Dry Cooler For Steam Turbine Condensate And Auxiliary Cooling Systems

The dry cooler utilizes ambient air to dissipate heat through finned tube heat exchangers with high-efficiency axial fans, eliminating water consumption, scaling, and plume emissions associated with evaporative cooling systems.

Working Principle

The dry cooler operates as an air-to-liquid heat exchanger:

Hot process fluid (e.g., turbine lube oil, condensate, or glycol solution) circulates through finned tubes.

Axial fans force ambient air across the fins, transferring heat from the fluid to the air.

The cooled fluid is then returned to the turbine or process circuit.

This closed-loop cooling method keeps the system clean, prevents water loss, and ensures stable operation under varying environmental conditions.

Case Study: Steam Turbine Auxiliary Cooling System

Customer: 50 MW Biomass Power Plant
Location: Southeast Asia
Application: Steam turbine lubricating oil and condensate cooling
Cooling Medium: 40% Ethylene glycol-water solution
Cooling Capacity: 1.2 MW
Inlet/Outlet Temperature: 60 °C / 50 °C
Ambient Design Temperature: 40 °C
Configuration: Two-module dry cooler system with variable-speed axial fans

Solution Provided:
VRCOOLERTECH designed a modular dry cooler equipped with copper-aluminum finned tubes and low-noise, EC-controlled fans. The units were installed outdoors and connected to the turbine lube oil and condensate circuits via plate heat exchangers.

• Result:

Reduced cooling water consumption by 100%, replacing the old wet cooling tower.

Stable turbine operation even during peak summer conditions.

Simplified maintenance and no chemical water treatment required.

Lower overall lifecycle cost and higher system reliability.

Dry coolers provide a modern, sustainable cooling solution for steam turbine and power generation systems. By replacing water-based cooling towers with air-cooled dry coolers, power plants can achieve significant cost savings, simplified operation, and reduced environmental impact.