Tube bundle cleaning system and method
AssigneeUSA DeBusk LLC
InventorsWalter D. Richter, III, Donald R. Drolet, Ricky Eugene Smith, Matthew Warwick
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A tube cleaning system and method including a nozzle holder operable to secure nozzles in a nozzle arrangement, the nozzle arrangement corresponding to an arrangement of tubes of a tube bundle, and a nozzle positioning system operable to move the nozzle holder and nozzles secured therein, to cause the nozzles to engage a set of tubes of the tubes of the tube bundle, the nozzles configured to direct cleaning fluid into the set of tubes.
Claims30
A method of vapor blast cleaning tubes of a tube bundle comprising:
- securing nozzles in a nozzle holder of a nozzle positioning system in a nozzle arrangement corresponding to an arrangement of tubes of a tube bundle, a nozzle holder positioning system configured to move the nozzle holder and the nozzles secured therein relative to the tube bundle to position outlets of the nozzles into engagement with inlets of tubes of the tube bundle such that the nozzles are positioned to direct a cleaning fluid comprising a mixture of water vapor and media into the inlets of the tubes of the tube bundle while the inlets of the tubes of the tube bundle are engaged by the outlets of the nozzles to provide a vapor blast cleanse of the tubes of the tube bundle;
- conducting a tube engage operation comprising controlling the nozzle holder positioning system to move the nozzle holder to advance the outlets of the nozzles into engagement with inlets of a set of tubes of the tube bundle;
- conducting a tube cleaning operation comprising directing cleaning fluid comprising a mixture of water vapor and media into the inlets of the set of tubes by way of the outlets of the nozzles engaged with the inlets of the set of tubes of the tube bundle;
- and
- conducting a tube disengage operation comprising controlling the nozzle holder positioning system to move the nozzle holder to retract the outlets of the nozzles to disengage the outlets of the nozzles from the inlets of the set of tubes of the tube bundle.
A vapor blast heat exchanger tube bundle cleaning system comprising:
- a nozzle positioning system comprising:
- a nozzle holder configured to secure nozzles in a nozzle arrangement, the nozzle arrangement corresponding to an arrangement of tubes of a tube bundle;
- a nozzle holder positioning system configured to move the nozzle holder and the nozzles secured therein relative to the tube bundle;
- and
- a nozzle position controller configured to control the nozzle holder positioning system to move the nozzles to position outlets of the nozzles into engagement with inlets of the tubes of the tube bundle such that the nozzles are positioned to direct a cleaning fluid comprising a mixture of water vapor and media into the inlets of the tubes of the tube bundle while the inlets of the tubes of the tube bundle are engaged by the outlets of the nozzles to provide a vapor blast cleanse of the tubes of the tube bundle.
A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions stored thereon that are executable by a processor to perform the following operations for vapor blast cleaning tubes of a tube bundle comprising:
- controlling a nozzle holder positioning system to conduct a tube engage operation comprising moving a nozzle holder to advance outlets of nozzles into engagement with inlets of a set of tubes of a tube bundle, the nozzles secured in the nozzle holder in a nozzle arrangement corresponding to an arrangement of the tubes of the tube bundle, the nozzle holder positioning system configured to move the nozzle holder and the nozzles secured therein relative to the tube bundle to position the outlets of the nozzles into engagement with the inlets of the tubes of the tube bundle such that the nozzles are positioned to direct a cleaning fluid comprising a mixture of water vapor and media into the inlets of the tubes of the tube bundle while the inlets of the tubes of the tube bundle are engaged by the outlets of the nozzles to provide a vapor blast cleanse of the tubes of the tube bundle;
- conducting a tube cleaning operation comprising directing cleaning fluid comprising a mixture of water vapor and media into the inlets of the set of tubes by way of the outlets of the nozzles engaged with the inlets of the set of tubes of the tube bundle;
- and
- conducting a tube disengage operation comprising controlling the nozzle holder positioning system to move the nozzle holder to retract the outlets of the nozzles to disengage the outlets of the nozzles from the inlets of the set of tubes of the tube bundle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.