Difference between Attemperator and Desuperheater

[mhopgood]

thread794-323870

Read the closed thread thread794-323870 and thought I'd chime in, but as mentioned by T2DK a lot of it is semantics in some regards. I know we try to overcomplicate things from time to time, but really if you look at the words themselves you can see what the difference is.

Attemperate means to temper or properly adapt something. Attemperators "attemperate" the steam between superheating stages in an attempt to ensure that the steam will leave the final stage of superheating at its required conditions.

Desuperheaters "desuperheat" the steam (i.e., remove superheat). This begs the question, what is superheat, which by definition we know to be any heat added to saturated steam to increase its enthalpy above the saturated condition.

From a technical perspective you are looking at water injection into steam, yes there are many ways to do this, but as far as attemperators and desuperheaters go this is pretty much all there is to it. It is the process and that dictates how much water is to be injected into the steam path to achieve the desired result and this is achieved via appropriate controls.

Try to keep these sorts of things simple and look at what the definition of the word is and how this may relate to the function of the component you are looking to interpret. Lots of times you can discover technical features of something just by how it is named and understanding its purpose. On the other hand, sometimes things that sound technical, really aren't so technical at all (e.g., buckstay)!

 

[mhopgood]

Just wanted to add a bit more as I realized my explanation of superheat was lacking a little and didn't want it to go unnoticed.

Superheat is determined based on an increase in temperature above the saturated condition at a constant pressure, which results in an increase in energy and specific volume.

Thanks to all for not taking offence to my previous definition being a little lax!

 

[GenB]

I know you want to show off... So technoically they are both the same but one is more powerfull than the other, one adds a little water to temper and the other adds more of it to completely desuper. Thanks for the explanation,

 

[mhopgood]

I appreciate the sarcasm, just trying to add some insight into the thought process behind keeping things simple when people overcomplicate stuff and saw this as an opportunity to bring that up.

All too often people focus on what is the solution instead of how do I get to the solution. I find that having the tool that helps you think about how to get solutions is so much more valuable than just individual solutions to individual problems.