Customer Comments

"The replacement Primary Monitoring Tanks supplied by RR/NES (Rolls Royce Nuclear Engineering) were of a high manufacturing standard and a credit to their sub-contractors Britannia Heat Transfer" - Magnox Electric plc (Bradwell Power Station)

"From our initial enquiry to the completion of all works as requested, your staff have completed their work both efficiently and to a very high standard. Furthermore, I was pleased to see that [your employees] complied with Nuclear Site Rules and Regulations to the full and promoting your company further by maintaining tidy working conditions and leaving the work area spotless upon completion of works." - Magnox Electric plc (Sizewell A Power Station)

"The site team performed exceptionally well, demonstrating their skill while working safely at all times and by meeting their programme dates. I would also like to thank you for the way you responded to the tube delivery problem, providing alternative tubes at short notice, enabling us to meet our schedule startup. Without your help we would have incurred significant generation losses, in fact I feel we have achieved a better solution with the fitting of the alternative Titanium tubes." - Corus (Redcar Power Station)

Marine Case Studies

Fleet #1.
A large Rotterdam based ship owner had 7 particular vessels with Diesel United main engines which had always suffered high pressure drop across the original air-coolers (from 225mm WG when new to 440mm WG after short service). This necessitated regular ultrasonic cleaning as other associated equipment was also affected. New air-coolers were designed using ElfinBlock cores which not only matched the performance of the original units, but also reduced pressure drop to 160mm WG which then remained significantly lower, even after extended running times. The initial trial units were subsequently rolled out to the remaining 6 vessels.

Power Generation Case Studies

We have been involved with issues arising at many costal stations (usually Nuclear powered) due to premature failure of coolers, frequently caused by erosion due to the excessive amounts of sand in the cooling water. Britannia Heatex has become a UK leader in this area by redesigning units using Titanium tubes and tube plates. This gives our clients significantly increased life expectancy from their coolers, albeit for a slightly higher initial cost. We have also been able to improve performance by redesigning the cooler’s internal arrangement, and by reusing the shell, saving the cost of re-piping the systems.

Power Station #1.
A UK power station required 48 Generator Air Coolers due to stress corrosion and fatigue at the tube plate joint on the original coolers. Replacement units were designed and manufactured using Admiralty Brass tubes and Aluminium ElfinBlock. These units were thermally and mechanically designed in-house using software which had been tailored to incorporate the enhanced performance inherent to the ElfinBlock core. The superior performance and efficiency levels provided by these coolers (temperature drops in excess of 12%), combined with reduced water flow requirements (compared to both the original coolers and the generally available alternatives) has increased the time between motor re-winds, the benefits gained far exceeding the outlay of the coolers.

Power Station #2.
A UK power station required replacement Turbine Lube Oil Coolers but also indicated that improved performance was also being sought. We used the existing thermal data and basic design criteria but incorporated specially designed extended surface tubes along with a redesigned baffle arrangement. This resulted in a tube bundle which would still fit the existing shell but with improved cooling performance.

Power Station #4.
A UK nuclear station was encountering problems with a Gas Circulator Motor Air Cooler due to the sand in the cooling sea water eroding the copper nickel tubes, resulting in failure within 2 to 3 years from commissioning. A redesigned unit was manufactured using ElfinBlock consisting of Titanium tubes and copper fins, which has, to date, lasted 6 years and we have no reason to believe it will not last for many more.

Power Station #3.
A UK nuclear station was suffering extremely short service life from a range of essential coolers, including Generators Diesel Engine Coolers, Jacket Water Coolers, Lube Oil Coolers and Inter-Coolers. It was apparent that these premature failures were due to the erosion of the tubes caused by the high levels of sand in the cooling water. Britannia Heatex designed new tube bundles using Titanium tubes and tube plates. These replacement units have now been in service for 9 years, compared with the previous units which generally failed within 1 year.

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