Liquid Ring Vacuum Pumps

Liquid ring vacuum pumps have been employed for removing air from main condenser waterboxes for the past 40 years. In the Waterbox Priming application, vacuum pumps evacuate air and any other non-condensable gases from the cooling water piping and waterboxes of the main condenser that services a steam turbine. Lowering the pressure in the waterbox enables the cooling water to be forced up into the waterbox by the atmospheric pressure in a manner similar to the way a barometer functions. This greatly reduces the amount of energy needed to pump the cooling water up into the waterbox and allows cooling water circulation pumps of lower horsepower rating and discharge head pressures to be used. Savings are achieved in both initial capital and operating costs.