Easy design of thermal oil pipeline systems with maxxCALC 1.0

 

Planning thermal oil systems requires a lot of information and experiences. Failures can cause high cost during the installation and operation of a plant.

Most engineers and technicians do not deal with the matter very often and if you do have to do it, it is tedious all regardless of whether you are planning, reviewing or currently installing a system, the necessary data and technical background information research is time-consuming.

maxxCALC1.0 has been developed to help you determine the essential information for planning thermal oil piping systems in an easy way.

What features can you expect?

maxxCALC 1.0 calculates volume flows, temperatures, pipe- and flange dimensions, safety valve specifications and more. It offers several types of thermal fluids, and it considers if nitrogen blanketing is used or not.

The program is divided into 4 main sections, which should be self-explaining. After you have calculated the oil flow and the pipe dimensions, they will be visualized in a P&ID. This allows you to see the results in the context of the complete primary cycle.

How to use each individual sheet is described in the following instructions and screenshots. To download our maxxCALC 1.0 program fill in your contact data on the bottom of this article.

Figure 1 – To start program, click on the black buttons

P&I Diagram

This sheet shows a process and instrumentation diagram of a maxxtec thermal oil plant where the calculation results are visualized. (*see Figure 2)

Figure 2 – P&ID without values, without N2 blanketing

The parameters in the P&ID, like pipe dimensions and volume flow will be updated in accordance with the results of the calculation in Oil Flow, Dimensions, and Piping programs.  (*see Figure 3)

Figure 3 – P&ID with complete values, with N2 blanketing

Additionally, on the sheet ‘Dimension’ you can choose, if your system is equipped with N2 blanketing or not. Depending on your selection, the P&ID will be changed.

Oil Flow

Figure 4

Insert the thermal capacity (1), the oil outlet (feed line) temperature (2) and the oil inlet (return line) temperature (3) at the heater. Furthermore, please choose which heat carrier oil (4) you want to use for your calculation. The program will calculate the oil density and the heat capacity at the average temperature as well as the oil volume- and mass flow which are required to transport the thermal energy with the given in-and outlet temperature.

The ‘thermal oil type’ can be chosen by selecting it in the drop-down menu. It consists of a variety of thermal oils covering most applications, including food grade and high temperature application. If more information to these thermal oils is required, click the link under (5).  (*See Figure 4)

Figure 5

If your oil is not mentioned (*in Figure 5), you can insert the density and heat capacity manually in the right column (*See Figure 4).

Dimension

Selects the dimension of the thermal oil auxiliary, like expansion-, venting- and overflow pipes. The basis is the DIN 4754, the German standard for heat transfer plants with organic heat transfer fluids which is common in most countries.

Figure 6

Input the thermal capacity of the heater (1) or click the button ‘Repeat Input’ (2). It will take the thermal capacity from the ‘Oil Flow’ sheet. The option for N2 blanketing system is also provided to select by checking “Yes” or “No” button.

The calculated values and changes of N2 blanketing will be shown in the P&I Diagram.

Piping

Determines the technical specification for piping and flange connections in your system according to EN 10216 / DIN 2448. It gives you the main information of pipe and elbow, valve length, maximum width within supports and information about flanges and bolts.

Figure 7

Figure 8

Insert pipe size OR volume flow.

Choose the selected pipe size if it is already known, to calculate the economic volume flow. You can change the unit from ‘mm (DN)’ to ‘inch’ in the drop-down menu. (*See Figure 9)

Alternatively, type in your required volume flow to calculate the suitable pipe size.

The economic volume flow refers to the most cost-efficient volume flow considering capital cost and operating cost.

Figure 9

Based on your input, the pipe dimensions will show up in the middle section. Dimensions are given for EN pipes as per EN 10216 / 10217 and ASME B36.10M Schedule 40. The EN column specifies minimum- and maximum values based on the smallest and biggest wall thickness available.

In the right section you will find the related flange specifications and dimensions. Find also other information for your piping, such as installation length of valve, span width between supports, insulation thickness, and velocity.

Notes

In this program, you will find cells that are marked with a red triangle shape on the top right. These cells contain information notes, which are helpful when using the program.

Figure 10

Hover your cursor over the cell and the note will appear.

Figure 11

Explanations of the index numbers can be found in the bottom of each sheet.

Figure 12

We created this program to help you making the technical design of your thermal oil system easier. The download is free.

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MaxxCALC will be continuously updated and further developed in the future and we are keen to share them with you. Therefore, please do subscribe to our newsletter in the side bar or on the bottom of the page.