In some cities when you look along the skyline, you see flue stacks bellowing out plumes of white smoke. I never paid much attention to the structure except that they were tall and in some cases very wide. A power company contacted EXAIR about their flue stacks. They did a temperature reading, and they found a hotspot within the wall of the stack. To cool the hotspot, they contacted EXAIR for a solution.
Smokestacks are large chimneys that can be from 825 feet (250m) to 1,188 feet (360m) tall and are designed to release the smoke high in the air. As a tall structure, it is important to keep the walls stable and sound. For this customer, they were getting a hotspot reaching a temperature of 750oF (400oC). This was too hot, and it could cause premature issues to the construction of the stack. They wanted to reduce the temperature to 400oF (204oC) to keep the stack from warping and degrading. We were able to find a solution using our stainless steel Adjustable Air Amplifiers.
The area of the hotspot in their smokestack was a section around 2 feet (0.6m). The customer fabricated a stainless-steel manifold to mount three pieces of model 6033 3” 303SS Adjustable Air Amplifiers. The model 6033 will only use 35.2 SCFM (997 SLPM) of compressed air at 80 PSIG (5.5 bar). With the high amplification ratio, the model 6033 can move 2,323 SCFM (65,780 SLPM) of air along the surface. The large volume of air created good cooling capacities to reduce the hotspot temperature. In keeping the temperature of the stack under control, they could continue operations and lessen the concern for untimely shut-downs and costly maintenance.
By using air to cool, you can do it safely and cleanly. Unlike fans which create turbulent flows, voids, and high noise levels, the EXAIR Air Amplifiers generates a large volume of laminar air to cool and clean. If you would like to speak about any cooling application, you can contact an Application Engineer; even something as large as a smokestack.
John Ball
Application Engineer
Email: johnball@exair.com
Twitter: @EXAIR_jb
Photo: Smokestack by cwizner. Pixabay Licence