Roughly speaking, evaporators and condensers are both heat exchange equipment and there is no difference. But in terms of usage, there is a difference between an evaporator and a condenser. The condenser is used to discharge heat, while the evaporator is used to absorb heat.

This is just a rough perspective. To understand the difference between an evaporator and a condenser, it is necessary to first understand what an evaporator is and what a condenser is.

As mentioned earlier, evaporators and condensers are both heat exchange equipment. What is heat exchange equipment?

Heat exchange equipment refers to the equipment that requires two or more fluids with different temperatures to transfer heat to each other, and the equipment that conducts heat transfer is called heat exchange equipment. Therefore, evaporators and condensers are both heat exchange equipment.

What is an evaporator?

Evaporator is a unit operation that uses heating to heat solutions containing different substances and non volatile solutes to boiling state, causing some solvents to vaporize and be removed, thereby increasing the concentration of the solution in the solvent.

The evaporator mainly consists of a heating chamber and an evaporation chamber. The heating chamber provides the heat required for evaporation to the liquid, promoting its boiling and vaporization. The evaporation chamber is a component that completely separates the gas-liquid phases.

What is a condenser?

The condenser is a component of the refrigeration system and also a part of the entire evaporator system. The condenser is mainly used to discharge heat. It can convert gas or steam into liquid and quickly release heat.

The working process of a condenser is an exothermic process, and the device that converts steam into liquid during the evaporation process is also known as a condenser. All condensers operate by taking away the heat of gas or steam.

The difference between evaporator and condenser

From the above concepts of evaporator and condenser, it can be seen that the difference between the two is that the condenser is mainly used to discharge heat, while the evaporator is used to absorb heat.

The main difference between evaporators and condensers lies in their different working forms. Evaporators absorb heat from the medium for vaporization and external heat absorption, while condensers are devices that cool and liquefy the medium, releasing heat to the outside.

Evaporators and condensers also have different structures.

In evaporator design, selection and design should be based on the evaporation capacity and materials of the entire system.

In the design of condensers, the inlet and outlet of different paths should be as close as possible, and the inlet and outlet should also be as far away as possible to avoid losing some heat exchange due to reheating and uneven flow distribution.

In practical design, if there are more than two branches, centralized separators and collectors should be used to ensure uniform flow between different flow paths. It is best to have the same pipe path for different flow paths, and it should flow evenly through the windward and leeward sides to ensure uniform heat transfer.

The above is a brief introduction to the difference between evaporators and condensers. The difference between evaporators and condensers lies in the fact that they are heat releasing devices and heat absorbing devices.