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Digitalization caused elevated turbine backpressure during warmer periods. Optimized cleaning of the affected bundles restored condenser performance and reduced summer production losses by up to 50 % compared with the traditional cleaning schedule. A similar approach can be applied to refinery overhead condensers. Continuous performance tracking allows operators to analyze long-term fouling trends and quantify the impact of fouling on condenser duty. Maintenance activities can then be prioritized based on their expected impact on plant performance while providing immediate feedback on the effectiveness of cleaning interventions.
Typical Organic Rankine Cycle configuration using air-cooled condensers. Image courtesy of Hexwise. bundles arranged in large arrays with dozens or even hundreds of fans. Fouling rarely develops uniformly across the entire exchanger. Instead, certain bundles may experience substantial performance degradation while others continue to operate normally. Without detailed monitoring, these localized losses often remain invisible when planning maintenance activities. Maintenance teams may therefore clean bundles that are still performing well while heavily fouled bundles remain untreated. Digital performance monitoring helps reveal these differences. By analysing the thermal performance of individual exchanger sections, operators can identify which bundles contribute most strongly to the overall loss in cooling capacity. In one example involving an air-cooled A-frame condenser at a power plant, monitoring revealed significant fouling-related degradation in several bundles. While the condenser continued to operate within acceptable limits during moderate weather conditions, the reduced heat transfer capacity
Use case 2: Detecting heated air sources Air-cooled heat exchangers rely on a continuous supply of relatively cool ambient air to maintain an effective temperature driving force for heat transfer. When intake air is already heated by surrounding equipment or plant structures, cooling performance can deteriorate significantly. Heated air sources can originate from hot process vents, steam releases, nearby cooling equipment, heated structures, or recirculation of warm air from adjacent heat exchangers. In densely packed industrial environments, these factors can create localized regions where intake air temperatures are several degrees higher than the surrounding ambient conditions. Even relatively small temperature increases can have a measurable impact on cooling capacity. Digital monitoring techniques can help identify such conditions by analyzing spatial performance patterns within large exchanger installations. By comparing the thermal performance of bundles operating under similar process conditions, operators can detect persistent deviations that indicate localized airflow disturbances or heated intake air. In one case, monitoring data showed that several bundles repeatedly exhibited higher outlet temperatures than neighbouring sections. Further investigation revealed that warm air from nearby process equipment was being entrained into the condenser airflow.
EFRO Oost
Distribution of condenser underperformance due to hotair-recirculation. Image courtesy of Hexwise.
This project is co-funded by the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund( ERDF) 2021 – 2027 in support of the European Regional Development Fund( EFRO) accelerating the transition toward a cleaner, smarter, and more resilient industrial ecosystem across the Netherlands and Europe.
50 Heat Exchanger World May 2026 www. heat-exchanger-world. com