Steam-side exchangers for power plants, ships, refineries and buildings, from turbine exhaust condensers to hot water calorifiers. Designed and built by AMI Exchangers as new units or replacements, and supplied and supported in the GCC by Petromarsh.
Tap a part to see what it does. Steam (red) enters from the turbine, condenses on the tubes and drains to the hotwell. Cooling water (blue) makes two passes through the tubes. Air (grey) is drawn off to the ejector.
Exhaust neck. Connects the turbine exhaust to the condenser. An expansion joint takes up thermal movement, and an impingement plate stops the steam jet from eroding the top tubes.
Shell. Holds the vacuum. Steam condenses on the outside of the tubes, and the large shell lets it spread over the whole bundle with little pressure loss.
Tubes and tubesheets. Thousands of thin tubes carry the cooling water. Tube material and wall thickness are chosen for the water, usually titanium or copper-nickel for seawater.
Tube support plates. Hold the long tubes at intervals so they do not sag or vibrate in the steam flow. Steam passes freely through them.
Water boxes. The inlet box splits the water into two passes; the return box turns it round. Large covers or manholes give access for tube cleaning and plugging.
Hotwell. Collects the condensate below the shell and gives the condensate pumps a steady level and enough suction head.
Air off-take. Air leaks into a condenser under vacuum and would blanket the tubes. A cooled zone in the bundle concentrates it, and steam ejectors or vacuum pumps draw it off.
Steam gives up most of its heat when it condenses back to water. Every exchanger on this page uses that. A condenser takes the heat away into cooling water, and a heater uses it to warm water or a process fluid.
Exhaust steam from a turbine flows over cold tubes and condenses. Water takes up far less space than steam, which creates a vacuum and lets the turbine produce more power. Air that leaks in is drawn off continuously.
In a feedwater heater, steam bled from the turbine heats boiler feedwater inside the tubes, which saves fuel in the boiler. Steam heaters and calorifiers do the same for process fluids and hot water.
Condensed steam drains to a hotwell or to the bottom of the shell, and is pumped or trapped back to the boiler. A tube leak lets cooling water into the condensate, so condensate quality is monitored.
All of them have steam condensing on one side. They differ in pressure, in what is heated or cooled, and in the standard that governs them.
A large shell-and-tube that condenses turbine exhaust steam on cooling water tubes. The vacuum it creates sets how much power the turbine can produce, so tube cleanliness and air removal matter.
Seawater-cooled condensers at GCC power and water plants, often with titanium tubes.
Steam bled from the turbine heats feedwater flowing in the tubes. A heater can have three zones: desuperheating for hot steam, condensing, and drain cooling for the condensate. High-pressure heaters are usually U-tube designs with thick forged tubesheets.
Steam power plants and combined-cycle plants with steam turbines.
A shell-and-tube with steam on the shell side and the process liquid in the tubes, often a U-tube bundle so the tubes can expand freely. A steam trap or level control drains the condensate.
Fuel oil heating and tank heating in refineries and terminals.
A storage vessel with a heating coil or U-tube bundle inside. Steam or low-temperature hot water in the coil heats the stored water for washing, showers and kitchens.
Accommodation camps, offshore living quarters, hospitals and ships.
A gland steam condenser collects steam leaking from turbine shaft seals. A vent condenser recovers steam from a deaerator vent. Both return the condensate and release only the non-condensable gases.
Steam turbine auxiliaries in power and process plants.
Condensers for steam turbines and dump steam on ships, built to classification society rules. Seawater passes through copper-nickel or titanium tubes, and anodes in the water boxes protect against galvanic corrosion.
Steam-driven vessels and floating production units.
A condenser can hold thousands of tubes, so tube material sets most of the cost and the life. In the Gulf, warm seawater with high chlorides is the usual design case.
| Part | Fresh or tower water | Seawater | High pressure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tubes | Stainless 304 or 316, admiralty brassSA-249 · SB-111 | Titanium grade 2, copper-nickel 90/10 or 70/30SB-338 · SB-111 C70600 · C71500 | Carbon steel or stainless U-tubes for HP feedwater heatersSA-556 · SA-688 |
| Tubesheets | Carbon steelSA-516 · SA-266 | Muntz metal, or carbon steel clad with Cu-Ni or titaniumSB-171 · explosion clad | Thick forgingsSA-266 · SA-508 |
| Shell | Carbon steel plateSA-516 Gr 70 | Carbon steel, on the steam sideSA-516 Gr 70 | Carbon steel or alloy steel for superheated steamSA-516 · SA-387 |
| Water boxes | Coated carbon steelepoxy | Rubber-lined or coated steel with anodes or impressed current | Forged or heavy plate channelsSA-105 · SA-266 |
| Calorifiers | Copper or stainless coil in a stainless, copper or lined steel vesselBS 853-1 | ||
The datasheet names the code. We follow it, plus your company specification where one applies.
Heat Exchange Institute standard for the design, performance and air removal of steam surface condensers.
Heat Exchange Institute standard for the design and performance of closed feedwater heaters.
Performance test codes for steam surface condensers and closed feedwater heaters.
Construction rules for steam heaters and shell-and-tube condensers.
Pressure vessel rules for shell, channels and nozzles.
CE marking for Europe. UKCA under the Pressure Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 for the UK.
UK specification for calorifiers and storage vessels for central heating and hot water supply.
Feedwater heater tubes in carbon steel and stainless, and titanium condenser tubes.
Non-destructive testing, and certified mill certificates for every pressure part.
Your engineers red-line our drawings, you approve the design twice before production starts, and you can witness the tests. Tap a step to see what happens and which documents you receive.
AMI Exchangers builds marine coolers and condensers and cooling equipment for power generation, and has completed more than 25,000 projects. Petromarsh is their exclusive representative in the GCC, for condensers, heaters and calorifiers.
If you have a datasheet, send it. If you do not, the items on the right are enough for us to size the unit and reply with a proposal.
