I've bought plenty of vessels with half-pipe jacket. I've always done the hydraulic design using methods out of Crane Technical Paper 410, and there are plenty of fabricators that can do the mechanical design. One that comes to mind is Four Corp. in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The key is to get a good full penetration weld from the half-pipe to the shell. I don't know of a commercial program for designing this. Not much of a market, I guess. We buy a few half-pipe vessels every five years or so.
Thanks Latexman, but who determines the size of the coils and the number of coils to ensure that the right amount of heat will be delivered to the vessel?
In my world, that's me, but there can be many ways to accomplish the end results. It's usually up to the "Process Engineer" to either specify a performance specification that the fabricator can work with, like 1,000,000 Btu/hr added via half-pipe jacket with 100 psig sat'd steam in the half-pipe and vessel internal temperature = Xo C. Or, the PE can specify a mechanical specification via a sketch or drawing that defines the half-pipe jacket required for heat transfer, like nominal diameter, length of half-pipe, and number of parallel sections. Remember, the heat transfer fluid system design must match up to the half-pipe jacket design for a successfule system. IMO, it's best for one person to do those two designs. The fabricator can provide the mechanical design of the half pipe, like wall thickness, minimum half-pipe pitch or spacing, welding methods, etc. I've done so many I provide the drawing of an existing vessel and say, "I'd like two like this." That's another way. There are fabricators out there that can engineer the entire design for you. These tend to be Engineering firms that also fabricate. This way is expensive!
I think its important to note that the process requirements for a jacketed vessel often involve the mixer design and a realistic time for the heat to transfer.
There are software programs available that can simulate the mixer - heat transfer of the reactor system.
Having said that, I am aware of clients that specify the "maximum design" for thier jacketed vessels (maximum half-pipe coverage for the shell and bottom of the vessel). This covers them for any future changes to the process or re-use of the vessel in the future.
The specific "half pipe" design is covered in an Appendix to ASME VIII. Most typically, the half pipes are 1.5, 2, or 3 inch NPS Schedule 10 piping.
Central Fab of Cinci has been around a long time...
