WTP-Pipelines

Besides energy-related benefits, the WTP-system® offers a multitude of design advantages compared with the double-jacket.

These advantages become clear purely on a theoretical consideration of the system’s construction: A pipeline with a rated width of 300 would need a double-jacket for a rated width of 400. By comparison, a WTP-system® with at least the same performance would entail a maximum increase of just 12 mm in pipe cross-section. Accordingly, WTP-pipelines are not nearly as rigid as double-jacket pipes of similar performances, and eliminate the need for several compensators.

In case of double-jacket systems, complex geometries involving, for instance, vessels or pipes with many passages, apertures or flange connections, can only be realized through elaborate and expensive design measures. By contrast, a WTP-system® permits efficient and cost-effective tempering of such components too. A WTP-system is a viable alternative particularly at a high external pressure, this variable not playing any role in calculations of the internal pipe’s thickness, thus resulting in smaller wall thicknesses and more effective heat transfer. The WTP-system® also guarantees uniform flow through cavities forming parts of complex geometries.

The results yielded by our tests can be easily summarized as follows: Higher performance, lower energy consumption. To confirm the findings, we performed additional calculations and analyses of the heating and cooling media’s throughputs and flow rates. The WTP-system’s® heat transfer coefficient turns out to be more than 30% higher at the same flow rate. This lowers the required quantity of heating or cooling medium by 91% given a constant flow rate.

To achieve the same heat transfer coefficient as a double-jacket system, the requirement for heating or cooling medium is reduced by 93.5%, i.e. only about 6.5% of the original quantity is needed. Because the pump power is directly proportional to the delivery rate, the reduction in quantity also saves a notable amount of energy. This is confirmed by numerous tests conducted jointly with the Technical University of Cologne.

Many practical applications of the WTP-system® have raised our long-term level of expertise in optimizing flow channels and minimizing pressure losses. This process has been supported by numerous in-house experiments.

As a consequence, the WTP-system now achieves notably better heat transfer than the classical double-jacket.

Our tests demonstrate this: A conventional, double-jacket design with an internal pipe diameter of 273 mm has a standardized heat transfer coefficient of 2,8246 (at horizontal condensation). A comparable WTP-pipeline has a heat transfer coefficient of 3,3371 – an improvement of 18%. During cooling or heating of equivalent quantities of liquid with a double-jacket and WTP-system®, the heat transfer value improves from 8.600 to 74.700 W/m2 K – implying a theoretical increase of more than 870%.