Condenser

“ Suppose then that a bent U shaped tube, each leg of which is 30 inches high, is half filled with mercury, and that one end is in communication with the condenser, and the other end is open to the atmosphere, and if there was a perfect vacuum in the condenser, the pressure of the atmosphere in the open leg would force all the mercury into the leg that communicated with the condenser, hence there would be a column of 30 inches of mercury in one leg, and air in the other. ”

“ A condenser is an apparatus whereby a charge of electrical energy may be temporarily stored, the amount of energy it will hold determining its "capacity." The capacity of a condenser is measured in micro-farads, the commercial unit representing one millionth of a farad. ”

“ All forms of energy may be wholly converted into heat, but only a fraction of any quantity of heat can be transformed into higher forms of energy, and this depends on the temperature of the source of heat and of the coldest body which can be employed as a condenser, being greater the greater the difference between the temperatures of the source and condenser, and the lower the temperature of the latter. ”

“ Water is a more efficient cooling medium than air, owing to its high specific heat, and the degree of cooling may be more easily regulated by its use. In water-cooled condensers it is usual to arrange that the water passes through a large number of small pipes contained in a larger one through which the gas flows, and as it constantly happened that condenser pipes became choked by naphthalene, the so-called reversible condenser, in which the stream of gas may be altered from time to time and the walls of the pipes cleaned by pumping tar over them, is a decided advance. ”

“ What is known as a condenser, or a Leyden-jar, is truly an instrument for the electric storage of energy, because, when charged, its parts are in a condition of molecular strain, which is recognized as an electrical phenomenon ”

“ The Wheeler Condenser and Engineering Company, who make a specialty of surface condensers, say that one square foot of cooling surface is usually allowed to each 10 pounds of steam to be condensed per hour, with the condensing water at a normal temperature not exceeding 75°. ”

“ The idea of the charge as a quantity of some kind of matter, brought up and placed on the insulated plate of the condenser, has only a correspondence to the fact, which is that the medium between the plates is the seat, when the condenser is charged, of a store of energy, which can only be made available by connecting the plates of the condenser by a wire or other conductor. The charge is only a surface aspect of the state of the medium, apparently a state of strain, to which the energy belongs. ”

“ Jet and Surface Condensation.—In land engines using condensation the jet form of condenser is common, but surface condensation is resorted to when the available water-supply is unsuited for boiler feed. When there is no large supply of condensing water a very fair vacuum can be obtained by using an evaporative condenser, consisting of a stack of pipes into which the exhaust steam is admitted and over which a small amount of cooling water is allowed to drip. ”

“ A current flowing into a condenser encounters a gradually increasing pressure which opposes it, beginning from zero pressure when the current enters at maximum flow and increasing to the same value as the current pressure, at which time the current ceases to flow. Hence, since the current varies from zero to maximum in one quarter period, or 90°, the phase difference between current and condenser pressure is 90°. The condenser pressure reaching a positive maximum when the current starts from zero on the positive wave, is 90° ahead of the current. ”

“ And the effect of the condenser is to reduce the steam issuing from the boiler to the same temperature as the condenser. When this is once done, no more work can be got out of the engine, unless fresh heat be supplied from an outside source to the boiler. The heat originally communicated to the boiler has become uniformly diffused, and the energy due to that difference is said to have been dissipated. The energy remains in a potential condition as regards other bodies ”

“ The action of the air would seem to make it very difficult to tell, from the measured or computed capacity of a condenser in which the air is acted upon, its actual capacity or vibration period, especially if the condenser is of very small surface and is charged to a very high potential. ”

“ On removing one condenser after another from the circuit, the lamp is found to glow less and less, till when but one condenser is left, no glowing is observed, since one small condenser does not have sufficient capacity. ”

“ The simplest form of condenser consists of a uniform layer of insulating matter bounded by two conducting surfaces, and its capacity is measured by the quantity of electricity on either surface when the difference of potentials is unity. ”

“ Condenser.—One of these is a condenser, which, while a spark can be produced without it, is nevertheless an important element. The office of a condenser is to absorb a certain amount of current. It will be remembered that the drawing apart of the points in a conductor, produced a spark. Now in the secondary current, of the high tension system, is an interrupter, a mechanism that makes and breaks the circuit continuously. ”

“ The gas in the hydraulic main is of course very impure, having undergone no alteration since it came from the coal in the retort. It contains a quantity of tar and ammoniacal liquor in vapour, and these have to be separated from it [82] and this can be effected by what is called condensation, the instrument used being known as a condenser. ”

“ Each refuses to escape to the earth, but they instantly rush together at the first opportunity. The dielectric may be shattered in a very heavily-charged condenser by this strong attraction.
Fig. 55.
EXPERIMENT 89. To show how the condenser maybe slowly discharged.
Apparatus. Fig. 55. The condenser (Exp. 83) ; the carbon electroscope with support (Exp. 58) ; the electrophorus (Exp. 68) .
192. Directions. (A) Charge the condenser by means of the [74] electrophorus; then hang the carbon so that it can swing between the upper conductor and E C placed as shown. ”

“ The temperature of the condenser is so regulated as to bring about the condensation of the nitric acid only, which runs out at the bottom of the pipe, whilst any uncondensed steam, nitrogen peroxide and other impurities pass into a Lunge tower, where they meet a descending stream of water and are condensed, giving rise to an impure acid. ”

“ Thirdly, Whatever Air or other elastic Vapour is not condensed by the Cold of the Condenser, and may impede the working of the Engine, is to be drawn our of the Steam Vessels or Condensers by Means of Pumps wrought by the Engines themselves, or otherwise. ”

“ But there is no description of or even, allusion to, an internal application of cold water, for the purpose of condensation, and how this operation finally so essential in other Engines, is to be performed by a new method, it becomes every inventor to declare; and also to shew what condensers are, as I confess I cannot comprehend whether they are Tubes, Boxes, Cisterns, or what else; there being no one sentence to justify a specific conclusion on the subject. ”

“ A simple method for condenser comparison is to charge the two condensers to the same voltage by a battery and then discharge them successively through a ballistic galvanometer (q.v.) and observe the respective “throws” or deflections of the coil or needle. These are proportional to the capacities. For the various precautions necessary in conducting the above tests special treatises on electrical testing must be consulted.
In the absolute determination of capacity we have to measure the ratio of the charge of a condenser to its plate potential difference. ”

“ Ordinarily, the vacuum is not nearly perfect, and, a back pressure remaining in the condenser of one or two pounds per square inch, the atmospheric pressure remaining unbalanced is only sufficient to raise the mercury 26 or 28 inches above the level of the liquid metal in the cistern. ”

“ When condenser made separators of glass we know dialectrics much pressed by electricity. This much sure, why, tests made show it. Honorable writers of English make tests and demonstration that metal can he vanished and all the same when new metal comes to condenser, yet discharge comes too the same. Why thus we see plain that dialectric heart of condenser. ”

“ A transference of heat between the two currents of gas takes place by the conductivity of the fire-brick, and thus the outgoing gases are continuously cooled while the ingoing gases are heated—the transference of heat being somewhat similar to that which takes place in the surface condenser of a steam engine. ”

“ The condenser is then connected across the break in the primary circuit.
A condenser is used to absorb the self-induced current of the primary winding and thus prevent it opposing the rapid fall of the primary current.
Every conductor of electricity forms a condenser and its capacity for absorbing a charge depends upon the extent of its surface. Hence, a condenser is constructed of conductive material so arranged as to present the greatest surface for a given amount of material.148
The usual form of condenser for induction coils as shown in figs. ”

“ In this arrangement the condenser corresponds to the wind chest, and it is continually kept full of electrical energy by means of the induction coil or transformer, which answers to the bellows of the organ. From the condenser, electrical energy is discharged each time the spark discharge passes at a spark gap in the form of electrical oscillations set up in the primary circuit of an oscillation transformer. ”

“ Consequently there is a tendency in nature for all the energy in the universe, of whatever kind it be, gradually to assume the form of heat, and having done so to become equally diffused. Now, were all the energy of the universe converted into uniformly diffused heat, it would cease to be available for producing mechanical effort, since, for that purpose, we must have a hot source and a cooler condenser. ”

“ The solvent is admitted to the reservoir R in the lower part of the condenser B through the tube indicated in the figure. The material to be extracted having been filled into the cylinder A through the manhole, the apparatus is closed. The cold water is admitted to the condenser by opening a faucet. ”

“ The condenser shown in the diagram combines the large capacity of a fixed condenser with the gradual capacity variation of a variable one. It is suitable for a wireless receiving circuit, or to shunt around the vibrator of an induction coil, by making the units considerably larger. It is made up of several fixed condensers, connected in parallel, a lever being the means whereby the capacity is varied. Five or more units may be used, each being a small condenser, built up of 10 sheets of waxed paper and nine sheets of tin foil. ”

“ The term `self-contained condensing unit' means a factory-made assembly of refrigerating components designed to compress and liquefy a specific refrigerant that is an integral part of the refrigerated equipment and consists of one or more refrigerant compressors, refrigerant condensers, condenser fans and motors, and factory supplied accessories. ”

“ The greater the number of turns, the greater the number of times the lines of force are cut, and the stronger is the current. If sufficiently intense, it jumps any gap in the secondary circuit, heating the intermediate air to a state of incandescence.
THE CONDENSER.
The sudden parting of H and S would produce strong sparking across the gap between them if it were not for the condenser, which consists of a number of tinfoil sheets separated by layers of paraffined paper. All [Pg 124] the "odd" sheets are connected with T, all the "even" with T1. ”

“ Fig. 2. Let A and B, fig. 2, be the two plates of the condenser, A being positively and B negatively electrified. Then before discharge the sections of the equipotential surfaces will be somewhat as sketched. ”

“ Every substance must possess surface and the molecules of the gases composing the air are not an exception; neither are the dust particles floating in the air; therefore they act as condensers, receiving and discharging electrons. ”

“ If C1, C2, C3, &c., are the separate Systems of condensers. capacities, then Σ (C) = C1 + C2 + C3 + &c., is the total capacity in parallel. If the condensers are so joined that the inner coating of one is connected to the outer coating of the next, they are said to be in series. Since then they are all charged with the same quantity of electricity, and the total over all potential difference V is the sum of each of the individual potential differences V1, V2, V3, &c., we have
Q = C1V1 = C2V2 = C3V3 = &c., and V = V1 + V2 + V3 + &c. ”

“ Steam is admitted to the high pressure side, at boiler pressure, and is cut off and expanded and exhausted into the receiver, whence it is admitted under the bottom side of the piston, where it is again cut off and expanded, finally exhausting into the condenser. ”

“ If we hold to the supposition that the molecules in the gaseous and the liquid state are the same—which we may call the supposition of the identity of the two conditions of aggregation—then the heat which is given out by the condensation at constant T is due to the potential energy lost in consequence of the coming closer of the molecules which attract each other, and then it is equal to a (1/vl – 1/vv) . If a should be a function of the temperature, it follows from thermodynamics that it would be equal to (a – Tda/dT) (1/vl – 1/vv) . ”