What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages of Thermal Oil Heaters?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of thermal oil heaters?

Advantages of thermal oil heaters

Accurate temperature control: The use of advanced temperature control systems, such as PID self-tuning intelligent temperature control technology, can achieve precise temperature control, and the temperature control accuracy can reach ±1℃ or even higher, such as ±0.1℃, which can ensure that the heated medium operates stably within the set temperature range, which is conducive to improving product quality and the stability of the production process.

High heating efficiency: Thermal oil has good thermal conductivity, and the electric heating element directly heats the thermal oil, and the heat can be quickly transferred to the heated medium. Compared with some traditional heating methods, it can transfer heat more quickly and evenly, reducing heating time and energy consumption.

Wide operating temperature range: Thermal oil has a higher boiling point and lower vapor pressure, and can achieve higher temperatures at lower pressures. It can work stably in the temperature range from room temperature to 300℃ or even higher, and is suitable for various processes with high temperature requirements.

Good safety performance: Using thermal oil as a heat transfer medium avoids direct contact with high temperature sources and reduces the risk of scalding for workers. At the same time, it is usually equipped with a variety of safety protection devices, such as overload protection, leakage protection, low water level protection, over-temperature protection, etc., which can automatically cut off the circuit or stop operation under abnormal conditions to ensure the safety of equipment and personnel.

Excellent heat transfer effect: The thermal oil has good thermal stability, can maintain good fluidity during the circulation process, can quickly reach all parts of the heated medium, achieve uniform heating, and can better prevent heat loss, thereby improving heat transfer efficiency.

Low operating cost: Liquid phase closed circulation system, no steam leakage, condensate loss and other heat losses during steam boiler operation, high heat utilization rate, about 50% energy saving than steam boiler. No complex water treatment equipment is required, reducing related equipment investment and operation and maintenance costs.

Simple and convenient operation: high degree of automation, integrated computer or PLC control, simple operation interface, one-button start, staff only need to make simple parameter settings, the equipment can run automatically, and remote control and monitoring can be realized, which is convenient for production management.

Disadvantages of thermal oil heaters

Thermal oil is easy to age: When working in a long-term high-temperature environment, the thermal oil will age, oxidize, crack, etc., resulting in a decrease in its performance. It is necessary to regularly detect and replace the thermal oil, which increases maintenance costs and workload.

There is a risk of leakage: Since the thermal oil in the system is in a high-temperature state and circulates for a long time, it may cause the sealing performance of the connection parts such as pipes and valves to decrease, resulting in thermal oil leakage. Leakage will not only cause energy waste and environmental pollution, but may also cause safety accidents such as fires.

The initial investment is relatively large: Compared with some simple heating equipment, the purchase cost of thermal oil heaters is relatively high, including the cost of equipment such as heating furnaces, circulation pumps, expansion tanks, and pipeline systems, as well as installation and commissioning costs.

High requirements for operators: Operators are required to have certain professional knowledge and skills, and understand the working principle, operation process and safety precautions of thermal oil heaters. Improper operation may cause equipment failure or safety accidents.

Energy consumption problem: If electric heating is used, it will consume a lot of electricity during the working process. If the electricity cost is high, it will increase the operating cost. In addition, although the thermal oil heater itself is energy-saving, it may also lead to energy waste if the entire system is not designed properly or the operation is poorly managed.