Air Cool Heat Exchanger (ACE): Design & Service

AIR COOLED HEAT EXCHANGER

Air Cooled type Heat Exchangers (ACE) are widely used when cooling medium are not easily available. lt cools with the cheapest available source Ambient Airi ACE is huge in size and occupied large area that are capable of rejecting large amount of heat into the atmosphere. HES provides design and manufacturing of ACE to oil & gas refineries, power plant and petrochemical plant. Design & sizing of the ACE by our experienced thermal engineer taking into consideration of reduction in vibration, low noise decibel with the combination of Air flow dynamic and Structure support analysis. The ACE equips with reputable brand of Fan, Motor, Drive unit, V-Belt/HTD-Belt and Vibration switches, which are carefully selected according to specifications, operating conditions and Clients requirements.

Innovative Air Cool Heat Exchanger for Maximum Energy Efficiency In an era where energy conservation is the primary goal for all industries, installing an Air Cool Heat Exchanger has become the most cost-effective solution. This system utilizes ambient air to reduce the temperature of process fluids without the need for water. This allows industrial plants and refineries to save massive amounts of water resources while effectively reducing the complexity of piping maintenance.

SHELL & TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER

Shell & Tube type Heat Exchanger is one of the key products with which HES is proud of its capabilities to provide optimized design with performance enhancement. Though it is a mature technology, HES advance and optimized design could provide customers with value-added to overcome many of the product problems, like performance leaks, vibrations, erosions, corrosion, cyclic failure, fatigue failure, stress corrosion cracking, hydrogen-induced cracking and other severe and lethal operating conditions, etc.

Fatty Acid Condenser

- Olechemical Plant, Indonesia

When to choose an Air Cool Heat Exchanger

Situation	Why an ACE fits
Water is scarce on site or expensive	It rejects heat to ambient air and needs no cooling water
You want to reduce the load on water treatment	There is no circulating water to control for scale and microbial growth
Refineries, gas and petrochemical plants	It handles high heat duties and process fluids that must be kept away from water
Sites with limits on water vapour discharge	It produces no evaporation plume, unlike a wet cooling tower

The trade-off is that an ACE needs more plot area, and its performance depends on ambient air temperature. The design therefore has to be calculated from the climate at the actual installation site, not from generic standard conditions.

What the thermal engineering team has to get right from the start

Accurate sizing from the heat duty, the design air temperature and the fouling allowance
Vibration control of the fan, gearbox and shaft assembly, one of the leading causes of ACE failure
Noise control within the limits of the installation site
Tube bundle and fin material selection to suit the process fluid and the atmosphere
Access for cleaning and repair, built into the layout from the design stage

After-installation services for Air Cooled Heat Exchangers

Service	Scope
PM and Overhaul	Shaft, fan, bearing, gearbox and motor work
Repair and Refinishing	Coating repair, FRP fan blade leading-edge protection and static balancing
Failure Analysis	On-site investigation of the root cause of fan failure, identifying the damaged parts first
Heat transfer surface cleaning	Cleaning deposits from the fins and tube bundles to restore heat transfer performance

See the related cooling system cleaning service, air-side performance upgrades at Improve Air Side and Energy Saving, and tube-side work at Improve Tube Side.

Frequently asked questions

What is an Air Cool Heat Exchanger?

It is a heat exchanger that uses air moved by fans to remove heat from a fluid inside finned tube bundles, with no cooling water. It suits sites where water is limited and processes where the fluid must be kept separate from water.

How is it different from a wet cooling tower?

A wet cooling tower relies on water evaporation, so it reaches a lower cold water temperature but needs water and a water treatment system. An ACE uses air only and no water, but its performance depends on air temperature and it takes up more plot area.

What maintenance does an ACE mainly need?

The main work is the fan drive: shaft, bearings, gearbox and motor. Alongside it, the fins and tube bundles are cleaned to restore heat transfer, and the fan blades are checked for balance to reduce vibration.

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