Sonic Fog/ Mist for Air cooled Heat exchangers: Implications for unit degrade - user experience? 1

[jamesbanda]

All,

I'm looking at increasing the capacity of a air cooled heat exchanger - i'm aware sonic fog / mist sprays have been used to increase capacity.

I'm looking for users feedback on how well these have worked.. and have these damaged HX tubes.. or cause legionella concerns..

 

[speco]

Jamesbanda,

Since there have been no replies yet to your query, I thought I would chime in. I'm not an end user, but have been involved in cooler designs for quite some time. As you can tell, these systems are very rare. I think that's for good reason. The problem with any kind of mist precooler is that the water carries some calcium which tends to build up on the finned tubes. As more and more calcium accumulates, the performance of the cooler goes down. Eventually, the tube bundle need to be replaced or, at least, retubed.

Regards,

Speco (

http://www.stoneprocess.com)