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To design a circulation heater that can heat up a varying mixtures of nitrogen and hydrogen gas at varying temperatures. With the varying mixture of gases the ability to transfer heat effectively changes.
While Nitrogen is a very stable gas, hydrogen is a highly combustible gas with an auto ignition point of 997°F and must be treated carefully.Hydrogen is a concern in metallurgy as it can embrittle many metals, complicating the design of pipelines and storage tanks.
The Solution Certain design features were key in making this heater safe. Technobel designed for a low watt density to keep the element’s sheath temperature below the auto ignition point of the gases. The heater was also constructed with an extra high limit thermocouple (mounted on the heaters flange) in addition to the standard high limit thermocouple (mounted on the element’s sheath). Indeeco also built in an additional safety to the system by recommending a terminal box standoff, creating an air gap between the heaters flange and the terminal box with the customer’s line wires.
