As anticipated at the end of our previous video about construction materials of heat exchangers employed in anodic oxidation, this follow-up video explains how to determine the thermal duty in anodizing plants cooling.

The evaluation of the thermal duty to be dissipated is fundamental in order to properly size both heat exchangers and chillers and other cooling systems employed to achieve cooling and thermostatation of the anodic oxidation bath.

Anodic oxidation is an electro-galvanic event, which means it involves a direct current at a certain voltage that passes through the anodizing bath. The evaluation of the amount of kW to be dissipated is therefore easy to do, being it directly proportional to the current employed to achieve the anodic oxidation and the voltage of it.

Temperature levels of the galvanic bath then vary depending on the kind of anodic oxidation. In case of hard anodic oxidation plants, the required temperatures are quite low, between 10° C and 15° C. Traditional anodic oxidation processes require instead temperatures between 20° C and 25° C.

Cooling at these temperatures, unless huge amounts of artesian well water at temperatures of 10-12° C are available, leave not too many options. Chillers and refrigerating groups are indeed required, even because the secondary circuit of the exchanger must be fed with water at a temperature of 10-15° C, depending on the type of anodic oxidation.

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