Build-up of fouling on your ACC can drastically reduce the heat transfer rate and consequently reduces the speed of the turbine. This is a major issue and ultimately costs the plant money in reduced output.
The majority of the fouling that the ACC attracts is debris present in the surrounding conditions such as dust from the ground and rain, pollen, bird droppings or even from neighbouring industrial sites and their activities. Other fouling comes from the running of the plant and the ACC itself, such as lime-scale, oil contamination, and dust. A combination of these different types of fouling will bind together to cover the fins of the tubes in a layer of grease and dust. This mixture will adversely affect the efficiency of the ACC.
Historically, cleaning of the ACC has been done by high pressure water jetting of the tubes, either manually by an operator or by an automated jetting rig. After cleaning using this method, on the face of it the fins will look very clean, however, the high pressure water only impacts on the outside fins and the ones in the inner banks tend not to be touched. Unfortunately, you cannot raise the pressure any higher to force the water through as this will damage the fins. At RICO we have an alternative.
1. Application of Safe Degreasing Chemical: Using our water pumps we spray the ACC banks with the safe degreasing chemical and leave it to soak through all the banks of the fin fan tubes. After a short period of time the degreaser gently lifts the grease contamination away from the fins.
2. Deep Water Clean: Once the degreasing chemical had been left to settle and work on the dirt and grime, our water booster pump is used to wash down the treated sections. Pushing out over 35 gallons of low pressure water per minute, the pumps provide a deep cleaning affect, washing through all of the tube banks, and removing both the degreasing chemical and lifting grease and fouling. Depending on the amount of fouling, this may be done from both sides of the banks.
We have found this method to be the most effective way to remove the contamination and to return the unit to its optimum efficiency .
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