Tecnical Information 810670-02

Issue Date: 09/06

GESTRA Information A 2.4

Sizing of Vacuum Breakers
Vacuum breakers (air-inlet valves) are used to protect The following facts are not considered or may be C What is the amount of water required to condense
vessels or heat exchangers against vacuum. neglected: the total heating-steam volume, i.e. to absorb
The causes leading to the formation of vacuum depend ■ Heat transfer by heating steam to the inflow­ing air the complete heat of evaporation of the heating
on the specific plant conditions, but the basic considera- (when vacuum breaker is open) steam?
tions required to determine the size of a vacuum breaker
■ Ambient heat loss of the deaerator D What is the time required by the cold make-up water
are in many cases similar. to condense the total heating-steam amount? The
■ Revaporization (flashing) when pressure drops
We want to take a feedwater tank with deaer­ator dome as correspond­ing air volume must flow in at the same-
an example for demonstrating the method of calculating ■ Increase in water volume from conden­sation of time to prevent the formation of vacuum.
the size of a vacuum breaker. heating steam and added make-up water. E What is the volume of the required air flow?

Sizing of vacuum breakers for feedwater deaerators

F What is the resulting nominal size?
Method of Calculation
Vacuum in feedwater deaerators is formed if the heating- General To be able to establish a formula for the calcu­lation of the
steam supply fails and if, at the same time, cold water is air volume flow, the calculation is carried out in individual
added resulting in condensation of the remaining steam. The heating steam in the deaerator transfers its heat to
the cold make-up water. steps.
To prevent the formation of a vacuum an ade­quate
system must be provided to ensure that air can enter If the steam supply is interrupted, that part of the steam A Determination of the heat of evapora­tion avail­
the deaerator to provide a pres­sure balance as soon as which is lost by condensation has to be compensated able in the deaerator if the steam supply fails at
vacuum starts to form. A vacuum breaker – for example a for by the admission of air to prevent the formation of a pressure of 0.98 bar a.
GESTRA DISCO non-return valve – fulfils this purpose. a vacuum. At 0.98 bara the heat of evaporaton is r = 2259.6
The basis for the calculation may be assumed to be the To be able to determine the air volume that should enter kJ/kg (in acc. with steam tables).
condition prevailing when the vacuum breaker starts to the deaerator in a given time to prevent vacuum The total amount of heat of evaporation (R) is then
open. As the exact opening pressure of a non-return valve formation, i.e. to calculate the nominal size of the vacuum
depends on the installation position, we shall base our breaker, the following questions have to be answered: 1 R = m1 · r [kJ]
calcula­tion on a mean opening pressure of 20 mbar. A What is the total heat of evaporation (latent heat
At an average ambient pressure of 1 bar absolute this content) available in the deaer­ator at the opening and the heating-steam mass (m1)
corresponds to an opening point of 0.98 bar a. point of the vacuum breaker (0.98 bar a)?
We furthermore suppose that the cold make-up water B What is the maximum amount of heat that can be
2 m1 = V [kg]
V"
is heated to no more than 99 °C (boiling temperature at absorbed by the cold make-up water?
0.98 bara).
2 in 1 = 3 R = V · r [kJ]
V"

Gas outlet/ Flash steam

Make-up water
Heating steam

Vacuum breaker

Feedwater outlet

Fig. 1 Feedwater tank with deaerator

B Determination of the maximum amount of heat The equivalent water volume flow is cal­culated as R – Complete heat of evaporation availa­­ble in
that can be absorbed by the cold make-up follows: deaerator at a pressure of 0.98 bar a [kJ]
water (Q) m1 – Heating-steam amount available in deaerator at
√1000
ρ
. .
[ mh ]
3
As the cold make-up water can be heated to no " Vw = VL · L
0.98 bar a [kg]
more than 99 °C (boiling tempera­ture at 0.98 V – Volume of heating steam at 0.98 bar a [m3]
bara), the amount of heat ab­sorbed (Q) is the Refer to the pressure drop chart of the RK valve
difference between the enthalpy of the cold make- and choose the size whose pres­sure-drop curve is v" – Specific volume of heating steam at 0.98 bar a
up water (hE) and the maximum possible enthalpy intersected by the equivalent water volume flow in [m3/kg] (= 1.7272 m3/kg)
(hmax) of the make-up water heated by heat transfer the linear range. Q – Max. amount of heat that can be ab­sorbed by
from the heating steam. the cold make-up water [kJ/kg]
If ! is inserted in ", the result is
4 Q = hmax hE [ kgkJ ] . . ρL
[ ]
hE – Heat content (enthalpy) of cold make-up water
§
r √
V w = v" (hmax hE) · m ·
1000
m3
h
hmax
[kJ/kg]
– Max. heat content (enthalpy) of heated make-up
C Determination of the amount of water required to If, in addition, the values already known are inserted, water [kJ/kg]
condense the total heating-steam amount (m2) there results m2 – Amount of water required for condens­ing the
For this purpose the complete heat of evaporation . total heating-steam amount [kg]
√
.
available in the deaerator (at p = 0.98 bar a) is
divided by the maximum amount of heat that can be
V w = 1.7272 (hmax hE) · m · 1.19
2259.6 1000 [ ]
m3
h t – Time required for condensing the total heating-
steam amount [h]
absorbed by the cold make-up water. .
. .
Vw = 2.63 · 10-5 · m · (hmax hE) [ mh ]
3
VL
.
– Air flow required to prevent a vacuum [m3/h]

5 m2 = R [kg]
Q
m
.
– Cold make-up water [kg/h]
Dimensional analysis for § Vw – Equivalent water volume flow [m3/h]

3 and 4 in 5 = 6 m2 = V·r [kg] (

m3 kJ – kJ kg
· ) ρL – Density of air at 1 bar a and 20 °C (am­bient
values) (= 1.19) [kg/m3]
v" (hmax hE) .
Vw =
kg kg kg h
kJ
· √ kg/m3
kg/m3 [ ]
m3
h 1000 – Densitiy of water [kg/m3]
kg r – Heat of evaporaton of heating steam at 0.98
D Determination of the time required to condense bar a (2259.6 kJ/kg)
the total heating-steam amount (t)
If the amount of water (mass) required for condens­
ing the total heating-steam amount is divided by the
cold make-up water amount (mass flow), the time is
ob­tained.

7 t = m. 2 [h]
m

V·r
6 in 7 = 8 t= . [h]
v" (hmax hE) · m

E Determination of the air flow

. required to prevent
the formation of vacuum (V )
If the volume of the heating steam (at 0.98 bar a) is
divided by the time required for the total heating-
steam amount to con­dense, the volume of the air that
must flow into the deaerator in the same period to
prevent the formation of vacuum is obtained.
.
9 VL = V m
T [ ]
h
3

. .
VL = V · v" (hmax hE) · m [ mh ]
3
8 in 9 = 0
V·r

Fig. 2
As V can be cancelled from the equation, the result
is:
. .
! VL = v" (hmax hE) · m
r [ ]
m3
h

F Determination of the nominal size of the

vacuum breaker
The pressure drop charts of the GESTRA DISCO
non-return valves are based on water as the flow
medium. To determine the nominal size of the
vacuum breaker the air volume flow has therefore
to be converted to the equivalent water volume flow.