Vertical bundle air-cooled heat exchnager, method of manufacturing the same, and power generation plant implementing the same

Abstract

A vertical bundle air-cooled heat exchanger. In one embodiment, the invention can be a vertical bundle air-cooled condenser comprising: at least one tube bundle assembly comprising: a tube bundle comprising a plurality of finned tubes arranged in a substantially vertical and side-by-side orientation, each of the plurality of finned tubes comprising a cavity; a top header pipe comprising an inlet header cavity operably coupled to a source of steam; a bottom header pipe comprising an outlet header cavity for collecting condensate; top ends of the plurality of finned tubes coupled to the top header pipe and the bottom ends of the plurality of finned tubes coupled to the bottom header pipe; and a shell having an open top end and open bottom end, the at least one tube bundle assembly positioned within the shell.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An air-cooled condenser comprising:
 a shell defining an internal cavity having an open top end and open bottom end;   a tube bundle assembly disposed in the cavity of the shell;   the tube bundle assembly comprising a horizontally elongated top header pipe, a horizontally elongated bottom header pipe, and a plurality of vertical heat exchange tubes each fluidly coupled to the top and bottom pipes by respective upper and lower feeder pipes.   
     
     
         2 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 1  wherein the top and bottom header pipes are spaced apart and vertically axially aligned with each other in a common vertical plane. 
     
     
         3 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 2 , wherein the top and bottom header pipes are oriented parallel to each other. 
     
     
         4 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 2 , wherein the tubes are arranged in a horizontally aligned first row of tubes above the bottom header pipe and below the top header pipe. 
     
     
         5 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 4 , wherein the tubes are oriented parallel to each other. 
     
     
         6 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 5 , wherein tops of each tube lie in a common upper horizontal plane and bottoms of each of the tubes lie in a common lower horizontal plane. 
     
     
         7 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 4 , wherein the first row of tubes includes an outermost peripheral pair of tubes each laterally offset from the top and bottom header pipes and the common vertical plane, and a central tube extending linearly between the top and bottom header pipes along the common vertical plane. 
     
     
         8 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 7 , wherein the peripheral pair of tubes are each fluidly coupled to the top and bottom header pipes by L-shaped upper and lower feeder pipes. 
     
     
         9 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 8 , wherein the central tube is fluidly coupled to the top and bottom header pipes by straight upper and lower feeder pipes. 
     
     
         10 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 9 , further comprising an intermediate pair of tubes, one each of the intermediate pair of tubes arranged between one of the peripheral tubes and the central tube. 
     
     
         11 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 10 , wherein the intermediate pair of tubes are each fluidly coupled to the top and bottom header pipes by L-shaped upper and lower feeder pipes. 
     
     
         12 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 11 , wherein each of the top and bottom header pipes has a vertically elongated obround transverse cross-sectional shape defining a minor axis oriented perpendicular to the common vertical plane and a major axis oriented parallel to the common vertical plane. 
     
     
         13 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 12 , wherein each of the top and bottom header pipes comprises a pair of opposing flat vertical sides, an arcuate top extending between the vertical sides, and an arcuate bottom extending between the vertical sides. 
     
     
         14 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 13 , wherein the upper and lower feeder pipes of each of the peripheral and intermediate tubes are fluidly connected to one of the flat vertical sides of the top and bottom header pipes. 
     
     
         15 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 14 , wherein the upper feeder pipes of the intermediate tubes are fluidly connected to one of the flat vertical sides of the top header pipe below the upper feeder pipes of the peripheral tubes. 
     
     
         16 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 15 , wherein the lower feeder pipes of the intermediate tubes are fluidly connected to one of the flat vertical sides of the bottom header pipe above the upper feeder pipes of the peripheral tubes. 
     
     
         17 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 11 , wherein the upper and lower feeder pipes of the intermediate tubes are nested inside the upper and lower feeder pipes of the peripheral tubes. 
     
     
         18 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 4 , further comprising a horizontally aligned second row of vertical heat exchange tubes, the tubes in the second row each fluidly coupled to the top and bottom pipes by respective upper and lower feeder pipes oriented parallel to the upper and lower feeder pipes of the first row of tubes. 
     
     
         19 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 1 , wherein the shell of the air-cooled condenser has a rectangular cuboid form with rectilinear transverse cross section. 
     
     
         20 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 1 , wherein the shell further comprises a plurality of laterally open air entry windows arranged between the top and bottom ends of the shell to draw ambient cooling air transversely through the tubes into the internal cavity. 
     
     
         21 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 20 , further comprising a blower disposed in the internal cavity at the top end of the shell, the blower operable to draw ambient cooling air into the internal cavity from the bottom end and air entry windows, and discharge the ambient cooling air through the top end. 
     
     
         22 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 21 , wherein steam flows from the top header pipe downward through the tubes, exchanges heat with the ambient cooling air to condense the steam, and the steam condensate is collected in the bottom header pipe from the tubes. 
     
     
         23 . The air-cooled condenser according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 each of the heat exchanger vertical tubes comprises a first finned tube section comprising a first plurality of vertically-extending external longitudinal fins protruding radially outward from an outer surface of the tube, and a second finned tube section comprising a second plurality of vertically-extending external longitudinal fins protruding radially outward from the outer surface of the tube;   wherein the first finned tube section and the second finned tube section are discrete structural elements;   wherein a first end of the first finned section is abutted to a second end of the second finned tube section; and   the discrete first finned tube section and the second finned tube section arranged and rotated relative to each other so that the first and second plurality of longitudinal fins are angularly offset from one another.