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The
independent heat pipe preheater for crude oil in tanks is constructed
mainly of a bundle of heat pipes placed in two separate jackets.
The bundle of heat pipes is separated
in two sections by special flanges in which the heat pipes are welded.
One section is placed on the heating fluid side that passes between
a jacket and the heat pipes releasing the required heat rate. The other
section is also placed in a jacket but this one is opened at one end.
This jacket stays in the oil tank on its bottom. The oil enters the
space between the bundle of heat pipes and the jacket, receives the
heat released by the heat pipes and leaves the jacket at the desired
temperature.
The independent heat pipes preheater is
a radical new approach to heating oil (crude oil, heavy fuel oil, etc.)
stored in tanks in that heat pipes are used to effect heat transfer
from heating fluid to oil.
This
culminates in several distinct advantages:
1.
The cross-contamination is totally eliminated. The heating fluid
and the oil (crude oil, heavy fuel oil, etc.) are completely separated
and impossible to mix each other in the case of heat pipes corrosion.
2. Every heat pipe acts as an independent heat exchanger
and the unit is not dramatically affected when a heat pipe or
more are damaged as a result of corrosion.
3. It is no need to preheat the entire tank. Only the amount
of oil that passes through the heat pipes is preheated at the
desired temperature, the rest of the tank remaining at the ambient
temperature. This culminates in significant heat savings.
4. Heat transfer is a function of the surface area of the
bundle of heat pipes exposed to the oil and to the heating fluid.
The length and number of heat pipes can be varied so that the
design of the unit should have an infinite variability, totally
suited to the customers’ specific needs.
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