Titanium heat exchangers
Titanium heat exchangers FROM OPEKS ENERGOSYSTEM
Heat exchangers are called heat engineering devices for industrial, economic or domestic purposes, with the help of which heat exchange (heat transfer) is organized between two moving media (liquid or gas) pumped through closed pipeline systems. Depending on the intended purpose, heat exchangers can work with a wide variety of liquid and gaseous media, sometimes with very high chemical (corrosive) activity. Therefore, to ensure work with chemically active media, the surfaces (parts) of heat exchangers in contact with them are often made of chemically passive (corrosion-resistant) materials.
Titanium as a structural material for heat exchange equipment
Among the materials available in mechanical engineering, titanium (Ti) is one of the best for use in the structures of corrosion-resistant heat exchange equipment - a light (atomic mass 47.87) strong silver-yellowish metal, relatively refractory. In mechanical engineering, titanium is usually used as a base for a variety of structural titanium alloys (as well as iron Fe - for cast irons and steels), which are characterized by:
- High chemical passivity, resulting in excellent corrosion resistance. Titanium, even working at high temperatures, up to 600-800 degrees C, practically does not react with oxygen, water and water vapor, salts, chlorine, glycols (alcohols), freons, phenols. It is also quite stable against saline solutions, unsaturated acidic and alkaline solutions, except for solutions of HF, H 3 PO 4 , H 2 SO 4, and concentrated alkalis, acids.
- Sufficiently high temperature resistance. Titanium already belongs to the category of refractory metals, its melting point is 1668 degrees C (according to other sources - 1940 degrees C).
- Relative structural lightness: Ti is about twice as light as Fe (in the form of cast iron or steel), but also about twice as heavy as aluminum.
- Good structural strength (hardness and elasticity), which is at least not lower than the corresponding steel grades, and allows the use of titanium blanks in rolling and stamping production, for the manufacture of titanium heat exchange tubes and heat exchange plates.
Combining high corrosion resistance, mechanical strength and temperature resistance, titanium (among structural metals) is one of the best structural materials, in terms of its complex of characteristics it significantly surpasses: aluminum and its alloys, copper and its alloys (primarily brass), and even highly alloyed ( stainless) steels. That is why it received the widest application not only in industry and mechanical engineering, but even in such a specific area as medical prosthetics.
Photo 1. Heat transfer plates made of Titanium (titanium), Hasteloy type alloys, AISI316, AISI304 stainless steels at the warehouse of OPEKS Energosystems.
With what coolants and in what areas is it advisable to use titanium heat exchangers
Titanium shell-and-tube and plate heat exchangers can work with a wide range of corrosive heat transfer fluids, under conditions of high operating temperatures and pressures, which are quite common in industry, household and household spheres. But titanium heat exchangers show some of the best technical and economic indicators (in terms of price / quality ratio) when working with aqueous solutions of salts, chlorine and fluorine, typical for such working environments as:
- salty sea water;
- prepared, sanitized (chlorinated and (or) fluorinated) fresh water;
- saturated salt solutions in industrial technological processes;
- superheated water and hot steam.
The main areas of application for titanium heat exchangers include:
- ship power plants, onshore power or industrial facilities using outboard salt (sea) water for cooling;
- industrial and industrial heat and power facilities (reactors, turbines, boilers), cooling systems for metallurgical furnaces operating with large volumes of untreated water, under conditions of high operating temperatures and pressures;
- chemical industry enterprises;
- heating systems for specially prepared (chlorinated and fluorinated) water in swimming pools.
Parameters for the selection of a titanium heat exchanger
The determining parameter for choosing a titanium heat exchanger is the chemical composition (aggressiveness) of the working media, their concentration and the level of operating temperatures. Which, at certain values, directly indicate the need to use corrosion-resistant and temperature-resistant titanium as a structural material.
The heat engineering parameters for selecting a titanium heat exchanger are absolutely the same as for a steel one:
- required thermal power;
- the required indicator of the mass flow rate of heat carriers;
- working temperatures of working media at the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger, as well as their maximum allowable temperature;
- working and maximum allowable pressure of working media;
- own hydraulic resistance of the heat exchanger (maximum permissible pressure loss);
- special requirements for the dimensions of the installation (if any);
- requirements for the nature of the connection to the heat engineering system (bore diameters of the nozzles, fastening system - flange, sleeve, for welding).
If necessary, experienced heat engineering engineers of OPEKSEnergosystems will provide qualified assistance in selecting a titanium heat exchanger for the operating conditions of a specific heat engineering system.
Photo 1. Protective sleeves in the branch pipes, excluding the contact of an aggressive medium with the material of the supporting frame of the plate heater. Model РТА (GX) -26.
Titanium heat exchangers from OPEKS Power Systems
The OPEKS Energosystems company, specializing in the production of various high-quality heating equipment, offers in its assortment collapsible (plate) type heat exchangers, made, inter alia, of structural titanium. The OPEKS PTA gasketed titanium heat exchangers use the most technologically advanced stamped heat exchanger plates produced by the famous European companies TRANTER / THERMAKS, with high-performance profiles of the PTA GX, GC, GL, GW, GF series. Structurally, the connecting pipes have special bushings that protect the material of the frame bearing plates from possible corrosion in contact with aggressive media (see photo).
Plate titanium heat exchangers OPEKS are produced under the THERMAKS trademark in a large number and variety of models, among which you can choose a device for almost any existing operating conditions. In the assortment of titanium heat exchangers OPEKS Energysystems of the PTA model range, you can find and select devices for heating systems with the following performance characteristics:
- working pressure up to 2.5 MPa;
- flow rate of heat carriers from 5 to 10,000 cubic meters / hour;
- thermal power from 1 kW to 50 MW;
- working temperature up to 200 degrees C;
- connection parameters from DN25 to DN600 (flange, thread up to DN50).
Choosing heat exchangers manufactured by OPEKS Energysystems, you get energy efficient equipment of the most modern, European level of quality, technical reliability and performance, at quite affordable prices, which, at the same time, take into account local market realities. OPEKS heat exchangers are supplied to the Baltic countries, Eastern Europe and Asia.