Moisture Separators: An Unknown Pneumatic System Hero
Steam separators, sometimes called moisture separators or steam dryers, separate water droplets from steam. Steam turbine internals can be eroded by water droplets in high-velocity steam coming from nozzles (or vanes) in thermal power stations. When steam is wet, it can lead to problems like water hammers and corrosion, which can damage expensive equipment such as flowmeters and control valves. Dry steam can ensure the highest dryness fraction at the outlet by effectively removing moisture from steam. A wide range of moisture separators is available from Airmax Pneumatics in a variety of materials and sizes. It is possible to cast or fabricate moisture separators according to the requirements. Precision engineering and manufacturing ensure the complete removal of entrained moisture.
- A thoroughly engineered design ensures a maximum dryness fraction
- Designed for minimum re-entertainment.
Water droplets are separated from steam by a steam separator, also known as a moisture separator or steam drier. The steam dome on a steam locomotive is the simplest type of steam separator. It is possible for stationary boilers and nuclear reactors to have more complex devices that impart a “spin” to the steam in order to push water droplets outward by centrifugal force. Steam traps are required to collect the water droplets removed by separators.
Removing water droplets from steam is important for the following reasons:
- There is a reduction in thermal efficiency in all engines when wet steam is present
- Piston engines can damage by water accumulating in the cylinders and causing a hydraulic lock
- These particles can impinge on and erode turbine internals, including turbine blades.
- Water can accumulate in piping in steam-power industrial equipment, causing steam hammer: a form of water hammer cause by water build-up ‘plugging’ a pipe that is then accelerated by steam flowing through it until it reaches a sharp bend and fails catastrophically.
Steam driers are also sometimes applying to driers that function as low-temperature superheaters.
Advantages of MS –
- In order to avoid damage to costly equipment like flow meters, control valves, and moisture separators should install before these devices.
- The use of moisture separators improves the overall health of the steam system and ensures high heat transfer rates and reliability
Salient Feature –
- Condensate removal with high efficiency and reliability with multi-baffle design.
- Large flow areas are usually provided by contoured body designs in order to ensure low-pressure drops.
- It can also use to effectively remove moisture from compress airlines.
Steam separators can divide into three types: baffle, centrifugal, and mechanical coalescence. In order to achieve higher efficiency, two types of separators are often combine
1. Baffle Separator
Moisture separators of this type are simple in terms of design and usability. Steam is redirecting in one or more different directions by the separator’s internal baffles. It is this redirection of steam flow that removes the heavier condensate droplets from the steam. This heavy condensate can remove with a drain device (steam trap station or control valve). Baffle separators are popular for simple applications even though they are less efficient than advanced types.
2. Centrifugal Separator
In this type, centrifugal force is use to remove entrained condensate from steam. Obtaining precise pressures and steam flows is crucial to determining centrifugal separator sizing. The centrifugal action must not decrease for high separation performance.
3. Mechanical Coalescing/Centrifugal Separator
This type of separator removes moisture in two stages. After entering a stainless steel mesh, the steam has coalesced into larger droplets. This larger droplet is then remove by a centrifugal element in the second stage. The moisture removal efficiency of this system is very high. It is usually about 99.9% efficient.
The moisture content in certain systems must be handle by a steam separator, otherwise, the following operational problems can occur:
- Corrosion
- Efficiencies of the system are reduce
- System components fail
- Wiredrawing
- Flow meters and control valves malfunction
- Efficiencies of the system are reduce
Also, read Pneumatic Actuators: How They Work