The challenges in heat exchanger maintenance

The shell and tube heat exchanger is subject to the buildup of impurities that must be cleaned on a regular basis

. The device consists of an inner bundle of tubes surrounded by an outer shell. The tube bundle contains the fluid to be heated or cooled, and the shell contains another fluid that flows over the tubes. Since there is a difference in the temperature of the two fluids, heat passes from one to the other, with the shell side fluid being cooled or heated by the tube fluid, and vice versa.

As with any system using pressurized water, there is danger of leakage. In recent years stainless steel heat exchanger tubes with a copper wound fin have been developed that can withstand extremely high pressure. This is applicable to mining situations employing a gravitational water supply. While these units are new, prototypes have exceeded all expectations and may offer a solution to the challenge of maintaining pressure in the system.

Impurities in the fluids precipitate and form deposits on the tubes and the inside of the heat exchanger shell, and it is necessary to test the water periodically and add chemicals to retard sedimentary buildup. This alleviates the problem to some extent, but it is still necessary to disassemble the system and clean it regularly. Lime scale is sometimes dense and various measures are required to break it up and dissolve it. These may include flushing the system with chemicals to dissolve the lime, using sandblasting or high-pressure water to break up deposits in the heat exchanger shell and inner tubes, and the use of drill rods to aid in the breakup.

This last procedure is particularly challenging because the drill can damage the tube wall, especially when the buildup is thick. In such cases, it may be better to simply replace the tubes.

The traditional method of maintaining heat exchangers involved the blind use of chemicals to control scale buildup coupled with regular lab testing. With this method there is the risk of using the chemicals when they are not needed, which is unnecessarily expensive as well as hastening system corrosion and increasing waste. To meet this challenge, sensors are now available that can conduct continuous monitoring of both the fouling thickness and temperature in heat exchange systems so that the use of chemicals and the scheduling of cleaning can be adjusted to match the rate of buildup.

The challenges in heat exchanger maintenance

By: Melissa Reejane

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