Fields of application
ERK Tube-technology can basically be used in any thermotechnical field, in which smooth-bore tubes have been used to date.
Your advantages take effect mostly in convective heat transfer, eg. with one- or two-phase heat exchangers utilizing media pairs like gas-gas, liquid-liquid and liquid-gas. This results in a versatility of application fields.
Fields of application
Gas-gas heat exchanger
ERK Tube-technology is suited especially for the manufacturing of gas-gas heat exchangers like air preheaters, since these do not call for cross flow as opposed to conventional smooth-bore tube apparatuses. They can thus be manufactured in a pure counter flow design. In the LUVO example the medium flows against the heating surfaces of the ERK Tube-recuperators longitudinally. Thus, on one hand, the contact surface for abrasive particles can be reduced, on the other hand new possibilities for design arise.
Picture examples for an air preheater behind flue gases containing dust particles (eg. biomass): on the left an air preheater with smooth-bore tubes, on the right an air preheater with ERK Tubes.
Thermal post-combustion
Thermal post-combustion of contaminated air is a very promising method, to comply with the ever higher limits for noxious emissions. Thermal post-combustion on the one hand destroys the contaminants in the flue gas, on the other hand the heat generated by the combustion can be utilized. Thermal post-combustion is used in automitive engineering for example.
Heat recovery
Heat recovery plays an ever more important role in the reduction of carbondioxide and with increasing fuel costs for industry and systems engineering. Applications for heat recovery can be found for example in refuse incineration plants, steel works, marine boilers and cogeneration units.
Automotive engineering
ERK Tube-technology is suited for exhaust systems for motor vehicles, PTWs, aeronautical engineering etc to swirl the exhausts and reflect sound.
The creation of swirls results in a homogenous temperature and particle distribution, making the exhausts flow against catalysers optimally, the catalysers thus working more efficiently, resulting in smaller dimensioning. Additionally interesting to the automotive industry is the reduction of sound emmision. By fitting the structure the sound design can be aided specifically.
Naval engineering
The most interesting thing next to marine boiler systems are propulsion and cooling systems, because need for space and overall weight play a crucial role. ERK Tube-technology is currently used in submarines to cool the engines with sea water.
