Aluminum plate-fin heat exchanger is a compact aluminium brazed heat exchanging equipment, with characteristics of complicated design theory and high heat exchanging efficiency and brazed to be a whole piece at one time, especially applicable to the case of multi-stream or state change during heat transfer.
Most of the brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchangers are installed in process plants used for heat transfer from hot to cold and others from cold to hot and down stream for further processing, for example by the partial liquefaction of the feed and subsequent distillation and separation. The products and waste streams are then re-warmed against the feed streams. Condensers and reboilers are associated with distillation columns. Often chillers using refrigerants are used. Brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchangers are well suited for these and many other service.
The major application of brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchangers have been in the cryogenic separation and liquefaction of air (ASU); Natural Gas Processing (NGP) and Liquefaction (LNG); the production of petrochemicals and treatment of off-gas; large refrigeration system.
Maximum operating pressure for brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchangers can be covered from 130 bar to full vacuum. Maximum passages can be over twenty process streams at various pressure in one heat exchanger.
The maximum temperature rating is typically specified at 65°C. An upper limit of 65°C is suitable for most applications, and it allows manufacturers to use 5083 aluminum alloy piping which is more economical. However, design temperature can be up to +200°C with other aluminum alloy. The minimum design temperature is -269°C.
In general, fluid should be clean and non-corrosive to aluminum. Trace impurities of H2S, NH3, CO2, SO2, NO2, Cl and other acid-forming gases do not cause corrosion problems in streams with water dew point temperatures lower than the cold-end temperature of the brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchanger. While mercury can corrode aluminum and therefore measures should be taken when handling mercury-containing fluid.
Proper filters (usually mesh filters) must be installed upstream of the heat exchanger system and maintained according to the filter manufacturers’ recommendations to prevent plugging from particulates such as pipe scale or molecular sieve dust. If a brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchanger is accidentally plugged, proven cleaning procedures are available.
Fluid containing too much moisture and CO2, compressor lube oils, and heavy hydrocarbons may contaminate heat transfer surface and cause heat exchange efficiency, and chemical solvent flushing of the exchanger is a proven method of cleaning.
Enti can provide plate-fin heat exchanger design and manufacture, especially for high pressure, phase transition and multi-stream cores. Enti’s design always brings customers minimum investment of the project. At the moment, the highest design pressure of plate-fin heat exchanger is 13MPa, the biggest single core size is 1.3*1.2*9m and main heat exchangers are applied for the big ASU, NGL and LNG plant. Enti’s plate-fin heat exchangers can be designed and manufactured according to GB or ASME or PED code.
