Air Cooled Condenser Testing

The use of air cooled condensers for power plant heat rejection has greatly increased in the past decade because of water use constraints. Steam turbines with air cooled condensers operate at higher exhaust back pressures than equivalent units with water cooled condensers. Higher exhaust back pressure leads to higher heat rate penalties and loss of capacity. Overall Plant Performance Tests (i.e. PTC-46 Tests) performed during cool weather will not reflect the potential bottleneck of a deficient air cooled condenser on the heat rate and capacity of the generating station. CleanAir personnel have conducted many air cooled condenser tests and are very active participants in the writing of the CTI and ASME test codes for the evaluation of air cooled condenser performance.