Heat Exchanger Refurbishment
National Engineering Group in Australia refurbish heat exchangers used in Alumina production.
The process involves cleaning, machining and preparing tube sheets, and internal baffle plates, each with 1,000s of holes.
The process is highly time and labour-intensive and NEG wished to find a way to reduce the time and cost spent per unit.
Approaching HMT distributor Sheffield Group for a more efficient solution, NEG were advised to use a VersaDrive® Impact Reamer driven by Impact Wrenches.
Tube Sheets – 1,000 holes per sheet
Original method:
VersaDrive® Impact Reamer method:
Results
The VersaDrive method saved 42hrs per job!
Plus with the original reamers costing $1,000 per reamer,
Up to $5,000 could be saved in tooling cost for each job
Baffle Plates – 3,000 - 4,000 holes
Original method:
VersaDrive® Impact Reamer method:
Results
The VersaDrive method therefore saved 168 man hours,
$880 in tooling, plus PPE costs for PPE that was no longer required
