August 13, 2021
Blockage in Heat Exchanger
Problem
- Partial blockage led to reduced heat transfer, potentially higher energy costs, and increased fluid velocity, causing potential erosion problems.
How SAM GUARD Helped
- Sent an alert due to substantial differences in temperature, combined with all the parameters measured in the heat exchanger and other related parts of the plant.
- All the measurements showed an accelerated fouling process, indicating a partial blockage in the heat exchanger and the operational root cause.
Value
- 23 hours after alert was given, the heat exchanger was cleaned and the partial blockage was removed.
- By fixing a small problem ahead of time, a greater problem was eliminated that would have caused a shutdown and lost production.