Helixchanger™ History

• 1900: First basic Shell & Tube Heat Exchanger.

• 1907: Lummus founded in USA.
• 1931: First Helical type Heat Exchanger.
• 1941: TEMA becomes Shell & Tube standard.
• 1951: Tinker studies shell-side flows.
• 1963: Bell describes Delaware method.
• 1980: Vuchz (J. Nemcansky) invents Helixchanger™.
 • 1994: LTHT becomes exclusive world-wide licensor of
Helixchanger™.
Future Market Indicators
• Global competition leads to innovative and durable products.
• Modern refineries aim for less maintenance and unplanned shut-
downs.
• End users look for added value.
• Total Life Cycle Cost Analysis becomes more and more important.
• Global reduction of C02 emissions (Kyoto, 1997).
• Energy and water savings.
Advantages:
• Cost saving on Total Life Cycle Basis
• Subsidized by Dutch government
• Less shell-side fouling
• Higher shell-side heat transfer
• Lower shell-side pressure drop
• Reduction of vibration hazards
• Homogeneous two-phase flow distribution
• Improving plant reliability and availability
• Improving plant run length
Applications:
• Shell-side heat transfer controlled
• Shell-side pressure drop controlled
• High shell-side fouling
• Shell-side gravity phase separation
• Potential tube vibration
• High thermal leakage
• Plant run length controlled
Mechanical Guidelines:
• Conventional design is NTIW
• Conventional design is Rod Type Baffle
• Conventional design has large (>400mm) segmental baffle spacing
• Conventional design has double segmental baffles
• Low-fin tubes
• Tube inserts
• TEMA type is E-Shell
 • TEMA type is J-Shell
Thermal Guidelines:
• Shell side thermal resistance > 40% of U-fouled
• Shell side fouling resistance > 30% of U-fouled
• When conventional design operates in turbulent flow (Re > 10000),
high Helix-angle ( > 25 degr.) can be applied. CAPEX saving
substantial by making use of the shell-side enhancement factor
(Y10)
• Good anti-fouling characteristics for all Helix-angles (5-40 degrees)
• When conventional design operates in laminair flow (Re > 5000),
low Helix-angle (5 < H-angle < 20) can be applied. Good anti fouling
and moderate shell-side heat transfer improvement.
Industry Applications:
• Refinery and Petro-chemical industry: crude/vacuum distillation
units; thermal conversion and hydro treating/cracking units;
hydrogen manufacturing/purification units; ethylene plants.
• Power plant industry: nuclear power stations; gasification combined-
cycle power plants; district heat systems.
• Pulp & paper industry.
• Offshore industry (Platform & FPSO).
Latest Developments:
• Lummus Technology Heat Transfer participates in HTRI's Global
Fouling Research Program
• Helixchanger™ in HTRI Report S-SS-3-12
• Trademark for HELIXCHANGER™
• HTRI Test Partial & Total Condensation August - November 1998
• HTRI Test Partial & Total Binding March - May 1999
• HTRI IST - Helixchanger™ calculation engine December 2001
• Helixchanger™ CFD simulation
Helixchanger™ Applications
Lummus Technology Heat Transfer (LTHT) offers the HELIXCHANGER™, an
advanced helically baffled shell & tube heat exchanger for applications
where shellside fouling and pressure drops are primary concerns and also
where new expansions or plant upgrades are targeted on lean budgets
and limited plot space.
Conventional shell & tube heat exchangers with segment baffles are often
power guzzlers and have to be brought down from service for frequent
shellside cleaning to maintain the desired performance. High operating
costs and loss of production during downtimes can add up to many more
times the capital costs.
In HELIXCHANGER™, the shellside flow configuration offers a very high
conversion of pressure drop to heat transfer. Effective bundle penetration
leaves no stagnant areas where fouling may accumulate. Quadrant
shaped baffle plates in a HELIXCHANGER™ can be spaced to reduce
unsupported tube spans without affecting pressure drop or heat transfer
characteristics. Tube bundles in a HELIXCHANGER are safer against flow-
induced vibrations.
More than 1800 helixchangers are now in service globally in applications
ranging from crude preheat trains and feed-effluent exchangers to quench
water coolers and secondary transfer exchangers. The HELIXCHANGER™
advantage has been demonstrated by both pilot plant studies as as as
well as by industry feedback on operating units.
A recent scheduled maintenance shutdown at Slovnaft Refinery in Czech
Republic showed very little fouling on the shellside of 38 helixchangers
employed in the crude preheat train for over six years. Several
helixchangers were supplied for a residue gasification project at the API
refinery in Italy, which have demonstrated performance exceeding
specifications. At a major refinery in California, the client has reported
achieving 30 month run length using helixchanger tube bundle in a critical
reboiler service whose conventional unit was fouling up every 10 months
requiring one hundred percent spare to keep the plant operating.
Feed/Effluent exchangers in several plants have reported twice the run
length with helixchangers as compared to that achieved with conventional
heat exchangers.
HELIXCHANGER™ can offer an optimum solution for your requirements in
many refining processes such as crude preheating, residue processing or
conversion, platformer units, feed-effluent heat exchange, distillate
hydrocracking, LC fining, gasification or solvent deasphalting services.
Many ethylene and EBSM processes find HELIXCHANGER™ a cost effective
alternative.
Consider the Helixchanger option when you are investigating the
following:
• Plant upgrade with replacement tube bundles.
• Capacity expansion with limited plot space.
• Reduce fouling problems and frequent downtime.
• Energy survey suggests power saving requirements.
• Debottlenecking an existing process.
• New installations with limited capital budget.
Helixchanger™ Cost Benefits
HELIXCHANGER™, Initial Capital Cost is usually of the primary concern to
project management for new plants. On Lump Sum Turn Key (LSTK)
projects, major effort is made to control the capital costs of new
equipment. More HELIXCHANGER™ recently, this approach is being re-
examined by the project teams, since many end-users have expressed
concerns over the low reliability and availability of plant equipment in
operation for some time.
Analysis of Total Life Cycle Costs (TLCC) suggests that proper attention be
given to the total life cycle costs of equipment and not only the capital
costs. HELIXCHANGER™, Low efficiency of plant equipment has also an
adverse impact in meeting the environmental regulations and
consequently involves additional costs for corrective actions.
The following bar charts represent the results of a typical TLCC analysis
representing the relative costs involved with a bank of HELIXCHANGER�
heat exchangers as compared to the costs associated with using
conventionally baffled heat exchangers in the same services.
HELIXCHANGER™
The following plots illustrate the HELIXCHANGER� Advantage over the
conventionally baffled heat exchangers.
The glossary of abbreviated cost terms is as follows:
• CAPEX 1: Represents the initial purchase price of the heat
exchanger.
• CAPEX 2: Represents the costs for replacement of tube bundles and
other associated spare HELIXCHANGER™ parts over the life of the
heat exchanger unit.
• OPEX: Represents the operating costs for the heat exchanger, which
includes the pumping or compressor power costs, costs of chemical
dispersants, anti-fouling agents as well as loss of production costs
associated with the downtime when the unit is brought down for
bundle cleaning.
• MAINTEX: Represents the costs to clean the bundles during the life
of the heat exchanger unit as well as costs of tube plugging or
replacement that may HELIXCHANGER™ be required due to
corrosion and/or flow-induced vibration damage.
• DISPEX: Represents the removal and disposal of damaged tube
bundles that cannot be reused and must be replaced during the life
of the heat exchanger unit.
Heat Exchanger Performance
Heat exchangers require scheduled maintenance for cleaning the tube
bundles that foul up over an operating cycle, which is often termed as the
run length.
HELIXCHANGER� heat exchanger with its low fouling characteristics offers
much longer run length as compared to a conventionally baffled heat
exchanger in identical service. The drop in performance over an operating
cycle is much slower in services where HELIXCHANGER� heat exchangers
are used (FIGURE-1).
Figure 1
Total Life Cycle Cost (New Heat Exchangers)
FIGURE-2 illustrates the typical Total Life Cycle Cost components as they
are derived for both the HELIXCHANGER� as well as conventional heat
exchangers in identical services. The comparison presented here is for
new installations with each exchanger unit consisting of relevant shell and
tube bundle assembly.
HELIXCHANGER� designs save CAPEX 1 as well as CAPEX 2 over the life
of this unit due to the surface savings and lower fouling and consequently
higher service life of tube bundles. Lower shellside pressure drop saves
operating costs when using the HELIXCHANGER� designs. Longer run
lengths with helical baffles translates into lower maintenance costs and
longer operating life of tube bundles saves the disposal costs during the
life span of the heat exchanger units.
As a result, in new installations, the HELIXCHANGER� option significantly
lowers the Total Life Cycle Costs of the heat exchanger banks.
Figure 2
Total Life Cycle Cost (Bundle Replacement)
The comparison presented in FIGURE-3 illustrates the typical Total Life
Cycle Cost components as they are derived for replacement bundles,
segmental versus helical in an existing heat exchanger shell.
Initial capital cost, CAPEX 1, is slightly higher when a HELIXCHANGER�
bundle is replacing the conventional bundle, however, the secondary
capital cost, CAPEX 2, is smaller in the case of replacement with HELIX,
primarily due to longer service life of the HELIX tube bundle. Low pressure
drops and reduced down times offer lower OPEX with the HELIX bundle
replacements. Lower fouling characteristic also reflects in lower MAINTEX
for the HELIX bundle and increased service life results in lower DISPEX
using HELIX bundle replacements.
Consequently, in bundle replacement cases also the HELIXCHANGER�
option considerably reduces the Total Life Cycle Costs of heat exchangers.
Figure 3