Tuesday 10 March 2015

Air Cooled Heat Exchangers - What You Need to Know



Air cooled heat exchangers are 1 type of heat exchange device from a long list of heat exchangers. Generally, heat exchange equipments are devices that are particularly meant for assisting the release of heat coming from a certain volume of fluid in the direction of the other. To understand more, consider the regular home appliances at your residence, such as the refrigerators, air conditioners, along with your ordinary car radiator. They are just some simple examples of heat exchangers.

Now we will take a glance at air cooled heat exchangers. Normally, these are widely-used in industries which have a process system which produces excessive heat which must be dissipated, especially if there exists no home or local usage for it. Air coolers can perform exclusive of any cooling water from an adjacent or supporting cooling tower.

When should this equipment be used? The reply to that is once the outlet temperature is more than 20 degree Fahrenheit or -6.67 degree Celsius more than the upper limit of the expected ambient air temperature. Additionally, do not be fooled by the negative symbol of the Celsius unit. Air coolers may be utilized with nearer approach temperatures, nevertheless it has continuously come to be costly when measured up to a combination of a cooling tower and a water-cooled exchanger.

Besides the appliances as well as cars, remember that there are additional functions for air cooled heat exchanger. These uses can be seen in numerous industries, several of which include refineries, the upstream production, and petrochemical facilities. Moreover, you can also use air coolers on other conditions which have high temperatures, high pressure, acidic fluids and environments. To be more specific, air coolers are commonly utilized and set up in the everyday gas and oil refineries; gas storage facilities; compressor stations for oil pipelines; plants produces polychlorvinyl, polyethylene, glass fiber, biplastic; by-product coke plants and ammonia transportation and handling plants.

Apart from the various functions and uses of air coolers, you need to understand something about its construction. Luckily, I will give that to you. The common air cooled exchanger that is used for processing purposes are consists of a finned-tube bundle that are built inside a rectangular box headers on both ends of the tubes. The chilling air is supplied by several fans. In general, the air blows up wards via a horizontal tube bundle or sideward, for vertical tube bundles. The installed fans may be either induced or forced draft. And this is determined by whether the air is pushed or pulled all the way through the tube bundle. The air is directed by the plenum chamber, additionally, the chamber encloses the space between the fans as well as the tube bundle. And all of the various components pointed out are generally built up on legs or a pipe rack when assembled. And before I forget, the fan drive assemblage is sustained with a steel mechanical drive support system. The support system will generally be consisted of a vibration switch on every fan. The switches are specially designed to shut down a fan which has a problem, without human involvement.

To understand the inside and out of air cooled heat exchangers is literally easier said than done, and it is even tougher when you have absolutely no background on machines or mechanical terms. Though the question still remains, why are these preferred than other coolers. To start with, they're more affordable to maintain when compared with some other chemical using coolers. Secondly, it can quickly be installed. Last but not least, air cooled heat exchangers are the most environmental friendly method available up to now.

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