Flanged electric heaters - wine industry

For the alcohol and beer distillation plants, electric flanged heaters are used within the process to heat the water containing the product in a water bath.

The flanged electric heaters are sized according to the size of the tank, the volume of water to be heated, the type of connection on the tank (Alambic) and the maximum operating temperatures.

The flange heaters are studied and designed to fix the electric heater to the process to be heated, through a special connection flange that is defined according to the UNI or ANSI 16.5 standards. Unlike the process connection flanges, they can be designed and built according to customer specifications or drawings.

This type of heater is used for heating fluids in:

  • Storage tanks under pressure, in direct contact with the fluid to be heated
  • Tubes in line with the process fluid to increase its operating temperatures.

The electric flange immersion heaters are suitable for heating all non-corrosive process fluids. They consist of one or more “U” bent heating elements or eyelets welded to the main connection flange by TIG welding or brazing, complete with electrical connections, safety devices and relative protective case of the same electrical connections.

All the heating elements welded to the main flange of the heater are tested through hydraulic tests at well-defined pressures according to the design conditions indicated by the customer.

Thanks to the hydraulic test performed by Reart on the welded heater, it is possible to guarantee the tightness of the welds of the heating elements to the flange, declaring this test in the final test certificate issued together with the product issued by Reart.

Technical features

The flange Electric heating elements are essentially composed of:

  • Process heater connection flange
  • Electric heating beam with dimensions and materials according to the process fluid
  • splitters for cooling and heat exchange between the electric bundle and the fluid
  • Electric protection group and head
  • Thermal sensors for regulation and safety of the system and heater.

The connection flange of the electric heater is defined according to the customer already in the offer phase, so that the heater can be dimensioned on the process data.

The design for this type of heater is carried out according to the functional data requested by the customer, and also considering and evaluating dimensional, physical, chemical and thermodynamic characteristics of the fluid to be heated, so as to guarantee a very precise and accurate choice of the sizing of the heater and building materials.

The electrical power installed on the Flanged electric heaters can vary up to thousands of kW according to specific customer requests.

Usually, we can have the following reference design parameters for the sizing of the flange electric heaters:

  • Flanges up to 48” in accordance with UNI and ANSI B 16.5 specifications in carbon steels, stainless steels and nickel alloys.
  • Diameter of the heating elements forming in the tube bundle 8.5, 10 and 15 mm;
  • Material of the heating elements in carbon steel, stainless steel 304-321 316 (L), or much more noble alloys such as Incoloy 800 or 825.
  • Protection rating of the electrical enclosures of the heaters IP40, IP55, IP65, IP66;
  • Installed electrical power up to 2MW per single heater depending on the size of the flange.
  • Maximum immersion length of the electric beam about 3 meters.

All electric heaters running on flange can be equipped with thermal sensors such as thermostats and/or thermocouples or temperature probes (PT100) to protect the system and the heater itself in case of anomalous or unexpected situations on the system.

Flanged heaters can be equipped with the following accessories:

  1. 4-20mA temperature transmitters
  2. Process control and safety sensors and heater (thermostats, PT100 temperature probes, thermocouples).
  3. Power and safety cable glands
  4. Electric control panel and heater control
  5. Anti-condensation heater (prevention against humidity)
  6. Any eyebolts for lifting the electric beam.

The electric flange heaters are also customized on request and customer specification.