National Heat Exchange makes hydrolasing tube IDs possible during short turnarounds
There are various reasons for the limited time frames that exist during todayâs fast-paced, fully scheduled outages and turnarounds. Given that reality, some maintenance issues, such as cleaning fouled condenser and heat exchanger tube inner diameters (IDs), are often either postponed or performed at a later date. With the use of new state-of-theart hands-free hydrolasing technology available today, National Heat Exchange can achieve better safety and speeds that allow plants to achieve more cleaning opportunities during outages or short turnarounds.
Two case studies
Recently, two of National Heat Exchangeâs nuclear power customers encountered time constraints that would typically have meant eliminating condenser tube cleaning from the outage scope of work. They were provided a hands-free technology solution that left their tubesâ gun barrel clean while meeting their tight schedule, all while utilizing the safest method available.
Customer No. 1 had employed a handlance hydrolasing contractor. Due to a severe weather interruption, this contractor fell behind the outage schedule and would ultimately have been unable to fulfill the contract for cleaning the entire 40,000-tube condenser within the allotted outage time. Within 48 hours of receiving the customerâs call, National Heat Exchange had a 12-man crew and two dual hands-free auto-lance systems on-site and ready for work. The National Heat Exchange crew was able to safely and effectively clean the 40,000-tube condenser within seven days of working around the clock. The 20,000-psi high-pressure water removed the existing scale on the tubes and brought the surface back to parent metal.
Customer No. 2 had been using National Heat Exchangeâs flex-darts to clean their approximately 70,000-tube condenser for several years. An on-line chemistry event caused a hard scale to form on the tube Ids. This hard scale was not removable with the traditional dart shooting method. The customer needed a more aggressive approach to remove this scale, but could not extend the window for cleaning much beyond the usual time frame they had allotted for cleaning by shooting darts.
National Heat Exchange proposed the safe and effective hands-free hydrolasing method. The customer agreed to utilize National Heat Exchange to solve the problem and was quite impressed with the results. The scale was eliminated, and the 70,000 tubes were cleaned within nine days of around-the-clock work, while maintaining hands-free operation of live high-pressure equipment.
The highlight reel
National Heat Exchangeâs hands-free lance capabilities include:
⢠Can clean 420 tubes per hour utilizing a 600-horsepower Cummins diesel engine with 95-percent emission-free exhaust.
⢠Joystick operated; 100-percent hands-free.
⢠20,000 psi at 43 gallons per minute.
⢠Can run four lances simultaneously.
⢠Nuclear trained.
⢠Nationwide capability.
⢠On-site 24/7.
⢠Self-contained.
⢠Proprietary mounting system available.
For more information, visit www.nationalheatexchange.com, call (330) 482-0893 or email info@national heatexchange.com.
