Steam Air Heaters

Key benefits of our steam air heaters

• Flexible
  Modular design and custom-built units to match the steam pressures and arrangement of your process. Customisation includes everything from the layout of the air heater to the materials used in construction. The simplicity of the design allows modules to be easily removed, inspected, maintained and replaced. They can be designed and built to a range of international standards and codes.
  
  
• Robust
  Ideal for extreme environments. Highly efficient, Elfin plate fin technology can be used in temperatures up to 400^oC and in highly corrosive environments. The Elfin fin design helps to manage the thermal stresses experienced in steam air heaters.
  
  
• Improve your productivity and efficiency
  Huge savings on steam consumption; reduced warm-up times bring processes online more quickly and help to reduce downtime.
  
  
• Long-lasting and reliable
  Stainless steel Elfin tubes and headers for long life, able to cope with shock loading and thermal expansion due to a ‘U’ bend construction complemented by fin design.

How steam air heaters work

Steam is used as a fast and efficient way to heat media, especially air and liquids. The temperatures and stresses involved in industrial processes can be extreme, but at the same time need to be managed carefully. Reliability and durability are essential, especially where foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals or expensive industrial products and processes are involved.

Steam heaters typically consist of a row of tubes in a casing or duct. Steam is passed through the tubes. Any air or gas moved over the tubes is heated. The condensing steam transfers heat more effectively than gases, so fins are fitted to the tubes to correct the imbalance and improve the heat transfer to the air or gas.

Large steam air heaters are usually made of two or more sections. These may include ‘steam’, ‘condensate’ and the optional ‘flash’ sections. As the steam heats the air, it cools down, condenses and turns to water. The heater configuration is in counterflow so that cold air entering is warmed by the condensate section, then brought up to temperature in the steam section.

Sterling Thermal Technology designs, manufactures and installs a wide range of steam air heaters.

Configurations, duct sizes and even the materials used in our manufacture are customised to align process, plant layout and steam pressures constraints. We manufacture the units from various grades of stainless steel or aluminium. But, we also use alternative materials on request to meet your specific process requirements.

Furthermore, our products benefit from our highly efficient Elfin fin plate technology, which can be used in extreme environments; up to 400^oC. The technology helps to ensure the cleanliness of the heated gases, to alleviate thermal stresses in the heat exchanger and to moderate the impact of corrosive environments. The Elfin design reduces the need for exotic materials because special coatings are already incorporated within our product portfolio.

Our expertise in fin design, as well as our understanding of extended fin surfaces and their applications, allow us to deliver customised solutions for specific applications and environments.

Last but not least, the modular design of our units can deliver significant benefits to you. The heater sections are bolted together directly. Instead of being installed in a cassette within a housing, we assemble them as complete units with interconnecting manifolds. This straightforward design allows to remove the individual modules, inspect, maintain and replace them as and when required. It also makes it relatively easy to thermally lag our steam air heaters.

Download this page about steam air heaters as a PDF file

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If you feel you need another type of heat exchanger, visit our products and services page or contact us.