CuproBraze® locomotive oil-coolers delivering excellent performance and cost savings
A special technology seminar dealing with advanced heat exchangers for locomotives and heavy equipment was recently held in Dubai. The seminar was organized by the International Copper Association (ICA) and the CuproBraze Alliance. The Chairman of the Seminar was Nigel Cotton, Automotive, Building and Construction Programme Manager from the ICA.
There were many speakers at the event including Jan Andersson from Råbe Consulting, Sweden, who discussed the transportation giant Bombardier. Bombardier introduced the CuproBraze® oil-cooler when refurbishing 45 locomotives for South African Railways (SAR). These oil-coolers have now been in use for some time with excellent results.
The electrical locomotives are used for coal transportation, on a long 400 km route in very harsh terrain. In his presentation Jan Andersson explained that the heat Exchangers, for the electric converter and transformer that deliver power to the engine, are subjected to extreme conditions including shock, vibration and dirt. He further said that the aluminium material in the old coolers broke down because of the high air humidity and salt water.
The new oil-cooler made from CuproBraze, Andersson indicated, offers many advantages to the customer including better cooling capacity and better durability, leading to lower costs for refurbishment. In addition, less material is used as a result of the reduction in size and weight and the material is environmental friendly since less energy is used during the production process. Furthermore there is less noise because of the lower pressure drop over the cooler.
Markku Ainali, General Manager for Luvata, Sweden, was responsible for two items on the Dubai agenda. One of the presentations included the technical status of CuproBraze, the market trends and future development. Ainali stated that several types of heat exchangers are now in production: radiators, charge air coolers (CAC), oil coolers, heaters
and inverter coolers (for hybrid vehicles) and that there are production capabilities in 16 companies around the world and about 30 more companies who are at different stages in evaluating the technology.
Ainali indicated that the majority of applications today are used within the segment for heavy duty vehicles, where durability, downtime cost, corrosion resistance, repairability, high pressure and high temperature are crucial factors. Recent development within the CuproBraze area includes plate type oil coolers, a concept for exhaust gas resistant charge air coolers and a multiport tube for air conditioning condenser.
Future of CuproBraze
Ainali continues, “We recommend replacing flat fins with square wave corrugated fins in heavy duty applications, as the advantages are many. The construction will remain strong, the clogging tendency will be low, it will be washable, brazing friendly and, last but not least, there will also be savings in labour costs.”
Other speakers at the Dubai seminar included Dr. Dieter Nützel, Vacuumschmelze, Germany, who was talking about successful brazing with amorphous-metal foil; Daniel Schnee, Manager Applied Technology, from Umicore BrazeTec, Germany, who reported on the process, quality control and production machines; Piotr Skarbinski, Global Products Director, SECO-WARWICK, Poland, who gave a speech on furnaces for brazing heat exchangers; and Juho Partanen, Production Manager for CuproBraze, Finnradiator, Finland who talked about one-shot brazing.
The presentations can be downloaded free of charge on www.cuprobraze.com/dubai