The purpose of the thermodynamic condenser

A condenser is a heat exchanger, in which it is intended that the fluid that runs through it to change to liquid phase from its gas phase through the exchange of heat (transfer of heat to the outside, which is lost without possibility of use) with another medium. 

Condensation can be produced either using air by using a fan (air condensers) or water (the latter is usually in a semi-closed circuit with a cooling tower, or in an open circuit from a river or the sea). The most common type of Condenser Singapore used in thermoelectric plants is that which uses water as a cooling fluid, which also uses a semi-open cooling circuit with an evaporative tower as a sump for the latent heat of vaporization. 

The Cooler Singapore and aero capacitors are used when there is not enough water available to feed an evaporative tower. Although they are more expensive and cause a loss of performance in the water-steam cycle, they are used when there is no other possibility to condense the steam.

The purpose of the thermodynamic condenser is therefore to change the state of the steam at the output of the turbine in order to obtain maximum efficiency and also obtain the condensed steam in the form of pure water back to the steam generation train. 

The reasons for condensing the steam are three:

The steam is used at the exit of the turbine, closing the water cycle

The pressure at the outlet is reduced, even below the atmospheric pressure, with which the pressure jump is greater and therefore the turbine performance and power increase

The subsequent increase in fluid pressure can be carried out in a hydraulic pump, with a  lower energy consumption than if it were carried out in a boiler or in a compressor

Additionally, the capacitor receives the following flows:

The purges of the heaters and other elements, which once cooled are incorporated into the condensate circuit. 

The air that comes from furtive entrances in the various elements of the water-steam cycle, through the closures of the steam turbine or with the replacement water to the cycle. This must be removed and sent to the outside by means of ejectors or vacuum pumps. 

Steam from the exhaust of the turbo-pump of feed water if there is one in the installation. 

Steam turbines by-pass, which in certain transient operating modes (starts, stops, shots, sudden changes in load) directly lead to the condenser all steam generator in the boiler once tempered. 

The water of contribution to the cycle to replace the purges, fundamentally the continuous purge. This water is demineralized and comes from the condensate reservoir tank.

The conditions inside the condenser are saturation, that is, it is at the saturation pressure corresponding to the condensation temperature of the vapour . This pressure is always lower than the atmospheric one, that is to say, one can speak of a vacuum.