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Quotes - Engineering - SalesHeat Exchangers For
Industrial Process
Cooling and Heating
Industrial applications differ from building duty in the fluids rather than the principles. Oil is viscous and transfers heat poorly. Compressed air carries moisture that has to be condensed out deliberately. Glycol changes properties with temperature.
The Bell & Gossett ranges cover these through geometry rather than exotic materials: larger shells and longer tube runs on the OC oil cooler, single-pass air flow on the aftercoolers, and 1000°F capability on the GC gas cooler.
Send the allowable pressure drop with the duty. On oil and gas service it is frequently the constraint that decides the selection before the thermal calculation does.
Request a QuoteIndustrial Process Cooling and Heating
Viscosity Is the Recurring Problem
Oil, glycol and heavy process fluids all transfer heat far less readily than water, and all of them get worse as they cool. That is why the OC oil cooler range runs to larger shells and longer tube runs than the general-purpose WU: the duty needs surface because it cannot get help from the coefficient.
It also means the cold end of the exchanger works hardest for the least return. Relaxing the required outlet temperature slightly often shrinks the unit noticeably.
Pressure Drop Decides More Than People Expect
On oil duty, pressure drop rises steeply with both flow and viscosity, and a unit selected on thermal duty alone can be impossible to pump through at the flow the system delivers. On compressed air, every psi is compression energy already paid for.
State the allowable drop with the enquiry. It is the input most often omitted and the one that most often changes the answer.
Cyclic Loads Need Stating
A quench tank load arrives in bursts as parts are dropped. A snow melt loop sits idle then runs at full output. An engine on standby duty starts under load. Sizing any of those on an average produces equipment that disappoints exactly when it matters.
Tell us the duty profile rather than a single number, and where the peak is short, whether there is thermal mass available to absorb it.
Removable Bundles Earn Their Keep Here
Industrial cooling water is frequently untreated or poorly treated, and industrial process fluids leave deposits. A bundle that withdraws for shell-side cleaning is what determines how long the exchanger stays useful.
Put the fouling fluid on the shell side, because that is the side you can reach. On a U-tube bundle nothing rigid passes the bend.
What We Need to Size an Industrial Exchanger
Both fluids, named rather than described. Oil at ISO VG 46 behaves nothing like oil at VG 10, and a fifty percent glycol solution behaves nothing like water. On gas duty the composition matters more than the flow, because it decides the dew point and therefore what the exchanger is actually doing.
Flow rate, inlet temperature and required outlet temperature on each side, and the allowable pressure drop on each side. On oil and gas service that last figure frequently decides the selection before the thermal calculation does, because a unit that meets the duty and cannot be pumped through is the wrong unit.
The duty profile, if it is not steady. A quench load arriving in bursts, a standby engine starting under load, or a machine that runs one shift in three all size differently from their averages. Where the peak is short, tell us whether there is reservoir or tank volume available to absorb it, because thermal mass is usually cheaper than surface area.
And which stream fouls. On a U-tube bundle the cleanable side is the shell side, so the fouling fluid belongs there and the clean fluid belongs in the tubes. Getting that the wrong way round produces an exchanger nobody can maintain, and it is worth checking on an existing installation whose duty has changed over the years.
