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Quotes - Engineering - SalesAEU U-Tube Heat Exchangers
Access Without Disassembly
A channel head is a cylindrical section bolted to the shell with a separate flat cover bolted to its face. Remove the cover and the tubesheet face and every tube end are exposed, with the tube-side nozzles still connected to their piping.
What that is worth. On a unit that gets inspected annually, or where the tube side fouls enough to need periodic attention, the labor saving over the life of the exchanger comfortably exceeds the price premium. On a unit that never gets opened, it does not.
Pass partitions. Multi-pass arrangements are built with partition plates inside the channel and a matching rib on the cover gasket. Getting that gasket right at reassembly is important; a partition leak short-circuits flow and quietly destroys performance.
The trade-off. More joints, more gasket surface and a larger flange than a bonnet of the same size. At high pressure that becomes expensive, which is part of why BEU and DEU dominate the upper pressure range.
Typical Construction
- Front head: A - channel with removable cover
- Shell: E - single pass
- Rear head: U - U-tube bundle
- Tube-side access: Cover removal only; piping stays connected
- Pass partitions: Plates in the channel with a ribbed cover gasket
- Tube passes: Two minimum, even numbers only
- Bundle: Removable
- Joints: More gasketed surface than a bonnet head
- Typical duty: Tube side needing periodic inspection or access
- Codes: ASME Section VIII, TEMA R, B or C
AEU U-Tube Heat Exchangers
CONFIGURATION • TEMA
BEU Heat Exchangers
BEU U-tube heat exchangers: bonnet front head, single-pass E shell, U-tube bundle. The least expensive removable-bundle exchanger and the most common
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CONFIGURATION • TEMA
BKU Kettle Reboilers
BKU kettle U-tube heat exchangers for reboiler and vaporizer duty. Enlarged shell for vapor disengagement, weir and liquid level, and why kettles use
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CONFIGURATION • TEMA
DEU High-Pressure
DEU U-tube heat exchangers with a D-type high-pressure front head closure, for tube-side pressures beyond bolted bonnet and channel construction.
+ Learn MoreAEU U-Tube Heat Exchangers
Is the Premium Worth It?
Ask how often someone will need to see the tubesheet face. Annual inspection on a regulated duty, a tube side that scales, or a unit where plugging a failed tube must be possible during a short outage all justify a channel head.
A closed loop of treated water on the tube side of a utility heater does not. Specifying AEU by habit is a common way to add cost that nothing in the duty will ever recover.
