A cooling device for cooling a heat generating load, the device having an enclosed housing defining a continuous cooling volume for flowing a coolant between an inlet and an outlet. The housing featuring at least one surface that is configured for facilitating heat exchange sequence with the heat generating load such that the coolant is configured to absorb generated heat.

A method and battery system for thermal management of a battery system includes predicting a total heat generation by a battery based on determined internal conditions of the battery, and controlling a selective adjusting of a heat transfer coefficient for the battery based on the predicted total heat generation to maintain an operating temperature of the battery at a target temperature or within a target temperature range.

A plant or refinery may include equipment such as reactors, heaters, heat exchangers, regenerators, separators, or the like. Types of heat exchangers include shell and tube, plate, plate and shell, plate fin, air cooled, wetted-surface air cooled, or the like. Operating methods may impact deterioration in equipment condition, prolong equipment life, extend production operating time, or provide other benefits. Mechanical or digital sensors may be used for monitoring equipment, and sensor data may be programmatically analyzed to identify developing problems. For example, sensors may be used in conjunction with one or more system components to detect and correct maldistribution, cross-leakage, strain, pre-leakage, thermal stresses, fouling, vibration, problems in liquid lifting, conditions that can affect air-cooled exchangers, conditions that can affect a wetted-surface air-cooled heat exchanger, or the like. An operating condition or mode may be adjusted to prolong equipment life or avoid equipment failure.

A method may include identifying, by a device, a set of components of an optical device. The method may include determining, by the device, a set of design criteria based on the set of components of the optical device. The method may include identifying, by the device, an initial heater configuration based on the set of design criteria. The method may include determining, by the device, a set of optimization parameters for determining a target heater configuration based on the set of design criteria. The method may include performing, by the device and based on the set of optimization parameters, an optimization procedure to alter the initial heater configuration to determine the target heater configuration. The method may include providing, by the device, information identifying the target heater configuration based on performing the optimization procedure.

An air operated heat exchanger has a plurality of process tubes for process fluid, a plurality of rotating fans to move ambient air along an air stream path past the plurality of process tubes. At least one optical fiber is configured within the one or more air stream paths. At least one light pulse is passed into the at least one optical fiber, and at least one optical signal is detected from the at least one optical fiber in response to the at least one light pulse, to provide at least one signal profile. One or more air temperatures at a plurality of locations along the at least one optical fiber are determined from the at least one signal profile and evaluated against one or more comparison operational conditions.

A method of controlling cooling water treatment at a cooling tower may involve measuring operating data of one or more downstream heat exchangers that receive cooling water from the cooling tower. For example, the inlet and outlet temperatures of both the hot and cold streams of a downstream heat exchanger may be measured, optionally along with a flow rate of the cooling water stream passing through the heat exchanger. Data from the streams passing through the heat exchanger may be used to determine a heat transfer efficiency for the heat exchanger. The heat transfer efficiency can be trended over a period of time and changes in the trend detected to identify cooling water fouling issues. A chemical additive selected to reduce, eliminate, or otherwise control the cooling water fouling can be controlled based on the changes in heat transfer efficiency detected at the downstream heat exchanger.

A heat exchanging system includes one or more heat exchanging portions, wherein each heat exchanging portion includes an optimized internal fin structure. The optimization of the optimized internal fin structure includes receiving existing heat exchanging system. information, analyzing exterior fluid flow around the one or more heat exchanging portions as a heat flux analysis, determining boundary conditions of a heat flux distribution based on the heat flux analysis, receiving material properties of the one or more heat exchanging portions, and designing the optimized internal fin structure based on the existing heat exchanging system information, the boundary conditions of the heat flux distribution, and the material properties of the one or more heat exchanging portions.

An apparatus and a process for testing fluid from a heat exchanger. A first fluid from a heat exchanger to be tested is passed through a test heat exchanger. A second, heat transfer fluid, is in the test heat exchanger. The second fluid is heated with a heater so that a temperature in the test heat exchanger can be controlled, for example, to so that conditions in the heat exchanger are close to the conditions in the heat exchanger. After a period of time, the test heat exchanger can be removed and inspected, tested, or both. Also, multiple test heat exchangers may be used to test various process conditions. Additionally, the test heat exchangers may include different materials to test various materials. An outer portion of the test heat exchanger may be at least semi-transparent.

In one aspect, a heat exchanger system is provided that includes a cooling system and a sensor configured to detect a variable of the cooling system. The heat exchanger system includes processor circuitry configured to provide the variable and a plurality of potential operating parameters of the cooling system to a machine learning model representative of the cooling system to estimate at least one of energy consumption, water usage, and chemical usage for the potential operating parameters. The processor circuitry is further configured to determine, based at least in part on the estimated at least one of energy consumption, water usage, and chemical consumption, for the potential operating parameters, an optimal operating parameter of the cooling system to satisfy a target optimization criterion.

A control system for use in a fluid flow application includes a heater and a control device. The heater has at least one resistive heating element and the heater is operable to heat fluid. The control device determines at least one flow characteristic of a fluid flow based on a heat loss of the at least one resistive heating element and determines a mass flow rate of the fluid based on the at least one flow characteristic and a property of the at least one resistive heating element. And the property of the at least one resistive heating element includes a change in resistance of the at least one resistive heating element under a given heat flux density.