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Temp-Plate Inflated Heat Transfer
Temp-Plate is made by spot or laser welding two sheets together and continuously seam welding the perimeter, creating a pressure-retaining boundary. Hydraulic inflation then expands the unwelded areas into pillows, forming the flow passage. The result is fully welded with no gaskets and no parts to replace, and because it is fabricated rather than assembled it can be formed to fit the equipment you already have.
- Lower media volume. Far less heating or cooling fluid has to be pumped through a Temp-Plate jacket than through traditional dimple jacketing, which shows up directly in pump cost.
- Formed to shape. Panels can be rolled, formed and welded to nearly any geometry, so heat transfer surface goes where a conventional jacket cannot follow.
- Fully welded. No gaskets, no elastomers, nothing to replace on a schedule. In corrosive or high-temperature service that removes the usual failure point.
- Wall-to-wall contact. The inflated pattern gives a continuous surface with no gaps, unlike a coil, which touches the vessel only along its own run.
- Panels to 60 x 240 inches. A single panel can be fabricated up to roughly 60 by 240 inches depending on material and thickness, and assemblies combine panels beyond that.
- Over fifty years of it. Mueller has been designing and building inflated pillow plate since the 1960s, and the assembly types below are the standard ways it gets applied.
Temp-Plate Inflated Heat Transfer
Single Embossed or Double Embossed
Double embossed panels are inflated on both sides and are the usual choice for direct immersion and for clamp-on jackets, where the pillow pattern on the vessel side is filled with heat transfer mastic. They also cost less than single embossed.
Single embossed panels have one flat face, which matters when the panel forms part of the product contact surface. A heated trough or a conveyor bed built from single embossed Temp-Plate presents a smooth face to product while carrying the heating medium behind it.
Where Temp-Plate Beats a Coil or a Jacket
Against a tube coil, Temp-Plate gives continuous surface contact instead of line contact, and it is far easier to clean around. Against traditional dimple jacketing, it needs less media volume and can be applied without cutting into the vessel.
The place a coil still wins is very high pressure on the media side and very small vessels where a formed panel is awkward. We will say so if that is where your duty lands.
Materials and Thickness
Stainless 304 and 316 cover most work, with carbon steel where the environment allows and titanium and higher alloys where the chemistry demands. Material thickness combinations are chosen against design pressure, forming requirements and whether the panel is single or double embossed.
Clamp-on panels are usually supplied in 304 or 316 stainless or carbon steel. If the vessel is an unusual alloy, the tank mounting lugs can be supplied in that alloy while the panels themselves stay in a more economical material.
Related
Immersion Assembly
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Clamp-On Assembly
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Bank Assembly
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Traditional dimple jacketing is welded directly to the vessel wall and uses the vessel as one side of the flow passage. Temp-Plate is a self-contained inflated panel with both walls of its own. That means it can be made off-site, formed to shape, and clamped or immersed rather than welded into the pressure boundary.
Up to roughly 60 by 240 inches depending on material type and thickness. Larger surfaces are built as assemblies of multiple panels, which also makes handling and installation practical.
Yes, and that is exactly what the clamp-on assembly is for. Panels bolt to lugs welded to the outside of the vessel, with heat transfer mastic filling the gap. The pressure boundary of your tank is never cut.
It is a designed pressure boundary and the rating depends on material, thickness and the spot weld pattern. Send us the design pressure and temperature along with the duty and the panel is engineered to it rather than selected from a table.
No. The assembly is fully welded, so there are no gaskets, no elastomers and no wear parts to replace. That is a large part of why it is chosen for high temperature and corrosive service.
