A heat transfer surface monitoring (HTSM) system and cell for direct detection and monitoring of fouling, scaling, corrosion, and pitting of heat transfer surfaces. The system has a heat transfer plate (HTP) that has a heat transfer monitoring surface (HTMS). The system also includes an edge-lit light guide and light source to illuminate the HTMS, a fluid flow channel module, a heating/cooling module, a surface imaging module to view the HTMS, and a system controller. The environment is controlled to mimic the environment within heat exchange equipment, which are indicative of the changes inside heat exchange equipment. Output of signals relating to the HTMS are used as a guide mitigate problems related to the monitored heat exchange equipment. The system can also use a heat exchanger cylindrical tube with slit light guides along the tube, and the surface imaging module views the inner surface of the heat exchanger cylindrical tube.

A heat exchanger network retrofit method including analysis, targeting and retrofitting an existing heat exchange network (HEN) to lower the annual operating cost. The revamped/retrofit design is based on one of two mathematical techniques: Simulated Annealing (SA) and Fixed Structure.

A tool kit for testing and detecting a leakage in a tube having a cylindrical body is disclosed herein. The tool kit of the present invention comprises an inlet member and an outlet member which are going to attached with the extreme ends of the tube through a threaded mechanism. The one end of both inlet member and outlet member has a tapered structure that allows the easy insertion of both members in the openings of the tube. The tool kit further includes a fluid pump that pumps the fluid in the tube, wherein the fluid is inserted through the inlet member of the tool kit. A pressure monitoring unit is also provided with the fluid pump that measures the pressure inside the tube in real time. Furthermore, the outlet member includes a handle whose function is to control the pressure inside the tube during the testing process.

A method of determining a fouling location of a shell and tube heat exchanger is provided. Under the method, a simulation model of the heat exchanger is partitioned into multiple segments. Each segment corresponds to a different one of multiple operating scenarios of the heat exchanger. For each operating scenario, temperature data and pressure drop data are generated from the simulation model of the heat exchanger. The fouling location of the heat exchanger corresponds to a respective segment in each of the multiple operating scenarios. The temperature data and the pressure drop data are classified based on the multiple segments of the simulation model by inputting the temperature data and the pressure drop data to one or more machine learning classification algorithms. The fouling location and a value of accumulated fouling at the fouling location are determined based on the classified temperature data and the classified pressure drop data.

The invention provides a method of cooling a flowing fluid in a hydrocarbon flow system using a heat exchange cooler apparatus having at least one cooler conduit; and a sensor system. The method comprises flowing the fluid through the cooler conduit from a cooler inlet to a cooler outlet to cool the fluid and operating a cleaning system to deliver energy (e.g. heat) to the cooler conduit to cause solid materials deposited on the interior of the cooler to be released into the flowing fluid. A cooler sensor data set obtained from the sensor system is compared with a reference data set to verify the performance of the cleaning system.

A system and method of controlling corrosion of a heat exchanger, having a hot gas inlet and outlet and a cold side inlet and outlet. The method includes determining a temperature of the heat exchanger at a first selected location, controlling a temperature of a corrosion sensing device to a first selected temperature based on the temperature of the surface of the heat exchanger and determining a corrosion rate associated with the heat exchanger surface at the first selected location for the first selected temperature. The method also includes comparing the corrosion rate to an expected corrosion rate, determining a cold side fluid inlet temperature target for the heat exchanger based at least in part on the comparing, the determined corrosion; and controlling a cold side fluid inlet temperature based at least in part on the determined inlet temperature target, determined corrosion rate, and expected corrosion rate.

A tube transition fitting is formed having a first end, a second end, a head, a body, a weld area, and a first wall thickness and second wall thickness. A tube seat is formed on a surface connected to the body, the surface being adjacent a transition from the first wall thickness to the second wall thickness. A tube transition assembly includes a header portion, the tube transition fitting, and a heat exchange tube, each being connected using one or more simplified and/or heat-optimized connections.

A method for thermographic analysis of a heat exchanger comprises: applying vibrations to the heat exchanger as a part of a vibration testing process; capturing a thermographic image of at least a portion of the heat exchanger whilst the heat exchanger is undergoing vibrations; analysing the thermographic image; and determining a status of the heat exchanger based on the analysis of the image.

The following provides a system and method to predict an indicator of tube fouling in a fired apparatus such as a boiler. Historical data can be collected when the tubing is still considered to be clean, and used to build a first model between an indicator of fouling, such as tube skin temperature, and boiler load. The actual measurement of that indicator of fouling can then be compared against the model output, such that the error between the model and measurement is considered an indication of the tube fouling. Moreover, the rate of change of the model error can be used to measure the fouling rate. Next, historical data on the fluid feed quality can be collected and together with the historical error rate change data can be combined to develop a second model. This second model reflects how fluid feed quality variables may affect the fouling rate over time.

A heating system includes at least one electric heater disposed within the fluid flow system. A control device includes a microprocessor and is configured to determine a temperature of the at least one electric heater based on a model and at least one input from the fluid flow system. The control device is configured to provide power to the at least one electric heater based on the temperature of the at least one electric heater.