Condenser Design, Operation, and Maintenance
Training Seminar - January 19 & 20, 2017

This technical seminar is designed & targeted for utility personnel. Topics largely presented by experienced engineers, and metallurgists.

South Congress Hotel, 1603 South Congress Street, Austin, TX

Please join us Thursday & Friday at our two-day intensive condenser & cooling tower seminar taught by the industry's premier cooling systems expert, Jack Burns.

Top Reasons to Attend

  • Learn practical techniques for improving condenser and cooling tower performance & reliability.
  • Get advice from the industry's top technical condenser & cooling tower experts.
  • Learn best maintenance practices to maximize outage resources.
  • Make contact with other power plant professionals in a stimulating environment. Find out the technical issues they face, and how they deal with them.
  • Fulfill your P.E. continuing education requirements with 15 PDH's granted upon completion of the course.

Topics to be Covered:

  1. Heat Transfer & Principles of Design: Learn the relevant technical background.
  2. Components & Material of Construction: Make informed choices (considering maximum loadings) as to when material replacement is needed.
  3. Air Removal Equipment: SJAE & Vacuum Pumps: Dispel the myths surrounding this critical subsystem & how to interpret its unusual performance curves.
  4. Performance Codes, Estimates & Monitoring: HEI & PTC 12.2 estimates or guidelines. Find out how & when to apply these important methods to get the practical results you need. Be proficient in instrumentation used for testing & monitoring.
  5. Impacts on Turbine, Heat Rate & Generation: Discover how to quantify the condenser impacts on the bottom line.
  6. Inspections & Condition Assessments: Rapidly identify trouble spot before they become big problems. Create the best visual inspection process for both the water & shell side before your outage kicks off. Learn about a range of suitable repair methods.
  7. Tube Failure Mechanisms: MIC, and other forms of Pitting & Crevice Corrosion, Vibration & Condensate Grooving as well as latent defects. Find out what's happening inside your condenser tubing and how to minimize harmful effects..
  8. Tube Material Selection & Retubing: Tube material properties and the selection process, tube mill & contractor specifications, site QA & technical oversight issues. Specify & evaluate competitive bids to achieve a quality installation with the performance you need. Understand OEM shortcuts that can reduce performance & reliability, and key installation & corrosion criteria to select the best tube replacement material.
  9. Modular Rebundling: Learn what you need to know before recommending this to your management & how to write a firm technical specification for the work. Understand the supplier shortcuts and when you need to push back to protect quality.
  10. Air & Water In-leakage Testing: Determine your options with detect detection techniques
  11. Root Cause Deficiency Evaluations: Learn how to isolate the effects of fouling & other performance detractors in your condenser.
  12. The Power Uprate Evaluation: Find out how the cooling system responds to increased uprate steam flow & its effect on performance, generation & revenue.

Instructor: Jack Burns, PE & ASME Fellow

  • Director & Founder, Burns Engineering Services, Inc.
  • Cooling Systems Consultant, Stone & Webster for over 24 years
  • Former Engineering Development Manager & Designer in the Condenser Division at Ingersoll-Rand (now Yuba-Ecolaire) for 14 years
  • Chairman of ASME Performance Test Codes for Steam Surface Condensers, Cooling Towers & Air-Cooled Steam Condensers
  • Awarded 2002 ASME Performance Test Codes Medal
  • MS: Mechanical Engineer, Lehigh University.; B. Marine Engineer, NY Maritime College
  • Licensed Professional Engineer in NY, NJ, TX, MN & MA
  • Held Marine Engineers Steam/NJ Blue Seal Operators License
  • Previously appointed as condenser instructor on behalf of the U.S. Dept. of Energy
  • Kickoff Instructor at last six EPRI Condenser Technology Seminars
  • Principal Instructor of more than 25 seminars educating various utilities and service groups in the past 6 years
  • Published over 35 papers in the field

Guest Lecturer: David Hutton, P.E.

  • Former President & Chairman of the Cooling Technology Institute (CTI)
  • Thirty-eight years of industry experience with Baltimore Air Coil specializing in engineering design and management, field performance testing and trouble-shooting, product management, and marketing management in evaporative heat transfer and thermal storage equipment for HVAC, industrial, process and power generation applications
  • Member of ASME PTC-23 Committee, "Performance Test Code for Atmospheric Water-Cooling Equipment."
  • Member of ASME PTC-30.1 Committee, "Performance Test Code for Air-Cooled Steam Condensers"
  • Founder and President of Delta-H Systems, LLC, a cooling tower consulting firm
  • Author of over ten authoritative papers published by CTI, EPRI, ASME, and industry journals on the subject of cooling towers and cooling systems.

Testimonials

"As a system manager of the condenser and air removal equipment, I found the course very informative, especially the sections on inspections and condition assessment, performance, testing & troubleshooting, retubing and the power uprate."

"Very professional presentations, a lot of good information to consider for our own plant improvements"

"I met some incredible individuals, both attendees and instructors and found it to be a great opportunity to exchange ideas with my peers"