Lube oil coolers to remove the excess heat
Lubricating oil coolers take hot oil from an engine or a machine, remove excess heat and return the cooled oil to the equipment. They ensure that lubricating oil doesn’t exceed the permitted temperature. The lube oil cooler can be either air or water cooled. Either way, it’s a highly effective oil-cooling heat exchanger.
For shell and tube configurations, the coolant is water coming from various sources depending on the environment in which the equipment is installed. Environments range from small industrial processes to highly corrosive contexts, including offshore. Sterling TT works with you to provide the lube oil cooler solution perfect for your application.
Key benefits of lube oil coolers from SterlingTT
- Bespoke – Sterling Thermal Technology designs lube oil coolers to match your detailed specification requirements. We ensure any third-party regulations are fully integrated into the design solution to provide a cooler that meets all your specifications.
- Optimised design – We configure lube oil coolers for one-off application to meet the needs of continuous or batch cooling. Alternatively, we use fin tube technology to improve heat transfer rates from oil to tube where high oil viscosity leads to low Reynolds numbers. Our lube oil coolers function effectively in a variety of applications thanks to optimised designs.
- Fit for purpose solutions – Where coolants may vary from water glycol mixes to raw seawater, we have a full range of material combinations. These ensure the process and environmental conditions don’t affect the cooler’s lifespan.
Sterling Thermal Technology has supplied Komatsu Mining Corp. Group for more than 35 years. We value its team’s flexibility and professionalism. They manufacture heat exchangers to our rigorous specifications allowing us to use them in demanding environments. They always respond proactively to our business needs. So, Sterling Thermal Technology is a valued partner.
Peter Flannery, Buyer, Komatsu Mining Corp. Group
What is the function of lube oil coolers?
Lubricating oil is essential in many machines and processes. It helps to maximise productivity and ensures a long lifespan of the equipment. Lube oil must stay clean and at a stable temperature to function effectively within a machine.
Lube oil coolers function to remove excess heat from the oil, and therefore from engines or machines. Where oil becomes hot during a process, this heat exchanger cools the hot oil and returns it to the machine. It helps to ensure equipment and processes can continue safely without excess heat generation.
How lube oil coolers work
Typically, the hot oil is fed to the shell side of the equipment, passing over the tube bank in a series of counter-flow passes. As the oil is clean and recirculated, the potential for shell side fouling is limited. Unless specifically requested, the tube bundle is not removable.
Coolant is fed on the tube side. Most lube oil coolers use a single pass arrangement. However, we can also configure return bend arrangements and we offer connection heads of various types. The coolant quality determines the best construction and materials for these heads.
Where fouling is anticipated, the ability to remove cover plates without disconnecting the flow or return connections to rod out the tubes may be advantageous. Our customers should advise whether water quality warrants such considerations in the design.
Throughout the design process, we always work with our customers to manufacture lube oil coolers that meet every requirement. In conversation with you, we can then recommend the most efficient solutions to match your application and budget.
As a recognised manufacturer of lube oil coolers, and a leading UK heat exchanger manufacturer, we can help you to get the best equipment for your application.
If you feel you need:
- another machine oil cooler, visit our generic machine oil cooler page
- another type of heat exchanger, visit our products and services page
- more information, contact us.
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We customise our heat exchange solution to meet your requirements, so contact us today to discover the right equipment for you.
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