Electric thermal fluid heater

In this heater the thermal oil flows through horizontally arranged tubes at 1.5–2 m/s, in turbulent flow with no dead zones, and picks up heat from electric heating elements. As no fuel is burned, there is no burner, flue or fuel tank, and no COx, NOx or SOx is emitted where the heater runs. TSB builds it for up to 3500 kW (3 000 000 kcal/h), up to 10 bar (145 psig) and oil temperatures of up to 350 °C. Typical uses are jacketed process vessels, autoclaves, the chemical, food, pharmaceutical, rubber, paper and building materials industries, refineries and wood processing.

A thermal oil circuit reaches high temperatures close to atmospheric pressure: the only pressure comes from the circulation pump and does not exceed 10 bar. The oil causes neither corrosion nor scale in tubes and headers, needs no conditioning and does not freeze in normal climates; if required, hot water or steam can be produced from it indirectly. Because natural circulation is difficult with oil, forced circulation is essential, and valves, check valves, safety valves and pump casings must be cast steel rated PN25 or higher.

The heater comes on a single skid, so only the power supply and the thermal oil circuit need to be connected. DIN-compliant flanged heating elements with Incoloy sheaths work at 70–75 W/in²; SSRs set their output proportionally and they withstand overvoltage of up to 10 %. The PLC watches overpressure, staged oil level and flow safeguards, heater surface temperature and emergency shutdown, and shares data via Modbus, Modbus TCP/IP or Profinet. Design follows DIN 4754, EN 13445, PED 2014/68/EU and ASME Section VIII Div. 1.