Brief
The client is a prominent manufacturer of heat exchangers in the Energy Industry in the United States. They encountered a significant challenge when simultaneously attempting to clean bundled 14-inch rods and heat exchangers. The narrow diameter of the rod openings made them particularly challenging to clean, resulting in excessive water usage and time consump-tion. The manufacturer sought a two-fold solution to efficiently clean the rods while conserving water and reallocating labor resources. Their goal was to have three differently sized parts cleaned at once and have a separate attachment with the ability to flush a large coil that would be located on the exterior of the part washing system.
Approach
The customer previously encountered difficulties with the manual washing process for the rods, leading to a significant decrease in the efficiency of the parts cleaning operation. Their cleaning capacity was restricted to only 15 bundles and 25 heat exchangers daily. In response to this challenge, Better Engineering collaborated with the customer to execute proof of concept testing. Through meticulous testing, Better Engineering effectively cleaned the bundles, ensuring a comprehensive cleaning of the interior of all the bundled rods, thereby addressing the customer’s cleaning challenges. BE’s engineers redesigned a turntable washer to flush three coil evaporation assembly 34 x 32.6, sub-assembly tubes 26.37 x 23 x 4.75, and S coil – 22.56 x 9.5 x 7 at one time.
Results
Better Engineering built a custom turntable cleaning system to clean heat exchangers and bundled rods. The system:
- Increased throughput by 90%
- Contains custom fixturing and custom plumbing- wash, rinse, and compressed air blow out
- Contains custom removable fixturing to hold up to four (4) sets of 40” long, 3.5” diameter bundles of rods
- Has flushing attachment for up to four (4) sets of parts to flush inside of parts, one of which is externally mounted
- Has option to decide between flushing boot or standard turntable wash before the cycle starts
Conclusion
In summary, Better Engineering effectively tackled the client’s issue of cleaning bundled rods and heat exchangers by leveraging collaboration and innovative problem-solving, thereby increasing throughput by 90%. By introducing a turntable washer into their cleaning procedures, the client experienced enhanced cleaning efficiency, decreased water usage, and optimized labor allocation.
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