WW II

All means of transporting oil and product in bulk, especially aviation gasoline, were put into service in the U.S. during the World War II years, 1941-45. Some experience had been gained during the prior emergency of the Great War, 1914-18 (the U.S. entered in 1917), but WW II was a much more massive undertaking as well as being fought on two gigantic fronts. Fortunately, as far as demand for refined oil and gasoline was concerned, the peak year for the Pacific front was 1945, particularly the months of May and June, while the major shipments to the U.S. East Coast for the European Theatre occurred before that, the peak being mid-1943.

The oil run via tank cars to terminals on the U.S. East Coast can be best described as originating at Texas refineries and terminating at ports where the refined product (mostly aviation fuel) could be loaded aboard the ocean-going tankers. Tank car shipments of petroleum products to the East Coast built up to 1,000,000 barrels per day at the peak compared to a prewar high of 60,000 barrels per day and a mere 5,000 barrels some years earlier (Look, 1946).

In order to move one million barrels daily by rail to the East Coast, a much heralded tank car fleet of 74,000 cars were put into use and an operating system was planned and carried out. An idle tank car wasn’t to be seen. The tank cars were moved in long solid trains of up to 70 cars. Transport of the aviation gas was not interrupted for the entire distance from the Texas catalytic cracking tower to the Atlantic port. Actually at the outbreak of the war in Europe, the U.S. had 115,000 railroad tank cars, but 41,000 of these had to serve purposes other than the East Coast run.

The tank car situation prior to WW II was based on competition between oil companies. All cars, leased or otherwise obtained, would go to the refineries or terminals of the owning company, hence there were cross runs, idle time and duplicate purposes if viewed from a single standpoint. A joint cooperating system was devised under the Petroleum Administration for War. The system eventually saw tank cars deliver nearly 70% of the total oil and product placed at the Atlantic Coast. The means of freeing up tank cars for the long runs was accomplished by pooling terminals, stopping cross hauls, doing maintenance faster, using highway tank trucks for short hauls (200 miles or less), and giving priority or clear track to the tank car trains, meaning that they wouldn’t be rerouted or put on sidings to await their turn (Look, 1946). Oil products, especially the loads of gasoline, dominated the rails during war time.

When the U.S. geared for the final invasions of the war in the Pacific in 1945, the tank cars were available because the East Coast demand (Europe) was lessening. Looking backwards, it wasn’t until December, 1942, (one year after Pearl Harbor) that shipments to the U.S. west coast exceeded 10,000 barrels per day and not until July, 1943, that they exceeded 20,000 B/D. By May and June, 1945, nearly 170,000 barrels per day were hauled by tank cars to Pacific Coast ports.

This ca. 1872 (?) double-riveted iron tank of the boiler design type was found in the Allegheny National Forest where it was last used as an oilfield stock tank. The manhole cover to the left of the dome has an 1871 patent date. It is not known if this was originally used in rail transportation, but that is a likely possibility. The oil producer must have had a difficult time hauling the tank to this location. It has been pierced a number of times by rifle bullets (deer and bear hunters).

This is a 1948 view of the welding shop of the Titusville Forge Division of Struthers Wells Corp. in Titusville, PA, showing railroad tank cars being assembled. The Titusille Iron Works Co. and the Titusville Forge Co. became divisions of Struthers Wells. The building has now been turned into a stainless steel remelt plant (Universal Stainless & Alloy Product Co.). Photo negative in collection of David Weber.

Car Shops

The Appalachian oil region had a good share of early tank car builders and repair shops, especially in the industrial cities in NW Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio. Titusville, Franklin, Warren and Sharon were some of the NW Pennsylvania centers for car making with Titusville’s shops dating to the 1870’s, the earliest days of the metal tank car. With the help of David Weber (written and verbal communication) some of the builders in the aforementioned cities are described below:

Titusville Iron Co., Titusville, PA, 1875-1910. Became part of Struthers Wells Corp., 1928-1963. Built iron boiler tank cars for Star Tank Line and the Empire Line in the 1870’s and later. This was a famous early tank car builder. In 1956 the Titusville Iron Co. built aluminum tank cars to carry acid for Union Tank Car Co.

Titusville Forge Co., Titusville, PA. Became part of Struthers Wells Corp., 1928-1963. Noted for building welded steel high pressure tanks to contain propane and butane (LPG) for Union Tank Car Co., 1948-1957.

Struthers Wells Corp., Warren, PA. Built riveted and welded tank cars, 1880-1910. Continued in manufacturing until 1963, but tank cars were discontinued at Warren plant except for aluminum cars for Union Tank Car Co. in 1956-57.

Union Tank Car Co., Oil City, PA, ca. 1920’s – 40’s. Repaired tank cars at this site.

Conley Tank Line, Franklin, PA, ca. 1930’s - 40’s. Repaired tank cars. This plant may have been started by Union Tank Car Co.

Hammond Iron Works, Warren, PA, 1900. Became Pittsburgh-Des Moines (PDM) after 1950’s. Made car tanks, storage tanks and other plate work. According to D. Weber (written communication) this company fabricated the St. Louis Gateway Arch at their Warren shop.

Allegheny Foundry Co. (Allegheny Steel Tank Car Co.), Warren, PA. Later became Warren Car Co. Built cars for United Refining Co., Crew Levick (subsidiary of Cities Service), Valvoline etc. Said to have also built circus flat cars.

This advertisement appeared in the Jan. 8, 1919, issue of the National Petroleum News. United Refining Co., located on the bank of the Allegheny River at Warren, Pennsylvania, was one of the largest customers of the Allegheny Steel Tank Car Company. United Refining markets gasoline under the trade name Kwik Fill. Most of their stations today have convenience stores.

Crew Levick was a subsidiary of Cities Service with refineries in Warren and East Titusville, Pennsylvania. Advertisement by Allegheny Steel Tank Car Company, Warren, PA, in the Feb. 19, 1919, issue of National Petroleum News.

Valvoline Oil Co., Wilburine Oil Works, Warren, PA, ca. 1900-1930. Repaired tank cars for Valvoline which handled refined products from Warren and East Butler refineries. This plant worked with Allegheny Foundry in designing and building the Allegheny automobile (1905), a pioneer roadster. It failed because it was difficult to cool the engine (Stepping Stones, 1975).

Warren Car Company, Warren, PA, 1920-present. Repairer of United Refining Co. tank cars (Warren) and those of other firms. Successor to the Allegheny Foundry and Allegheny Steel Car Co.

Pennsylvania Tank Car Co., Sharon, PA (until 1927). Made cars for Emlenton Refining Co., Titusville Oil Works, Seneca Oil Works, Texaco, Gulf, Galena Oil Co., Foco Oil Co., Claredon Refining Co. and others. A leasing subsidiary, the Pennsylvania Tank Line, advertised in 1919 that they had over 3000 tank cars in the line.

Petroleum Iron Works Co., Sharon, PA, and Masury, Ohio. Founded by Joseph Cullinan (later Pres. Of Texaco). This company purchased Pennsylvania Tank Car Co., Jan. 1, 1927, which later became part of GATX.

Other tank car plants in the region were General American Tank Car Co., Warren, Ohio (Masury, Ohio, after 1930’s) which built and repaired GATX cars and others, Oil Well Supply Co. tank car works in Oswego, N.Y., (1900-25) where they also made boilers, and a Union Tank Car Co. plant in Dubois, PA, 1970’s-present, which now repairs American Refining Group tank cars, etc. The Union Tank Car Co. also had a long history in Olean, N.Y.

The above is merely a sampling of a large sector of the bulk transportation industry dealing with tank car makers and repairers.

North American (NATX) is a well known tank car builder in Illinois. Advertisement from Jan. 15, 1919, issue of National Petroleum News.

North American Car Company (NATX) tank car no. 78295 in the Conrail yards in south Oil City. The capacity is 23,812 gallons (567 barrels).

Special Cars

In the 1920’s there were three main types of tank cars (Day, 1922) besides the regular or standard tank car which was used principally for certain crude oils and refined products which didn’t require heating. They were:

1. Heated cars were used to carry highly viscous crudes and certain refined products like some fuel oils, waxes and asphalts. This was brought about by hot pipes (heater pipes) that did not allow the liquid to congeal or otherwise be affected by low temperatures.

2. Compartment cars had two or more separate sections so that different grades of product could be carried without mixing.

3. Insulated cars were coated with cork, hair felt or other materials and extra metal sheeting was also put in place to reduce evaporation of the load of gasoline.

The wax in the crude oil (especially some eastern oils and those of Utah) is a very commercial byproduct of some crudes. Wax undergoes various refining stages (there are several kinds of waxes) and requires heating in order to unload the tank cars. The cars may take several days of standing and heating to drain the basic wax out of them at the plant where further refining is to be carried out.

In the 1950’s and up to present, steam coils are used in tank cars loaded with heavy oils. Heating the heavy oil in this fashion lowers the viscosity and makes discharge easier. In the case of bitumen, steam coils and steam-jacketed valves are used plus the cars are insulated in order to reduce heat loss. Flame tubes and oil burners are used in some cases (Shell, 1959).

Special tank cars are built for loads having very high pressures such as in the transporting of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Special tank cars were built to carry a lot of liquids besides petroleum. However, most of us wouldn’t think of vinegar. Standard Brands Industries among their many other products, was in the vinegar bottling and sales business. One of their subsidiaries (Fleishmen Transportation Company) built this vinegar tank car in 1950 out of cypress and fir wood. Metal could not be used because vinegar is very corrosive. The tank cars were painted silver to reflect sunlight and to help to keep the vinegar cool. The tanks had a relatively short track life. This car caught the author’s attention because it appeared so retro and shabby compared to the other rolling stock in the impressive railroad car and engine display in St. Louis, Missouri.

Early Failed Attempts

The 1860’s were favorable years to promote an invention or an idea in the new oil industry, but, even so, sometimes an inventor couldn’t catch anybody’s ear. Capitalists were saturated with proposals. Evans W. Shippen, a Meadville oilman, says in his memoirs that he built a scale model of a horizontal cylindrical iron tank car (1862?) for railway use and intended to patent the design if he could interest the railroads in using it to ship oil. Shippen talked to Thomas A. Scott, President of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The railroads were already hauling a great amount of the oil in barrels from the oil region. Scott looked at the model and turned it down with the astounding remark "--- by the time a car could be completed there will not be sufficient oil produced to fill it". Shippen replied, "---neither you nor I will live to see the day when such will be the case". Shippen, busy in the oil fields, unfortunately did not pursue his invention. Of course, the day came when the Pennsylvania Railroad, like the others, used horizontal iron tank cars exclusively.

The following account of a failed tank car experiment was partly extracted from the Derrick’s Handbook of Petroleum, 1898. Agents of the Empire Transportation Company seeing Densmore tank cars on sidings knew right away that tanks would be the new means of shipping oil on the rails. In 1866 the company constructed an experimental box car containing three wooden tanks and sent it to Titusville with instructions that the tanks should be filled with oil and the laden car then sent on its way. The builders had forgotten to provide an opening over the tanks in the roof of the box cars and other details were also overlooked. The superintendent on Oil Creek, Charles P. Hatch, improvised as best he could and emptied barrels into the tanks through holes which he put in the car roof. It was quickly found that the tanks were not tight and oil came out in all directions. The management had somehow expected a clean operation and had told the superintendent that the car would be returned to the "merchandize trade" after the experiment had been carried out. However, the filling procedure was a disaster, and the superintendent also had to tear out the sides and ends of the box car so that repairmen could get access to the tanks (there otherwise wasn’t room to work). When all was said and done Mr. Hatch sent the leaky tank car back to headquarters. It was totally soaked in oil and dripped copiously all the way down the track as well as being generally banged up. In his words, "---it looked like it had been subjected to a cannonading and it was practically ruined." All sides, of course, took the attitude that "it wasn't my fault".

In late 1865 a wrought iron u-shaped tank car was built by J.F. Keeler in Pittsburgh. The bottom was rounded and the sides were straight. The tank was constructed overall of three-eights inch riveted iron plates. It had a wooden top or roof suspended inside the container below the rim which served to prevent the oil from slopping around as well as allowing it to expand by pushing up the roof (Williamson and Daum, 1959). The Keeler tank car was not used to much extent, the benefits of a fully cylindrical tank outweighed it.

Metal Tank

Metal Tank Cars

Inventors suddenly saw ways to improve tank cars and a number of designs appeared, but many of them suffered leaks. Among the first attempts after Densmore was the installation of metal tanks in place of the wooden ones in exactly the same spots on the flat cars. However, the vertical iron tanks created a problem of a different sort, they were tippy. Being top-heavy when full and with the oil sloshing around, especially when the train negotiated curves or underwent sudden stops, the tanks would occasionally tip over and cause a mess as well as occasional fires (Williamson and Daum, 1959). Also, due to space limitation on the cars of that day, the only way to increase the volume was to build them higher and that raised the center of gravity which aggravated the tipping problem. Clearly another design was needed which turned out to be the obvious horizontal boiler tank which, with some modifications is still the basic tank car design on the rails today.

In 1868 the boiler-type tank car was made and tried out. It had the requisite low center of gravity and also had a dome which permitted the oil to expand (a function of temperature) without damaging the sealed horizontal container. The Empire Line, a fast freight subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad, quickly adopted the boiler-type tank car and put it into use in February, 1869 (Giddens, 1938). These horizontal iron tank cars had capacities of 80-90 barrels at first and then 100 barrels during the late 1870’s. The wooden Densmore tank cars gradually disappeared in the 1870’s, as had the wooden oil barrels before them whose days were numbered when pipes began to carry oil in 1865.

A new iron boiler-type tank car coming out of the shops of the Titusville Iron Works. It was made for a part of the Star Tank Line, then a subsidiary of Standard Oil. The name of the line was changed to the Union Tank Car Co. in 1878, but the familiar Star name lingered on for awhile. The initials on the flat bed are OC&A (Oil Creek and Allegheny Railroad), car no. 150.

Wooden Tank

The shippers and railway people called them tubs and thereby belittled the first railway tank car. They were not tubs, they were sturdy wooden tanks having a capacity of 40 barrels each and mounted two to a flat car, each one over the trucks. These tank cars were put into use on the tracks of the Oil Creek Railroad and connecting lines in 1865, a great year in the evolution of the bulk transportation of crude oil and refined products. Amos Densmore, an oil buyer and shipper at Miller Farm on Oil Creek is credited as being the inventor, so it is fitting that the conveyance was called the Densmore tank car.

The "prototype" tank car was subjected to an elaborate cloak and dagger test. A flat car with its two tanks filled with crude oil left theTitusville area ("secretly", they say) on a wild trip to New York. Telegrams were sent from each station back to Titusville and Miller Farm reporting on the condition of the tanks and especially if they leaked or not. Apparently they didn’t leak. Made of pine planks, the tanks were constructed, banded and glued as tightly as possible.

The Densmore model was then built by the thousands and became a common sight hitched to freight trains. Prof. Charles A. Seely in writing an article on the transportation of oil for the Scientific American magazine in 1866 remarked about the wooden Densmore tank cars carrying oil from Titusville: "---some of them may be seen any day in Jersey City, and on a journey by the Erie Railway they will be found everywhere along the road."

The Densmore tank car was a major breakthrough in the bulk transportation of oil and occurred just a couple of months before the completion of the first successful oil pipeline. In fact, much of the oil which that pipeline (Van Syckel) delivered from the Pithole field to the Miller Farm terminal was further carried to destination in these wooden tanks.

Densmore tank cars on a siding in Oil Creek Valley, 1866. Drawing by Thomas Dracup for the copyright of Samuel T. Pees & Associates (2002).

TANK CARS

In the U.S., the railroads provided the first reasonable means of getting oil to the seaboard from where it could be distributed to coastal refineries or shipped overseas. Knowing this, the railroad companies strove mightily to lay track into the hearts of the early producing centers where they could pick up the remunerative payloads.

At first, the railroads conveyed the oil in barrels on the beds of flat cars. Later, the barrels were racked in layers on specially built cars. The barrels gave way to the tank car, at first made of wood and soon after of metal. This was a tremendous boost to bulk transportation of petroleum and its refined products.

The great strength of the oil producing and refining industry was put to test many times during the growth of bulk transportation. Improvement and enlargement of the tank cars took place enabling them to carry a wide variety of liquids, even high pressure cargo such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

In the first half of the twentieth century two world wars were fought, both requiring great amounts of gasoline and other fuels. Tank cars had to move as much as one million barrels daily to the U.S. East Coast alone during the height of WW II in Europe while the Pacific Theatre required 110,000 barrels (and more) per day during most of 1944 and 45 with a peak of 170,000 barrels. Tank cars had track priority during the war years.

Some of today's tank car builders can trace their lineage back to the 1870’s and later. A look at advertisements in the older oil journals show the proud names and pictures of the tank cars made under the trademarks of General American Tank Car Co., Union Tank Car Co., North American Tank Car Co., and many more.

The first railroad transportation of oil in barrels was via flat car on which one level of barrels was lashed down as shown in this sketch of the Titusville yards, ca. 1862. Only 44 barrels were loaded on this early flat car, but 60 barrels later became the standard single tier load. In the early 1860’s the loaded flat car was the best means to get the oil to eastern centers. Drawing from Giddens, 1948.

Special rail car designed to haul empty newly made oil barrels, probably directly from a siding at the cooperage to the buyer (refinery or crude oil producer), ca. 1865. Photograph believed to be of a car owned by A. Knabb & Co., Warren, Pennsylvania. The full load appears to be 312 empty barrels. Photo Giddens collection.

This is a replica of an 1865 Densmore tank car that used to be in the grounds of the Drake Well Museum. The pine board tanks held approximately 40 barrels each. Photo by S.T. Pees, 1986.

Union Tank Car

A drop in shipping demand has led to the layoff of 22 employees at Union Tank Car Co.'s facility at 939 Holland Road, a company spokesman said.

The layoff, 17 percent of the plant's 127-person workforce, was part of a larger layoff at three of the company's five maintenance and repair shops, Bruce Winslow, Union Tank Car spokesman in the company's Chicago headquarters, said on Friday.

Winslow said the economic downturn reduced the demand for shipping, which in turn reduced the demand for the maintenance and repair of railroad tank cars, which is done in shops such as the one on Holland Road. The layoffs, which occurred July 10, follow a June in which the unemployment rate in Ohio climbed to 11.1 percent, according to data released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The U.S. unemployment figure for June was 9.5 percent, up from 9.4 percent in May.

The railroad industry-related sector was among the first parts of the economy to feel the downturn and will be among the last to recover, Winslow said.

"There was a time period that was busy with cars being repaired," he said. "Now, we have those ready to go, and we won't work on as many more until the economy turns around."

Union Tank Car in March reduced production and cut a combined 300 employees at its manufacturing plants in Alexandria, La., and Sheldon, Texas.

The transportation industry is among the most vulnerable segments of an economy, said Hassan Aly, an economics professor at The Ohio State University at Marion.

"This is one that will be put off like the consumer putting off the purchase of big items like cars, furniture, refrigerators," Aly said. "For industry this is very much the same type. It's the first to be put off, because they can do what is in existence and since there's less demand right now is an easy one to put aside."

Aly said talk of federal stimulus money earmarked for expansion of railroad in Ohio may help the railroad industry recover more quickly than it has in past recessions.

Union Tank Car on Holland Road has 83 hourly employees and 22 salary employees following the recent layoff, which consisted of hourly and salary workers, Winslow said.

"Pretty much like for every other company in America, there's a recession going on," Winslow said. "The recession hit the transportation area quite hard. There's reduced rail car loading so consequently there's not the need for rail cars that there was a year ago."

"There is good news," he said. "We know the industry's very cyclical, and it goes up and it goes down. We've been up for quite awhile. We look forward to the bottom of this trough."

He said, however, he couldn't estimate when the company would be able to bring back the laid-off workers.

"We'll call them back just as soon as the economy turns around," he said. "They're the best guys around, so we want them back. ... We expect the economy to have to go up again before we go back up."

Aly said the recession is in the second half of its second year, "so I'm imagining we are in the bottoming down, and the economy will pick up by next year. It's not going to be a huge pick-up. It'll be modest growth of 1 to 1 1/2 percent (gross domestic product). But at least we're going to pull out of this negative growth we have right now, and there are signs of some pick-up even in housing, definitely in the stock market. It's doing much better than before. It seems like things are moving in that direction."

Any such recovery would be a fragile one, he cautioned.

"It's definitely one that could go south if things happen," Aly said. "This is not a sure thing. Because if the government wasn't able to pull out of the market in a timely fashion and keeps restricting these companies they've taken a stake in, then things might not be easily recovering."

"It does depend a lot on the Federal Reserve and Treasury policies in the next six months or so, an appropriate time of pulling out and definitely an easing of the monetary policy to encourage people to buy housing and take loans for businesses. All of this is important right now."

Better Heat Exchanger Cleaning Through Technology

Maintenance of a platform's Waste Heat Recovery Unit (WHRU) and similar shell and tube heat exchangers can be an extremely dangerous process. It needs to be disconnected, taken off line, and moved to shore for repair. Shell and tube heat exchangers are made of coiled tubes and can become fouled with carbon deposits. The traditional methods for clearing the blockage include bypassing the fouled unit, cutting off bends and cleaning the tubes, then re-welding the U-bends, and complete unit replacement.

The old methods are becoming more outmoded due to advancements in technology. It is inefficient to bypass the unit. Just as it would be less efficient to run your car with 2 cylinders not firing. This inefficiency, of course, also increases operational costs. It is time consuming and costly to cut the U-bends and re-weld them. Sometimes it can be difficult or impossible to get access to reattach them.

Some of these new methods include the ability to clean areas with limited access, and clear deposits from U-bends without ever removing them. This can sometimes be done without even taking the unit offline, and usually takes less time and results in a higher degree of defouling. In fact, many units can be restored to near-factory efficiency. For big refineries, petro-chemical plants, or power plants, this can amount to six figure savings.

The U-bends themselves also retain many deposits, and continue to be a bottleneck to the system. Full replacement carries the cost of completely replacing equipment that, other than the heat exchanger tube fouling, is still in working order. This method also requires the unit be taken offline for the full duration of replacement. obviously this carries a heavy expense and serious loss of production.

Traditional heat exchanger cleaning methods and heat exchanger cleaning equipment have changed very little over the last few decades. Pressure jetting is still the primary means used by many companies, but it is slow, inefficient, and ultimately very costly. Additionally, many companies are skeptical of newer methods, falling back on the "that's the way it's always been done," chain of logic. They are also weary of trying new techniques that are not as "proven" to be effective. Finally, many have long term tube cleaning contracts that do not allow for a change in heat exchanger cleaning technique, unless the contractor were to adopt the new methods.

Newer heat exchanger cleaning equipment and techniques are more technologically advanced, and by extension, require a higher skilled laborer than old style pressure jetting. These new developments include the ability to clean tight radius bends, clean units while keeping them in place, and even while keeping them online. It has also resulted in faster, more efficient cleaning. Many tube bundles can now be cleaned more effectively than with pressure jetting, and jobs that used to take days may now take only a few hours. Difficult to access units are now accessible with these new technologies.

Some of the technology that has been developed includes special nozzles that can be used on tight bends, laser cleaning, and new "smart" metals that respond to changes in density and pressure to prevent damage to the tubes. With these methods, jobs can be finished with less downtime, because cleaning and descaling can be done more quickly. Equipment is also less likely to be damaged in the process. Many of these new processes are safer, create less waste, use no chemicals, and have a significantly reduced environmental impact.

Do You Really Need Fireplace Heat Exchanger Cleaning Equipment?

Before deciding whether heat exchanger cleaning equipment is something you need, it's best to take a step back and make sure you know exactly what a fireplace heat exchanger is. Simply put, it's a device used to make sure no cool air from outside of your home is brought inside when the fireplace returns air it's using from inside your home. So what happens when your heat exchanger breaks or gets built up with gunk and dirt? The fireplace becomes quite ineffective and starts actually cooling your house rather than heating it, the opposite of your intent.

This is where the cleaning equipment comes in to play! The tools are used to clean the exchanger making it possible for your fireplace to function properly at all times, keeping your house as warm as you'd like it to be. Unfortunately, finding the right cleaning gear can be kind of intimidating when it comes time to determine whether it's what you need, or whether there's another problem with the fireplace. Before investing in heat exchanger cleaning equipment make sure you're experiencing the right signs for the need, instead of signs of some other kind of trouble.

These signs include suddenly feeling much colder in the room than usual, especially when the difference seems to have taken place literally overnight. Also make sure that everything else seems to be working right on the unit. Finally, you may want to consult a professional so they can tell you whether you need such cleaning equipment or not. There's a chance the professional can simply take care of the problem for you right then and there, or even rent you the proper heat exchanger cleaning equipment.

If the tools are something you end up having to purchase, don't do so without comparison shopping first. Make sure you find the best deal possible for the highest quality. You'll also want to verify what the return policies are (in case the equipment is something you don't really end up needing or it doesn't work) and whether or not parts on the equipment can be easily replaced.

Heat Exchanger Tube Bundles Inspection

Heat exchangers are used by many industries, especially in oil refineries and chemical plants. Their purpose is to exchange heat from one place to another, usually from one liquid to another liquid. The continued efficiency of this device demands regular heat exchanger inspection to determine whether or not the integrity of the equipment.

Where are Heat Exchangers Found?

Most homes also have a heat exchanger of some kind. The most common household heat exchanger can be found in a refrigerator. In hot countries air conditioners are common; another kind of heat exchanger. Cars contain them too - the radiator removes the excess heat from the radiator fluid by making use of the natural airflow caused by the car's forward progress.

A similar principle applies in large industry where heat needs to be transferred from one place to another. The most common type of heat exchanger found in oil refineries and other large plants is the "shell and tube heat exchanger".

This design employs a large shell, usually a very large diameter tube that can withstand high pressures. It contains a bundle of tubes inside. The heat exchanged is from two different fluids. One fluid flows through the shell of the exchanger while the other flows through the tube bundle. The two fluids do not make direct contact with each other, but the difference in their respective heat values is changed through the indirect contact that is made.

A shell and tube heat exchanger is a complex design. The internal tubes are often of differing types and design in order to achieve different results. Some tubes may be plain while others may be finned horizontally or longitudinally. The tubes may also be composed of different materials and different thermal conductivity. They may be made from stainless steel, carbon steel, brass, copper or cupronickel, for example.

Because of their complex nature it is necessary to have a regular the equipment regularly inspected. This can determine the wall thickness of the tubes, which are subject to pitting and corrosion as well as erosion over time. The condition of the entire tube bundle can be charted and evaluated through a highly detailed inspection using a device called an Internal Rotary Inspection System.

The Internal Rotary Inspection System works through ultrasonic testing and it is non-destructive in nature. The Internal Rotary Inspection System probe has to be inserted into a tube which is then filled with water.

The Internal Rotary Inspection System probe has a small mirror that rotates and focuses an ultrasonic beam onto the wall of the tube. The mirror rotation is driven by a small turbine, which in turn is driven by water pressure as it is pumped into the tube. The Internal Rotary Inspection System probe is slowly pulled out of the tube at a rate of about one inch or 25 millimetres per second, recording the condition of the internal wall of the tube as it progresses.

The results gained from a heat exchanger inspection using an Internal Rotary Inspection System probe is generally extremely accurate. Its accuracy can be as good as to within .005 inches, or .13 millimetres. Of course, in order to gain this level of accuracy it is necessary for the heat exchanger tubes to be thoroughly cleaned down to bare metal prior to the inspection.