Today’s manufacturing techniques of heat transfer and control and related standards are all dedicated to improving and providing the highest-quality product to the marketplace. To attain the highest quality, each manufactured component of the final product is inspected repeatedly and measured. This ensures that it meets the manufacturer’s and consumer’s expectations.
Steam plays a vital role in producing the final product; therefore, steam quality should be one of the main measurable points in creating a product in today’s manufacturing facilities. All heat transfer components (e.g., shell/tube, plate/frame, plate/coil, and tracing) base performance calculations on 100% steam quality, unless the manufacturer is informed by the end user that the steam quality is lower than 100%.
Unfortunately, steam quality is typically not monitored closely and is often assumed to be 100%. Therefore, issues that arise from poor steam quality are blamed on some other item in the system. Based on field documentation by Inveno Engineering Steam Team, a high percentage of steam systems are operating below acceptable steam quality levels.