Consider a Heat Exchanger, which is a piece of equipment that contains the following components:
- A Cylindrical Shell that makes up the Heat Exchanger Shell section.
- A Cylindrical Shell that makes up the Heat Exchanger Channel section.
- Any number of small tubes that make up the Heat Exchanger Bundle section.
Each of the components can contain items such as Nozzles, Flanges, or Piping.
In RBI, to analyze the ways in which the exchanger can fail, you must divide the components into logical groups that represent common failure characteristics. Each group of components is a separate component and is represented by a single RBI Component record. Keep in mind that some of these groups are involved in the overhead system, and others are involved in the cooling water system.
For example, you might group the equipment's components as follows:
- Heat Exchanger Shell: Includes a cylindrical shell, an inlet nozzle, an outlet nozzle, and a head, often referred to as a shell cover. The Shell is part of the Cooling Water System (blue) because the purpose of the shell is to allow water to flow over the tubes and cool the process fluid running through the channel and bundle section of the exchanger.
- Heat Exchanger Channel: Includes a cylindrical shell, an inlet nozzle an outlet nozzle and a flat head, often referred to as a dollar plate. The Channel is part of the OVHD System (yellow) because the purpose of the Channel is to funnel the process fluid in to the tubes and allow cooling of the process fluid running through the channel and bundle section of the exchanger.
- Heat Exchanger Bundle: Includes tubes, baffles, and a tubesheet. The Bundle is part of the OVHD System (yellow) because the purpose of the bundle is to provide as much surface area as possible for the process fluid in to the tubes and allow cooling of the process fluid running through the bundle section of the exchanger.
If you create an RBI
- Unit / Area (Functional Location record)
- Overhead System (Corrosion Loop record)
- Cooling Water System (Corrosion Loop record)
- Heat Exchanger (Equipment record)
- Heat Exchanger Shell (Criticality Calculator RBI Components record)
- Heat Exchanger Channel (Criticality Calculator RBI Components record)
- Heat Exchanger Bundle (Criticality Calculator RBI Components record)
Note: If you have already created Functional Location records to represent the OVHD System and Cooling Water System using the recommended asset hierarchy, you must create additional Corrosion Loop records to represent these same systems. The existing Functional Location records need not be linked to the Corrosion Loop records.