The
Central European climate imposes special requirements concerning the protection
of industrial transferring appliances in chemical plants, refineries,
petrochemical and other plants in order to protect them from low temperatures.
This kind of protection is guaranteed by steam tracing system, which is based on
the trace lines.
Steam tracing systems protect industrial
plants from the freezing or cooling of the flowing product. A steam tracing
system also ensures the right viscosity of the flowing medium at such a level
that it protects against any unwanted rise of the flow resistance.
The idea of the steam tracing
system.
Trace line length from a
steam stop valve to a steam trap ….
The minimal trace line
diameter …
In
the picture we can see a typical loop of the steam tracing system with some
steam tracers. The temperature decrease should be prevented by the steam which
heats a technological pipeline inside which there is some chemical product.
Pressure of the heating steam (steam saturation temperature) is set on the
basis of the minimum required product temperature for technological appliances.
Operational
Algorithm:
- a production engineer sets the required product
temperature;
- the maximum operating level is set, in the way that the steam
saturation temperature should be higher than the product
temperature;
- steam tracing system is designed for the steam flow rate of the order
of 20 m/s;
- the length of the steam tracer should not exceed 90 m for the pipe`s dimension
d=25 mm;
- the optimum length of the heating loop from steam distribution
collector to condensate collection collector should be between 60 –
80
m;
- applied dimensions for steam tracers are DN15, DN20,
DN25;
- a compensation system for the steam tracers should be
foreseen;
- the number of the steam tracers is calculated, you can for example
use the Zamkon`s computer program.
Practical side of the steam tracing system`s
construction is based on assembling many steam tracer sections at the same time.
For this purpose steam distributors are installed on the steam pipelines - to
ensure the correct steam distribution, as well as condensate collectors which
carry away the condensate to the condensate outlet pipeline. A steam trap series
is installed on the condensate collectors. This kind of solution ensures an easy
access to every drainage point as well as simplicity of the control and
servicing.
Modern steam distribution stations (RFM) and
condensate collection stations (ZFM) produced by Zamkon are currently installed
on the steam heated pipeline systems. From the main steam pipeline, through the
steam distribution station, steam is distributed to the individual steam tracers
installed along the heated pipelines. The condensate from the steam tracers
resulting from the steam condensation after several tens of meters gets to the
main condensate collection pipeline through the condensate collection station (
ZFM).
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