Purpose
Reagentless SPS system for preventing the scum formation in heat units.
How it works
Water flow at the entrance of the heat unit must be pre-cleaned. While the operation of boilers requires mandatory chemical water treatment, when other types of heat units (heat exchangers, condensers, etc.) are operating, it is necessary to provide at least rough mechanical filtration from large particles. The SPS system uses FMC filters developed by us, which provide continuous automatic filtration of water through a mesh filtering element. Such water treatment is non-reactive, and therefore the operating costs for it are minimal.
Acoustic emitters (that are attached to the heat unit from the outside) prevent the formation of deposits inside the heat unit. When these emitters work, the vibrations pass through the construction of the heat unit, vibrate the heat exchange surfaces and remove a scum layer from them. The process of scum removing is as follows:
- formation of microcracks in the scum layer due to fatigue alternating shear deformations;
- water penetration into microcracks of the scum layer, and crack grows to a critical size;
- separation of scum particles from pipe walls and their removal by water flow;
- after that, a new scum layer begins to form again in a clean place and breaks off again.
Studies of the Ultra-Filter Group have shown that the level of acoustic impact should be very significant. So, a new type of acoustic emitters with a high vibration amplitude was created, which is provided by two factors:
1) The material of the electromechanical transformer is permendure, which provides, in comparison, for example, with Nickel, 5 times bigger the amplitude of vibrations.
2) Multi-shock resonant design of an electric generator, which, in contrast to the usual one (simple shock), increases the amplitude of vibrations in the heat unit by 5-10 times additionally.
Important! If the emitters are used incorrectly, the effect of their use will either be insufficient, or it will lead to the formation of fistulas and failures in the operation of heat units.
Ultra-Filter Group has the know-how, software products, and production facilities that allow for a full cycle of work on the implementation of the SPS system at various types of heat units.
Comparison with other anti-scam systems
| Parameter | Periodic chemical cleanings | Ball cleaning system | SPS system (proposed) |
| Fuel loss | High | No | No |
| Equipment price | Low | High | Average |
| The cost of consumables | High (reagents) | Moderate (balls) | Absent |
| Labour input | High | Moderate | Absent |
| Work complexity | High | High | Absent |
| Danger of an emergency | Moderate | Present (ball jamming) | Absent |
| Damage to heat exchange surfaces (it leads to reducing of the heat unit service life) | Present | Slightly | No |
| Types of heat units that use the anti-scam system | No limits | Only tubular, large sizes | No limits |
Advantages
Using the reagentless SPS system allows you to:
- Guaranteed to eliminate the formation of scam of both inorganic and organic origin on almost all known types of heat units,
- Increase the reliability of the heat unit and increase its service life,
- Minimize the fuel loss because of scam (even 0,5 mm scam layer increases heat loss by 3…4%),
- Eliminate the cost of mechanical and chemical cleaning of equipment (i.e. stopping, dismantling and subsequent installation of equipment, cleaning itself, cleaning materials, waste disposal);
- Reduce the costs for scam prevention almost to zero, since the SPS system operates automatically on the principle of "put and forget" and no chemical reagents are used.
Examples of practical applications
1. Nuclear power plant. 2 heat exchangers OGC. The anti-scum SPS system was installed in 2019 and continues to work now.
The use of 12 acoustic emitters for each exchanger OGC made it possible to practically abandon the cleaning operations that were previously carried out every 1,5 - 2 months.
