Applications
In short
Liquid-cooled electrical equipment such as battery storage, transformers, converters and drives is usually cooled by a clean closed loop. A gasketed plate heat exchanger separates that loop from the site cooling water or the glycol circuit of a dry cooler, so the equipment never sees outside water. TECS designs and manufactures gasketed plate heat exchangers for these duties, and the TECS engineering team does the selection.
Electrical equipment turns a small part of the power it handles into heat, and as the equipment gets denser, air alone no longer takes that heat away. Battery containers, converter stations, large drives and oil-filled transformers are increasingly cooled with liquid.
The liquid that runs through such equipment is chosen by its maker and kept very clean. It should not be the same water that goes to a cooling tower or a dry cooler in the yard. Between the two sits a heat exchanger, and for most of these plants a gasketed plate unit is the natural fit.
Two Loops, Kept Apart
The inner loop serves the equipment: cold plates in battery racks, the cooling channels of a converter, the jacket of a drive. Its liquid is treated water, a water and glycol mixture or, in some power electronics, water kept at a very low conductivity. The outer loop belongs to the site and carries the heat to a dry cooler, a chiller or a cooling water system.
The plate exchanger lets heat cross while the liquids stay apart. Dirt, scale and untreated water remain outside, and the small, expensive volume of inner liquid stays as the equipment maker specified it.
Batteries Want An Even Temperature
A battery system is less concerned with getting rid of a large amount of heat than with holding its cells within a narrow band, summer and winter, charging and resting. That makes the cooling duty uneven: heavy during fast charge or discharge, light in between, and on a cold site the loop may have to bring heat in instead of taking it out.
An exchanger for this duty has to behave well at part load, not only on the hottest day at full power. Tell us the operating pattern, because it shapes the selection as much as the peak.
Transformers And Their Oil
Large transformers are cooled by their insulating oil, and where air coolers on the tank are not wanted - indoors, underground, on a platform, in a noise-sensitive area - the oil is cooled with water through a heat exchanger instead. Here the question every transformer engineer asks is what happens if water reaches the oil. The cooler arrangement, the pressures on each side and the leak monitoring are settled with that in mind, and the transformer maker usually has firm requirements. Those requirements belong in the enquiry word for word.
The gasket material has to suit the insulating oil as well, just as with any other oil cooler.
What Sets These Duties Apart
Three things come up again and again. The inner liquid may call for particular plate and gasket materials so that it stays clean; say what it is and who specified it. Availability matters more than in an ordinary utility loop, so many plants install two units, one running and one ready, and want to open one while the other carries the load. And these exchangers often stand in containers or compact skids, where the space to open the frame has to be planned from the first layout.
TECS designs and manufactures gasketed plate heat exchangers, spare plates and gaskets for projects worldwide. Send the fluids, the duty and the site, and the engineering team will answer.
Where It Is Used
- Battery energy storage systems with liquid-cooled racks
- Converter and inverter stations
- Large drives and power electronics
- Water-cooled transformers, between oil and cooling water
- Between the clean inner loop and a dry cooler, chiller or site water
- Running and standby pairs where the plant must not stop
What To Send With An Enquiry
- Equipment to be cooled and its maker requirements for the coolant
- Inner loop liquid and outer loop liquid
- Heat to be removed and the conditions on both sides
- Operating pattern: peak, part load, any heating duty
- Standby or redundancy wanted
- Space available: container, skid or plant room
Questions We Are Often Asked
Why is a heat exchanger needed between the equipment and the site water?
The equipment needs a clean, controlled coolant. The exchanger passes the heat to the site circuit while keeping the outside water away from the equipment.
Can a gasketed plate heat exchanger be used for battery storage cooling?
Yes. It commonly sits between the battery cooling loop and the dry cooler or chiller circuit, and it is selected for the changing load of the battery system.
Is it suitable for transformer oil?
Yes, with a gasket material that suits the insulating oil and an arrangement that follows the transformer maker requirements on water and oil separation.
What about very pure cooling water for power electronics?
The plate and gasket materials are chosen so that the water stays clean. State the liquid and its specification in the enquiry.
Should there be a standby unit?
Where the equipment must not stop, many plants install a running and a standby exchanger so one can be opened while the other works.
Contact Us
Send us the fluids on both sides, the heat duty, the flow rates and temperatures and the site. We answer with a selection and an offer - or write to us on WhatsApp.
