Nitrogen Preservation Kit for Rotating Equipment Casing

[BarryLee]

Good morning...

I need to purge cases [assume 20-100 ft3] with Nitrogen to preserve them in storage at customer sites where they are exposed to all sorts of moisture sources. We essentially want to mount a N2 bottle on the casing or on a stand next to it and keep it purged.

The key is that I do not want to try and seal up the casing and all of its associated connecting piping and tubing to a high pressure. I just want to hold some extremely low minimum pressure so any leakage will be out of the casing...not back in.

Can anyone help with specifics of a bottle/regulator/monitor that I could do this with. A few other key points...

1.System will be used for up to a year or two and then frequently just get scrapped. I do not need anything fancy or beautiful...translation expensive...just workable.

2.I want the pressure in the inches of water area...or even lower if practical. Any positive pressure I can control to...the lower the better...will do what I need and minimize leakage.

3.I would look at sourcing components separately...or...buying a kit that is commercially available or can be built for us custom. We need 10-20 of these per year.

4.We have little to no experience controlling to the low flows and pressures.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Barry

 

[itsmoked]

Millions of phone cables around the country have this exact setup. You see a nitrogen bottle strapped to a telephone pole with a regulator on it. You would want the same setup. I'm not sure what regulator they use but you could find one and look at it, or ask a phone guy.

Keep in mind that if your setup is in an enclosed space you will need to follow certain rules as that could result in a fatal accident. Nitrogen does not support life and so the space could end up with an oxygen level below those that can sustain life.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[IRstuff]

The main issues are:

> You have not specified the leak rate of the containers. The pressure requirement is irrelevant if your containers leak. A typical gas bottle contains about 450 cubic feet of STP nitrogen. For a two-year span, that equates to 0.22 cc/s, which is a pretty tiny leak.

> The gas bottles I alluded to are pressurized at 4500 psi, not something that you want accessible to ANYONE over a two-year hiatus. An accidental encounter with a forklift could send the bottle on its merry way, wreaking havoc and destruction.

Seems to me that you'd be better served by a one-time purge with nitrogen and filling the containers with dessicant.

TTFN

FAQ731-376