Golden Pass LNG, Sabin, Texas (USA)
Both McDermott (US) and Chiyoda (Japan) acted together as Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor, where Chiyoda has the larger technology base.
Environmental interests are important in the area; there is a strong pressure from the end user to keep noise from the site within stringent limits.
In Spring 2019, Golden Pass LNG selected Chiyoda as EPC. DTS was the most active contestant for the contract, setting up early noise tests in Gunsan in Korea, using Howden fans.
Howden Netherlands Centre of Excellence and Howden Hua cooling fan specialists visited the test site, alongside Howden Korea colleagues to support the DTS engineers and Chiyoda’s technical managers.
Challenge
The EPC, Chiyoda faced high environmental requirements, laid down for the plant. Leading to commercial pressure on the EPC, in order not to exceed the required noise levels.
The EPC will take no risk on this and demand proofing tests from the cooler builder, DTS to have the noise within limits. With over 600 pieces of air cooler heat exchangers, the DTS sees himself for a challenge. The engineers lay down the noise requirements for the coolers, knowing that the fan will be the dominant factor for the noise production. The deducted fan noise requirements lie between 77 and 80 dB(A) sound power level per fan.
Solution
The SX series of Howden cooling fans have a profile, designed for low noise. Howden provided a test fan and technical support for DTS’s trials in Gunsan.
The airflow capacity of the Howden fan was much larger than that of the compared fan. Once equalized, the Howden fan showed the predicted performance. Actually less noise and more air.
Download the full case study to learn more about noise, turbulance, and the SX series cooling fan blades.