Improve Air-Cooled Heat Exchanger Performance

Air-cooled heat exchangers (ACHE’s), sometimes called air coolers, are used in a variety of applications in refineries, petrochemical plants, gas treating plants, compressor stations, power plants, and other industrial applications. These processes are often critical to the operation of the plant. This paper will describe the operation of ACHEs and identify critical components that could fail and result in reduced cooling capacity. It will make recommendations for specifying ACHE components to reduce the likelihood of ACHE failure. The article will also identify maintenance practices and procedures that reduce the probability of component failure or improve heat exchange capability.