TRANTER Inc and Westinghouse Electric Company LLC have entered into a teaming agreement to develop a new modular Shell and Plate Feedwater Heater (SPFWH) for use in the power industry. There has been virtually no change in traditional shell and tube feedwater heater designs over decades. Welded shell and plate heat exchangers are a recent technology based on gasket plate heat exchanger designs used in power as well as other industries. The welded shell and plate designs are currently in use in several industries and, compared to traditional shell and tube designs, are relatively compact, have higher heat transfer coefficients, and are easily serviceable.
The new SPFWH design features the heat transfer surface comprised of modular welded heat transfer plates that are easily replaceable as needed, providing sustainable long-term thermal performance and mechanical reliability. Bolted removable heads and removable plate cores provide easy access to 100 per cent of the heat transfer surface and other critical internals.
“Plate heat transfer is the fastest growing heat transfer technology and it continues to take market share from shell tube technology, especially with welded configurations like the Shell & Plate concept,” said Pete Mickus, director of Global Product Platform at Tranter.
Tranter is a global engineering and manufacturing group specialising in thermal management in the process industries, district heating and within the building envelope. Tranter is strongly committed to expansion and leadership in all aspects of the plate heat exchanger business. Tranter strives to attain market leadership by applying a three-part philosophy: investing in R&D to maintain a competitive edge, providing customized products with a solution-driven approach and supporting its customers’ life-cycle investments through quality parts and service. Backed by more than 80 years of exclusive focus on heat transfer, Tranter has earned its reputation as “The Heat Transfer People.”
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, a group company of Toshiba Corporation, is the world’s pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world’s first pressurised water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa, US. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world’s operating nuclear plants, including more than 50 per cent of those in Europe.
