An air cooled heat exchanger (ACHE), also called a fin-fan cooler, is a device that cools or condenses a hot process fluid by forcing ambient air over finned tubes using fans. It removes heat without water, making it ideal for refineries, power plants, and water-scarce sites.
As one of the leading air cooled heat exchanger manufacturers in India, Thermocare Boilers Pvt Ltd (TBPL) designs and fabricates custom fin-fan ACHE units engineered to your exact thermal duty. With 25+ years in industrial heating and cooling, we build standards-compliant air coolers for refinery, petrochemical, power, chemical, and process industries across India and export markets.
Thermocare Boilers Pvt Ltd (TBPL) designs and manufactures high-efficiency engineered to your exact process conditions. With over 25 years of experience in industrial heating and cooling, we supply rugged, space-saving spiral units to pharmaceutical, chemical, food, textile, paper, and wastewater plants across India and overseas.
An air cooled heat exchanger is a pressure-containing unit that transfers heat from a circulating process fluid directly to ambient air, rather than to a water circuit. The hot fluid flows through a bundle of finned tubes while fans push or pull air across the outside of those tubes. The fins dramatically increase the external surface area, and the heated air is discharged into the atmosphere.
Because they need no cooling tower, no water supply, and no water-treatment chemicals, air cooled heat exchangers are the preferred cooling solution for oil & gas, petrochemical, and power generation plants — especially where water is scarce or expensive. They reduce operating costs, eliminate evaporation and drift losses, and offer a greener, lower-maintenance alternative to water-cooled systems.
A hot process fluid enters the header box and distributes across the finned tube bundle. Fans driven by an electric motor and drive assembly move ambient air through a plenum and across the tubes. Heat passes from the fluid, through the tube wall and fins, into the moving air. The cooled fluid exits the opposite header, and the warmed air vents to the atmosphere.
Vent & drain connections – for venting and draining the unit
In a forced draft design, the fan is mounted below the tube bundle and pushes ambient air up through the finned tubes. Forced draft units are easier to manufacture and maintain, the tube bundle sits on top of the plenum for easy removal, and the fan shaft is short. This is the most common configuration for general industrial and process cooling.
In an induced draft design, the fan sits above the tube bundle and pulls air through it. This gives more even air distribution across the bundle, better protection from rain, hail, and sun, and reduced hot-air recirculation — well suited to applications needing tighter temperature control.
We also build air cooled condensers for condensing duties and air cooled oil coolers for lube and hydraulic systems, each tailored to the medium, temperature, and pressure of your process.
|
Feature |
Forced Draft ACHE |
Induced Draft ACHE |
|
Fan position |
Below tube bundle |
Above tube bundle |
|
Air movement |
Pushes air up |
Pulls air through |
|
Manufacturing & maintenance |
Easier, lower cost |
Slightly more complex |
|
Air distribution |
Less uniform |
More uniform |
|
Weather protection |
Lower |
Higher (bundle shielded) |
|
Hot-air recirculation |
More likely |
Reduced |
|
Best for |
General process cooling |
Tight temperature control |
Application: Cooling and condensing of process fluids and gases Design Standards: ASME Section VIII, Division 1; API 661 for air-cooled heat exchangers; TEMA and IS standards as per project requirement Tube Material: Carbon steel (SA179 / SA214), stainless steel, and other alloys as required Fin Material: Aluminium fins — wrap-on L/LL-fin, G-fin / grooved, extruded fin, or bimetallic finned tube Header Material: Carbon steel (e.g., SA516 Gr 70) or alloy as specified Draft Type: Forced draft or induced draft Customisation: Bay size, number of fans, tube rows, design pressure, and design temperature engineered to your thermal duty
Every air cooled heat exchanger from Thermocare Boilers is custom-designed — tube and fin selection, draft type, fan count, and materials are all matched to your fluid, ambient conditions, and site constraints.
Air cooled heat exchanger price depends on heat transfer surface area, tube and fin material, design pressure and temperature, draft configuration, and number of bays/fans. Because each ACHE is built to specification, we provide a tailored quote after reviewing your process data sheet. Contact our engineering team for accurate pricing.
With 25+ years of proven expertise in industrial heating and cooling, Thermocare Boilers Pvt Ltd is a trusted name for process equipment in India. As air cooled heat exchanger manufacturers, we offer:
Engineered in Kanpur and supplied across India and to international markets, our air cooled heat exchangers are built for efficiency, reliability, and long service life.
Food, Edible Oil & Pharmaceutical – process cooling where water use must be minimised
