AIR-COOLED HEAT EXCHANGERS

GEA offers a range of different air-cooled heat exchanger

configurations in order to meet the specific requirements of both the
process and the site location.
Whatever the configuration, one of the most important design
criteria is to ensure that air is allowed to freely enter and leave the
system, ensuring maximum heat transfer.

Induced draft fan arrangement

Forced draft fan arrangement

Typical air-cooled heat exchanger layout

.

AIR-COOLED HEAT EXCHANGER DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS

FAN / TUBE BUNDLE ARRANGEMENT:

Induced draft:
The Induced draft unit gives a steady and durable thermal
performance due to the protection of the finned surface against wind,
rain, hail and snow by the plenum chamber. The induced draft also
ensures a better air distribution, less hot air recirculation, less air-
side fouling and lower noise levels at grade. Forced draft unit at Mosgas

Forced draft:
The forced draft unit allows an easy access for maintenance to the
fans and to the bundles. Furthermore, the fans remain in the cold
ambient air.

HEADER CONSTRUCTION:

D-type Header:
The welded bonnet type header is used in some cases for special
services such as: ammonia, freon and vacuum steam condensers.
One advantage of this design is the full welded construction which
provides the perfect sealing required for such applications.
 Plug Type Header:
The plug header is the most commonly used up to 350 bar working
pressure. The plug hole opposite each tube allows expansion of the
tube in the tube sheet, mechanical cleaning, and plugging in case of
leakage Seal welding or strength welding can be provided for high
partial hydrogen pressure services resulting in a less expansive
solution than the use of pipe header generally used for over 200 bar
service pressure.

Removable Cover Plate Header:

The cover plate header is used for fluids with high fouling
factors up to 40 bar working pressure where a frequent
mechanical cleaning is necessary. It is used also for very
corrosive process fluids so as to periodically check the
corrosion allowance. Special cover plate headers using
welded gaskets are provided for hydrogen service units in
hydrocracking plants.

FAN DRIVES:

Fan blades are generally made of either

aluminium or glass reinforced plastic (GRP).
The number and the rotational speed of the
blades depends on the air-flow and noise
requirements. Different kinds of belt drive
systems are used depending on the
transmission power and client preferences.
The different belts used are v-belts, integral
v-belts and toothed high torque drive (HTD)
belts. For higher powered systems (over 37
kW), gear drives (parallel shaft or right
angle) are preferred. Electric motors are
generally used as drivers, but steam or
hydraulic turbines as well as low speed
direct drive electric motors can also be
used. Air-flow control can be realised using
either manual or automatic variable pitch
fans or variable speed electric drives
(variable frequency).
FINNED TUBES

GEA Aircooled Systems manufactures various types of aluminium, copper,

stainless steel and galvanised carbon steel finned tubes, according to
customer specifications in terms of working temperature, ambient
temperatures, corrosive atmospheres, etc.
.
1. EXTRUDED FIN

Application: High-efficiency fins for various temperature applications, giving the

base tube complete and permanent protection against atmospheric corrosion. The Collection of finned tubes
extruded fin is very robust and resistant to mechanical damage, allowing the fins to
be easily cleaned with steam or water.
Maximum Operating Temperature: 300 °C
Manufacture: A carefully degreased core tube is fitted into
an aluminium sleeve. This assembly is then fed into the
triple-spindle finning head of the fin-extruding machine.
Three special multidisc packs extrude the aluminium tube into
helical high fins, reducing the inner diameter of the sleeve to
give firm pressure contact with the base tube.

Extruded fin
2. G FIN (EMBEDDED OR GROOVED FIN)

Application: High-efficiency fin for high temperature

applications.
Maximum Operating Temperature: 400 °C
Manufacture: A helical groove is formed in the base tube
without removing any material and the fin is then wound
into the groove under tension, followed by backfilling and
knurling of the displaced material to lock the fin root into
the tube.
Fin Material: Aluminium/copper/stainless steel.
Base Tube Material: Any readily machinable material. G fin

3. DOUBLE L FIN (LL FIN) AND L FIN

Application: Standard fin for low-temperature applications

where some degree of tube wall protection is required.
Maximum Operating Temperature: 120 °C
Manufacture: The fin foot is pre-formed into an L shape and
applied to the base tube under tension. Each fin abuts an
adjacent fin, giving a degree of protection to the base tube in
less aggressive environments. L fin
Fin Material: Aluminium/copper.
Base Tube Material: Any metallic material.

4. HOT-DIP GALVANISED ELLIPTICAL TUBES WITH RECTANGULAR FIN

Application: This finned tube is optimally shaped and has excellent thermodynamic
properties. The fin collar forms a permanent METALLIC bond with the tube. Corrosion
resistance is excellent, thanks to hot-dip galvanising, which produces a protective,
self-healing, outer-layer. The design is compact, resulting in a small heat exchanger
bundle face area.
Maximum Operating Temperature: 350 °C
Manufacture : The fins are first punched out and then lined up automatically on the
tube. The end fins are fixed. Integrated spacers in the fins maintain the desired gap
between adjacent fins. The use of a specially developed hot-dip galvanising bath
produces the best possible metallic fin-to-tube bond and results in excellent heat
transfer and mechanical properties.
Fin Material: Steel, galvanised.
Base Tube Material: Steel, galvanised.
Hot dip galvanised rectangular
. fins

Fin Selection Table:

1. 2. 3. 4.

BIMETALLIC EMBEDDED WRAP-ON KNURLED "L" DOUBLE "L" HOT-DIP

EXTRUDED "G" "L" GALVANISED
Maximum
Working 300 deg C 400 deg C 120 deg C 250 deg C 120 deg C 350 deg C
Temperature
Atmospheric
Corrosion Excellent Poor Acceptable Medium Medium Excellent
Resistance
Mechanical
Excellent Poor Acceptable Medium Medium Excellent
Resistance
Price Index 125 105 100 102 105 N/A
Air Fin Coolers (AFC)

Air Cooled Heat Exchangers are used to cool and / or condense various
process fluids in Refinery, Petrochemical, Fertilizer Process Industries, etc.
These are used where there is scarcity of water and water is costly.
Air Cooled Heat Exchangers are generally arranged as tube bundles side
by side or mounted one over other. The principal parts of tube bundles are
headers and finned tubes.

The Air Cooled Heat Exchangers employ axial flow fans which are large
volume, low pressure devices to move air uniformly across the tube
bundles to cool / condense the process fluids.

The other major Auxillary components of Air Cooled Heat Exchangers are
the Plenum chambers to distribute the air uniformly over the surface of tube
bundle and structurals to mount the tube bundle assembly.

The Construction of the Air Fin Cooler structures are completely bolted
type, to enable the user for easy erection and maintenance.
Induced Draft Unit

In induced draft-design, air is pulled across the finned tube surface and the
fan is located above the tube bundle. The induced draft gives a steady and
durable thermal performance due to the proctection of the finned surface
chamber. The induced draft design ensures better air distribution, less hot
air recirculation and low noise level at grade.

Forced Draft Unit

The forced draft unit pushes across the finned tube surface. The fans is
located below the tube bundle.The forced draft unit a allows an easy
access for maintenance to the fans and to the tube bundles. Also, the fans
remain in the cold ambient condition.

Reference

GEA Air Cooler at Officers Club in Abu Dhabi

PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS

Depending on the application, GEA offers its clients the following diverse
range of plate heat exchangers and evaporator systems:
.
GASKET PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS:

• Varitherm: Extends to 23 different plate types for cooling and

heating liquids and for condensing vapours.
• Free-Flow: For liquids containing a high proportion of
undissolved solid matter.
• Concitherm: Evaporator system for sensitive products requiring
short heat contact times. Various plate profiles and geometries are
available

BRAZED PLATE HEAT EXCHANGERS:

These compact units consist of profiled stainless steel plates, which are
brazed together in a high vacuum furnace. Used in high pressure and/or
high temperature applications, or where gaskets are prone to chemical
attack.

Plate heat exchanger assemblies

COMPRESSOR INTER- AND AFTER-COOLERS INCLUDING OXYGEN

COOLERS

All types of finned tubes for air-coolers, compressor inter- and after-coolers
and motor-coolers are produced at GEA's factory at Roodekop, Germiston.

GEA Aircooled Systems, recognised as a leader in the heat exchanger

industry in South Africa over the past 25 years, has been granted a
provisional patent for the manufacturing process of copper finned tubes
suitable for 100% oxygen duty.

The double "L" finned tube, successfully produced after an extensive

research and development programme, is in accordance with the
Mannesmann Demag cleaning specification No. 010 008 99. It also
complies fully with the Vecom specification SPI 2411 for oxygen
compressor duty, which specifies a contamination level of hydrocarbon and
other organic matter less than 100 mg per m² of finned tube surface area.
Oxygen cooler bundle in manufacture.
Specialised equipment includes a purpose-designed vapour degreasing
plant and an analytical balance for in-house quality control. Continuous
monitoring of contamination levels is undertaken with independent
certification by Vecom Laboratories in Holland.
VACUUM, EVAPORATION AND INDUSTRIAL REFRIGERATION
TECHNOLOGIES

EVAPORATION

GEA has extensive know-how in evaporation/thermal separation technology

including:

• Falling film evaporators

• Counter flow trickle evaporators
• Climbing film evaporators
• Flash evaporators
• Forced circulation evaporators
• Spiral tube evaporators for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

The best adapted evaporator will provide users with:

» maximum reliability and working life » minimum maintenance » optimised
efficiency.
These evaporators are equipped with highly efficient separation systems:
» to obtain cleaner vapour to enable the use of less expensive construction
materials » to recover condensate which may be re-used in the rinsing section
of the surface treatment plant. Package refrigeration unit
The flow-scheme is optimised within the limits imposed by the main set
conditions, i.e:
» the quality of the product to be processed » the prevention of product
deterioration » the protection of the environment » the reduction of operating
and maintenance costs.

VACUUM TECHNOLOGY

A steam jet ejector has no moving parts and is used to pump, mix, heat, cool
or produce vacuum. Pressurised liquid, steam or air is used as the motive or
driving fluid. The motive fluid is passed through a set of nozzles, where its
pressure energy is converted into a high-velocity jet.

Plant using column cooling system

CRYSTALLISATION

All types of crystallisers, working to the principles of:

» evaporation » cooling or equilibrium displacement » continuous/batch
crystallisation.

Designed for:

• purification of product or process streams

• industrial processing of organic or inorganic products (organic acids,
fertilisers, etc.) upgrading of by-products from liquid waste in
environment protection programmes
• liquid treatment stripping, ozonation, liquid-liquid extraction,
centrifugation, filtration,
• decanting, spray-drying
• vapour/gas treatment: extractive distillation, scrubbing, cleaning,
absorption, incineration
• solids treatment i.e. calcination, incineration, thin-film drying, flash
drying, fluid-bed drying, flaking, prilling, bagging, etc.

REFRIGERATION

The constant progress being made in industrial processing technology

demands a greater use of refrigeration cycles for:

• control or removal of the heat produced by chemical reactions or

physical processes
• condensation and liquefaction for separation or recovery
• crystallisation for purification or recovery
• preservation of product characteristics and prevention of side-effects
• security measures to prevent runaway reactions, pressure rises, etc.
• containment of heat losses from an ambient and maintaining thermal
equilibrium of a system, or of phase equilibrium.
DIRECT AIR-COOLED CONDENSERS

WORLD LEADER IN DIRECT AIR-COOLED STEAM CONDENSERS

In 1979 GEA became involved in feasibility studies for Eskom in respect of

new generation large scale power stations using dry cooling systems. This
research and development culminated in the award of a turnkey contract in
1982 for the design, manufacture, supply, delivery, erection and
commissioning of six air-cooled steam condensers for Eskom's 6 x 665 MWe
Matimba Power Station. This constitutes the largest direct air-cooled steam
condenser installation and, therefore, the largest direct air-cooled power
station in the world. In 1984, Eskom also placed with GEA the order for air-
cooled condensers for the 6 x 660 MWe Majuba Power Station.
Matimba Power Station, Ellisras, South
Two features distinguish the GEA air-cooled condenser: highly efficient and Africa - the largest direct air-cooled
durable finned tubes, and a single-pressure two-stage condensing process. power station in the world.
Winner in 1988 of the South African
Institute of Mechanical Engineers,
The GEA air-cooled condenser is comprised of finned tube bundles grouped Project and Systems Award.
together into modules and mounted in an A-frame configuration on a concrete
or steel support structure. Vertical and horizontal configurations are also
available.

GEA employs a two-stage, single-pressure condensing process to achieve

efficient and reliable condensation. In this process, the steam is first ducted
from the steam turbine to the air-cooled condenser, where it enters in
parallel/concurrent flow from the top. The steam is only partly condensed in
the parallel flow modules and the remaining steam is ducted to the lower
headers of the counterflow finned tube bundles (dephlegmator). The steam
enters from the bottom and rises in the finned tubes to a point where
condensation is completed. Non-condensables are drawn off above this point
Majuba Power Station, Volksrust, South
by vacuum equipment. The condensate drains to a condensate tank and is Africa
then piped back to the feedwater system to complete the cycle.

Samancor Power Plant, Meyerton, South

Africa
GEA's two-stage, single-pressure air-cooled condenser.

PARALLEL CONDENSING SYSTEM (PAC)

HOW DOES THE PAC SYSTEMTM WORK?

Exhaust steam from the steam turbine is separated into two streams. One
stream flows into a water cooled surface condenser while the other is directed
to an air-cooled condenser.

Condensate from the surface condenser and the air-cooled condenser can be
collected in a common hotwell. Water consumption is controlled by the
distribution of the heat load between the two condensers.

The PAC SystemTM should not be confused with a "hybrid" cooling tower, which
is used primarily to reduce visible plume from a wet cooling tower. A "hybrid"
cooling tower has practical limits to the amount of heat that can be rejected in
the dry section, since the latter is sized for plume abatement only. With the
PAC SystemTM there is complete flexibility in the amount of heat rejected in
the dry section.

The dry section of the PAC SystemTM employs direct condensation in contrast
to most "hybrid" systems, which are indirect condensing systems, i.e. water is
cooled through both the wet and dry sections and is then pumped through a
common condenser. As a result, the dry section of the PAC SystemTM can
efficiently reject a substantial amount of heat even on hot days, thereby
reducing peak water usage. During cooler periods, the amount of heat
rejected in the dry section can be increased up to 100% if so designed, thus
further reducing the plant's water consumption.
An additional benefit of the PAC SystemTM is the reduction of plume. Plume
can be reduced or eliminated entirely when danger of icing exists, simply by
shutting off the wet section.

Parallel condensing system (PAC).

EVAPORATIVE COOLING SYSTEMS (CT + BAC)

Cooling systems utilising water evaporation are usually the most cost-effective
heat rejection systems. In a cooling tower hot water from a plant is brought
into contact with ambient air and heat is transferred from the water to the air
by evaporation (mass transfer) and convection (heat transfer). The cooled
water is then returned to the plant. Generally, evaporative cooling systems can
achieve lower re-cooled water temperatures and a lower condenser vacuum
than dry cooling systems. In cooling tower terminology, range is the
difference between the water inlet temperature and the re-cooled water outlet
temperature. The difference between the re-cooled water temperature and the
ambient air wet bulb temperature is known as the approach. Generally a Mechanical draft cooling tower at
cooling tower becomes very large if the approach is reduced below 4 °C. Eskom's Majuba Power Station.

Evaporation rates are approximately 1.5 to 2 m³/hr per MW of heat rejection

or 1 to 2% of flow rate. In order to keep the dissolved solids in the circulating
water at an acceptable level, a fraction of the circulating water is discarded,
i.e. the blowdown stream. A stream of fresh makeup water is required to
replace the water lost by evaporation and blowdown.

Main activities in evaporative cooling field:

• Design and construction of new turnkey evaporative cooling systems

(custom built units), including pipework, valves, pumps, intermediate
heat exchangers, variable speed drives, sound attenuators, etc.
• Cooling tower inspections
Mechanical draft cooling tower at Belle
• Cooling tower performance testing and system evaluation Vue Power Station - Mauritius.
• Improvement/modification of existing systems
• Cooling tower repacking and refurbishment
• Maintenance.
 MECHANICAL DRAFT COOLING TOWERS (MDCT)
Mechanical draft cooling towers make use of a fan to generate the air-flow
through the tower. Depending on the cooling load, multiple cells, each with its
own fan, can be employed. Fan diameters of up to 30 ft are commonly used.
The relative flow direction of the water and the air streams can be arranged in
either cross or counterflow. Generally, counterflow cooling towers are preferred
nowadays, due to their higher thermal efficiency. For a given duty, the initial
cost of mechanical draft cooling towers is lower than that of natural draft
cooling towers.

Mechanical draft cooling tower

NATURAL DRAFT COOLING TOWERS (NDCT)

In a natural draft cooling tower, the natural buoyancy of the hot air moves the
air upward through the tower, drawing in fresh cool air through the air inlet at
ground level. No fan is required. Due to the layout of this type of cooling tower
the possibility of hot air recirculation (and the resultant performance drop) is
negligible. The tower shell is usually constructed in reinforced concrete, and
can be as high as 200 m. Due to the high cost of the large concrete structures,
natural draft cooling towers are usually only employed for large heat duties.

Natural draft cooling tower

OTHER EVAPORATIVE COOLING SYSTEMS

In South African mines bulk air coolers (BAC's) are often employed to provide
large quantities of cold air for mine ventilation. Basically, a bulk air cooler is an
inverted mechanical draft cooling tower in which cold water from a
refrigeration unit is used to cool the incoming air and to provide a stream of
cold air into the mine. Bulk air coolers are constructed in crossflow and
counterflow layouts. Crossflow units are usually used underground where the
available height is restricted.
Closed circuit evaporative coolers and condensers employ heat exchanger
bundles inside the cooling tower. This allows the cooling of any liquid by means
of evaporative cooling. It is also possible to achieve this by using an
intermediate heat exchanger, such as a plate heat exchanger or shell and tube
heat exchanger in conjunction with an evaporative cooling tower. GEA is
continuously improving the quality and the cost-effectiveness of its evaporative
cooling products. With the dramatic improvement in the quality of plastic
materials, we have in the recent past replaced nearly all our cooling tower
components with plastic components, which have proved to be superior to
those used previously. All these improvements have enabled us to supply our
clients with cooling towers, which will not only require less maintenance, but
which will also have a longer operational life.

GEA Aircooled Systems recently developed a new low-cost pre-cast concrete

panel type cooling tower (PTCT) as part of its drive to offer our clients
increased quality at reduced prices.

Features of PTCT:

• 2.1 m wide pre-stressed, pre-cast concrete panels

• Pre-cast concrete roof slab
• Pre-cast concrete or GRP fan stacks
• Cable tensioning after assembly results in a very rigid structure
compared to other pre-cast concrete cooling towers.

Advantages of PTCT:

• Low cost
• Rapid construction
• No civil work on site except for floor slab and ground works, for
fast-track projects
• Can be disassembled and relocated
• High grade concrete (60 MPa)
• Very rigid structure compared to other pre-cast concrete
cooling towers.

Pre-cast concrete panel type cooling tower (PTCT)