Universal Service Arm and Rig and Related Tools for Cleaning Inner Surface of Heat Exchanger and other Chemical Reactor Tubes

A transportable, temporary, field-deployable tube cleaning rig for facilitating grit blasting operations for cleaning chemical reactor tubes, the reactor tubes mounted perpendicular to top and bottom tubesheets, the cleaning rig comprising:

• an elongated post or main arm support having a first end and a second end, the post configured to be received via an access within an operational space of a reactor for tube cleaning operation, the post being oriented perpendicular to a tube sheet and generally parallel with a set of reactor tubes being cleaned with the post secured to physical features of the reactor including, at a first end to the tubesheet;
• an articulating service arm adapted to be received into the reactor operational space and to be securely attached to the post at one or more location along the length of the post, whereby with the articulating service arm attached to the post, the post supports the free weight of the articulating service arm, the service arm being freely articulable in a range of motion relative to the post;
• a grit blast nozzle mounted on the articulating service arm, the articulating service arm adapted to be manipulated by an operator for positioning the grit blast nozzle along the surface of the tubesheet at a plurality of tube locations for sequential alignment of the grit blast nozzle with each of the plurality of tubes for sequential cleaning of the tubes.