1-on-1 replacement by means of 3D scan
Halfway through last year, Kapp received an order for a 1-on-1 replacement of a 50 years’ old heat exchanger. However, there were a few problems. The first problem was that the original builder was no longer in business. Second, the original construction drawing was incomplete and partly illegible. By means of a 3D scan of the existing heat exchanger, we were able to retrieve the missing details and reconstruct the heat exchanger 1-on-1.
As the business operations of the customer are continuous, we had to find the right time to replace the 50 years’ old heat exchanger with the new heat exchanger produced by HRS Heat Exchangers. The end customer scheduled a production stop in the 2nd quarter of 2020. The heat exchangers have recently been exchanged.
During the installation, it appeared that today’s 3D techniques are of such good quality that the heat exchanger fitted into the existing installation with millimetre precision. The heat exchanger will again be used continuously. This means the heat exchanger does not have to deal with large variations in temperature and pressure. The fact that the new heat exchanger had to be built even heavier, according to the current quality requirements, ensures for the heat exchanger to remain in service for many years to come.