TEMA AES Design
TEMA AES Design
(OP)
For a high temperature/pressure application, if BEM design is found to be acceptable (within stress limits), would there be any incentive in using a AES design if BEM could do the job?
What I've 'heard' is that AES could be prone to internal leakage (thru its internal floating head), not to mention it being expensive. Anyone here has any direct experience (design & mainteannce) of AES exchangers?
Any input will be appreciated.
What I've 'heard' is that AES could be prone to internal leakage (thru its internal floating head), not to mention it being expensive. Anyone here has any direct experience (design & mainteannce) of AES exchangers?
Any input will be appreciated.





RE: TEMA AES Design
RE: TEMA AES Design
If you have > 200 PSIG shell-side pressure and/or temperature, or corrosive fluids - there are too many factors to consider when choosing beween a type S floating bundle and a type M fixed bundle. Is your only concern initial capital cost? Is the unit highly cycled? How often are you going to be doing maintenance, and of what measures/operations will the maintenance consist? How much would repairs and replacement parts cost on one configuration vs the other?
As muld0020 pointed out, case by case evaluation is almost always the way to go when doing cost-benefit. One-size-fits-all rules tend to cause more problems than they solve.
-TJ Orlowski
RE: TEMA AES Design
TJOrlowski: Assume that cyclic service is not a factor. More often that not, at least in the offshore oil and gas industry, if the service fluid temperature exceeds a certain limit, the process engineer, almost always as a rule of thumb, specifies a floating head design. These configuration than goes onto the P&ID and the mechanical engineer than finds himself stuck with it. The fact is, no mechanical calculations were performed to verify or confirm if fixed tube sheet design could accomodate the stresses. It would seem like an overdesign, more capital cost investment with a floating head, which is also a little more mainteance intensive. In my view, I dont think a floating head is preferable if a simple fixed tube sheet or a U-Tube design could do the job.
Any comments?
RE: TEMA AES Design
In my view, best practice is to submit all of your project specifications to an experienced shell & tube manufacturer with thermal and mechanical design capabilities. Most manufacturers will ask the right questions to determine the right configuration for the application.
-TJ Orlowski
RE: TEMA AES Design
But still, I get a lot of defensive arguments from the process engineers over their selection and thought maybe there are more reasons to it that what I'm aware of, and that's why I raised it.
Thanks.
RE: TEMA AES Design
RE: TEMA AES Design
RE: TEMA AES Design
Also, it is highly recommended used in the leakage risk process as the floating head intenal flange equipped.
RE: TEMA AES Design
In oil industry "Time is money".
I am from Venezuela. Near of 80% of tube & shell HE's in our refineries have designed as AES type.
Regards.