Tube cleaning system and method
AssigneeTube Tech Industrial Ltd.
InventorsDerek Sumsion, Michael Watson, Jon Camp
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A heat exchanger cleaning system is disclosed which is capable of determining the position of a lance within a tube bundle of a heat exchanger core. The system comprises a lance for directing a jet of fluid into spaces between the tubes of the bundle, an arm mounted alongside the lance and movable relative thereto, an abutment mounted to an end of the arm to sense an outer surface of the heat exchanger core, and a transducer for measuring the position of the lance relative to the arm to determine the extent of travel of the tip of the lance beyond the front face of the tube bundle.
Claims17
A heat exchanger cleaning system for determining the position of a lance within a tube bundle of a heat exchanger core, the system comprising:
- a chassis,
- a lance mounted on the chassis for movement in a direction transverse to the tubes of the bundle to penetrate between the tubes of the bundle and direct a jet of fluid into spaces between the tubes of the bundle,
- an arm mounted on the chassis alongside the lance and movable relative to the lance and the chassis,
- an abutment mounted to an end of the arm to sense an outer surface of the tube bundle, the abutment comprising a pair of jaws straddling the lance and at least one spring urging the jaws into contact with the outer surface of the bundle to be cleaned, and
- a transducer for measuring movement of the lance relative to the arm to determine an extent penetration of the lance into the tube bundle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.