Heat Exchanger
A heat exchanger is a pressure vessel that transfers heat between two fluid streams, with the shell-and-tube configuration the most common in refineries, chemical plants, and power generation, inspected primarily by tube ET/IRIS and shell-side UT.
Definition
Tube inspection methods include bobbin coil ET (general screening), rotating probe ET (axial cracks), IRIS UT (wall thickness), and remote-field ET (ferromagnetic tubes). Tube-to-tubesheet welds are inspected by visual, PT, MT, or PAUT.
Related terms
- Bobbin Coil — A bobbin coil is a differential or absolute eddy current probe that travels axially inside a tube, inspecting the entire tube circumference simultaneously for wall loss, pitting, and through-wall defects.
- Rotating Probe — A rotating probe (also called RPC or motorized rotating pancake coil) is an eddy current probe with one or more pancake coils mounted on a rotating head, used inside tubes to detect circumferentially-localized defects that bobbin probes cannot characterize.
- Internal Rotary Inspection System (IRIS) — IRIS is an ultrasonic tube-inspection technique in which a water-driven rotating mirror inside the tube directs an ultrasonic beam radially outward, producing a high-resolution image of wall thickness and ID/OD pitting.
- Pressure Vessel — A pressure vessel is a closed container designed to hold gases or liquids at a pressure substantially different from ambient, typically constructed per ASME Section VIII and inspected in service per API 510.
Further reading
heat exchanger tube inspection methods procedures · boiler tube and heat exchanger inspection methods
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Where this comes up in practice
Terms like this one appear in three places that matter commercially: the written practice that governs how your personnel are qualified, the procedures and technique sheets that define how an examination is actually performed, and the evidence an auditor or client asks for when they want to know why an inspection was accepted. Getting the terminology right is the easy part; being able to produce the qualification record, the calibration traceability and the procedure revision that applied on the day of the inspection is the part that decides audits.
Atlantis NDT provides NDT training and certification against ASNT SNT-TC-1A and ISO 9712, ASNT Level III consulting for written practices and procedure approval, inspection management software that holds qualification, calibration and procedure-revision evidence in recoverable form, and an asset integrity platform that binds inspection results to the asset they describe. Browse the full NDT glossary or ask a Level III directly.