Method and apparatus for differential pressure testing of catalytic reactor tubes

A method for conducting blow-down and differential pressure testing of the catalyst tubes of a tube and shell type catalytic reactor having an upper tube sheet and a multiplicity of reactor tubes each having the upper ends thereof extending downwardly from the upper tube sheet, comprising:

• establishing a reactor tube identification system by which each of the multiplicity of reactor tube positions of the catalytic reactor is individually identified;
• locating by tube identification sequence specific reactor tubes in a row of reactor tubes within the catalytic reactor;
• selectively positioning a mobile test unit moveably on the upper tube sheet of the catalytic reactor, the mobile test unit having a test probe array including a plurality of linearly arranged test probes each having an air injection passage having a restricted orifice therein and each having a deformable resilient sealing member, said test probe array being moveable in unison relative to said mobile test unit between retracted positions with the sealing members located above the reactor tubes and testing positions with the deformable resilient sealing members located within respective reactor tube openings;
• selectively expanding the deformable resilient sealing members and establishing sealing thereof within selected reactor tube openings;
• establishing a blow-down flow path at least partially within at least one test probe bypassing the restricted orifice and communicating compressed air of said blow-down flow path with at least one reactor tube at a predetermined pressure and volume for reactor tube blow-down;
• establishing a testing path within at least one test probe and through said restricted orifice and controllably injecting pressurized gas from said restricted orifice into reactor tubes at a predetermined test pressure and volume determined by air supply pressure and by orifice dimension for differential pressure testing of catalyst filled reactor tubes;
• measuring the back-pressure existing at each of said test probes and developing an electronic signal representing the measured back-pressure;
• and
• electronically recording each of the back-pressure measurements in association with the reactor tube identification sequence thereof and providing a back-pressure measurement display.

A multi-tube differential pressure testing system for testing the differential pressure of catalyst filled tubes of tube and shell type catalytic reactors having an upper tube sheet defining a multiplicity of reactor tube openings and a multiplicity of catalyst filled reactor tubes having upper ends thereof fixed to the upper tube sheet at the reactor tube openings, comprising:

• at least one mobile test unit adapted to be selectively positioned on the upper tube sheet of a catalytic reactor in pressure testing relation with a row of catalyst filled reactor tubes;
• a test manifold being moveably mounted to said mobile test unit and having a plurality of test probes defining a test probe array, said test manifold being moveable to a test/blow-down position with said plurality of test probes engaging a selected plurality of reactor tubes and a non-test/blow-down position with said plurality of test probes retracted from the reactor tubes, said mobile test unit defining a test flow path for each test probe having a restricted orifice and defining a blow-down flow path for each test probe by-passing said restricted orifice, each of said blow-down flow paths having a blow-down valve selectively controlling the flow of compressed air through said blow-down flow path, said at least one mobile test unit measuring the pneumatic back-pressure of each test flow path and generating electronic signals being representative of the measured back-pressure of each test flow path;
• a control unit being positionable in spaced relation with said at least one mobile test unit and having an on-board computer, computer monitor and computer driven printer for recording and displaying the electronic back-pressure measurements of individual test probes in correlation with the identification sequence of each reactor tube and printing the results of differential pressure testing of each reactor tube;
• and
• at least one umbilical interconnecting said at least one mobile test unit and said control unit and establishing an electrical power supply, pneumatic supply and computer network connection between said at least one mobile test unit and said control unit.

A multi-tube differential pressure testing system for differential pressure testing catalyst filled tubes of tube and shell type catalytic reactors having an upper tube sheet and multiple catalyst tubes arranged in multiple rows and having upper ends thereof fixed to the upper tube sheet and defining reactor tube openings, comprising:

• at least one mobile test unit being selectively positioned in moveable relation on the upper tube sheet of a catalytic reactor in pressure testing relation with a plurality of reactor tube openings;
• a plurality of test probes being moveably mounted to said mobile test unit and being simultaneously moveable relative to said at least one mobile test unit to a blow-down/test position in sealed gas pressure communicating engagement with a plurality of reactor tube openings and a non-test position with said plurality of test probes retracted from said reactor tube openings;
• a blow-down and pressure testing gas delivery system being interconnected with said plurality of test probes and communicating pressurized gas to said plurality of test probes;
• a differential pressure monitoring system measuring the back-pressure resulting from application of gas pressure at a selected test pressure into each of a plurality of reactor tube openings and having a differential pressure indicator system providing indication of the resulting differential pressure of each reactor tube being tested and providing electronic signals representative of the detected back-pressure of each reactor tube;
• and
• a computer system receiving the electronic signals representing the measured back-pressure of each of said plurality of reactor tubes and providing a computer generated record thereof.