Lasers Can Effectively Weld Heat Exchangers

Can lasers perform welds precisely and reliably in the midst of thundering machinery? The prototype of a new laser welder developed by an international team of researchers has now withstood the worst.

At INTEGASA and ENSA, two companies in Spain that produce heat exchangers for heavy industry, the prototype proved itself precise and reliable under the difficult conditions of routine daily use.
“Manufacturers of heat exchangers were skeptical of laser anything until now,” confirms Patrick Herwig from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden. TIG-welding guns have traditionally been employed in assembly operations for welding thousands of tubes to the perforated tube sheets. This process, which is based on arc-welding technology, is very time-intensive however. The gun must be manually inserted into every hole and removed again after welding. As a result, the fabrication process is tedious, prolonged, and expensive. European manufacturers can hardly hold their ground today against competition from countries with low labor costs. Materials researchers, software specialists, production engineers and numerous users joined forces in the EU ORBITAL Project to jointly search for a cost-effective alternative. And found one.
Engineering that meets the most demanding requirements Instead of conventional TIG-welding guns, a laser does the job – tube sheets and tubes are welded to one another rapidly, precisely and accurately. In seconds, the tube is circumferentially welded in place and the robotic arm transporting the welding head can move on to the next hole. The welding head is designed so it anchors itself in the holes and is seated there so firmly than not even vibrations of the shop floor can disrupt the welding process. Precise guidance of the optical beam is handled by software-controlled mirrors that continuously direct it to the right location. Engineers and users from Italy, Spain, France, and Germany have been fine-tuning the process for two years. “The prototype we are exhibiting now at LASER 2013 facilitates the production of heat exchangers, and not just through its speed, but through its flexibility as well. It can even melt materials together that were considered difficult to weld until now,” according to Herwig, who was responsible for designing and testing the welding head during the EU project.
It is exactly these exotic combinations of materials that are needed by manufacturers of heat exchangers. They have to withstand extreme conditions in actual use. Heat exchangers are used in the chemical industry, ship engines, and power plants to remove heat from high-temperature, aggressive solutions of liquids. The tubing these liquids are passed through must therefore be corrosion-resistant. However, the liquid in the tank outside the tubing that absorbs the heat is chemically inert. Cost-effective materials can be employed here. Where tank and tubing meet, differing materials must be joined. “Traditional welding techniques hit their limits here, whereas the job can be handled with the laser,” says Herwig. The researchers are confident that laser welding can be implemented so effectively in production that European companies remain competitive internationally.

http://www.azom.com/news.aspx?newsID=36568

Air Products Wins First Domestic LNG Heat Exchange Contract

Despite having shipped 100 liquefied natural gas heat exchangers to various natural gas fields around the world, Air Products (NYSE: APD  ) has never had an order from a major domestic LNG producer. Until now.
The specialty gas producer announced that its proprietary C3MR liquefaction technology and equipment for use by LNG projects has been chosen for Dominion's (NYSE: D  ) major liquefaction facility that will be constructed at its existing Cove Point LNG import facility in Lusby, Md.
A joint venture between IHI E&C International and Kiewit selected Air Products' Main Cryogenic Heat Exchanger will be a central component of the proprietary propane pre-cooled mixed refrigerant liquefaction process.

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/04/30/air-products-wins-first-ever-major-lng-heat-exchan.aspx

Emerson introduces pre-engineered Heat Exchanger Monitoring Solution

Emerson Process Management has announced the release of an integrated Heat Exchanger Monitoring Solution.

Emerson Process Management has announced the release of an integrated Heat Exchanger Monitoring Solution. The solution is part of Emerson’s new suite of Essential Asset Monitoring applications. The pre-engineered heat exchanger solution embeds process and exchanger best practices into software using existing wired and new wireless instrument applications for cost-effective automated 24/7 monitoring enabling operations improvements and reduced energy costs.

Emerson’s Heat Exchanger Monitoring Solution allows maintenance personnel to schedule optimal time to clean to sustain optimal heat transfer. As a result, facilities can reduce energy and capacity loss due to fouling by up to 10 percent. For a 250,000-barrel-per-day refinery, that could mean a savings of as much as $3.5 million or more annually across all process units.

The environmental footprint is lessened by avoiding additional emissions from heater operation because of improved heat recovery in the process. And safety is improved as wireless data transfer reduces hazardous information-gathering trips to the field amongst exchangers that can be difficult to access, stacked, and filled with hot flammable fluids

"Typical world-class process facilities use hundreds of heat exchangers, which foul over time resulting in missed operating targets," commented Pete Sharpe, Emerson’s director of applications development. "Fouling typically occurs slowly but can be accelerated by inlet stream impurities or incompatible crude blends."
"Energy costs rise when fouling forces downstream process heaters to supply more energy

because of

heat transfer degradation in pre-heat exchangers," continued Sharpe. "Increased demand on downstream fired heaters can also diminish throughput as operating temperature limits are reached, and can increase emissions and potential fines. Avoiding these issues requires an effective cleaning program that enhances operations, and eliminates costs and time lost due to unnecessary schedule-driven cleaning or manual exchanger surveys."

The Heat Exchanger Monitoring Solution is scalable. Users simply choose the number and type of monitoring applications and instruments that are needed for their facility. Dynamic temperature and pressure measurements are trended, historized, and analyzed, delivering alerts of accelerated fouling and optimal time to clean.  Heat transfer, exchanger heat-transfer coefficient, fouling factors and cost of degradation can be calculated. Operations personnel can get valuable insight into operations that can be adversely affected by exchanger fouling.

The monitoring instruments are easily installed and commissioned to form a wireless field network for automatic online measurements. The Heat Exchanger Monitoring Solution uses AMS Suite operator graphics and maintenance screens to communicate continuous online diagnostics and application data to user host systems, control systems, and historians.

"The new automated monitoring solutions reduce costs through pre-engineering savings and wireless efficiency," said Sharpe. "Whereas wired continuous monitoring is traditionally afforded for only the most expensive and critical heat exchangers, the lower costs of Essential Asset Monitoring Solutions enable expanded asset oversight."

http://www.automationworld.com/emerson-introduces-pre-engineered-heat-exchanger-monitoring-solution

The Effects of Heat Exchangers on Oil

Heat exchangers are often used on equipment to cool the system, but what effect does this have on the oil and on equipment life?
Many heat exchangers are installed at the factory depending on the size or criticality of the machine. For these types of equipment, the maintenance staff must keep the heat exchanger operating within a certain parameter. If these parameters are exceeded, the equipment will eventually go down, usually because of a safety feature that trips the equipment due to a high temperature.
If you have had the opportunity to attend one of Noria’s Fundamentals of Machinery Lubrication classes, you are aware of the importance of keeping lubricants clean, cool and dry, and equipment balanced, aligned and well-oiled. These are some of the proactive practices that help ensure your equipment has the best opportunity to stay as healthy as possible. Heat exchangers can be utilized as part of one of these proactive practices — keeping the lubricant cool.
Heat is one of the four pro-oxidants. The others are air, water and metal catalysts. These pro-oxidants lead to the formation of acids, varnish, sludge and high viscosity, which normally result from oxidation. Oxidation is the permanent degradation of a lubricant by chemical reactions involving oxygen. As oxidation progresses, long-chain molecules are produced, which promotes the formation of sludge, tar, varnish and acids.
Individuals who review oil analysis reports typically look at an increase in viscosity and acid number to determine the health of the lubricant. While this is important, it is critical to change the lubricant before the critical limit is exceeded. Don’t forget that the health of your lubricant is your insurance for maintaining healthy equipment. Whenever you neglect your lubricants, you are also neglecting your equipment and allowing sludge, tar and varnish to become contaminants that can damage bearings, servo valves, etc., and cause equipment failure. As oxidation increases, so do acids, which results in corrosion of internal components.

Heat exchangers can play an important role in reducing heat within a system. Regardless of the type of heat exchanger used, it should be operated within its limits to ensure that the lubricant is kept cool. Refer to the manufacturer of the heat exchanger to make sure you are within the appropriate limits.
You should also keep in mind that for every 10 degrees C (18 degrees F) over the operating temperature, oil life is cut in half (Arrhenius rate rule). This means that if you have high temperatures and a heat exchanger that is not set up properly, it will produce more rapid oxidation.
In the reliability world, it is understood that oil will need to be changed more frequently in a machine that is running hot than in a cooler machine, but you can also apply the Arrhenius rate rule to your car. For instance, the hotter the oil in your vehicle, the more frequently you will need to change the oil.
However, do not think that only heat leads to oxidation. You still must deal with air, water, metal catalysts and all of the other contaminants that can enter into the lubricant.
So look a little more carefully at the machines in your plant that are currently running hot. They may be good candidates for a heat exchanger. In addition, if you can cool the lubricant by 10 degrees C (18 degrees F) of its operating temperature, you can double the oil’s life. Remember, a cool lubricant will increase the health of the lubricant along with the reliability of the equipment.
http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/29325/heat-exchangers-effects

Research Published on New Heat Exchanger Materials and Low-GWP Refrigerants

The Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute has published two new research reports. One new report is "AHRI 8006: Low Global Warming Potential (GWP) Refrigerants, Phase II: Defining the Configurations of Residential Air Conditioning and Heat Pump Systems Using Hydrocarbons, Ammonia, Carbon Dioxide, and HFO-1234yf as Refrigerants and Meeting Previously Defined Safety Requirements." The report describes configurations of air-conditioner/heat pump systems that can meet regulations, codes, and standards' safety requirements using low GWP refrigerants. It also looks at designs for safe use of the refrigerants. A second report is "AHRTI 06030-02: Novel Materials for Heat Exchangers, Phase II." The publication reports on performance data for design/analysis of metal and carbonaceous foams for use as heat exchanger materials. The study evaluated water drainage in metal foams. http://www.appliancemagazine.com/news.php?article=1652614&zone=0&first=1

Global Heat Exchangers Industry

NEW YORK, Dec.12, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its catalogue: Global Heat Exchangers Industry http://www.reportlinker.com/p098251/Global-Heat-Exchangers-Industry.html #utm_source=prnewswire&utm_medium=pr&utm_campaign=HVAC This report analyzes the worldwide markets for Heat Exchangers in US$ Million by the following Product Segments: Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers, Plate and Frame Heat Exchangers (Gasketed PHE, Welded PHE, Brazed PHE, and Other PHE), Air Cooled Heat Exchangers, Cooling Towers, and Other Heat Exchangers. The End-Use markets also analyzed in the report include Chemicals Industry, Fuel Processing, HVAC and Refrigeration, Food and Beverage, Power Generation, and Others. The report provides separate comprehensive analytics for the US, Canada, Japan Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and Rest of World. Annual estimates and forecasts are provided for the period 2010 through 2018. A six-year historic analysis is also provided for these markets. The report profiles 585 companies including many key and niche players such as Alfa Laval AB, Tranter Inc., Barriquand Technologies Thermiques, Xylem Inc., Chicago Bridge & Iron Company N.V, GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft, Hamon Group, Harsco Industrial Air-X-Changers, Hisaka Works, Ltd., Sondex, A/S, SmartHeat Inc., SPX Corporation, Balcke-D�rr GmbH, SPX Cooling Technologies, Inc., ThermaSys Corporation, API Heat Transfer Inc., and Vahterus Oy. Market data and analytics are derived from primary and secondary research. Company profiles are primarily based upon search engine sources in the public domain. I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & PRODUCT DEFINITIONSStudy Reliability and Reporting Limitations I-1Disclaimers I-2Data Interpretation & Reporting Level I-2Quantitative Techniques & Analytics I-2Product Definitions and Scope of Study I-3Heat Exchangers I-3Analysis by Product Segment I-3Shell and Tube Heat Exchangers I-3Plate Heat Exchangers I-4Air-Cooled Heat Exchangers I-4Cooling Towers I-4Other Heat Exchangers I-4Analysis by End-Use Segment I-4II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY http://www.marketwatch.com/story/global-heat-exchangers-industry-2012-12-12

Liquid to air heat exchanger systems boosts performance, extends life

LAIRD TECHNOLOGIES WL Series Liquid to air heat exchanger systems product line is self-contained units designed to remove a large amount of heat from densely packed electronic environments that are not conducive to conventional heat sink fans. Products provide full assembly, rather than having separate components and making them work together. Suitable for the medical and industrial markets, products maintain peak performance of high powered x-ray scanning systems by keeping the x-ray generator and tube cool. Product extends the life and improves the performance of machine tools used in CNC machining for fabricating metals.
http://www.ept.ca/pressroom/ProductDetail.aspx?id=10438