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An electric process heater (EPH) is any heater that has not already been defined by its application. There are two types of EPHs: Immersion and Circulation. The immersion heater is immersed in the process fluid and heats by natural convection.The circulation heater is inside of a pressure vessel or duct and heats by forced convection. The Gaumer Co., Houston, estimates there are approximately 10,000 new EPH designs each year in North America.
If you are one of the people designing or selecting an EPH, then you should take note of the following suggestions.
1. An EPH will continue to get hot until all of the heat is released. Therefore, you should consider how the process would cool the heater bundle in all flow scenarios, including no flow. In order to do this, you need to know the maximum tolerable film temperature of the process fluid and how to calculate the...