Pulsed Acoustic Sparker Bio-Fouling Control in Heat Transfer Equipment

Within DoD, biological fouling is a problem in U.S. Navy ships and submarines (heat exchangers, condensers and seawater piping systems) and for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (dams, locks, and hydroelectric plants). Biofouling adversely effects system performance by decreasing heat transfer and bl...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Schaefer, Raymond B
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustics
BIO-FOULING CONTROL
Biology
COOLING AND VENTILATING EQUIPMENT
DEMONSTRATIONS
ELECTRODES
FIELD TESTS
Fluid Mechanics
FOULING
FOULING ORGANISMS
HEAT TRANSFER
HEAT TRANSFER EQUIPMENT
MICROFOULING
NAVAL VESSELS
PIPES
PRESSURE
PRESSURE PULSES
PULSED ACOUSTIC SPARKERS
TUBES
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Summary:Within DoD, biological fouling is a problem in U.S. Navy ships and submarines (heat exchangers, condensers and seawater piping systems) and for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (dams, locks, and hydroelectric plants). Biofouling adversely effects system performance by decreasing heat transfer and blocking the flow of water. Chlorination is an effective antibiofouler, but has negative environmental impacts and does not meet federal and state regulations. Biofouling of heat exchangers and piping systems in heat transfer equipment is a major problem in Navy ships and submarines, commercial vessels, as well as land-based cooling systems (e.g. hydroelectric plants, locks, dams, etc.). Biofouling inhibits heat transfer and plugs system components. The primary biofouling control technique is chlorination, which is effective but has negative environmental impacts. For example, some byproducts generated by chlorination are carcinogenic. Consequently, regulatory actions both are in place and under consideration that limit the use of chlorination. The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of chlorinated seawater from cooling systems and a proposed Uniform National Discharge Standards regulation would further restrict the use of chlorine for biofouling control. Consequently, environmentally benign technologies are needed to prevent biological fouling. The objective of this SEED program was to demonstrate the feasibility of using pressure pulses from a sparker acoustic source to control microfouling (i.e., slime) in heat exchanger pipes. The long-term objective is to develop sparker technology for controlling biofouling that meets the Statement of Needs (SON) to control both microbiological and macrobiological fouling, meets state and federal discharge requirements, eliminates requirements for hazardous materials storage and is economically feasible.