Tube Book

Tubular Heat Exchanger Inspection, Maintenance, and Repair

Carl F. Andreone, P.E., FASME
Stanley Yokell, P.E., FASME

McGraw-Hill
New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.,
Auckland, Bogota, Caracas, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Milan, Montreal, New Delhi, San Juan, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto

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Figure 12.1a

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Figure 12.1b

(Excerpt)
Bundle handling

If you do not handle the bundle properly, you may damage tubesheets, tube supports, baffles, tie-rods and spacers, dams, slide bars, seal bars, zone enclosures, and appurtenances. It requires great care and thought about how to bring a bundle to the ground or lift it from the ground to reinstall it into the shell. Nylon web slings that bear against tube supports or baffles are less likely to cause damage than are chain slings. If you must use chain slings, make sure they do not bear directly on the tubes, but on dunnage that traverses tube supports. For long bundles, use spreader bars, cradles, and pairs of cranes to limit flexing that can damage the tubes and tube-to-tubesheet joints.

An excellent way to handle bundles is to use the tube bundle lifting device* shown in Fig. 12.1. This device consists of parallel sets of curved arms that wrap around tubed fixed-tubesheet cages, U-tube bundles, pillbox bundles, and floating-head bundles. The arms open and close in a scissor action. When closed, they gently hug the bundle. The tube bundle lifting device is then picked up, bundle and all, and gently lowered to where it will be worked on or raised to where it will be installed.

*Available from Carey Consulting, Inc., Edmonton, KY.

[Emphasis added]