How to Reduce Heat Exchanger Fouling
Fouling is slowed by hydraulics, chemistry, and where you put the dirty fluid. Extra area without velocity control just delays the same shut…
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Shell & tube design, selection, fouling, pressure drop, materials, mai…
U-tube vs shell-and-tube and other configuration choices…
Loss of duty, high pressure drop, leaks…
Chemical, pharmaceutical, oil & gas, food & dairy…
TEMA classes, ASME codes, ISO 9001, weld joint efficiency…
Datasheets, material selection, vendor evaluation, FAT…
ASME Section VIII, PRV, hydro test, fabricator evaluation…
Steam jet ejectors, liquid ring pumps, staging, leak testing…
Multi-effect systems, falling film vs forced circulation…
HEAT EXCHANGERS
Shell & tube design, selection, fouling, pressure drop, materials, maintenance
Fouling is slowed by hydraulics, chemistry, and where you put the dirty fluid. Extra area without velocity control just delays the same shut…
Cleaning method is a design input. Straight tubes and a removable cover, a pullable U-bundle, or chemical-only access are decided on the GA …
Mechanical design turns a rated bundle into pressure parts: tubesheets, shell, channels, nozzles, and an expansion scheme that matches the m…
Thermal design sets area and layout so the dirty duty is met inside ΔP and without a vibrating bundle. Mechanical design then makes that geo…
Size from duty, LMTD, and a realistic U — then check pressure drop and vibration. Send complete stream data. Do not treat a website as a kW …
Name the type from duty and maintainability. Ohm manufactures four tubular configurations. Plate, air-cooled, and floating-head units are in…
One fluid travels through the tubes; the other is driven across the bundle by baffles. Passes, LMTD, and nozzle design decide whether the un…
A heat exchanger transfers heat between two process streams without mixing them. Duty, fluid allocation, and configuration are engineering d…
Shell-and-tube remains the default industrial configuration when pressure, area, and cleanability must be specified on a drawing.
Maintainability is designed in: channel access, bundle pull space, davits, and metallurgy. A unit that cannot be cleaned will not hold duty.
Fouling is the number one cause of heat exchanger underperformance in operating plants. Understanding its mechanisms, specifying the correct…
Material is a corrosion and code decision owned by the process engineer. The fabricator executes the specified MOC — they should not guess i…
A working design balances thermal duty, hydraulics, mechanical integrity, and how the unit will be cleaned and inspected for the next decade…
Allowable pressure drop is a process constraint, not a vendor preference. It decides baffle spacing, pass count, nozzle size, and sometimes …
Selection is a process decision first and a mechanical decision second. Start from fluids, duty, pressure, fouling, and cleaning — then choo…
Plate heat exchangers cost less and are more thermally efficient for clean services. Shell-and-tube handles higher pressures, temperatures, …
TEMA's three-letter code system defines every shell-and-tube heat exchanger. Understand what each letter means, which configuration suits wh…
Tube vibration is a leading cause of bundle failure in refinery and chemical exchangers. Baffle spacing, shell-side velocity, and tube span …
COMPARISONS
U-tube vs shell-and-tube and other configuration choices
Floating head is a TEMA rear-end family. Ohm builds fixed-tubesheet units, with or without a shell expansion joint, and U-tube as the remova…
Both are shell-and-tube family. The difference is the rear end: U-bends versus a second tubesheet. That choice governs expansion, cleaning, …
TROUBLESHOOTING
Loss of duty, high pressure drop, leaks
Most exchanger failures are tube leaks, vibration wear, expansion damage, or gasket/partition leaks. Fix the mechanism; a larger replacement…
If duty has fallen, decide whether the process changed, the unit is dirty, the bundle is bypassing, or a leak is mixing streams — before you…
INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS
Chemical, pharmaceutical, oil & gas, food & dairy
Food and dairy exchangers need the hygienic rules written on the order. 'Food grade' without finish, fittings, and CIP intent is not a speci…
Energy-sector exchangers are specification-driven. Attach the purchaser standard. Do not rely on a website to replace SAES, DEP, or API data…
Pharma specifications succeed when finish, material certificates, and cleaning are written down. They fail when 'GMP' is used as a substitut…
Chemical duties fail from chemistry and specification gaps more often than from fabrication. Name the fluid, contaminants, and cleaning meth…
ENGINEERING STANDARDS
TEMA classes, ASME codes, ISO 9001, weld joint efficiency
API 660 is a purchaser specification for shell-and-tube exchangers. Ohm designs to it when it is attached to the enquiry — it is not an Ohm …
ASME Section VIII is the code that keeps pressure vessels from killing people. Division 1 or Division 2, U-stamp or UM-stamp, Form U-1 or U-…
TEMA Class R, B and C are not just labels — they specify tubesheet thickness, corrosion allowances, shell thickness minimums, tie-rod counts…
Joint efficiency (E) is the factor that converts calculated minimum wall thickness to actual required thickness. Full RT (E=1.0) allows thin…
ISO 9001 tells you the manufacturer has a documented quality management system — it does not guarantee your specific vessel is correctly des…
PROCUREMENT GUIDE
Datasheets, material selection, vendor evaluation, FAT
Pressure parts are hydrotested. NDT follows the ITP. Do not assume pneumatic or helium leak testing is standard on every Ohm unit.
Manufacturer checks prove the unit matches the approved drawing and ITP. Purchaser checks prove that is what you ordered. Do not mix the two…
Choosing the wrong material of construction is one of the most expensive mistakes in process equipment. Over-specifying exotic alloys wastes…
Inspecting equipment at the manufacturer's facility before dispatch catches defects that are expensive to fix on site. This checklist covers…
The lowest-priced heat exchanger quotation is rarely the best value. This checklist covers the thermal, mechanical, and commercial items to …
An incomplete heat exchanger datasheet is the single biggest cause of delayed quotations and post-order design changes. Here is exactly what…
PRESSURE VESSELS
ASME Section VIII, PRV, hydro test, fabricator evaluation
The hydrostatic test is the final proof that a pressure vessel can safely contain its design pressure. Knowing what to expect — test pressur…
Every ASME pressure vessel requires overpressure protection. Understanding the relief scenarios — fire, blocked outlet, runaway reaction, th…
Reactor selection depends on reaction kinetics, heat removal rate, mixing intensity, and phase behaviour. Specifying the wrong jacket type o…
A distillation column enquiry that only states 'separate component A from B' will receive a quotation based on assumptions. Here are the par…
VACUUM SYSTEMS
Steam jet ejectors, liquid ring pumps, staging, leak testing
Steam jet ejectors have no moving parts, handle corrosive vapours, and achieve deep vacuum. But they consume significant motive steam and ne…
A vacuum system that cannot hold vacuum will never achieve design suction pressure. Leak rate testing — by pressure rise or helium sniffing …
Liquid ring vacuum pumps are motor-driven, handle condensable vapours well, and suit moderate vacuum levels. They consume electricity and se…
EVAPORATORS
Multi-effect systems, falling film vs forced circulation
A triple-effect evaporator consumes roughly one-third the steam of an equivalent single-effect unit. Understanding how multiple effects work…
Falling film evaporators offer short residence time for heat-sensitive products. Forced circulation handles viscous, scaling, and crystallis…
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