Description and Operation
These are forced draft, indirect contact gas coolers.
The hot, contaminated air passes through the interior of tube bundles surrounded on the exterior by a forced current of ambient air. The coolers supplied by GORCO work in a cross flow system.
Cold, ambient air is driven with axial fans arranged at different heights, so that the hot and fresh air flows intersect in the most thermally effective way.
Well-designed tube coolers of the right size are reasonably inexpensive and easy to maintain, with perhaps their thermal utilisation balance being the most advantageous, in theory.
Applications and Problems
Their main disadvantage is the problem of dust deposits inside. Bearing in mind that the usual disparity in gas volumes and temperatures at the outlet of a kiln, for example, causes a variable speed regime; this makes it difficult to establish a fixed minimum speed to prevent blockage.
There are devices to solve this problem, for example, automatic tapping mechanisms and ultrasound.
A typical application that works very well is cooling grate gases from clinker coolers, minimal suction in the exit zone of the material from the cement kiln. The clinker cooler gases consist of hot, completely dry air, and the dust, clinker, abrasive, which keeps the tubes clean.
