Gas Coolers offshore, detecting air short circuiting
Gas Coolers offshore, detecting air short circuiting
(OP)
I work in the offshore oil and gas business. We have a series of air coolers located on an offshore installation (part of a gas compression package). We have gone from one stage of compression to three stages of compression, and this has resulted in a series of fin fan coolers being located in close proximty to each other (real estate is at a premium offshore). We suspect that the performance of the coolers might be adversly affcted by hot air from one being drawn into the adjacent cooler. We would like to investigate further.
1. has anyone used a 'smoke generator' offshore (complicated as it is a 'Hazardous Area').
2. has anyone used a FLIR camera
3. we could use CFD.
Anyone know of any other technique(s).
1. has anyone used a 'smoke generator' offshore (complicated as it is a 'Hazardous Area').
2. has anyone used a FLIR camera
3. we could use CFD.
Anyone know of any other technique(s).





RE: Gas Coolers offshore, detecting air short circuiting
RE: Gas Coolers offshore, detecting air short circuiting
If the coolers are operating, a simple way to check for accidental warm air recirculation is to measure the inlet temp to the fans at various places. I'm presuming that these are forced draft (fans on the bottom) coolers.
In this scenario, the worst setup is to have a small space (say 3-5 feet) between the bays. If that's how your coolers are arranged you might consider installing some sheet metal baffles between the bays. Placing the bays right next to each other is OK, too.
This kind of problem is difficult to predict, since wind direction and the location of of coolers with respect to surrounding equipment or buildings can make a big difference.
Regards,
Speco (www.stoneprocess.com)
RE: Gas Coolers offshore, detecting air short circuiting