METHOD FOR DETECTING LEAKAGE IN A COUPLING TUBE HEAT EXCHANGER Russian patent published in 2018 - IPC G01M3/22 G01N29/14 

FIELD: defectoscopy.

SUBSTANCE: method refers to the field of nondestructive testing and technical diagnostics of shell-and-tube heat exchangers using acoustic emission, operated in contact with chemically hazardous or combustible substances, and can be used to detect leaks in the heat exchanger during the diagnosis process, as well as to optimize the process of locating leaks in the tube bundle. Essence of the method consists in removing the contents of the channels for the working fluid and the channels for the heat exchange product, introducing a detection product – a gas (for example, an inert gas or nitrogen) into the working fluid passages, introducing a neutralizing liquid, for example 1–2 % acetic acid solution, into the shell space, to control the height of its ascent by means of a calibration table until the entire intertube space is filled, maintenance of pressure in one of the channels is higher than in the other, the identification of leakage of the product of detection from one channel to another, if any, in the process of constant monitoring from the beginning of introduction of the neutralizing liquid by the detection means, for example, an acoustic emission system, by changing the acoustic emission signals accompanying the cavitation leakage of the detection product from the defective tube of the corresponding series, determined from the calibration table, into the neutralizing fluid of the annular space.

EFFECT: creating a method that reduces the time of diagnosis, including detection of leakage, and optimizes the search for a series containing at least one defective tube of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger made with a plurality of tubes, without disassembling it, and at the same time ensure the safety of monitoring the technical condition of heat exchangers in working conditions in contact with chemically hazardous substances.

3 cl, 4 dwg