Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger
High pressure shell & tube heat exchanger (compact header)

High Pressure Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger

Bronswerk Heat Transfer has developed the 2.0 version of the Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger with virtually no limit to design and operating pressure, offering improved reliability and financial attractiveness throughout its lifecycle.

The special Compact Header Design was first applied in the 1990s and has evolved ever since.

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Benefits

Tailored design to withstand high pressure

Our Compact Header Design for High Pressure Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers allows us to tailor to project needs, whether you need an unconventional passes or a requirement for a double plug.

Pressure up to 1000 bar (14500 PSI)

Our patented Compact Header Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger design can be applied for pressures up to 1000 bar, which is sufficient for practically all applications.

Up to 40% less weight

Valuable for especially offshore application or retrofit and debottlenecking at an existing site, this type of design can be up to 40% lighter.

All welds can be inspected 100%

The few remaining welds, such as the nozzle flange to header, can be executed as buttweld and inspected 100% by RT. Virtually no other welds are required due to our unique manufacturing method.

Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers
High pressure shell & tube heat exchanger

Keeping high pressure fluids in small diameters in a weldless construction: the trick to keep weight down

Every project starts with getting a clear picture of the specific needs of the client, both from a thermal as well as a mechanical aspect. We want to understand how the equipment operates: we do not only focus on the black box, we also go beyond the connection flanges.

For high pressure Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger, the headers are the most critical part; while they do not contribute to the actual heat transfer, they form a significant part of all materials used as well as the manufacturing effort. Traditionally, D-Type headers are constructed from plates/flanges and are welded together into a channel and tubesheet.

Although far from ideal with respect to containing high pressure in non-rectangular shapes and adapting material quality, the industry reluctantly accepted this means of production as the standard and described it as such in API660. Meanwhile, new production technologies allow for different approaches and we are offering this for Compact Header Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers.

One-man maintenance heat exchanger with the Compact Header Shell & Tube Heat Exchange

Bronswerk Heat Transfer has developed the Compact Header Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger, a design that eliminates up to 90% of all channel welds. For the operator this brings huge benefits, both during project execution as well as during its operating lifetime.

As we like to say, the best weld is not a weld, a fact that most of our customers and welding engineers agree on. Due to heat input, the quality of the base metal degrades, which is particularly an issue with dual phase materials such as Duplex or when a high alloy is selected for corrosion protection. Non-Destructive Examination needs to be applied on channel welds with a risk of finding non-conformities and unexpected delays. Finally, the end product is a compromise as the weld and HAZ quality is lower than that of the base material. That is why Bronswerk Heat Transfer applies a channel & tubesheet with virtually no welds, which offers a much better controlled manufacturing process and higher quality end product.

During its lifetime, High Pressure Shell & Tube Heat Exchangers are subject to regular inspections. Depending on the service, these could include NDE on the various welds and checks for delamination. For the Compact Header, the base material is a forging providing much better material quality and no risk for delamination or HIC. The significantly reduced number of welds will ease the workload during Turn-Around and eliminates the risk for repair work in particular.

From a health and safety perspective, the pressurized fluid in our High Pressure Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger is contained in a much smaller diameter and volume than in conventional designs. This ensures less potential energy release in case something goes wrong.

We have been working on innovative, customized new products since 1940 and assist in improving the efficiency of existing plants.

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Performance and reliability improvement since 1940

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