DESC:FIELD
The present disclosure relates to heat tracing and thermal management systems to maintain the temperature of the wall profile of process equipment to make up for heat loss through insulation to atmosphere.
DEFINITIONS
As used in the present disclosure, the following terms are generally intended to have the meaning as set forth below, except to the extent that the context in which they are used indicate otherwise.
Process pipe – A process pipe is any pipe through which fluid is transmitted for carrying out a process
Storage Tank / Vessel – A storage tank / vessel is a system in which raw or processed fluid is beings stored at maintained temperature.
Heat tracing unit – A heat tracing unit is a set of paths carrying a heating fluid lined along pipes or vessels aimed to provide heat to a fluid flowing through the pipes or vessels. A heat tracing unit recuperates loss of heat from the pipes or vessels.
BACKGROUND
The background information herein below relates to the present disclosure but is not necessarily prior art.
Process industries require maintaining fluids being handled within a certain temperature range. Failure to maintain process fluids within the temperature range causes separation of components of the fluids, formation of corrosive substances or condensation, increase in viscosity which reduces the ability of fluid to flow. To eliminate these problems, Heat tracing is employed wherein heat source in the form of tube or optimum shape & size hollow channel are adjoined to the process fluid pipes, with or without Heat compound layer in between, thus maintaining process fluids within required temperature range. Typically, Heat tracing employs steam or hot thermic fluid / oil that is passed through tube, or optimum shape & size hollow channel to provide heat to the process fluids, to maintain the temperature of wall profile in order to make up for heat loss from insulation to atmosphere. In case of steam being an heated source, To ensure only dry steam pass through the tubes for higher heat transfer rates and avoids condensate getting accumulated and drops the heat transfer to process fluid pipe line or equipments, the steam traps are installed. Additionally, other items such as pressure reducing valves, steam supply manifold, condensate manifold with steam traps and pre-insulated tubes are fitted to heat tracings.
Presently, process industries rely on manual means to detect discrepancies or breakdown of components used on heat tracing system. Accurately diagnosing vulnerability of the heat tracing system failure and thus drop in productivity of process or solidification in sulfur pipe lines relies on the capability of the ultrasonic measurement devices and temperature sensors, which may be subjected to errors. Moreover, owing to a large number of process equipment components, manual inspection and identification of root cause of the failure of process equipment components or loss in the effectiveness of the heat tracing system becomes extremely time consuming, thereby increasing the process downtime or failure of process pipeline or equipment, which is not desired. Further, there is no system in place for continuous monitoring of heat tracing equipment that anticipates failures in advance which would enable personnel to remotely monitor and initiate troubleshooting in time to reduce or nearly eliminate system and process downtime caused due to failure.
There is, therefore, felt a need for a system for controlling temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe, to overcome the aforesaid problems.
OBJECTS
Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one embodiment herein satisfies, are as follows:
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessels.
Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessels. that facilitates maintaining of process fluids within a desired temperature range by making up for the heat lost from insulation to surroundings;
Still Another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessels. That facilitates real-time monitoring of the process equipment, storage tank & vessels. Parameters such as skin temperature and heat tracing effectiveness;
Yet another object of the present disclosure is to provide a system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessels. that enables accurate diagnosing of the process equipment malfunction or breakdown and heat tracing equipment thermal parameters; and
Still another object of the present disclosure is to provide a fail-safe system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessels. that predicts thermal performance of the heat tracing equipment based on the data analytics and algorithm.
Other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent from the following description, which is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
SUMMARY
The present disclosure discloses a system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessels. comprises optical fiber based temperature monitoring or wireless temp sensors attached to the skin of process pipe, storage tank & vessels affixed to the process pipe, storage tank & vessels and configured to monitor the skin temperature. The Hollow tube or channel affixed with our without heat transfer compound on process pipe, storage tank & vessel, allow passage of a heat supplying fluid there through for heat transfer to the process fluid. The heat tracing units configured to be controlled by a central processing unit to control the supply of heat via the heat tracing units based on a programmable logic.
The system further includes a multiplexer connected to the optic fiber sensors and configured to receive signals transmitted by the optic fiber sensors connected to the multiplexer and configured to interpret signals obtained from the multiplexer and measure temperature of the process pipe, storage tank & vessel skin at various locations.
In a preferred embodiment, the optical probes consist of optical fibers.
In a preferred embodiment, each of the heat tracing units is configured with at least one channel which is configured to pass the heat supplying fluid.
In a preferred embodiment, each of the heat tracing units is configured to circumscribe the process line either partially or fully along the circumference of the process line is from the group consisting of a rectangle, circle or square.
In a preferred embodiment, the cross section of each of the heat tracing units has an irregular shape.
In a preferred embodiment, each of the heat tracing units is glued to the process line with a compound made of a heat conductive material.
In a preferred embodiment, a display unit is configured to be in communication with the central processing unit are selectively controlled by the central processing unit.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWING
The system for controlling temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe of the present disclosure, will now be described with the help of the accompanying drawing, in which:
Figure 1 illustrates a schematic of sectional view of a Heat tracing unit, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 2 illustrates a schematic of sectional view of a Heat tracing element used in tube type conductive heat tracing of process pipe lines using protective Aluminum rigid channel made from extrusion manufacturing process;
Figure 3a and Figure 3b illustrate a flowchart depicting steps for designing and optimizing a Heat tracing unit of figure 1 and 2;
Figure 4 illustrates an isometric view of a vertical process equipment equipped with Heat tracing elements of Figure 1;
Figure 5 illustrates an isometric view of a horizontal process equipment equipped with Heat tracing elements of Figure 1;
Figure 6 illustrates a schematic view of an optical fiber system for controlling temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe installed on a process line along with heat tracing equipment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 7 illustrates system architecture of the proposed system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe storage tank & vessel of figure 4, 5 & 6;
Figures 8-17 illustrate various profiles of heat tracing elements used;
Figure 18 shows a plot of temperature vs time for various utilities such as steam or hot thermic fluid/oil, process fluid and ambient conditions;
Figure 19 shows a plot of process pipe, storage tank & vessel skin temperature vs length of the process pipe 10 or various zones of storage tank & vessel Figure 20 shows a plot of temperature distribution with respect to the zones of the utilities such as process pipe, storage tank & vessel
Figure 21 shows a typical readout on the display of the system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe for heat tracing uptime monitored;
Figure 22 shows a typical readout on the display of the system for controlling temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe for heat tracing system efficiency/effectiveness monitored;
Figure 23 shows a typical readout on the display of the system for controlling temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe for process pipe heat loss measured in Watt/meter monitored;
Figure 24 shows a typical readout on the display of the system for controlling temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe for heat supplied by the heat tracing in Watt/meter monitored;
Figure 25 shows a steam trap health monitoring and diagnostics displayed on the display of the system for providing a simplified view to user for identifying a failed steam trap to rectify to avoid steam leakage or condensate flooding & hence loss of heat transfer from heat tracing system.
Figure 26 shows a typical a schematic view of a proposed system system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessel installed with heat tracing equipment, in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 27 shows a plot of the observed frequency of the process pipe vs the length of the process pipe.
LIST OF REFERENCE NUMERALS
10,100a,100b – process pipe
12 – process fluid
20 – insulation
30 – heat tracing element
32 – heating fluid
34 – Aluminium rigid channel
40 – compound
50 – heat tracing unit
60 – heat tracing outlet
200 – probes
300 – multiplexer
400 – interrogator
500 – central processing unit and display
1000,2000 – system
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Embodiments, of the present disclosure, will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
Embodiments are provided so as to thoroughly and fully convey the scope of the present disclosure to the person skilled in the art. Numerous details are set forth, relating to specific components, and methods, to provide a complete understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to the person skilled in the art that the details provided in the embodiments should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, well-known processes, well-known apparatus structures, and well-known techniques are not described in detail.
The terminology used, in the present disclosure, is only for the purpose of explaining a particular embodiment and such terminology shall not be considered to limit the scope of the present disclosure. As used in the present disclosure, the forms “a”, “an” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly suggests otherwise. The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “including” and “having” are open-ended transitional phrases and therefore specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, modules, units and/or components, but do not forbid the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. The particular order of steps disclosed in the method and process of the present disclosure is not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance as described or illustrated. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed.
When an element is referred to as being “mounted on”, “engaged to”, “connected to” or “coupled to” another element, it may be directly on, engaged, connected or coupled to the other element. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed elements.
The terms first, second, third, etc., should not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure as the aforementioned terms may be only used to distinguish one element, component, region, layer or section from another component, region, layer or section. Terms such as first, second, third etc., when used herein do not imply a specific sequence or order unless clearly suggested by the present disclosure.
Terms such as “inner”, “outer”, “beneath”, “below”, “lower”, “above”, “upper” and the like, may be used in the present disclosure to describe relationships between different elements as depicted from the figures.
Referring to Figures 1 to 27, a system 1000, 2000 for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process equipment 10,100a,100b is shown. In an embodiment as shown in the figures 1, the process pipe 10 has an insulation layer 20. The process pipe 10 is configured to facilitate passage of heated fluid 12 there within and the insulation layer 20 is configured to circumscribe the process pipe 10 to prevent loss of heat of the heated fluid 12 via the outer surface of pipe 20 due to exposure to ambient conditions. It is essential to maintain the temperature of the process fluid 12 within a desired temperature range. As the ambient temperature varies with different operating locations, the temperature of the process fluid 12 starts deviating from the desired temperature range. Cooling of the process fluid 12 can result in formation of corrosive substances due to condensation of water vapor present in case of a gaseous fluid, drop in viscosity, or solidification of fluid may happen. Thus, the pumping power required to pump the process fluid 12 increases or downtime due to solidification of fluid increases. As shown in the sectional view of the process pipe 10 in the figure 1, a heat tracing unit 50 of the present disclosure is shown, which includes a Heat tracing element 30. The Heat tracing element 30 is deployed between the process pipe 10 and the insulation 20, wherein the Heat tracing element 30 is in contact with the pipe 10. The Heat tracing element 30 is configured to allow passage of a Heat supplying fluid 32. The heat supplying fluid 32 provides necessary heat to the heated fluid 12 present inside the process pipe 10, to make-up for the heat loss and ensure that the heated fluid 12 temperature is maintained within the desired temperature range. In an embodiment, a compound 40 is used between the Heat tracing element 30 and the process pipe 10 to enhance the heat transfer rate between heat tracing element 30 and the process pipe 10. In an embodiment, the temperature of the Heat tracing fluid 32 is maintained so as to compensate the heat loss of the process fluid 12.
In another embodiment, the Heat tracing element 30 and the compound 40 partially adjoin the circumference of the process pipe 10 (not shown in any figure).
In yet another embodiment, the Heat tracing element 30 and the compound 40 completely adjoin the circumference of the process pipe 10 (not shown in any figure).
In still another embodiment, the shape of the cross section of each of the heat tracing units (50,50a) is selected from the group consisting of a rectangle, circle or square.
In yet another embodiment, the shape of the cross section of each of the heat tracing units (50,50a) has an irregular shape.
Figure 3a and Figure 3b illustrate a flowchart depicting steps for designing and optimizing the Heat tracing unit of figures 1 and 26 which begins with gathering the input information of the operating parameters of the process equipment such as process fluid temperature, ambient conditions and pipe sizing. Heat loss rate of the heated fluid 12 to the ambient conditions is then calculated to assess the required heat supply rate from the heat tracing element 30 and the compound 40. Subsequently, the required number of heat tracing elements 30 is calculated. Heat Loss from the process fluid pipe 10 line is fundamentally calculated as below =

Equation 1
Where,
R1 = Inside radius of process pipe (m)
R2 = Outside radius of process pipe (m)
R3 = Outside radius of insulation over process pipe (m)
Ti = Heated Process fluid holding temperature (deg c)
To = Ambient temperature (deg c)
hi = Heat Transfer rate of process fluid (w/m2k)
ho = Heat Transfer rate of ambient air (w/m2k)
K1 = Process pipe thermal conductivity (w/mk)
K2 = Thermal conductivity of insulation (w/mk)
L = Length of process pipe (m)
QL1 = Heat loss from process pipe (w)
In addition to the above design calculations, ASTM C680 Standard Practice for Estimate of the Heat Gain or Loss and the Surface Temperatures of Insulated Flat, Cylindrical, and Spherical Systems are incorporated by use of computer program. Both the design calculation equation & ASTM C680 calculate heat loss via same method and provide same value of heat loss.
With reference to figure 1 and equation 2 below, the makeup heat supply from the heat tracing element is calculated as follows.
Heat Supply from Heat Tracing element = Qs=U ×A × (Ts-Ti)
Qs=U ×d ×l × (Ts-Ti)
Qs/l=U ×d × (Ts-Ti)
Where,
Qs = Heat supplied by Heat Tracer (w)
U = Heat transfer rate of Heat compound (w/m2.k) which is a driving factor depend on ?T between steam / hot oil / thermic fluid & process fluid
d = Contact length of the Heat tracer
Qs/l = Heat Conductance of Heat Tracer (watt/meter)
Ts = Steam / hot oil / thermic fluid temperature (deg c)
Ti = Process holding temperature (deg c)
In an embodiment, various types & sizes of the heat tracing element 30 as shown in fig 8 to 17 and heat transfer compound 40 is used to reduce the numbers of heat tracing elements 30. This reduces the installation as well as the maintenance cost of multiple heat tracers, steam traps & steam & condensate manifolds. These dual heat tracing element 34 tubes are used for process pipes 10 above 8-inch NB. These tubes provide uniform heat along the process pipe 10 skin wall and avoid the thermal shocks or non-uniform temp distribution along the process pipe 10 skin wall to the heated process fluid. For process pipes 10 below 8 inch NB, half section of dual tracing elements 30 are used. The same also can be used for Process pipes 10 above 8” inch NB depending on the Process Hold up temperature requirement and other technical parameters. The dual heat tracing element are manufactured from Alumimium extrusion process. The material of construction is Aluminum 6005 -T6. Heat transfer element 30 for elbow and reducers are made especially for each hardware by molding & fabrication process. Each heat transfer element 30 is then subjected to bending for attaining the required shape.
In an embodiment, the system 1000,2000 (fig 26) for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe 10 of the present disclosure comprises a plurality of Heat tracing units 50 in parallel as shown in figure 6. Each of the Heat tracing units 50 are provided with a plurality of optical probes or wireless temp sensors 200 mounted at desired locations along the process pipes 10 of the Heat tracing units 50. In an embodiment, the optical probe 200 consist of optical fiber elements. In another embodiment, the optical probes or wireless temp sensors 200 are typically in the form of Fiber Bragg Gratings (hereinafter referred as FBG) or wireless temp sensors which are constructed as a short segment of the optical fiber that reflects particular wavelengths of light and transmits all other wavelengths. Each FBG reflects a certain narrow slice of spectrum. In principle, a peak of an FBG shifts to a lower or a higher center wavelength when either the optic fiber experiences strain or temperature differential.
The system 1000,2000 further includes a multiplexer 300 configured to receive analog or digital input signals from the plurality of optical fibers 200 which then forwards it to an interrogator 400. The interrogator 400 is typically a data acquisition unit which interprets the information provided by the plurality of optic fibers 200, thus facilitating static as well as dynamic measurements sensed by the plurality of optical probes or wireless temp sensors 200. A Central Processing Unit 500 (hereinafter referred as CPU 500) is used to process the data read by the interrogator 400 and convert wavelength data into temperature data. In addition to this, the CPU 500 facilitates continuous monitoring of the utility parameters such as steam, process fluid, ambient temperature of the Heat tracing units 50 to assess the performance/effectiveness of the Heat tracing unit 50 in comparison to the designed Heat tracing unit 50, using the design approach. Thus, the performance and data analytics are computed in the CPU 500 or a Steam Tracing system Manager (Fig 26) after processing the signals of each of the optical probes or wireless temp sensors 200 of other utilities such as steam or process fluid, ambient temperature. This facilitates imparting performance prediction based on the designed Heat tracing unit 50 parameters. Information processed by the CPU 500 is then be displayed on a Human Machine Interface (hereafter referred as HMI) in the form of graphs and tables for ease of understanding.
In an embodiment, the analysis performed by the CPU 500 is stored in a remote server. Further, the analysis performed by the CPU 500 is provided to an authorized user associated with a portable electronic communication device.
Figure 7 shows a flowchart of the logic of the system 1000 / 2000 (fig 26) , wherein initially an optimized process design is obtained by following the design approach as shown in the figure 3 for the required process equipment 100a, 100b. Optical probes or wireless temp sensors 200 are configured to obtain signals to continuously monitor critical parameters of the Heat tracing units 50. The CPU 500 then computes the performance and effectiveness of the running process equipment 10, 100a, 100b based on a comparison of the monitored values with the optimized design values. The optimized design values are configured to be set by a user and are embedded in form of a programmable logic. Any deviation from the designed input parameters is then diagnosed via this comparison, and thermal performance of the process equipment 50, 100a, 100b is then predicted. Computing the thermal performance which guides in formulating a corrective action, i.e., selectively initializing supply of the heat supplying fluid 32 from the heat tracing elements 30. Specifically, corrective action includes selective activation of the standby heat tracing elements 30 in an event of partial or complete breakdown of the process equipment 10, 100a, 100b, which implicates undesired cooling of the process fluid 12. As the system 1000/2000 also takes into consideration operating conditions, some of the heat tracing elements 30 are thus switched off to prevent overheating of the process fluid 12. The system 1000 / 2000 thus offers a feedback control of the operating process equipment 10, 100a, 100b enabling a fail-safe operation.
As shown in figures 8-17, optimization of the heat tracing elements 10 of the process equipment (10,100a,100b) is achieved by using heat tracing elements 10 of various shapes, sizes and material of construction. This plays a crucial role in meeting the process design temperature requirement, avoids overheating, enhancing the conductive heat transfer rate along with energy conservation. The various shapes of the heat transfer elements 30 facilitate high surface contact area as well as lower thermal or mechanical stresses. In an embodiment, the heat transfer elements 30 of the heat tracing units 50, 100a, 100b are made of carbon steel – ASTM A-178, Gr A as material of construction. The bottom surface of the heat transfer elements 30 are configured with curvature to comply with the walls of the Process equipment 50, 100a,100b, or process pipe curvature to ensure that the heat transfer elements 30 remains in physical contact with the process equipment affixed with the help of the compound 40. In an embodiment, the curvature is eliminated and profile is made flat for fitting the heat transfer elements 30 on flat surfaces of the process equipment 50, 100a, 100b. The wall thickness of the heat transfer element 30 is designed taking into consideration the internal fluid pressure and temperature. The wall thickness of the heat transfer element 30 is calculated using ASME Section VIII, Division-1, Part 5 or Finite Element analysis (FEA) method. Typically, straight heat transfer elements 30 are manufactured in mass production up from 3 to 12-meter length. The same can be cut to required length for ease of transportation. Heat transfer elements 30 for elbow, reducers are made especially for each hardware. Each heat transfer element 30 is then bent or cast to required shape.
Figure 18 shows a plot of temperature vs time for various utilities such as steam, / hot oil or thermic fluid, process fluid and ambient conditions.
Figure 19 shows a plot of process pipe 10 skin temperature vs length of the process pipe 10.
Figure 20 shows a plot of temperature distribution with respect to the zones of the heat tracing element 30.
Figure 21 shows a typical readout on the display 500 or the Steam tracing system manager (fig 26) of the system for controlling temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe 1000 for: heat tracing uptime monitored.
Figure 22 shows a typical readout on the display 500 or the Steam tracing system manager (fig 26) of the system for controlling temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe 1000 for: heat tracing system efficiency monitored.
Figure 23 shows a typical readout on the display 500 or the Steam tracing system manager (fig 26) of the system for controlling temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe 10 for: process pipe 10 heat loss measured in Watt/meter monitored.
Figure 24 shows a typical readout on the display 500 or the Steam tracing system manager (fig 26) of the system for controlling temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe 10 for: heat supplied by the heat tracing 30
in Watt/meter monitored.
Figure 25 shows a steam trap health monitoring and diagnostics displayed on the display 500 or the Steam tracing system manager (fig 26) for providing a simplified view to user for identifying a failed steam trap to rectify to avoid steam leakage or condensate flooding & hence loss of heat transfer from heat tracing system.
Figure 26 shows a typical a schematic view of a Proposed Steam Tracing system (1000,2000) for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe 10 installed on a process line along with heat tracing equipment 100a, 100b, in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 27 shows a plot of frequency of the process pipe vs the length of the process pipe.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Individual components of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, are interchangeable. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the present disclosure, and all such modifications are considered to be within the scope of the present disclosure.
TECHNICAL ADVANCEMENTS
The present disclosure described herein above has several technical advantages including, but not limited to, the realization of a system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a heated fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessel that:
• facilitates maintaining of process fluids within a desired temperature range;
• facilitates real-time monitoring of the process equipment parameters;
• enables accurate diagnosing of malfunction or breakdown of the heat tracing system to avoid process downtime or shutdown;
• predicts thermal performance of the process equipment & heat tracing system;
• enables activation of a standby heat tracing system to avoid process breakdown or process downtime;
• enables shut down of the additional number of heat tracers as per fluctuating demand, thus enabling energy conservation or overheating of process fluid;
• optimized design of heat tracing using proprietary Steam or thermic fluid/oil Trace call calculator results in providing optimized Heat tracing system for high heat transfer effectiveness, minimum steam & condensate manifolds with steam traps for the simplified system with low hardware requirement with less complexity and hence initial investment & maintenance cost;
• the system loaded with Comprehensive algorithm / logic, offers provisions to a user to maintain the High uptime of the process, productivity & design Heat Transfer effectiveness of the heat tracing system;
• the system helps to accurately monitor the real time process equipment wall temperature profile continuously using fiber optic or wireless temperature monitoring technology at low investment. This enables user to identify the exact location for potential problems such as cold spots, hot spots, solidification etc. in Process pipeline or equipment, which may cause the process down time, accidents. This otherwise may take 3 to 4 hours or more to identify the cold or hot spots in process pipelines using temperature gun which is less accurate conventional solutions;
• the process high uptime can be ensured by Real time steam trap performance monitoring system enable user to identify the steam leaking trap location. User can locate steam leaking trap to repair the same for saving the steam loss as well as steam traps flooded with condensate, which shall drop the net heat supply from steam tracer to process pipeline, thus drop in process holding temperature or solidification of sulfur in sulfur handling equipment or condensation of water vapor in gas as process fluid. The system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessel primarily identifies the leaking or flooded steam trap along with its location & alerts the user. This saves 4 to 5 hours that were used to be required in locating the faulty steam traps & repair the same in absence of standby system. By that time the process will get deteriorate or need to get scrapped;
• the system for controlling & maintaining temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe, storage tank & vessel after raising the alert as mentioned in earlier, immediately activates the standby steam trap installed on condensate manifold to avoid the condensate to get accumulated in heat tracing line & hence the drop in heat supply from heat tracing to process line which may cause the downtime. Also the proposed system shut down the steam supply to faulty steam trap, so that the same can get cool for ease of handling to user for dismantling and repairing. In case, if working & standby steam trap is in failed mode, then the system for controlling temperature of a fluid flowing through a process pipe will bypass both the steam traps & drain the steam & condensate both till one of the steam traps gets repaired;
• the proposed system calculate the real time Heat Transfer effectiveness & uptime of the Heat tracing system & compares the same w.r.to design/desired Heat Transfer effectiveness. The algorithm does the root cause analysis & provide the exact causes of drop in Heat Transfer effectiveness & uptime of Heat tracing system;
• the proposed system algorithm, using data analytics, predicts Heat tracing system effectiveness & Uptime which enable user to plan preventive maintenance to avoid drop in productivity & downtime; and
• the proposed system based on process line, storage tank & vessel wall temperature profile, Process load, Heat Transfer effectiveness & Seasonal ambient temperature variation, automatically shut down multiple Heat Tracers which are not required. This will avoid the overheating of process fluid & loss of steam energy.
The foregoing disclosure has been described with reference to the accompanying embodiments which do not limit the scope and ambit of the disclosure. The description provided is purely by way of example and illustration.
The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained with reference to the non-limiting embodiments in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
The foregoing description of the specific embodiments so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the embodiments as described herein.
The use of the expression “at least” or “at least one” suggests the use of one or more elements or ingredients or quantities, as the use may be in the embodiment of the disclosure to achieve one or more of the desired objects or results.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like that has been included in this specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the disclosure. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form a part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the disclosure as it existed anywhere before the priority date of this application.
While considerable emphasis has been placed herein on the components and component parts of the preferred embodiments, it will be appreciated that many embodiments can be made and that many changes can be made in the preferred embodiments without departing from the principles of the disclosure. These and other changes in the preferred embodiment as well as other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the disclosure herein, whereby it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing descriptive matter is to be interpreted merely as illustrative of the disclosure and not as a limitation.

,CLAIMS:WE CLAIM:
1. A system (1000,2000) for controlling and maintaining temperature of a process fluid (12) flowing through a process equipment (10,100a,100b) said system (1000,2000) comprising:
• a plurality of optical probes (200) attached to said process equipment, and configured to continuously sense temperatures of said process fluid equipment wall at predefined locations along said process equipment and
• heat tracing elements (30) affixed to said process equipment (10,100a,100b), and configured to allow passage of a heat supplying fluid (32) there through for transfer of heat to said process fluid;
said process equipment (10,100a,100b) configured to be controlled by a central processing unit (500) to control the supply of heat via said heat tracing elements (30) based on a programmable logic.
2. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said system (1000,2000) further includes:
• a multiplexer (300) connected to said optic fiber sensors (200) and configured to receive signals transmitted by said optic fiber sensors (200); and
• an interrogator (400) connected to said multiplexer (300) and configured to interpret signals obtained from said multiplexer (300) and measure temperature of said process equipment (10,100a,100b) at various locations.
3. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said process equipment is includes from the group consisting of a pipe (10), a storage tank (100a) or a vessel (100b).
4. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said optical probes (200) includes from the group consisting of optical fiber based sensors or wireless temperature sensors.
5. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said heat tracing units (50) is configured with atleast one channel (34), said channel (34) configured to pass the heat supplying fluid.
6. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said heat tracing units (50) is configured to circumscribe said process line (10) either partially or fully along the circumference of said process line (10).
7. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cross section of each of said heat tracing units (50) is from the group of shapes consisting of a rectangle, circle and square.
8. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cross section of each of said heat tracing units (50) has an irregular shape.
9. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of said heat tracing units (50) is glued to said process line with a compound (40) made of a heat conductive material.
10. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a display unit (not shown in figures) is configured to be in communication with said central processing unit (500) or a steam tracing system manager.
11. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said heat tracing of process equipment (10,100a,100b) are selectively controlled by said central processing unit (500) or said steam tracing system manager.
12. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said central processing unit (500) and said steam tracing system manager includes a program to provide comprehensive diagnostics of said process equipment (10,100a,100b) to a user, said diagnostics includes from the group consisting of wall skin temperature profile, steam trap health monitoring having wireless sensors, activation of standby heat tracing elements (30) in response to factors including environmental conditions, heat load changes, heat loss by process equipment calculation, heat supplied by heat tracing elements (30), heat transfer effectiveness calculation & prediction based on real time data analysis, process uptime calculation using data analytics & mathematical prediction methodology.
13. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein said heat tracing of process equipment (10,100a,100b) are selectively controlled by said central processing unit (500) or said steam tracing system manager includes a program to provide comprehensive diagnostics of said process equipment (10,100a,100b) to a user, said processing unit (500) and steam tracing system manager configured to receive acoustics signals from said a plurality of optical probes (200) installed on selected zones of process equipment (10,100a,100b), said processing unit (500) and steam tracing system manager configured to process the signals, and provid real time indication and prediction of zones where solidification or hammering of process fluid has taken place.
14. The system (1000,2000) as claimed in claim 1, wherein standby heat tracing elements (30) are configured to be activated for supplying auxiliary heating or configured to shutdown to avoid potential damage to said system (1000,2000).