Heat Exchanger Replacement – An Overview

An industrial heat exchanger comprises an integral part of the heating/cooling system in industrial manufacturing, to safely regulate the temperature of chemicals, water, gas and other substances. It achieves this temperature regulation by heating, cooling, condensing or evaporating fluids, vapors or gases used in or generated during processing.

Benefits

A properly functioning heat exchanger recaptures otherwise wasted energy or heat generated through normal processing procedures. It transfers this energy from the exhaust in whatever form, either liquid, gas or vapor to another form, without mixing the two.  This improves operational efficiencies, protects nearby capital equipment and also improves plant and operational safety.

Alloy Engineering thermally and mechanically designs custom ASME heat exchangers. These include Air Cooled & Finned Tube heat exchangers Shell & Tube heat exchangers, recuperators and economizers.

Failure

Common causes of heat exchanger failure, particularly with the shell & tube style, can be traced either to mechanical issues or in harsh environments, chemically induced corrosion.

We can help diagnose or pinpoint the problems experienced with your existing heat exchanger with our professional testing methods. We can trace mechanical failure to any one of several possible or potential problem sources, such as metal erosion, thermal fatigue or thermal expansion and cycling, among others. Our heat exchanger replacement designs and materials selected help withstand these stressors for a more extended operational lifespan, increasing your return on investment.

Features

Alloy Engineering offers custom designed and fabricated heat exchangers that can deliver optimal functionality in challenging industrial environments. We study the current system to design a heat exchanger replacement that maximizes individual heat transfer coefficients and by minimizing resistance due to fouling (Rf). We are members of HRI and utilize HTRI thermal design software, and CodeCalc for mechanical design to ASME Code with S, U and R stamps. General features of our heat exchangers include:

• Shell diameters up to 80” with in-house machining capabilities up to 110”turning
• High-temperature gas/gas exchangers
• Bayonet heat exchangers—double tubesheet designs
• Replacement bundles, channels, shells and tubesheets
• Nickel-brazed, finned tubing
• Refractory lined
• Clean-room fabrication and welding
• Solidworks 3D fabrication drawings
• Ratings up to 1600°F
• Carbon, stainless, high-nickel alloys and reactive metals
• Explosion clad

Industries Served

More effective heat transfer will improve processing efficiencies and help avoid the possibility of downtime for repairs. Industries often seeking a heat exchanger replacement include:

• Biofuels
• Chemical processing
• Food, beverage and dairy processors
• Geothermal energy
• Oil & Gas
• Paper
• Pharmaceuticals
• Plastics
• Power plant generation
• Refineries
• Renewable energy