Pillow Plates

Pillow plate thermoplate heat exchangers

Pillow plate at the heart of our heat exchanger technology is the thermoplate also called pillow plate or embossed plate due to the shape of plates after expansion.

What is a Thermoplate?

A pillow plate is a fully welded heat exchange plate. The plate consists of two plates that are spot-welded together. The plates are sealed with a welded seam along the contours of the plates. The plate is finally expanded until the desired expansion height is achieved. The expansion height is the maximum space between the two plates.

Pillow plates(thermoplates) and Dimple plates are similar products both made from stainless, but they also have distinct differences. The Dimple plate are a preformed plate to be attached to the final form afterwards. The pillow plates are included in the design before the final form. The dimple plates can be used for existing equipment, but only allows for a pressure below 6 bar. The pillow plate design allows for higher pressure.

A fully welded heat exchange plate

Material selection is of course essential when selecting the right design for a heat exchange duty. But another and sometimes more important factor is the welding of the thermoplates. A thermoplate can have several hundred spot welds – each a potential risk for corrosion or fouling if not handle with care. ATHCO-Engineering A/S use resistance welding to produce the spot pattern and the seam welding for the thermoplates.

What is a Thermoplate?

In short heat exchangers, due to the flexible nature of the Thermoplates, they are applied in several different heat exchanger applications:

Condensation
– Steam
– Partial
– VOC
– Vacuum
– Feed/Effulent
– Gas/Liquid
– Gas/gas

– Liquid/Liquid
– Fouling applications
– Pyrolysis, Syngas
– Chilled water
– Ice production
– Cooling / Heating jackets

Benefits of resistance welding

This is of course only true when the resistance welding is conducted correctly. We at ATHCO-Engineering A/S have more than 40 years of experience with the resistance welding for thin materials.

No add material to weld

Limited pollution of the metal sheets.

The corrosion and strength of the materials are maintained.

No visible welding seems

Hence no nucleated spots for fouling, corrosion and freezing.

No crevice – highly susceptible for corrosion.

Only a low heat input at the welding spot

The strength and corrosion resistance of the heat-affected zone is nearly that of the parent material.

No space behind the welding

No risk of corrosion in between the weld metal sheets.

Product advantages

  • Very easy to clean (high sanitary standard).
  • Efficient heat transfer because of large surface area to volume ratio.
  • Compact design and simple installation.
  • Good thermal operation efficiency due to high heat transfer coefficients.
  • Each heat exchanger is individually designed for the heat load, flow rate and pressure drop limitations of the specific application.
  • Self-cleaning effect due to the smooth surface of the thermoplates.
  • Fouling tendency is reduced to an absolute minimum, and that also applies to the need for maintenance.
  • Energy-saving and greener solutions.

Field of application

Chemical Industry

Food & Beverage

Would you like to visit us for a quality audit?

To ensure the highest standard of our staff, work procedures and production facilities, we gladly put them at disposal for a quality audit. Customers continuously carry out audits at our facilities, to ensure that we live up to general and specific customer requirements. Feel free to contact us for more information.

ATHCO-Engineering A/S is a Danish company founded in 1947

Today we are one of the global leadings in advanced heat transfer technology and recovery. We provide substantial energy savings and customized designs, and we cooperate with leading process-engineering companies, where we utilize each other’s equipment and knowledge in order to develop integrated solutions. We cover everything from design, production, instalment and service.

We improve the internal and external environment for the benefit of the individual and the nature

At ATHCO Engineering A/S we are very keen on making a difference for the environment. Not only are the majority of our products focused on the recovery of heat in the process industry, which means that our customers will experience a “greener” company profile, but we also comply with the strict rules and regulations of the Danish Labor Authorities, thereby holding our self responsible to the environment.

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