5/13/2018 Tower Piping: Center for equipment layout

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Tower Piping: Center for Equipment Layout

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Tower Piping: Center for equipment layout

  

1. A tower is usually a major part of a designer’s area. It is advisable to treat it as a

central piece of equipment and extend the design around this center. Columns,
towers and vertical vessels are to be arranged in a row with a common centerline if
of similar size. If, however, diameters vary considerably, lining up with a common
face will be found to be bene cial.

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2. During the initial stage of piping studies, piping designer should investigate in co-
operation with vessel designer about the preference of lined up towers with
interconnecting platforms, for convenient operation and maintenance access. The
platforms are supported from towers. In such cases, slight alterations in tray
spacing, internal piping arrangement, skirt height and tower length can help to put
all tower manholes on same elevations. In turn lined up manholes will help platform
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arrangement, providing also common access to valve instrument.
3. When arranging common platforms for several towers in line, allowance must be FOLLOW US ON GOOGLE+
made for the di erential expansion between towers. Suitably arranged hinges or
slots in the platforms between towers, which introduce exibility into the platforms  
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shall be provided. All these feature shall be decided at the early stages of design
because they a ect good piping arrangement. Follow

4. Main work of tower piping is connected with the proper orientation of nozzles and
provision of access to points of operation and maintenance. Generally, platforms of
manholes shall be utilized for operating and maintenance access for valves and
instruments. Small valves and instruments are usually arranged outside the
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platforms and are operated from the ladder. Additional platforms are required for
operating valves, line blinds, relief valves (3” and above, ori ce plates, transmitter of Your email:
a level controller and handling davit.
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5. The operating aside is usually under pipe rack, so rst ladder on tower should be on
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pipe rack side. To handle heavy equipment (large size relief valves, large diameter,
line blinds), a davit is usually needed. The davit should be on the side of the vessel
away from the rack. The area at grade should be kept clear for a dropout. for bigger
diameter vessels, two davits shall be furnished. If it is located at the top of the tower, Popular Recent Comments
it can serve as well for lifting and lowering the top internals to grade. Clearance for
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the lifting tackle to all points which require handling is essential, as also su cient Legends
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5/13/2018 Tower Piping: Center for equipment layout
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access and removal space. For reactor feeding catalyst, a permanent trolley beam  July 12, 2017

over the lling manholes is usually provided with adequate access at grade for lifting
Nozzle Orientation Drawing
and removal of the catalyst.  July 12, 2017
6. Fig.1 shows plan with segments of its circumference allotted to piping, nozzles,
Centrifugal Pump Piping Design Layout
platforms and ladders, in a pattern which leads to a well-designed layout. The  July 12, 2017
complete circumference of the tower is theoretically available to arrange the items.
Piping should be located radially as far as possible. Tank farm: Types, Design Considerations,
Plot Plan Arrangement, Dyke Enclosure-
7. Fig.1 also shows the principal features such as manholes, platforms and pipe runs Part 1
typically applicable to Tower piping arrangement. Nozzle elevations are determined  July 12, 2017

by process requirements and manhole elevations by maintenance requirements. For

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economy and easy supports, piping should drop or rise immediately upon leaving Know to Work Smarter
the nozzle and run parallel and as close as possible.  July 12, 2017

8. To make the orientation, follow the following steps:

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Fig 1: Piping Arrangement for Towers

Tray Orientation
Right relationship between process nozzles and tower internals is very important. This
is often in uenced by reboiler draw o and return nozzles and orientation by exibility
considerations. Changing from one pass to two pass, the two pass trays shall be
rotated through 90 deg. to upper trays.

Nozzles & Manholes

Orientation of nozzles depends on the type of distributors and process requirements.

Before detailing, details and type of distributors must be known to the designer. Then
he could produce right orientation of nozzles shall be located on tray area and must be
accessible from ladder or platform.

Temperature connections are usually located in the liquid space of tray downcomers. In
some cases, it could be also in vapor space. In front of thermowell nozzles, a clearance
of approximately 600mm is required to remove thermowell.
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5/13/2018 Tower Piping: Center for equipment layout

Pressure connections are usually located on the vapor space just below the trays. All
instrument locations are to be con rmed by process department. Care should be taken
with interference such as between two reinforcing pads, one near the other, nozzle
ba e and down comer and weir dams.

Manholes should preferably be placed on road side on tray area so that it is convenient
for removal and lowering to grade of tower internals. Accessibility whether internal or
external is very important and is often not given enough consideration. A balance must
be made between the external accessibility of connections from ladders and platforms
and internal accessibility from shell manholes, handholes or removable section of
trays.

For example, a shell manhole opening must not be obstructed by internal piping unless
the piping is removable through the manholes or can be slung clear from an internal
hitching point. In either case, the break ange bolts must be accessible from the
manhole.

The following considerations must be made at the initial stage of design as they bear
directly on the external arrangement of tower.

1. Analyze the functions of the internals.

2. Determine the desirable location of the shell connections relative to external

requirements (piping platforms).

3. Layout of the internal piping required to satisfy preferred location shell nozzle and
the preferred tray orientation, and if necessary adjust these to make a workable
adjustment.

Platforms, Ladders and Davit

Platforms are considered as work area for manholes and rest area when an
intermediate area is added, if the height between two work platforms exceeds 9
meters.

1. Generally, layout analysis should be started from the top of the tower and those
having reboilers should be started from the bottom, but with the designer visualizing
the layout as a whole. There will be no trouble in dropping the large lines (such as
overhead vapour lines) straight down the side of the column. The lower spaces can
then be laid out with piping and nozzles’ knowing what space is already occupied by
these large vertical lines.
Condensers are often located at grade. In such cases, a large overhead lines drop
right alongside the tower to the condenser at grade. Condensers can also be
elevated. An elevated condenser is more convenient from a tower piping layout
standpoint because the large overhead line leaves the immediate vicinity of the
tower at a high level, leaving the lower section open, say, for a ladder from grade to
the rst platform.

Whether the condenser is at grade or at an elevated level, the exibility and thermal
load problems connected with large diameter overhead lines must be considered.
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2. For valves and blinds, the best location is directly at tower nozzles. Valves in branch
connections or at nozzle should be in a position where the line will be self-draining
on both sides of the valve. A dead leg over closed valve collects liquid or solids. The
trapped liquid can freeze, or when opening the valve, without draining the leg, can
upset process conditions.
All instruments should be oriented so as not to obstruct the passage way at the
ladder exits or entrance. Convenient access and groupings of instruments and valve
will help inspection and plant operation. Instruments should not be located adjacent
to manholes.

The manhole cover can damage instruments when being swung open during
maintenance.

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5/13/2018 Tower Piping: Center for equipment layout
3. The tower elevation is governed by the following:
A. Net positive suction head requirements if the tower bottom line is a pump suction
line.
This can elevate the tower bottom tangent line.
B. Thermo siphon type reboiler circuit can also elevate a tower.
C. Gravity ow from tower bottom or from an elevated nozzle can also elevate a
tower.
D. Head room requirements.

To support the tower at the chosen elevation, a steel skirt down to grade or a
combination of a short steel skirt and concrete plinths will be required.

4. Piping around tower shall be spaced taking into consideration the structural design
of the supporting arrangement. Special care should be taken to see that supports
for cold lines do not interfere with the other pipes. For supporting tower piping from
tower shell, designer should select proper type. While locating clips, care shall be
taken to ensure that these clips are not located on the circumferential and
longitudinal weld seams indicated in the vessel date sheet.

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