Since 1958, the original plastocor® systems have repaired and prophylactically protected thousands of heat exchangers and condensers, thus preventing their owners from spending huge sums of money on their replacement. plastocor-international SA specializes in protective coatings for complete cooling water cycles, especially tubes and tube sheets in heat exchangers and turbine condensers, including tube linings and tube inlet coatings.
All materials used in plastocor-international's application systems are 100% solids non-VOC materials.
Tube sheet cladding
When tubes are rolled into a tube sheet of dissimilar metal, a galvanic element is formed resulting in severe pit corrosion around the tubes. This leads to weakened tube sheet joints with the risk of leakage and costly shutdown times.
The Epoxy Cladding System 2000 for tube sheets provides long-term protection for new and already-corroded tube sheets against galvanic corrosion and erosion. It has a proven track record of continued service in thousands of old and new installations worldwide.
Thin film tube sheet coatings (less than 1mm) are subject to mechanical and substrate deterioration because of long-term permeation. The Epoxy Cladding System 2000 was developed to completely cover the tube sheet and encapsulate the tube ends into an epoxy layer of 3mm to 5mm thickness. In severe cases, it can be applied at a thickness of 10mm or more.
Condenser and heat exchanger tube-end inlet coating
Tube inlet erosion shortens the lifetime of condenser tubes, often leading to the necessity of retubing, involving high costs and long shutdowns. The tube-end inlet coating creates a feathered termination, eliminating the chance of step-erosion, a common problem with the use of plastic or metal inserts. This method can bridge small perforations of the tube wall, thereby repairing the tube and returning it to service. The need to retube is therefore postponed or eliminated.
The time and cost involved in tube-end inlet coating is a fraction of that of new tubes, e.g. lining the 45,600 tube inlets of the NWK-NPP Unterweser (GER) in the 1970s, using the plastocor® inlet system, required only 20 workdays. Since then more than two million tube inlet and outlet ends have been coated.
EDF reported in their internal magazine that within one year of operating with the plastocor® inlet system in one unit at least 39 shutdowns were avoided, thus creating an additional €1.18m in operational profit for an expenditure of only €120,000 (CNPE Cruas No. 5, 2004).
Combing tube end inlet/outlet coating and tube sheet cladding
The joining of the tube sheet cladding with the inlet coating creates a uniform and smooth transition from water box to tube interior. This reduces fouling and turbulence, which raises flow efficiencies. The tube ID is not significantly reduced which permits the unrestricted use of eddy current testing and most tube cleaning methods. The tube-end inlet coating system can indefinitely protect condenser tubes against tube inlet/outlet end erosion.
Condenser and heat exchanger epoxy tube lining system
The heat transfer rate as well as the integrity of condenser and heat exchanger tubes will deteriorate with time because of fouling, corrosion and/or erosion considerably reducing the efficiency of the condenser or unit, making retubing necessary. Retubing is highly time consuming and costly.
The internal coating of tubes is an attractive alternative to prolong the life of condensers and heat exchangers. It also creates a higher efficiency of condensers and coolers by reducing fouling.
plastocor® tube lining systems allow a layer of protective coating to be applied down the entire length of the inner tube surfaces on site within a short period of time. Tubes with a total length of up to 50ft (16m) and an inside diameter starting from ¾in (16mm) can be coated on-site.
Protective coatings for on- and offshore wind towers
plastocor® protective coatings can be applied to all parts of the wind turbine, i.e. foundation, splash water zone, tower, nacelles and blades including the leading edge. Our systems maintain an extensive history of seawater immersion (>25 years), are engineered to provide the ultimate abrasion and corrosion resistance and combine the longevity of an epoxy and UV-stability of a polyurethane. plastocor® coatings can be applied in OEM facilities or onsite during regular downtime periods or prior to the initial build-up of a wind park thus saving high maintenance costs. We provide a long-term, maintenance free 'green' coating solution for wind towers.
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