At a Glance

Acoustic Cleaners have been successfully introduced into these three areas to efficiently and automatically remove particulate matter, thus eliminating the need for other existing cleaning methods such as steam or air blowers, tumbling shot, etc.

In Detail

Prior to the development of Acoustic Cleaners, steam blowers, air blowers and tumbling shot were the usual choice of cleaning methods for Superheaters, Economisers and Air Heaters.

However, acoustic cleaning has proven to be highly successful in this application, removing particulate matter and increasing efficiency.

The use of this new technology in these 3 areas has now basically eliminated the need for any other cleaning methods.

Super Heaters

Ash and particulate build up on super heaters causes a reduction in boiler efficiency.

Primasonics Acoustic Cleaners use sound to remove this build up, as sound is used it removes particles from all around the heat exchange tubes rather than simply creating a path for air flow.

The use of Acoustic Cleaners therefore leads to low differential pressures across super heaters and a larger temperature differential when compared with traditional cleaning methods.

As the rapid pressure fluctuations of the sound is used to remove particles rather than a blast of air or steam problems of boiler tube erosion are removed.

Primasonics offers a range of Acoustic Cleaners manufactured from Inconel for use in super heater sections.

Very little modification of Superheaters is required to fit an acoustic cleaner as man ways and access points can be used to mount the acoustic cleaner so that water jacket walls and refractory lining are not affected.

Economisers

Fouling of Economiser heat exchange surfaces is a constant problem (especially for power station engineers). It reduces Boiler efficiency leading to lengthy down time for cleaning which can be hard to plan and difficult to carry out safely.

As Acoustic Cleaners flood the Economiser's section with sound for short but regular intervals, build up is removed at a steady and predictable rate without causing particle spikes at the filter leaving an Economiser where all the surfaces are free from build up without damage to Boiler tubes or refractory linings.

Sound produced from Acoustic Cleaners is best employed between tube bubbles so Acoustic Cleaners can be mounted on man way doors making installation very quick and cost effective.

Air Heaters

Air Heaters are an important part of the heat exchange process build up in these areas or Boiler tube erosion caused by older cleaning methods can lead to unscheduled shutdowns and a lack of Power Generation.

Primasonics Acoustic Cleaners prevent build up, increasing Air Heater efficiency and reducing maintenance costs. The Acoustic Cleaning technology is fitted through access points so very little modification is in fact required.