Narrow Heat Exchanger Lance With Stabiliser Bars
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional handheld lances for cleaning the shell side of heat exchanger cores are too large to fit between all tubes, leading to inefficient cleaning and safety hazards due to potential buckling under high-pressure jets.
Innovation Solution
A handheld lance with a narrow tubular conduit and stabiliser bars that prevent buckling by allowing rotation and lateral movement, ensuring the lance can fit between tubes without bending, while maintaining structural integrity and safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If a conventional handheld lance with large outer diameter is used, then the lance can withstand high-pressure jets without buckling, but the lance cannot fit between all tubes of the heat exchanger core
Solution Approach 1:
The lance is divided into a narrow tubular conduit for fluid delivery and separate stabiliser bars for structural support. This segmentation allows the conduit to have minimal diameter (fitting between tubes) while the stabiliser bars provide the necessary stiffness to prevent buckling under high-pressure jet reaction forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The stabiliser bars act as intermediary structural elements that do not carry the cleaning fluid but provide mechanical support. These bars are positioned alongside the conduit and connected at ends to form a stable triangular configuration, mediating between the narrow conduit and the external handling system.
2Volume of moving object
If a narrow diameter lance is used to fit between tubes, then the lance can access all areas of the core, but the lance would buckle under high-pressure jet reaction force
Solution Approach 1:
The structural support function is separated from the fluid delivery function. The narrow conduit (about 6mm outer diameter) handles only fluid delivery, while separate stabiliser bars handle structural support, allowing the conduit to be thin enough to fit between tubes while maintaining overall structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The stabiliser bars extend laterally from the conduit in directions perpendicular to the jet axis, creating a three-dimensional stable configuration. This lateral extension in another dimension provides rotational stability and prevents buckling without increasing the forward profile of the lance.
3Ease of operation
If the lance conduit is made thin to fit between tubes, then the lance can be inserted throughout the core, but the lance becomes unsafe to operate due to uncontrolled buckling
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the conduit from structural support elements, the design achieves both thin profile for ease of operation and sufficient stiffness for safe operation. The conduit can be inserted between all tubes while the stabiliser bars ensure controlled, safe operation during high-pressure jetting.
Solution Approach 2:
The stabiliser bars are positioned to form a triangular configuration with the conduit, creating a geometrically stable structure. This triangular arrangement provides inherent structural stability and prevents uncontrolled buckling during operation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables thorough cleaning of the entire core interior by preventing buckling and ensuring safe operation under high-pressure jets, allowing effective removal of deposits from all areas of the heat exchanger core.
Implementation Method 1
Narrow jets of fluid emitted from the front end of a handheld lance are aimed at the outermost surfaces of the tube nest to be cleaned to dislodge deposits adhering to the outer surfaces of the tubes
Data Source
Figure 1
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AI summary
A handheld lance is disclosed for high pressure jetting of tubes of a heat exchanger core. The lance 50 comprises a fluid conduit defining an internal plenum chamber having at least one nozzle 62 for emitting a jet of fluid for cleaning the outer surfaces of the tubes of the core and a coupling 56 for connecting the plenum chamber to a high pressure fluid supply line. In the invention, the lance 50 has a thickness sufficiently small to permit the conduit to fit between the tubes of the heat exchanger core and a width significantly greater than the thickness to increase the stiffness of the conduit in the plane normal to its thickness.