Heat exchangers and temperature-controlled process components place high demands on material, geometry and welding. Pipe connections have to sit exactly, shell surfaces have to be tight, heating and cooling sections have to suit the design, and welded joints have to withstand the operating conditions over the long term.
stainlesstec makes customer-specific heat exchanger components and temperature-controlled assemblies to drawing and CAD data – from the single shell or tube part to the complex welded system component.
Heating and cooling jackets · tube assemblies · shell components · tube bundles · process components · bespoke builds
We do not calculate the process. We build the component.
Heat transfer area, temperatures, pressures and media all follow from the thermal and process design. That task belongs to the plant builder or the responsible designer. We take care of putting it into production:
reviewing the design for manufacturability
developing a suitable production sequence
forming plate and tube
integrating connections and flanges
welding assemblies
finishing surfaces
testing and documenting as the project requires
You define the thermal function. We make sure it becomes something that can be built under control.
Heating and cooling jackets: temperature control at the vessel itself
Process vessels can be fitted with heating or cooling surfaces to hold a product at temperature, heat it or cool it. Depending on the design, the options are:
a double jacket
welded-on jacket segments
heating or cooling channels
pipe systems
zoned temperature control areas
The challenge is not geometry alone: between vessel wall and temperature control component there are numerous welded joints, all of which have to be tight, dimensionally accurate and repeatable – without the heat input altering the geometry of the vessel. More under Pressure & process vessels.
Double jackets and shell components
A double jacket combines two functions: the inner vessel carries the product, the outer section the heating or cooling medium. Two geometrically matched structures have to be joined. What matters is:
even gaps
flow and return
connection positions
welding sequence
pressure and tightness requirements
avoiding unfavourable dead zones
accessibility during production
With customer-specific vessel shapes in particular, that makes for a demanding welded assembly.
Tube bundles and tube assemblies
Many heat exchangers work with tube systems. On a project basis we make components in which tubes, tubesheets, shell sections and connections come together as one assembly: cut tubes, tubesheets, connecting nozzles, flanges, shell parts and welded tube assemblies.
Positional accuracy and repeatable joints are what count here. With many parallel tubes, even small deviations cause trouble at assembly or connection.
Temperature changes how things are made
Parts for heat transfer necessarily work with temperature differences, which makes material and joining technique especially important. For production, what counts is:
thermal expansion
differing wall thicknesses
weld distortion
combinations of materials
operating and design temperature
cyclic thermal loading
Designing for these factors is the responsible engineer’s task. For us they determine how the component has to be made and welded.
Thin wall meets heavy part
In heat exchanger components, very different geometries meet: a thin vessel shell is joined to heavier flanges, tubesheets, connecting nozzles, reinforcements or more solid tube components. That changes how heat is distributed during welding.
Good welding here means bringing unlike parts together under control. Welding sequence, heat input and fixtures therefore belong in the production plan.
Stainless steel for process and food technology
Stainless steel is used in heat exchanger and temperature control components wherever corrosion resistance, cleaning or product contact play a part – typically in food processing, pharmaceuticals and process technology, chemical processes and machine and plant engineering.
Which stainless grade is required follows from medium, temperature, pressure and specification. The work runs in our own segregated production area, which supports controlled handling of material and surfaces on high-grade process components in particular.
Surfaces inside and out
On heat exchangers, the inside and the outside often have entirely different requirements. Product-contact areas need:
a defined roughness
high-grade weld transitions
readily cleanable surfaces
a specified grinding direction
On the heating or cooling medium side, other technical requirements come first. The different functional surfaces should therefore be marked unambiguously in the drawing and the specification.
When pressure comes into it
Heat exchanger components can form part of pressurised systems. Operating and design pressure, temperature, medium, material, weld quality, testing and documentation then all count.
For this we bring experience from pressure vessel construction and the manufacturer qualification AD 2000 HP 0 in conjunction with DIN EN ISO 3834-3. Whether a given component falls under a particular code, and what evidence is needed, we establish per project.
Thermal oil and other heat transfer fluids
One particular field is components for plant in which heat is carried by liquid heat transfer fluids: tube assemblies, heated vessels, jacket systems, connection components and heat exchanger parts.
At elevated operating temperatures especially, material selection, weld quality and structural design become particularly important. The thermal and hydraulic sizing is yours to supply – we make the components as specified.
From design to welded assembly
Review the CAD data and specification – take in material, geometry, pressure, temperature and connections
Make the individual parts – prepare plate, shell components, tubesheets and connection areas
Form – roll bending, folding and other forming processes create the geometry
Fit the components – assemble tubes, shells, flanges and nozzles
Weld – weld the assembly to the established production sequence
Finish the surface – complete product and visible surfaces to specification
Inspect – check dimensions, tightness and any other agreed requirements
Typical components
heating and cooling jackets for vessels and process components
double-jacket components for temperature-controlled processes
tube assemblies for heating and cooling media
shell and housing parts for customer-specific heat exchangers
tube bundles and tube components to your design
connection and manifold components for integration into existing plant
special components where standard solutions will not fit the geometry or the process
For new plant, existing systems and replacement components
Heat exchangers are long-lived plant components. Individual sections nonetheless have to be replaced through corrosion, wear, fouling, thermal loading or changes to the process. It is then often sensible not to swap the whole apparatus but to make one defined component anew – a tube bundle, shell components, a cover, connection areas or tube assemblies.
Typical cases are:
new plant
extending a production line
replacing an existing component
a design change
a different process medium
a new connection geometry
a repeat part for further plant
Where reliable drawings, CAD data or specifications exist, we make parts for existing plant too. With CAD-based manufacturing, a component defined once can later be made again repeatably or altered under control.
What we need for your enquiry
STEP data or drawing
material
wall thicknesses
the medium on both sides
operating and design temperature
operating and design pressure
connection sizes and positions
tube dimensions, if applicable
requirements for the welded joints
surface requirements
product-contact areas
testing requirements
documentation required
quantity
The thermal calculation and design should already be part of your specification.
The heat transfer is designed. We build the component for it.
Heating jacket, tube assembly, tube bundle or bespoke heat exchanger component: send us the drawing and the technical specification.
Production planning and welding engineering will assess how a sound, repeatable assembly is best developed from them.
Let’s talk about your project.
Send us your drawing or CAD data by email – together with material, batch size and your requirements. We will come back to you with a sound assessment.
