Mesabi coolers equipped with aluminum tubes can provide significant cost and weight savings for applications where tonnage is an obstacle.
Between copper, aluminum, and brass – how do you identify the best material for your cooler?
Well, the answer isn’t so simple. Many factors go into choosing the best material for a specific application. However, the general rule of thumb is that if you’re looking for cost savings and weight reduction, aluminum is the tube for you.
“Any amount of weight that you can reduce in a haul truck can be directly applied to the payload for the truck,” said Brian Pierzina, design and application engineer at L&M Radiator. “So, if the radiator weighs less, a truck can haul more material from where it’s being loaded to the drop site. This is attractive to mines because more material being hauled in the same package will increase the mine’s profitability.”
L&M Radiator offers three different style of MESABI tubes in their coolers: the S-Fin, Round Tube, and M-Tube Coolers. To help guide you toward the right radiator for your application, Pierzina offers a step-by-step playbook for when, where, why, and how to use aluminum tubes.
First, let’s start with the basics.
When: Mesabi coolers can run 24-hours-a-day, 7-days-a-week. Their clog-resistant and field-repairable powers allow any fleet in any environment to maximize uptime.
Where: Mesabi radiators with aluminum tubes can be used anywhere. They are commonly used in areas where oil extraction through drilling or fracking is prominent, such as Texas, North Dakota, Colorado, and parts of Canada.
Why: Use aluminum tubes when you need cost or weight savings, or to increase fuel efficiency, such as on the back of a fracking truck or a haul truck for mining.
How: Contact a Mesabi sales and service representative here.
Now, let’s dive into specific styles of the Mesabi coolers that use aluminum tubes.
Mesabi S-Fin Tube
This tube style can be used in oil coolers and charge air coolers. It is made with integral finning formed from the tube wall and turbulators in the oil cooler tubes to aid in heat transfer. The tube is wide and flat, comparable in performance to bar-and-plate coolers of similar depth. This cooler is meant for pressures up to 500 PSI (3447 kPa). The S-Fin Charge Air Cooler comes in a 3-inch or a 5.67-inch extrusion.
One of the most common applications of this tube style is on a drill rig.
“Sandvik, for example, is an OEM that uses multiple versions of the S-Fin tube in individual part numbers,” said Pierzina. “They have some part numbers that rely on three or four different S-Fin coolers on the same complete cooling package for a drill rig.”
Mesabi Round Aluminum Tube Coolers
This style of aluminum tube is typically used in oil coolers, but there are some rare occasions that require high-pressure air cooling applications. It is most commonly used for applications that require a thin cooling package.
“We used the round aluminum tube more frequently before we had the high-pressure S-Fin oil cooler tube. However, we continue to use this design on applications that don’t allow for a thick cooler package,” said Pierzina. “The round aluminum tube allows us more flexibility in the depth of the package.”
Based on the dimensions of a complete cooling package, some applications may not allow for the 5.67-inch depth of the S-Fin tube. The Higher Pressure Round Tube has the flexibility to be a customizable number of rows deep whereas the S-Fin is always one row deep.
Mesabi M-Tube Cooler
“In a standard radiator application and on projects where cost or weight are a big concern, that’s when we use the aluminum M-Tube,” said Pierzina. “It’s lower cost with very good performance.”
The most common application for the Aluminum M-Tube is mining haul trucks, whose capacity increases when the weight of the truck itself is lighter. “Any weight that we can reduce on a mining haul truck increases the payload capacity of the haul truck and improves its fuel economy.”
Many over-the-road applications also use the aluminum tube for weight-saving purposes. Many trailer designs have a limited maximum allowable weight. Not to mention, less weight improves the fuel economy of a truck. “Weight is especially a consideration for fracking trailers being transported over a road or highway. This is very common in Texas, North Dakota, Colorado, and parts of Canada.”
You’ll also find this radiator type running as standard on several Komatsu haul trucks.
All Mesabi Radiators are Customizable
All that being said, any and every Mesabi radiator is customizable.
“Cooling solutions grow more complex by the day. Many customers are grappling with size and space limitations. Aluminum is a great material for that case,” said Pierzina. “It’s a challenge that requires keen engineering problem solving, which is exactly where we excel.”
L&M Radiator: Contact Us Today
The absolute best way to get the best radiator for your application is to get in touch with L&M’s team of experts. Find and contact the L&M sales representative for your territory here.
To read more stories similar to this one, visit the L&M Radiator blog.