We let applications dictate the enhancement type because we quite literally make them all.
We make a bunch of different turbulator types and many different geometries within those types. And it’s because we make the entire spectrum of turbulator types and have data on where they stand that we can rank them in order of performance without letting bias creep in.
The highest performing turbulator out there. In addition to extreme turbulation, it also increases the internal surface area of the tube anywhere between 2x to 4x (due to the solder bond effect). It makes drastic size (and cost) reduction in viscous fluid coolers possible.
It is also a gamechanger in gas coolers where surface area extension is the dominant play other than simply turbulation as gas is naturally turbulent anyway. A 4x increase in internal surface area at 75% bond efficiency would still give a 3x bump in heat transfer coefficient.
Wire turbulators offer the flexibility of easy insertion and the second highest performance profile in our range. Second only to rigid soldered turbulators. Their performance and pressure drop correlations are mapped into our VorTX DLL. Wire Turbulators are ideal for cases where tubeside limitation is severe.
Spiral Turbulators sit in between the performance of tight L/D Twisted Tape and Low Dense Wire Turbulators. A sweet spot in terms of pressure drop penalties. Spiral Turbulators also have their performance and pressure drop correlations mapped into our VorTX DLL. Spiral Turbulators are ideal for viscous and semi-viscous applications where pressure drop allowance is tight and twisted tapes can’t give enough performance.
CEI Twisted Tapes have perfect L/D conformance and can be made in a wide range of materials and sizes. Even the L/D range that we can make these in is large giving a lot of flexibility in terms of design choices.
VorTX is Concept Engineering International’s dynamic link library (DLL) developed by HTRI under proprietary contract with Concept Engineering International. Multiple Concept Engineering International turbulators (wire and spiral tube inserts) were tested at HTRI’s Research and Technology Center in Navasota, Texas, USA. The VorTX DLL contains tube side single phase heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for modeling Concept Engineering International’s products which were developed under proprietary contract with HTRI using Concept Engineering International’s proprietary data. HTRI used laminar flow CFD results to supplement empirical testing measurements at Reynolds numbers under 500.
The VorTX DLL can be used with HTRI Software for the following purposes:
1. Identifying an optimal Concept Engineering International product from those supported by the VorTX DLL based on utilizing the maximum amount of pressure drop allowed.
2. Evaluating the performance of a Concept Engineering International product supported by the VorTX DLL that resembles the geometry of those tested by HTRI.
We’re looking for the best operating window for our products from a Reynolds standpoint.
We’re diving deep into wall correction factor impact of our geometries in software outputs.
We’re looking at the additional hydraulic load of each geometry. Small tweaks in angles of attack. How much the shear stress is when you pit turbulator vs bare tube. What the impact on fouling is likely to be because of that additional wall sheer stress.
How we can disrupt film boiling to move over to nucleate boiling, arrest mist flow and reduce bubbles down to size.
Our turbulator range (multiple geometries) has been tested for a hard data mining operation. Post that, the data has been analyzed and curve fitted and then modeled into correlations along with a test report for each insert geometry.
We’ve also done supplemental CFD work via a proprietary contract to home in on more accuracy.
To completely integrate into software platforms, we’ve also had developed the VorTX.DLL plugin that will hold this data and allow you, the user, to design your exchangers using our products in a matter of seconds if you’re using compatible software.
If you’re an end-user like a refinery who uses a performance monitoring software, we’re also looking at hard coding our mined data in software such as this to see the impact we can have on refinery exchangers to mitigate fouling by looking at shear stress increases and what that will mean for overall CO2 emissions reduction.
