How can we help you?
When you need to ensure the integrity of your heat exchangers and condenser tube bundles, The Lab at Brookes Bell can help with our full-lifecycle electromagnetic testing, inspection and analysis tools.
Heat exchangers (or tube bundles), steam generators and chiller systems are a regular sight in power plants across the power, energy and industrial sectors, and on all types of vessels in the maritime industry.
As a part of an asset managers compliance schedule, regular inspection of the evaporators and condensers is imperative to ensure efficient heat transfer, avoid costly unscheduled maintenance and failure of equipment, such as leaking.
The Lab’s tube inspection services can be used in myriad applications, such as:
- Shell-and-tube heat exchangers
- AC chillers
- Steam generators
- Boilers
- Coolers/heaters
- Condensers/evaporators
Due to the fact that ferrous tubes are common in the shell and tube heat exchangers of the oil, gas and petrochemical industries, problems such as corrosion, pitting, cracking and erosion in tube bundles (including aluminium-finned carbon steel air cooler tubes) are common.
The Lab’s range of solutions for detecting these issues include:
- Remote field testing (RFT, Double-Driver Technology)
- Near field array (NFA, Al finned CS)
- Magnetic flux leakage (MFL)
- Internal rotary inspection system (IRIS UT)
In the maritime, power generation and nuclear industries non-ferrous metals such as Inconel, cupronickel and stainless steel are used to make tube bundles. This is because they are resistant to corrosion and stress cracking.
Nevertheless, tube bundles made from these metals still require testing. At The Lab, we use eddy current arrays to inspect these tubes:
- Eddy current array testing (ECA, DefHi).
- ECT - eddy current testing
- IRIS - internal rotary inspection system
- RFT - remote-field testing
- NFT - near-field testing
- NFA - near-field array
- MFL - magnetic flux leakage
Our eddy current test method and the related methods of remote field-testing, near field array testing and magnetic flux leakage can be used across ferro, non-ferro and fin-fan installations and provide high-speed inspection techniques for these applications. Once tested, our expert engineers provide asset owners with a comprehensive overview of the material state of the heat exchangers, giving integrity engineers the confidence to make informed decisions about the safe and efficient operation of the assets under their control.
Trend analysis and reporting software
Don’t just rely on periodic inspections and investigations.
Here at The Lab we use Eddyfi’s powerful Magnifi software to evaluate electromagnetic inspection data, the most advanced data acquisition and analysis tool in the heat transfer industry.
We also use TubePro reporting and modelling software, building highly accurate digital twins of heat exchanger tube bundles enabling us to conduct effective trend analysis, monitoring defect propagation and other features impacting on the efficiency of the heat exchanger.
Ensure the integrity of your heat exchangers and condenser tube bundles today, with The Lab at Brookes Bell.
