ITPM for Heat Exchangers

[Schavlan]

I'm looking to develop an ITPM (Inspection Testing and Preventive Maintenance) for our Mechanical Integrity program regarding heat exchangers.

Does anyone know of, or have any idea of the techniques available to test the heat exchangers and how often they should occurr.

I;ve heard of eddy current, but I'm not sure what that entails. What about pressure testing? Cleaning?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gr2vessels]

Shavlan,
Most of the larger H/E fabricators have the ITPM manual for one or several type of exchangers they fabricate. Usually, those are certified documents which could be linked to process guarantees. You should ask around for a few of those.
To produce a comprehensive document you have embarked on, you would need indepth knowledge of the heat exchangers and the specifics of each type.
By the way, the eddy current testing is for detecting surface defects on the tubes;- how would you get to the centre of the bundle for testing of those tubes? The new exchangers are coming with the tubes already eddy current tested and certified by the tube fabricator..Cleaning yes, perhaps if it is a fouling service, during the outages or if it is scheduled for inspection and cleaning, as required on the original datasheet. Pressure testing only if required by the code or leak test if refurbishment work was completed.
Plus many, many other parameters for your manual.
However, having said all this, it can be done, with a lot of hard work.
Cheers,
gr2vessels

 

[Schavlan]

Bump..........

Thanks gr2vessels. I appreciate the valuable input.

Does anyone else have anything to add ?