Thursday, September 10, 2015

Facts On Heat Exchanger Tube Plugs

By Daphne Bowen


When it comes to selection of the devices to be used in heat exchange, it is the house engineers and designers who have to take action. Also, the tube plugs manufacturers have their role to play. Going about it blindly will give a bad outcome. Water quality, design of the devices and techniques of operating and maintaining the devices affect the choices made. Below is an outlook of facets of heat exchanger tube plugs.

On water quality, first consider the amount of sulfide, chloride, oxygen, residual chlorine and manganese in the water. Other things that you should be wary of include pH, sedimentation level and temperatures. Some elements are found in high levels in these coolers. The kind of material selected to use in making the devices is determined by the chloride levels.

Soluble oxygen many a time causes corrosion of converter tubes. To prevent this, protective compounds should be added. Their mode of action should address reduction of amount of oxygen in water. Copper allows are lacking when it comes to protection in water highly concentrated with oxygen. An excellent alternative titanium.

When chlorine is dissolved in water, the resulting compound is hypochlorite and it causes corrosion very fast. Chlorine is a popular element used in water purification. That is why the tube plugs should be made with consideration to this. The alloy should be resistant to corrosion. Also, the corrosion will happen faster if the temperatures are high.

If the pH is below 5 and the amount of air in the H2O is high, thinning and corrosion of the tubes is more likely. This is because the film which offers protection does not form readily. However, if the material used in tube plug manufacture is copper, the problem can be avoided. Brass-aluminum alloy plugs do deliver effective results if the PH is high.

Iron and manganese cause a change in the color of water during deposition. There are some plugs which have no resistance when the H2O flowing therein is fresh. Again, the copper ones are very effective. Basically, the properties of the water that will be flowing through them should be taken seriously when purchasing the heat exchanger plugs.

Sedimentation and mass absorption determines the degree of thermal transfer in these devices. If a protective layer is formed on the inside of the tubes, the level of thermal transfer will be reduced and also flow section degree. Another benefit this offers is resistance to transfer of thermal energy. This is referred to as fouling factor. There are no well-defined methods and formulas of calculating this factor. Many of these values given on the same are just estimates.

Many people go for cheap products because they do not want to spend much. What they forget is that the cost of maintenance and operating such devices will cost them a lot in the end.




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