Forced Draft Air Cooler & Heat Exchangers
Your process requirements are unique – shouldn’t your air-cooled heat exchanger be unique too?
We don’t build catalogue air-cooled heat exchangers, we build your coolers to your specifications. 100% custom-engineered and fabricated to meet your specifications and local requirements. No compromises allowed for our air-cooled exchangers.
Altex Industries offers complete new air-cooled heat exchanger design and fabrication per ASME VIII-1 and API 661. Recirculation (winterization) is available as needed.
Economy of scale – we build big! Given our Edmonton location and immediate access to the high-load corridor in Alberta, we maximize bay size and minimize bay quantity. We can also combine multiple services into a shared bay for air-cooled exchangers, forced draft air coolers, and other services. This equates to lower capital and operating costs.
Engineering, design, project management, fabrication, assembly, and testing – everything is performed in-house at Altex Industries at our Edmonton facility.
Various accessories can be added to our air coolers for air-cooled exchangers:
- Space Heaters – electric or gas
- Heating coils – glycol or steam
- Louvers - manual and/or automatic
- Bug (poplar fluff) screens, hail guards
- Anti-rotation devices (Anti-windmilling)
- Vibration switches or sensors
- Header access walkways and ladders
- Averaging RTD, thermo-couples
- Temperature indicating transmitters
- Floors - Grated or checker-plate
- Low-noise fan design
- Shipping prep – nitrogen purge, plywood covers, poly-wrap
- Other accessories upon request
Do you have a challenging application?
We offer solutions for:
- High-pressure designs
- Low noise requirements (near developments)
- Pressure-drop limitations (natural gas compressor stations)
- Air cooled heat exchangers
- Forced draft air cooler
- Fin fan coolers
In-House Engineering Software:
- HTRI thermal design/rating program
- Autodesk Inventor – 3D Models
- RISA 3-D, STAAD PRO structural analysis
- Finite element analysis
- PV Elite
Design and Construction:
- ASME U, S, R, NB certified
- Canadian CRNs
- HTRI design in-house by our thermal engineering team
- Plug or cover-plate header-boxes
- Split headers, sloped headers
- L-Fin, embedded, or extruded fin-tubes for fin fan air cooler
Materials of Construction:
- Carbon Steel - SA-214, SA-179, SA-192, etc.
- Chrome-Moly - 1/2-Cr, 1-1/4Cr, 2-1/4Cr, 5Cr, 9Cr, 13Cr
- Stainless Steel - 304, 309, 316, 317, 321, 400 series, etc.
- Duplex - S32205, S31803
- Super Duplex - S32750, S32760
- Nickel alloys - Incoloy®, Hastelloy®, Inconel®, C-276, C-22, N06625, N08825, Alloy 59, C2000, etc.
- Clad or overlayed tubesheets with above metallurgies
- Clad or overlayed tubesheets with above metallurgies
Industries Served:
- Natural Gas Processing
- Oil and Gas Transmission
- Petrochemical
- Refining
- Power Generation
- Geothermal
- LNG
- Heavy Oil / SAGD
- Shale Gas and Oil Production
- Gas Compression
- Carbon Capture
Air-Cooler / Fin-Fan FAQ's
Can we maintain the existing piping dimensions for replacement Air-cooler tube bundles?
Yes, always. We not only match the existing bundle dimensions for in-kind replacements but also maintain the same overall dimensions for upgraded designs. When customers want better performance or higher duty to meet their new process, we offer new bundle designs with 1 to 3 additional rows of tubes without needing any piping modifications in the field.
Are different fin types used based on heat transfer/surface area calculations for fin fan coolers?
No, the fin selection is based on the process/operating temperatures. L-fins are the most common and economical option. For temperatures ranging from 270° F to 750°F, Embedded, Extruded fins are offered.
When do I need Winterization/freeze protection?
Process fluids with water, or gases with Hydrate formation possibility, or High viscous/high pour point fluids need Warm air-recirculation system.
Do I need heaters to operate a warm air re-circulation system?
No, Warm air that exits from top of the bundle is re-circulated within the bundle. Emergency heaters are used for winter start-ups/shutdowns as back-up. When there is No Glycol supply at the plant, Electric heaters are used but they consume lot of electricity.
