Best-in-class electric heating cable solutions for safety and security of industrial companies’ equipment and technological processes

SST Group develops various heating systems depending on the required task.

In shipbuilding, electric heating panels are used to prevent ice formation on helipads, steps, ramps and escape routes. The main objective of electric heating systems for helipads, decks and open areas is to maintain a positive temperature on surfaces in the region of +3 or +5 °C.

Systems based on series-resistance and self-regulating heating cables ensure the safety of airport visitors: they can be installed on the roofs of buildings, on ramps and pedestrian zones. Electric heating is also used to protect pipelines from freezing.

We also have solutions for heating runways and have developed heaters for Sukhoi Superjet (slat drive heater, luggage lock heater).

Heating of tanks & vessels is necessary to compensate heat losses occurring through its walls, supports, lid and base. The design capacity of tank heating system should be sufficient to compensate heat loss and maintain set temperature of the stored fluid. In 90 % of cases, a self-regulating cable is used, since it is resistant to overlaps and local overheating. We provide a full range of self-regulating cables and all the necessary components for its installation in hazardous and non-hazardous zones at oil & gas, chemical & petrochemical, pharmaceutical and other sites.

In chemically aggressive and corrosive environments with operating temperatures up to +800 ℃ metal outer jacket fiberglass-insulated cable MOIC-F is used.

Depending on the project, heating sections could be installed only in the lower part of the tank. In this case, the entire surface of the tank must be covered with thermal insulation. Each design is made individually.

For warming-up products stored in tanks, energy is required not only to compensate the heat loss, but also to heat the product itself. Therefore, it may be advisable to install industrial electric heaters inside the tank.

Our electric heating system for infrastructure de-icing includes heating cable, control system, power distribution system (power supply), accessories and fasteners.

We offer a wide range of heating cables for different tasks. Series-resistance heating cable has constant resistance over the entire length. Self-regulating cable is the most popular solution for heating of roofs and gutters. A unique feature of the self-regulating cable is its ability to automatically adjust the thermal output depending on weather conditions. These cables are easily cut into sections of any length on site, which makes them convenient to use.

Control system includes specially designed regulators, as well as temperature, precipitation and water sensors. The control system allows to implement several algorithms for operating the electric heating system and takes into account the purpose of the system, weather conditions, operating conditions and specific customer requirements.

Energy distribution system supplies power to the heating sections and includes power cables, junction boxes, metal or plastic pipes and boxes for laying electric cables and signal wires. We use best-in-class materials that meet international standards.

Fastening system includes fasteners with various materials and shapes. They securely fix the cable, don’t break and don’t change their properties from temperature extremes.

All elements of the heating systems are mounted in an invisible way and don’t spoil the design of the construction.

SST GmbH provides the full range of self-regulating heating cables as well as ready-made design solutions for typical process equipment elements to simplify the installation.

The power of the heating section is set based on the calculation of heat loss, which is determined in the same way as the heat loss in pipelines. In some cases, modeling of thermal fields may be required, especially in cases where the level gauge window does not have thermal insulation.

Our self-regulating heating cables are used for freeze protection of process equipment in non-hazardous and ex-hazardous areas. The power output adjusts automatically in response to the ambient temperature.

Due to its self-regulating characteristics it will not overheat even when the cable is overlapped. This guarantees maximum safety and reliability. Installation of self-regulating heating cable is quick and simple and requires no special skills or tools.

When the extracted product moves from the subsurface to the surface, heat losses occur in the soil surrounding the well, resulting in paraffins’ or gas hydrates’ formation that can severely inhibit the production process. It is possible to prevent this by using a system based on heating cables.

The main parameter for determining the components of an oil well heating system is the heating power. This value is calculated individually for each well, since it is directly dependent on the depth of the formation, the well flow rate, humidity and thermal conductivity of the soil, and other characteristics of the flow of fluid through the pump and compressor pipe. Also, when designing an electric heating system, you should take into account the required depth of the start of heating. The design takes into account the heating mode, in which the heating cable is supplied from the depth at which the liquid temperature falls below the required value.

StreamTracer™ system based on a skin-heater allows you to approach this issue individually, take into account all parameters, reduce heat loss and energy consumption.

SST Group produces various systems for heating wells and pipelines based on series-resistance and self-regulating heating cables.

For any heat tracing systems an accompanying electrical network is required, through which voltage is supplied to the heating sections. With a relatively short pipeline length (up to about 150 meters), the size of the accompanying network is minimal. Pipelines with a length of 200-500 m can also be heated with series-resistance and self-regulating cables, but in this case the cost of the accompanying network becomes comparable to the cost of heating cables. For pipelines with a length of 500-3000 m the optimal solution is to use special three-core resistive heating cables of LLS series. This cable simultaneously serves as a heating element and a supply line.

For systems with a length of more than 3 km, a skin-system or induction-resistive heating system (IRHS) is used for heating, maintaining the temperature and protecting pipelines from freezing. For pipelines up to 150 km, VeLL system is designed based on three-phase resistive cable.

SST Group has experience in designing, manufacturing and installing all types of systems described above, including the heating system for subsea pipelines. ATEX and IECEx certificates prove the safety of our solutions in explosive areas at oil and gas sites.

For many years SST group has successfully cooperated with major Russian and international corporations, including Total, Dragon Oil, Gazprom, Rosneft, LUKOIL, Transneft, and others.