Finned Tube Air Cooler for Crude Oil Refinery

Finned Tube Air Cooler for Crude Oil Refinery

Crude oil refinery finned tube air cooler is the key equipment for cooling various process fluids in the crude oil refining process.

Structural components

Finned tube: It is the core heat transfer element, usually made of steel tube or stainless steel tube as the base tube, and fins are installed on the outer wall by welding, rolling, suiting and other processes to greatly increase the heat transfer area. The fins are made of aluminum, copper and other metals with good thermal conductivity, and are shaped in straight and corrugated forms.

Tube bundle: assembled by multiple finned tubes in a certain arrangement, common arrangement of staggered and paralleled, staggered arrangement can enhance the air disturbance, improve heat transfer efficiency, but the resistance loss is relatively large; paralleled arrangement is less resistance loss, easy to clean and maintain.

Fan: used to force air flow, accelerate the heat exchange process. According to the direction of air flow and installation location of different, can be divided into blast type and induced draft type. Blower fans blow air into the tube bundle, while induced draft fans pull air out of the tube bundle to cool the hot fluid inside the bundle.

Frame: Used to support components such as finned tube bundles and fans to ensure the stability and structural strength of the equipment, it also protects the internal components, directs air flow and reduces air leakage.

Working Principle: The high temperature process fluid generated during the crude oil refining process flows inside the finned tube, and the ambient air sweeps outside the finned tube under the action of the fan. Due to the temperature difference between the fluid inside the tube and the air outside the tube, heat is transferred from the high-temperature fluid to the air through the tube wall and fins, thus realizing the cooling or condensation of the high-temperature process fluid. In this process, the presence of fins greatly increases the heat transfer area and strengthens the heat transfer effect, making the heat exchange more efficient.

Advantageous Features

Highly efficient heat transfer: The design of the fins increases the heat transfer area by several times compared to light tubes, which significantly improves the heat exchange efficiency and rapidly reduces the temperature of the process fluid.

Water conservation and environmental protection: air as the cooling medium, without the need for large amounts of water, can effectively save water resources, reduce water pollution, especially for water-scarce areas.

Low maintenance cost: compared with water-cooled cooler, there is no need for complex water treatment system and circulating water pipeline, reducing pipeline corrosion, scaling and other problems, small maintenance workload and low cost.

Reliable operation: there is no water pump failure, water pipe rupture and other problems that may occur in the water-cooled system, the equipment has high operational stability, long service life, and can continue to operate stably in harsh industrial environments.

Strong adaptability: according to different process requirements and site conditions, the model, specification and arrangement of the equipment can be flexibly adjusted to adapt to various changes in working conditions.

Application Scenario

Vapor condensation at the top of distillation tower: In the process of crude oil distillation, the high-temperature vapors generated at the top of the tower need to be cooled and condensed into liquid, and the finned-tube air cooler can cool the vapors at the top of the tower into liquid, so as to facilitate the subsequent separation and processing.

Cooling of oil at the bottom of the tower: The high temperature oil at the bottom of the distillation tower needs to be cooled before it can be stored or further processed, and the finned tube air cooler can cool the oil at the bottom of the tower to a suitable temperature to meet the process requirements.

Cooling of reaction products: In the process of various chemical reactions in crude oil refining, the reaction products are usually in a high temperature state and need to be cooled in time to prevent over-reaction or decrease in product quality, the finned tube air cooler can quickly cool the reaction products to ensure the smooth progress of the production process.

Circulating gas cooling: In some circulating processes, the circulating gas temperature rises after heating or reaction, and needs to be cooled and then recycled, finned tube air cooler can cool the circulating gas to reach the temperature requirement for recycling.