Overcoming Plant Cooling Issues Using Compact Heat Exchangers

In the power generation industry today, a variety of factors can lead to the insufficiency of existing heat exchangers. These factors include loss of surface area from purposely plugged tubes, power uprates, warmer raw water temperatures and increased spent fuel loads. While plants were generally designed for a life of 40 years, many plants are near or exceed that. It is common that the heat exchangers can be at or near the end of their physical life.