Refurbished Heat Transfer Rolls—Good as New

Sonoco Clear Pack benefits from refurbished heat transfer rolls from Menges Roller.

Due to the long service life of most heat transfer rolls, the manufacturers and processors who use them are often prone to wait for problems before servicing their equipment. Unfortunately, that often puts them at a loss to understand why their rollers are losing efficiency, which may require companies to run the production line at a lower speed to achieve the correct processing temperature.

Considering the priority to keep production going, the first question is: ‘Can you have the roll repaired or refurbished, or is it necessary to have a new one fabricated?’ If you deal with an expert, and your damaged roll is not a “basket case,” there is a good chance that repairing or refurbishing can provide good-as-new performance while saving considerable time and costs.

“After years of service, the inside of your heat transfer rolls begin to look like the inside of the radiator on an old pick-up truck,” says Matt Menges, president of Menges Roller Company. “And no wonder. The rolls are going through stresses that are very similar to those of a radiator. The rollers conduct heat transfer either pulling heat out of your substrate or putting it in.”

He adds that if the process water in your roll, like the coolant in your radiator, isn’t tested frequently to ensure it is at the correct level to resist oxidation, improper pH, and contaminants, the inside of those rolls will corrode, degrading heat transfer efficiency.

As a manufacturer of new rolls and provider of a wide range of repair services, Menges says his firm frequently gets calls from customers who claim that their rolls have a blockage that inhibits the flow of the process fluids, which is critical to the roll’s heating or chilling performance.