with a bundle of tubes inside it. One fluid runs through the tubes, and another fluid flows over the tubes to transfer heat between the two fluids. The set of tubes is called a tube bundle, and may be composed of several types of tubes: plain, longitudinally finned, etc.
A thermal power station is a power station in which heat energy is converted to electric power. In most of the places in the world the turbine is steam-driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this is known as a Rankine cycle. The greatest variation in the design of thermal power stations is due to the different heat sources; fossil fuel dominates here, although nuclear heat energy; solar heat energy, biofuels and waste incineration are also used. Some prefer to use the term energy center because such facilities convert forms of heat energy into electrical energy. Certain thermal power stations are also designed to produce heat energy for industrial purposes, or district heating, or desalination of water, in addition to generating electrical power.
Fouling is the accumulation of unwanted material on solid surfaces to the detriment of function. The fouling materials can consist of either living organisms (biofouling) or a non-living substance. Fouling is usually distinguished from other surface-growth phenomena, in that it occurs on a surface of a component, system or plant performing a defined and useful function, and that the fouling process impedes or interferes with this function.
A surface condenser is a commonly used term for a water-cooled shell and tube heat exchanger installed to condense exhaust steam from a steam turbine in thermal power stations. These condensers are heat exchangers which convert steam from its gaseous to its liquid state at a pressure below atmospheric pressure. Where cooling water is in short supply, an air-cooled condenser is often used. An air-cooled condenser is however, significantly more expensive and cannot achieve as low a steam turbine exhaust pressure as a water-cooled surface condenser.
A condensing steam locomotive is a type of locomotive designed to recover exhaust steam, either in order to improve range between taking on boiler water, or to reduce emission of steam inside enclosed spaces. The apparatus takes the exhaust steam that would normally be used to produce a draft for the firebox, and routes it through a heat exchanger, into the boiler water tanks. Installations vary depending on the purpose, design and the type of locomotive to which it is fitted. It differs from the usual closed cycle condensing steam engine, in that the function of the condenser is primarily either to recover water, or to avoid excessive emissions to the atmosphere, rather than maintaining a vacuum to improve both efficiency and power.
The steam-electric power station is a power station in which the electric generator is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser. The greatest variation in the design of steam-electric power plants is due to the different fuel sources.
In chemical engineering, biochemical engineering and protein purification, crossflow filtration is a type of filtration. Crossflow filtration is different from dead-end filtration in which the feed is passed through a membrane or bed, the solids being trapped in the filter and the filtrate being released at the other end. Cross-flow filtration gets its name because the majority of the feed flow travels tangentially across the surface of the filter, rather than into the filter. The principal advantage of this is that the filter cake is substantially washed away during the filtration process, increasing the length of time that a filter unit can be operational. It can be a continuous process, unlike batch-wise dead-end filtration.
In systems involving heat transfer, a condenser is a device or unit used to condense a gaseous substance into a liquid state through cooling. In so doing, the latent heat is released by the substance and transferred to the surrounding environment. Condensers can be made according to numerous designs, and come in many sizes ranging from rather small (hand-held) to very large. For example, a refrigerator uses a condenser to get rid of heat extracted from the interior of the unit to the outside air.
High Marnham Power Station was a coal-fired power station. It was located in Nottinghamshire, to the west of the River Trent, approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km) north of the village of Marnham.
Pumpable ice (PI) technology is a technology to produce and use fluids or secondary refrigerants, also called coolants, with the viscosity of water or jelly and the cooling capacity of ice. Pumpable ice is typically a slurry of ice crystals or particles ranging from 5 to 10,000 micrometers (1 cm) in diameter and transported in brine, seawater, food liquid, or gas bubbles of air, ozone, or carbon dioxide.
Heat exchangers are devices that transfer heat in order to achieve desired heating or cooling. An important design aspect of heat exchanger technology is the selection of appropriate materials to conduct and transfer heat fast and efficiently.
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