Automatic cleaning tube condenser 2

[ReyesLeon]

Actually in Laguna Verde nuclear power plant, we are working out in a proposal to install an automatic cleaning tube condeser system. We are inclined by Taprogge systems, but we do not have enough information about it performance, manpower costs and spare parts costs.
Could you any tell me something about theses issues.

Thanks in advance

 

[Bagman2524]

Seems like the vendor should be able to provide you locations where its' been used before. EPRI or some the the Nuclear Industry organizations allow you to post questions which representatives from various plants provide responses. You might get some input from these.

 

[rmw]

They are fairly commonly used in both Nuclear and Fossil plants. Screen sizing for ball catch has to be paid close attention to. Ball hide out is sometimes a problem.

If your condenser is not clean, balls can get hung up in the tubes, so start with a freshly cleaned condenser.

They should do you a good job. Good luck.

rmw

 

[irishal]

ReyesLeon,

We have a Taprogge system installed at the power station I work at. It is used in a 150MW condenser with sea water as the cooling medium.

We used to have many problems with loosing the balls but I now think this was due to the cleanliness of the seawater -the ball strainer would get blocked and then open on high differential pressure. The ball return pipes would also get blocked so all the balls would get washed out to sea. We have modified the pipework so it blocks less frequently and made improvements on the cleanliness of the sea water so the system works reasonable well.

Another problem we have is that we have 3 ball recirculation pumps (2 duty, 1 standby) however the PLC only operates when pump 1 is in duty - i.e. we can't run the system with pumps 2 and 3!

To be fair, Taprogge have been to site a number of times under the warranty process and the system is working okay. We have opened our condenser a number of times and have not seen any debris in our tubes yet.

We have spend around 3000 Euro on balls in the last 12 months.

I hope this is of some help.

 

[EdStainless]

Remember what this system will give you. 100% clean tubes at all times. That means more power generation and longer lasting tubes.
As a metallurgist and tubing guy, I really like to see these systems used.
As Irishal mentions, system integration is often the weak point. This starts with inlet screens and follows clear through to your control system.

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