A system and method for cleaning of heat exchanger tubes including an assembly, an indexer, and a communication device provided with specialized software and programming. The indexer includes orthogonally arranged first and second arms. A trolley and sensors are provided on the indexer arms. One or more lances are provided on the trolley to deliver water jets into the openings. Sensors measure displacement as the trolley is moved relative to the heat exchanger's face plate. An operator controls the system from a distance away using the communication device. During setup, the pattern of the face plate is learned and mapped utilizing information from the sensors as one of the inputs. This information is utilized to help navigate the face plate during a subsequent cleaning operation. A kit for retrofitting existing X-Y indexers is also disclosed.

A process for removing or reducing the accumulation of foulant within furnaces and heat exchangers in industrial systems such as an oil refinery by introducing a periodic steam blast. The steam blast is directed into the fluid stream from which the foulants form on to the heat exchanger surfaces. The steam blast increases the flow rates, creates turbulence and increases the temperature within the heat exchanger to dislodge foulant in both a soft and hardened states from internal surfaces upon which foulants have adhered and accumulated.

A system, apparatus and method of cleaning tubes of a heat exchanger or a tube bundle that includes disengaging the heat exchanger or bundle from a use-position in a process or a plant; moving the heat exchanger or bundle to a cleaning station remote from the use-position; positioning the heat exchanger or tube bundle in front of a cleaning apparatus; providing water jet cleaning equipment on the cleaning apparatus; responding to programming in a computing device and controlling the water jet cleaning equipment and a cleaning operation; providing a pattern of tube openings defined in an end plate of the heat exchanger or bundle to the computing device; actuating the water jet cleaning equipment with the computing device; and manually or automatically performing a cleaning operation with the water jet cleaning equipment under control of the programming of the computing device and by following the provided pattern of tube openings.

Cleaning processing equipment may include generating a function characterizing a relationship between fouling formation in the processing equipment and operation of the processing equipment. A cleaning recipe may be selected based on properties of fouling material formed in the processing equipment during operation of the processing equipment. Operating costs associated with cleaning schedules may be determined based on the first function and the cleaning recipe and one of the cleaning schedules may be selected based on the respective determined operating costs. A cleaning process on the processing equipment may be executed according to the selected cleaning schedule using the selected cleaning recipe.

A heatsink comprising a heat exchange device having a plurality of heat exchange elements each having a surface boundary with respect to a heat transfer fluid, having successive elements or regions having varying size scales. According to one embodiment, an accumulation of dust or particles on a surface of the heatsink is reduced by a removal mechanism. The mechanism can be thermal pyrolysis, vibration, blowing, etc. In the case of vibration, adverse effects on the system to be cooled may be minimized by an active or passive vibration suppression system.

Provided is an electronic device includes a user interface; a communication module configured to perform communication with at least one outdoor unit and a plurality of indoor units connected to the at least one outdoor unit; and a processor configured to determine a heat exchanger with a contamination level equal to or higher than a preset contamination level among a heat exchanger of the at least one outdoor unit and heat exchangers of the plurality of indoor units based on an output from a neural network for operation data received from each of the at least one outdoor unit and the plurality of indoor units, determine a cleaning period of the determined heat exchanger based on a rate of increase in energy of the determined heat exchanger, and control the user interface to output information indicating the determined cleaning period, wherein the neural network is trained with operation data varying by contamination level of a heat exchanger.

A system and an apparatus for positioning a plurality of flexible cleaning lances through tubes penetrating a tube sheet of a heat exchanger tube sheet, includes a smart lance tractor drive, a controller, and a tumble box connected to the controller operable to generate and/or distribute electrical power to the AC induction sensor from an air pressure source, supply electrical power to the controller and distribute pneumatic power to pneumatic motors for positioning the tractor drive on the positioner frame. The smart tractor drive includes sensors for detection of mismatch between expected and actual lance positions, sense lance insertion distance and lance removal and provide automated drive reversal operation to remove blockages within tubes being cleaned.

Water-jet cleaning system and a method of cleaning a heat exchanger. The equipment includes a rotary tool having a lance with at least two degrees of freedom. The lance's movements relative to openings defined in the heat exchanger face plate are controlled via a smart indexing controller. The controller includes an electronic communication device that is specifically programmed to selectively activate various components of the rotary tool and a water delivery system. The programming utilizes an observed, learned, or uploaded pattern of the heat exchanger tube openings to selectively rotate the lance relative to the rotary tool's mounting assembly or linearly move the lance towards or away from the mounting assembly. The controller moves the lance to align a nozzle thereon with a selected opening in the face plate and then delivers a high pressure water jet therethrough.

An apparatus for cleaning heat exchangers may include a cleaning lance for cleaning a plurality of bores of the heat exchanger and an examination lance for examining a plurality of bores of the heat exchanger. The apparatus may further include a first feeder configured to extend and retract the cleaning lance and a second feeder configured to extend and retract the examination lance. The apparatus may further include a controller configured to control the first feeder to feed the cleaning lance into a first bore, to control the cleaning lance to clean the first bore, and to control the first feeder to retract the cleaning lance from the first bore.

A system and method for cleaning of heat exchanger tubes including an assembly, an indexer and a communication device provided with specialized software and programming. The indexer includes orthogonally arranged first and second arms. A trolley and sensors are provided on the indexer arms. One or more lances are provided on the trolley to deliver water jets into the openings. Sensors measure displacement as the trolley is moved relative to the heat exchanger's face plate. An operator controls the system from a distance away using the communication device. During setup, the pattern of the face plate is learned and mapped utilizing information from the sensors as one of the inputs. This information is utilized to help navigate the face plate during a subsequent cleaning operation. A kit for retrofitting existing X-Y indexers is also disclosed.