Air-Cooled Exchangers

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 Air Cooled Exchangers (ACE)

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 Air Cooled Exchangers (ACE)

• Air cooling Vs. Water cooling

• Advantages & Drawbacks of ACE
• Construction Features
• Thermal Design

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 Air Cooling Vs. Water Cooling
• Capital/fixed cost for air cooling is much higher than
water cooling
• High exchanger area for air cooling
(Low conductivity & specific heat of air,low HTC)
• Performance affected by seasonal conditions

• Operating cost for water cooling much higher than air

cooing
• High cost of raw water, make-up water, pumping cost,
maintenance cost (cleaning)
• For air cooling only operating cost is cost of power
required to make air flow across tube bundles
• It can operate with natural convection if power failure
• Process fluid outlet temperature can be better controlled

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 Advantages & Drawbacks of ACE’s
Advantages & Drawbacks of ACE’s

• Advantages
- Lower maintenance
- Flexibility of location
- Natural convection
- Better control
- Lower operating cost

• Drawbacks
- Higher initial cost
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- Expensive winterisation 5
 ACE configuration
API661 is standard followed for ACE
• Tube bundle
Assembly of tubes, headers, tube supports, frames

• Bay/section
Smallest independent part of ACE, complete with
tube bundles, Fans, drives, motors, supporting
structures

• Unit
One or more bays for an individual service

• Bank
2 or more units located one after another on the same
continuous structure
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 ACE

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 Construction Features

 Finned tubes
 Headers
 Other tube bundle components
 Fans and drives
 Plenum chambers

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 Finned Tubes - Types

Single L-footed Double L-footed

Grooved G-type Bimetallic

Extruded

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 Single L-footed fins

• Circular fin wrapped helically round tube

• Provides Good protection against atmospheric
corrosion
• Tend to become loose over time
• Use limited to applications where process fluid inlet
temp < 120°C

• Corrosive marine atmospheres of offshore platforms

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 Double L-footed fins

• They offer better coverage of the base tube

• Upper limit for process fluid inlet temp 170°C
• Expensive
• Employed for extremely corrosive conditions

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 Grooved (embedded) G-type fins

Fin is embedded in the tube by plowing groove in the

tube wall & then stretching the fin material into the
groove under sufficient tension to achieve specified
bond strength

• Most commonly used

• Require thicker tubes
• Process fluid inlet temp upto 400°C
• Withstand cyclic operations without loosing contact
• Base tube material exposed to atmosphere
• Not suitable for marine applications

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 Bimetallic finned tubes

They have G-type fins embedded in outer tube

Of Aluminium that is stretched over the base
tube

• Not used very often

• High pressure process fluids & corrosive
applications

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 Extruded finned tubes

Inner steel tube encased in an outer tube of

Aluminium
Fins are extruded from outer tube by cold-
working process

• High pressure process fluids & corrosive

applications

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 Headers

Plug Cover plate

Manifold Bonnet

Headers introduce hot fluid into tubes & collect cold

fluid

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 Plug headers

• Most commonly used

• Consists of rectangular welded box with inlet nozzles in
top plate & outlet nozzles in bottom plate
• Relatively cheap
• Suitable for pressure upto 175 bar
• Not suitable for dirty services only for clean service

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 Cover plate headers

• Suitable for dirty services

• Easier to remove cover plates
• Suitable upto pressures 40 bar, after that thickness of
cover plate increases so more expensive

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 Manifold headers

• Tubes are welded to manifold by means of stubs

• Very high pressure applications above 175 bar
• Not suitable for dirty service

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 Bonnet headers

• A semicircular bonnet is welded or bolted to tubesheet

• Relatively cheap construction
• Not suitable for dirty services

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 Other tube bundle components

 Tube supports – boxes or collars

 Side frames
 Tube-to-tubesheet joints:
- expanded into double grooves
- strength welded at high pressures

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 Other tube bundle components
 Tube supports
- Finned tubes supported by special Aluminium support
boxes or zinc collars cast on tube

• Side frames –
- It supports headers, tubes
- Makes tube bundle rigid
- Serves as seal & prevents bypassing of air

• Tube to tubesheet joint

- At pressure < 70 bar, tubes re expanded into double
grooves in tubesheet
- High pressures, > 70 bar, tubes are strength welded to
tubesheet

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 Fans

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 Fans
Fan consists of 2 components, Hub & Blades

Hub is mounted on the fan shaft

Blades are mounted on hub

Hub MOC cast iron, cast Al, or fabricated steel

2 types of hub
• Manually adjustable hub
Blade angle can be varied only when fan is stationary

• Auto variable hub

Includes a device (pneumatic controller) that can alter
blade angle even when fan is in motion to
control air flow

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 Fans
• Blades are metal (usually Al) or fibreglass-reinforced
plastic (FRP)
• Plastic blades suitable for temp 70°C
• Fan performance depends on number of blades,
blade tip speed, blade angle, blade width

Volume of air flow  tip speed

Pressure  (tip speed)2

Power consumption tip speed)3

Normally tip speed max 61 m/s, noise is excessive

at higher speeds

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 Fans - API 661 standards
• Should be at least 2 fans along tube length
One fan act as standby or if one fails, other will be functional
very exceptional circumstances, use single fan

• Fan should be axial flow type, each fan should occupy at

least 40% of tube bundle face area

• Dispersion angle of fan should not exceed 45° at the

centerline of tube bundle

• Radial clearance between fan ring & fan tip should not
exceed 0.5% of fan diameter or 19 mm, whichever is less

 Fan tip speed should not exceed 61 m/s unless approved

by purchaser, no case it should increase 81 m/s

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 Fans - API 661 standards

 Min distance between plane of the fan & tube bundle

(plenum height), should be one half the fan diameter for
forced draft & one-third of fan diameter for induced draft

• Height of fan at least one sixth of fan diameter

• Air seals should be provided between tube bundles &

plenum chamber to minimize air bypassing

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 Fan Drive
Fan drive provides power for the fans to move air across
tube bundles

Fan Drive Types

• Electric motor
• Steam turbine
• Gas engine
• Hydraulic motor

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 Fan Drive
Power is transmitted from motor/turbine to fans through
any of the following Drives

• Direct drive (fan shaft directly connected to the driver)

When fan diameter 5 ft or less or power is 5 hp or less
• V-belt drive
When speed rating of fan is less than speed rating of
driver
For 30 hp or less power requirements
• HTD (high torque drive)
Motor drives 50 hp or less
Most suitable when maintenance is difficult
• Gear drive-electric motors
Above 50 hp & steam turbine drives

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 Draft Types

• Natural draft
Air flow is by natural convection due to stack effect
cross tube bundle
- Employed in dry cooling towers in power plants

• Mechanical Draft
Air is moved across tube bundles by axial fans
driven by electric motors
- Most commonly used
- Larger air volumes can be handled

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 Mechanical Draft Types

Forced Draft Induced Draft

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 Forced Draft
• Better accessibility for maintenance
• Air pressure drop & fan power consumption is lower
• Fan blade life is longer as exposed to cold air

• Distribution of air across tube bundles is poorer

• Hot air recirculation likely to occur
• In low MTD applications, deterioration in performance
could be significant
• Not preferred when cold end temp approach
(difference between process outlet & inlet
air) is less than 5-8°C
• In event of fan failure, natural draft capability is poor

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 Induced Draft
• Better air distribution across tube bundles
• Lower probability of hot air recirculation
• Better process control & protection from effects of rain,
snow
• No possibility of fan damage due to leaking products
ability to operate in fan failure event

• Air pressure drop & power consumption much higher

as air is lighter & hotter
• Exit air temp limit 90°C
• Fans less accessible for maintenance

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 Plenum Chamber
It is where air delivered by fan is distributed to or
collected from the tube bundle

Consists of rectangular box or conical piece

For forced draft units it can be square/rectangular/conical

For induced draft, its is conical

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 ACE Configuration

Horizontal
A-Frame Vertical

• Horizontal

• A-Frame

• Vertical

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 ACE Configuration
Horizontal
• Most commonly used
• Easier maintenance
A-frame
• It is used in power plants for condensing turbine
exhaust steam
• Tube bundles are mounted on a triangular frame with
fans located below inclined to horizontal at 45°-60°
• It occupies 30-40 % less plot area than horizontal
Ideal for condensing applications
Vertical:
• Used for packaged systems, compressors with
their intercoolers
• Less floor space

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 Thermal Design

Tubeside calculations
 HTC and pressure drop same as in STHE’s
 Normally permitted pressure drop: 0.05-0.2 kg/cm2 for
gases /condensers and 0.5-0.7 kg/cm2 for liquid coolers

Airside calculations
 Special correlations for HTC and pressure drop
 HTC  (mass velocity)0.5
 Pressure drop  (mass velocity)1.75

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 Thermal Design

Parameters to be considered for ACE Design

 Tube length
 Tube OD
 Fin height
 Fin spacing
 Number of tube rows
 Air flow rate and fan power consumption
 Tube pitch
 Number of tube passes

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 Tube length & Tube OD
Tube length
• Max. tube length for min. no. of sections
• Typical values 8.5 m, 10.5 m and 12.5 m
• Usually two bundles per section
• Bundle width limited to 3.5 m for transportation
• Length to section width 2:1 ideal for 2 fans
Tube OD
• Smallest OD as per API 661: 1”
• Smaller OD -> small ACHE’s or to obtain
good tubeside velocity
• Larger OD required for pressure drop limiting cases

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 Fin Height

 Usual fin heights ½” and 5/8”

 Selection depends upon relative values of airside
and tubeside HTC
 Where airside controlling (steam condensing,
water cooling), greater fin height usually better
 Where tubeside controlling (gas cooling and
viscous liquid hydrocarbon cooling), shorter fins
economically feasible

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 Fin spacing

 Normal mfg range: 7-11 fpi

 Same logic as for fin height: when airside controlling,
higher density favourable

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 Number of Tube Rows

 Min. no. of rows 4 are used occasionally.

 Most ACHE’s have 4 to 6 rows; 8, 10 and 12 also used
 Advantage of more rows: more HT area per bundle,
hence less bundles
 Disadvantages of more rows:
(a) higher HP (b) lower airside flow area,
lower air flow rate, lower MTD.
 Practical implication: for a given HP, more rows ->
lower airside velocity -> lower airside HTC.
 Tubeside HTC controlling, more tube rows may be used
 The lower airside HTC will not hurt much

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 Tube Pitch

 Staggered more efficient than in-line

 At low tube pitch, air pressure drop and HP
tend to be high for the same air HTC
 Tubepitch can be fine-tuned to achieve specific
goals,
(a) reduced to restrict bundle width to within the maximum
(b) decreased or increased for complying with API fan
coverage criterion
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 MTD

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 Tube Inserts

 Considerably enhance laminar heat transfer inside

tubes.
 Very effective for cooling viscous liquids such as lube
oils.
 Useful for offshore platforms where space is at a
premium.

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