Temperature control in winter time/cold climates – Immersion Heaters in Process heating

Last updated on September 26th, 2022 at 01:57 pm

With winter on the horizon everyone, from man to machine, needs adequate protection to brave the cold. Winter brings with it cold and low temperatures that can hamper the production capabilities of industries that use aqueous or liquid-based supplies, raw materials and products. This is not only true in case of the Oil and Gas industry which can be affected by cold and or freezing oil, this also applies to chemical industries and food packaging industry to name a few. Most of these liquids are often stored in large reservoirs of tanks for later use.

Come winter time, as these tanks start to brave the cold, these liquids can often start to freeze. They may also change their state making them difficult for industrial use as well as complicating their safe transportation. Once a liquid freezes, it can result in considerable wastage of product and large scale monetary damage. The best way to brave the winter without liquid damage is to make use of high quality and effective immersion heaters.

Protection from Cold

More often than not, industries with machinery outdoors will face the major brunt of the cold temperatures during winter months. The liquid products that are based on water in such cold conditions can start to freeze at 32 degrees Fahrenheit. And they can start to show crystal formations even sooner. Liquids such as chemicals and oils may start to solidify or turn into a gel-like substance. The colder the temperature gets, the more the viscosity levels of its decrease.

As mentioned above, there are a number of steps that can be taken to keep these reservoirs and tanks from dropping below 32°F. These include the use of step controllers and insulation to the tank in addition to using process heating.

Immersion Heaters

Immersion heaters are one of the most commonly used categories of heaters that have a number of heater types categorized in it. Industrial immersion heaters tend to have a number of industrial heating applications. Normally, most immersion heaters are direct heating applications coming in direct contact with the oils, solvents, gasses, or viscous materials.

The word immersion is used with these heaters because they function by producing and utilizing heat entirely within the liquids. This ensures that little or no heat is lost during the process, guaranteeing 100% efficiency in heating applications. The use Circulation Heater angledof immersion heaters in cold climatic conditions is important because in most cases the need for the fluid to be kept at a different temperature to the outside is mandatory. Keeping the liquid at a higher temperature than the ambient requires ample heating and energy these requirements are best addressed by industrial immersion heaters.

Use in Cold Climates

Looking at the United States, for example, every region experiences below-freezing cold at some time of the year. Some of the major industrial hubs are located in the Midwest and the Northeast. These areas are prone to greater depths of lower temperatures than any other part of the country. As mentioned above, for industries such as petroleum, food, and chemical, maintenance of fluid temperature is critical for effective operations. These industries require efficient and low-cost heating solutions that can make use of their heating capabilities to the fullest. This is why immersion heaters such as flanged and circulation heaters are being used.

Flanged heaters, for example, are easily submerged directly into the liquid to heat and they are also easy to install. Similar to this are circulation heaters. These heaters make use of flanged heaters stationed inside the liquid and the rigid steel vessel.

Circulation heaters heat liquids by letting pumped liquid pass through the inlet of the heater where they pass through the heating element. Once they pass the heating element, they go out of the heater set at the target temperature. One of the reasons why immersion heaters are widely in demand is their ease of use with numerous liquids.

The design of the immersion heaters, be it flanged ones or circulation heaters, is such that their casing and heating elements are resistant to extreme wear and tear and contacts with highly corrosive chemicals. Most of these heaters come equipped with controllers thus making their use, installation, and maintenance easy.

Flanged Heaters

These heaters are designed for use in pressurized vehicles and tanks where they can heat both liquids and gases. A flanged immersion heater usually operates in combination with a flange that is not welded firmly to the tank where it is going to be used. Flanged heaters provide a number of benefits if they are used in the winter time to combat the cold and save the liquid products from monetary and production-related damage.

A flanged heater is efficient in its working since all of the heat that it produces goes directly into the medium that was to be heated. As a result, little or no heat dissipates elsewhere.

Circulation Heaters

Also known as inline heaters, these heaters are similar to flanged heaters and are used to heat gasses and liquids. Circulation heaters can fulfill a wide range of heating capabilities. This allows them to work well with both pressurized and non-pressurized liquids, keeping them away from the winter freeze. They are powerful heaters that are constructed using a flange mounted tubular heater or a screw plug. The inlet and outlet nozzles in the heater allow the heating to go on smoothly without the liquid spilling over.

Winter can be a hard time for liquids. While humans can use heaters to keep their homes warm, industries make use of immersion heaters such as flanged and circulation heaters to make sure that the temperature of the liquid is kept under wraps, preventing it from making crystals or being heated.

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