Installation of Evaporative Condensers for Galbani [Case History] - Decsa

Since the second half of 2020 Decsa has been involved in the supply of new evaporative condensers for Galbani, one of the largest dairy food factories in Europe, to replace existing ones in their cooling plants.

The following units have been supplied:

• No. 3 evaporative condensers with a capacity of 1,700 kW for the Chiller Plant;
• No. 4 evaporative condensers with a capacity of 1,700 kW for the Clauger Plant;
• No. 6 heat exchanger sections for revamping of other units not produced by Decsa already in operation for several years.

Characteristics and peculiarities of evaporative condensers required

Besides requesting a guarantee on the condensation performance, the Customer highlighted to Decsa some essential requirements before proceeding with the project.

The evaporative condensers had to meet the following requirements:

• A compact and size-conscious solution: as a replacement, the available space for positioning the evaporative condensers was already pre-defined. It was, therefore, necessary to provide a solution that did not require any change to the allocated areas for the units;
• Equalisation/balancing of the plant the customer's plant involved the use of many condensers working in parallel; the new units had to be adjoining each other to maintain a water balance between the basins;
• A customised solution for the installation: since the central Chiller plant, where three units are to be installed, is located in the middle of the factory, the Customer required a solution that would enable the already assembled condensers to be moved, as the usual on-site assembly operations would not be possible in this case;
• Durability and ease of maintenance: the plant and the evaporative condensers had to be designed to guarantee an operating lifetime of at least 20 years and to minimize ordinary maintenance.

Decsa's solution: evaporative condensers CFR-A

With the aim of consistently and incisively responding to the identified needs of the Customer, the Technical and Sales Departments of Decsa - after an in-depth analysis - selected and proposed the supply of the following units:

• No. 7 evaporative condensers CFR-A-140 series;
• No. 3 heat exchanger sections for CFR-A-140 series;
• No. 1 heat exchanger section for CFR-A-159 series;
• No. 2 heat exchanger sections for CFR-A-184 series.

Therefore, the Decsa solution was to opt for the evaporative condensers CFR-A series, which stand out for the higher number of rows (24) in the coils. This feature allowed the thermal performance to be maximised in relation to the occupied surface area. Furthermore, this unit configuration would have ensured the required thermal performance for the Customer, according to the dimensional restrictions in the plant. Decsa thus met the Customer's need to adapt the performance of the units to the climatic conditions of the area, which were different from those originally planned (20 years ago).

As for the heat exchanger sections, Decsa's choice was made starting from the dimensional and surface analysis of the sections, resulting in a solution that perfectly matched the one originally designed.

Decsa also proposed to equip all the new evaporative condensers with additional connections on the basin to guarantee a perfect water balance between the units. In addition, a special execution with a shared basin (2 by 2) of 11m was proposed for the 4 units serving the Clauger plant, supplied with a basic structure for easier handling.

Finally, Decsa developed the following three solutions to guarantee the durability and ease of maintenance required by the customer:

• Firstly, the use of the same evaporative condenser model for the two thermal plants. This guaranteed uniformity in terms of maintenance and spare parts;
• To provide the installation of a davit arm at the top of the tower to simplify extraordinary maintenance operations on the mechanical equipment
• To further protect the Z-725 galvanised sheets by adding the special DecsaCOATING Plus epoxy powder coating in addition to the standard Z-725 galvanisation.

Lastly, Decsa also suggested the use of counter-frames directly supplied with the units, to simplify installation operations, so that the already assembled CFR units could be lifted and installed in the Chiller area.

Project development

Decsa's proposal was found to be complete and comprehensive. The Customer thus placed the order for:

• Supply of No. 3 evaporative condensers CFR-A-140 series complete with:
  - Basin heater + thermostat;
  - Oversized basin and equalisation connections;
  - DecsaCOATING Plus painting;
  - Minimum level switches;
  - Counter-frame for lifting;
  - Chain hoist arm.

• Supply of No. 4 evaporative condensers CFR-A-140 series complete with:
  - Basin heater + thermostat;
  - 2 by 2 header tanks;
  - DecsaCOATING Plus painting;
  - Minimum level switches;
  - Counter frame for lifting;
  - Chain hoist arm.

• Supply of No. 6 complete exchange sections:
  - 3 x CFR-140;
  - 1 x CFR-159;
  - 2 x CFR-184;
  - All sections complete with DecsaCOATING Plus epoxy powder coating.

• Delivery at the place;
• Disassembly of existing sections
• Mechanical assembly and positioning assistance;
• Supervision at first start-up of evaporative condensers

Notes on project timelines

‍

• Project got at the end of Q4 2020;

• Evaporative condensers manufactured and installed in Q1 2021;

• Evaporative condensers started up at the beginning of Q2 2021

‍

Stay up to date: subscribe to the newsletter to receive the latest Decsa news and updates in the field of evaporative cooling.

‍

‍