Pyroban® has recently completed the supply of a new Cat® 3406 Pyroban kit featuring Ever Clear™, the long life exhaust flame arrestor. Once in operation, it means the operator does not have to clean the exhaust flame arrestor on a daily basis.
Ever Clear exhaust flame arrestors were launched in 2020 by Pyroban and act as a direct replacement for the traditional “plate type” flame arrestors found in Pyroban explosion protected diesel engines. Specifying Ever Clear puts a stop to the 8-hour cleaning routine which would normally have to take place.
With traditional “plate type” flame arrestors, exhaust gas has to flow through the restrictive narrow gaps in the flame arrestor, so it clogs up with soot very quickly.
Ever Clear exhaust flame arrestors enable the exhaust gases to pass without clogging and are positioned in the exhaust system between the turbo and gas cooler, on the “hot side” of the exhaust flow (as seen below). They operate for up to 1000 hours before any cleaning is required (dependent on diesel quality & duty cycle).
They allow the engine exhaust gases to pass through but will stop a flame in the event of an exhaust backfire caused by hydrocarbon gas ingestion.
Operators can now get on with the job in offshore oil and gas applications. Operators and asset owners also overcome the safety risks associated with wrongly using a ‘dummy arrestor’ which can expose the operation to sources of ignition and invalidate the whole Pyroban system.
Manual handling compliance issues also disappear with Ever Clear. The traditional plate type exhaust flame arrestors typically weigh over 25kg and are usually located above waist height making them hard to handle. You can see in the top right hand corner of the image above that there is no plate type exhaust flame arrestor or dummy.
For this project, the customer wanted to keep this ATEX engine package simple and basic, so introducing the electronics found on more sophisticated Ex rated electronic engines (and the related control system) was not an option.
Explosion proof Cat 3406 Pyroban kit
This new explosion proof Cat 3406 Pyroban kit includes Ever Clear straight from the factory which was fitted “as new”.
Ever Clear is also suitable for existing Pyroban protected turbo diesel engines above 100bhp that are already in active service. For example, it is possible to retrofit Ever Clear to existing ATEX explosion proof Cat 3406 engines (i.e with side mounted Pyroban kits) already in operation offshore.
Each Ever Clear application is unique due to the operating conditions of the specific engine make and model (exhaust gas flow rate and temperature, back pressure limits etc.) and, as you would expect from Pyroban, we also ensure it still performs as a flame arrestor by thorough Flame Non-Transmission Testing at the elevated operating temperatures in our own Test Facility at Shoreham by Sea, UK.
So if you are repairing or refurbishing Cat 3406 driven equipment or any other ATEX powerpack, consider upgrading the exhaust system with Ever Clear to safely enjoy up to 1000 hour cleaning intervals. As an equipment supplier, it is major benefit that your customers will be drawn to.
Calculate how much you could save with Ever Clear exhaust flame arrestor.
For more information contact our technical sales team on +44 (0) 1273 456800 or info@pyroban.com.
