I. Core Principle
Utilizing elastic sponge rubber balls with a diameter 1-2 mm larger than the internal diameter of the condenser cooling tubes (wet specific gravity 1.0-1.1), the balls are compressed through the tube bundle via the pressure difference at the in and out of the circulating water. This frictional action removes scale, biological slime, and suspended matter from the tube walls; after cleaning, they are collected by a ball recovery net and pumped back to the ball chamber for reuse in a closed-loop system; the entire process requires no downtime or load reduction.
II. Main Components
Ballroom: Operation unit for ball loading, collection, exchange, and observation, equipped with a changeover valve and an exhaust valve.
Ball Catching Net: Installed on the condenser's outlet side, it intercepts rubber balls and can switch to backwashing position for cleaning the net surface. The ball collection rate requirement is ≥95%.
Secondary filter: Filters out large particles in cooling water to prevent pipe blockages and ball jamming.
Rubber Ball Transfer Pump (Obstacle-Free Centrifugal Pump): Non-damaging to rubber balls, providing circulation power.
Divertor + Valve Pipeline: Evenly distributes rubber balls, switches process flow.
Electrical / PLC Control Cabinet: Enables automatic ball insertion, timed cleaning, ball collection monitoring, and fault alarms.
Section 3: Standard Workflow
Install the balls (usually about 10% of the number of cooling tubes), exhaust, and establish a circulation path.
The ball receiver is positioned, and the gel ball pump is activated.
The rubber balls enter the circulating water intake from the ball loading room, are cleaned by the tube bundle, and then intercepted by the ball collection net.
The ball pump retracts the ball back into the ball chamber and repeats the cycle.
After cleaning, backwash the ball recovery net, and recover all the rubber balls back to the ball storage room for standby.
IV. Application Scenarios and Advantages
Applicable to steam turbines condensers (copper tubes / titanium tubes / stainless steel tubes) for thermal power plants, nuclear power plants, large-scale chemical industry, and iron and steel mills.
Advantages: Online operation without affecting turbine output; Physical cleaning, no chemical contamination; Significantly improves condenser vacuum and reduces coal consumption; Extends the life of heat exchanger tubes, reduces the frequency of shutdown chemical cleaning.
Limitations: Limited effectiveness on hard or thick deposits; requires chemical cleaning pretreatment. Ball collection rate is greatly affected by the mesh plate condition and aging of the rubber balls.
V. Selection and Maintenance Key Points
Grit Ball Selection: Standard Soft Grit Balls (daily scale prevention), Silicon Carbide Grit Balls (mild descaling); Regularly inspect grit ball diameter and elasticity, replace promptly if aging or damaged.
Ball collection rate management: Regular backwashing of the ball collection net and secondary filter to prevent debris from clogging; investigate if the collection rate falls below 90%.
Regular inspections: No abnormal vibration or noise from the slush pump; valves are leak-free; control cabinet parameters are normal; perform system switching and function tests on a scheduled basis.
Antifreeze and Anticorrosion: Drain all standing water during winter shutdown to prevent cracking; use high-corrosion-resistant stainless steel material for seawater conditions.
