What is an ACC? It is used in the power plant to condense steam.?

Question

What is an ACC? It is used in the power plant to condense steam.?

Answer 1

Air-Cooled Condenser.  Yes, it is used in power plants to condense steam.  It does not operate at atmospheric pressure.

In the past many power plants were built near water sources and could use the natural water to run though the condenser to condense the turbine exhaust back to water.  Most places went  to cooling towers to perform this same function in order to maintain water quality though the condenser tubes, and utilized the cooling effect of the cooling tower's evaporative design.  ACC's are utilized in areas of where water is at a premium.  The turbine's exhaust is ran through the ACC and large fan's blow air across the condenser coils to convert the exhaust steam back to condensate.  No cooling water is necessary, but in hot areas it is hard to get any kind of decent backpressure for turbine efficiency.

Answer 2

I believe you are refering to an atmospheric condenser.  In a steam cycle, the water is heated to steam (usually superheated steam) in a boiler.  The steam then runs a turbine which is connected to a generator to create electricity.  After the steam passes thru the High Pressure Turbine and the Low Pressure Turbine, it's heat energy is used to preheat the feed water.  At the end however, you have to condense the steam back into water so you can pump it back to the boiler.  This is normally done at atmospheric pressure using water from a reservoir, lake, river, etc to cool the steam and condense it back to water.