The Use of Thin-wall Stainless Steel Tubes in the Air-cooled Zone of a Fresh Water-cooled Steam Condenser

The use of brass tubes for the air-cooled zone of a power plant steam condenser can lead to serious corrosion by ammonia,while the application of copper-nickel alloy tubes or titanium ones is associated with expensive costs.Stainless steel tubes feature good corrosion-resistant performance against ammonia.The authors have performed a contrasting analysis regarding the heat transfer performance, vibration properties,tube expanding characteristics and cost-effectiveness of thin-wall stainless steels.On this basis it is concluded that stainless tube materials when used for the air-cooled zone of a fresh-water cooled condenser have the merits of a fair operation performance and low cost,resulting in a high potential for their wide applications.