Chart’s La Crosse facility has completed the first Smart Layer™ equipped brazed aluminium heat exchangers (BAHX) for North American natural gas processing.
Smart Layer is a predictive maintenance solution that provides advance warning when a critical threshold in the operational life of a BAHX has been reached and where continued mal-operation is likely to result in loss of containment.
The vast majority (>98%) of Chart BAHX provide trouble-free operation for 20 years+ when operated in accordance with industry guidelines. However, excessive thermal gradients will weaken the unit’s integrity and can lead to external leaks developing. Typically, because these operating upsets go un-noticed, the leaks manifest without warning.
With Smart Layer technology the leak path is contained within the BAHX, hence there is no loss of containment and an emergency plant shutdown is avoided. As well as containing the leak path, Smart Layer simultaneously triggers an alert to the plant control room that remedial action is required.
Smart Layer protects plants against severe loss of production revenue through unplanned shutdowns and the potential for damage to property and life should external leaks go unchecked. Rather like any protective device, it ensures peace of mind, regardless of deployment, from the outset.
Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/gas-processing/03122018/chart-completes-first-bahx-fitted-with-predictive-maintenance-technology/