Strange question? … it is not always the water is “just water”.
Sometimes customers fight versus scaling or corrosion issue and say: “but it’s water!!!”.
To shed light on this interesting subject, here are a interesting table, prepared by our technical department, which offers a number of parameters to be controlled in the water passing over the brazed plate heat exchangers.
Yes you are right and in the right place…usually we speack about energy recovery, steam, hot oil, superheated water…today we feel chocolate taste.
Our customer make lines to cover chocolate icecream and ask to our technical department a way to recover dropping chocolate.
Italian creativity helped by TCOIL, give us the economic and efficient solution.
A dimple jacket heat exchanger, flooded with hot water with food surface treatment, can recover the chocolate drop from icecream lines.
We already discussed the importance of antifreeze a few weeks ago, in order to prevent piping and hydraulic circuits damages in our cooling plants.
Another precious technical topic in the Download section of the Tempco site refers to Localization of leakage in Plate heat exchangers.
Essential because fluids leakage in the plate pack compromises the correct working conditions of heat exchangers.
Abbiamo parlato già dell’importanza dell’antigelo poche settimane fa, onde prevenire danni alle tubazioni e ai circuiti idraulici dei nostri impianti di raffreddamento.
Un altro prezioso documento nella sezione Download del sito Tempco riguarda Come localizzare le perdite in uno Scambiatore di calore a piastre.
Fondamentale, in quanto perdite di liquidi nel pacco piastre compromettono seriamente il corretto funzionamento dello scambiatore di calore.
We often discussed about dimple plate jacket exchangers, the T COIL series of Tempco heat exchangers for clamp-on or immersion application.
Dimple plate jacket exchangers offer a very interesting construction, achieving high thermal transfer efficiency and custom flexibility in shape and geometries.
Cold season is coming. So be aware of freezing temperatures of antifreeze solutions in you thermoregulating and cooling plants, heat exchangers, free coolers for endothermic engines and overall in machines employing hydraulic circuits.
Ice coats leaking pipes (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
To avoid expensive and unwanted bursting and damages, here’s a useful technical table from the Resources section in Tempco site with freezing temperatures of some of the most employed antifreeze solutions.
http://www.tempco.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Temperature-di-congelamento_freezpoints.pdf
Engineering a thermal machine, heat exchangers, thermoregulating units, evaporative towers, pumping systems, pipings and so on, requires the evaluation of many factors, from chemical compatibility among constructing materials to the components sizing, depending on the characteristics of fluids involved, working fluids and raw materials employed in the production process both in contact with the equipments.
Our Tempco site offers in the Resources section a wide selection of technical datasheets and tables for download, a useful engineering help of an industrial thermal machine.
Let’s start with the Chemical compatibility of some metallic and plastic materials, used in components such as pump heads, plates, valves, piping and sealings.
http://www.tempco.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Chemical_compatibility.pdf
The list offers initial informations based on manufacturer’s data combined with Tempco’s experience, being aware that chemical resistance of any material depends by several factors, specific in every single industrial application, to be then carefully evaluated in every single case.
In addition, there are also a couple of tables on Chemical and corrosion resistance of Copper and Stainless Steel AISI 316 to water in a variety of chemical factors.
http://www.tempco.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/aisi316.pdf
http://www.tempco.it/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CBE_corrosion_resistance.pdf
A Cooling tower, while operating, involves a percentage of water evaporation. That’s also the reason why this kind of machine is also called evaporative cooler.
An evaporative cooler takes advantage by the cooling power of water loosing heat during phase transition from liquid to steam. Water to be cooled falls down through the body of the cooling tower coming in contact with the ambient air circulating from bottom to the top. Being air at a lower temperature than water, and dry with a low humidity level, evaporation happens, cooling water by stealing heat to achieve the physical process.
As evaporation concerns only the water, the consequence is an increase in the concentration of minerals, salts and carbonates in circulation.
The allowed level of concentration is 3, it means three times the initial concentration of a given component.
Exceeding this level, the deposition of suspended solids and salts can damage the components of the cooling tower, in particular inside the fill pack, crucial to achieve the thermal exchange.
The result will be:
To avoid these implications there are two solutions:
Taking care of the condition of the cooling water ensures a long and reliable function of the cooling tower.
Below is a table of typical values of the cooling water. Upon successful completion of the various individual parameters it is suggested to install an air conditioning system and water treatment.
Sometimes I think it is useful to remember that the options to use plate heat exchangers are too great and allow the use in many different applications …
Tempco T PLATE P plate heat exchangers are complete of a support frame in painted carbon steel or stainless steel (for food and diary or pharma applications) and a plate pack with clip gaskets. There are different thermal lenghts, pressing depth and chevron angle.
Standard plates materials
AISI 304, AISI 316, TITANIO, TITANIO/PALLADIO, 254SMO, HASTELLOY C276, INCONEL, MONEL
Standard gasketed material
Gaskets type
LOCK SYSTEM GLUELESS (clip)
STANDARD PLATES RANGE
Connections from DN25 up to DN500 Standard connections:
threaded external or internal UNI and/or BSP, flanged UNI, ANSI, SAE TRICLAMP, for food and diary or pharmaceutical applications
Pressure range from PN6 up to PN25, full vacuum.
Temperature range from -50°C up to +200°C.
FRAMES
Painted carbon steel
Epoxy painting system for marine or aggressive environment
Acid proof painting
Teflon based painting
Special paniting system per food anvironment
Stainless steel multipass for diary applications
Pasteurizer multisection frames
Twin unit
BOLTS
Galvanized carbon steel
Stainless steel sor food and diary executions
SPECIAL EXECUTIONS
Electropolished plates for pharmaceutical applications
Double wall execution, for safe application on pharme, food and diary processes. DW application is a must where the 2 fluids can’t mixed themselves.
In turbine power generation unit, big shell and tube heat exchangers are installed to condensate and cool down the steam. Due to design conditions, this kind of heat exchangers is a must…but…
You can achieve interesting energy recovery, on low temperature steam with plate heat exchangers.
The new improved DN300 and DN500 plates give us the chance to install some big units to get this results:
Both installed to produce hot water for heat district units, from low pressure steam (4 barg).
Customer installed 2 big plate heat exchanger for 150% total capacity, in this way they can get 75% of power also in case of unscheduled maintenance.
