Hello All
Please tell me, what is the advantage, other than fouling tendency, cleaning etc., of using AES type of exchanger over BEU?

Regards

rkdpv,

you are right to point out the maintenaance aspect.

Mechanical cleaning of the tube insides in a U tube would not be possible or easy considering the U-bend in a BEM exchanger. The tubeside service would have to be relatively clean in case of a U bundle. In case of an AES, this problem would not be of concern.

However, I understand that nowadays there are some cleaning devices for U tubes called as flexible lances which can mechanically clean U tube insides using high pressure water/ solvents and has a fleible hoseing which allows it to travel in the u bend. However, i am sure that this would have its own limtations and therby its usage in cleaning/ maintenance would be restricted in industry.

From a tube layout point of view, there would be a higher "untubed area" based on the minimum bend radius of the u-tubes. Thus, for a given shell ID, and OTL, a u-tube exchanger COULD have somewhat lesser number of tubes.

Hope this helps.

-jehan

Being a floating Head Exchanger, AES configuration utilizes an internal bolted connection which is a probable leakage path for the process media.

Floating Head exchangers are therefore not a preferred choice when it comes to high pressure/ hazardous/ lethal services where an undetected internal leakage may lead to catastrophic situation.

Regards

Thanx.