Importance

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Abstract

A feedwater heater for an HRSG is provided with a monitoring unit for detecting the presence of condensation in the feedwater heater. The monitoring unit includes a dielectric band around one of the tubes of the feedwater heater near the location where the feedwater is directed into the heater and a conductive band located around the dielectric band. The unit also includes a conductivity sensor installed between a ground on the feedwater heater and the conductive element. Hot gases containing moisture pass through the feedwater heater, and if the temperature of surfaces in the region of the tube around which the dielectric and conductive bands extend drops below the dew point of the gas, an electrically conductive condensate will appear those surfaces and on the tube and will flow over the dielectric band, completing an electric circuit between the tube and the conductive band. The conductivity sensor detects this and hence detects the presence of the condensation.

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First Claim