The working principle of the condenser can be clearly divided into the following steps:
Cooling Phase:
The gas or vapor flows through a ductwork system inside the condenser.
These gases or vapors come into contact with a cooling medium, such as water or air, to initiate heat exchange.
In this stage, the cooling medium absorbs heat, causing the temperature of the gas or vapor to gradually drop.
Condensation Phase:
When the temperature of the gas or vapor is reduced to a certain level, its saturation temperature is reached, and it begins to condense into a liquid.
This is because the cooling medium absorbs enough heat that the gas or vapor cannot continue to remain in a gaseous state.
The latent heat released during the condensation process further increases the thermal efficiency of the condenser.
Heat Transfer Stage:
Heat is transferred from gas or vapor to the cooling medium, which is achieved by means of both heat convection and heat conduction.
Thermal convection refers to the direct contact between a gas or steam and a cooling medium that allows heat to be transferred by convection.
Thermal conduction refers to the conduction of heat into the cooling medium through a solid structure such as the wall of the condenser.
Liquid Collection Phase:
The condensed liquid is collected into a specific part of the condenser (e.g. a condensing chamber) where it can be further processed or used for other purposes.
Structure & Design:
A condenser usually consists of a tube bundle, a cooling medium, a cooler, and a condensing chamber, among others.
The tube bundle is the core part of the condenser and consists of a series of tubes arranged in parallel through which the hot gas or vapor flowing through can be heat exchanged with the cooling medium.
In order to improve the efficiency of the condenser, a heat sink with excellent thermal conductivity is often attached to the pipe to increase the heat dissipation area, and the air convection is accelerated through the fan to accelerate the heat dissipation.
Applications:
Condensers are widely used in a variety of fields, including industrial production, air conditioning systems, automotive engines, and more.
In a refrigeration system, the condenser is a key component in the refrigeration cycle, which is responsible for cooling and converting the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant vapor produced by the compressor into a liquid state.
To sum up, the working principle of the condenser is mainly to use heat conduction and heat convection to transfer heat from gas or steam, so that it can be cooled and condensed into liquid, so as to complete the heat exchange in the refrigeration cycle or other industrial processes.
