Copper Nickel Bearing Oil Cooler (Seawater Resistant)
Copper nickel bearing oil cooler is a seawater-resistant heat exchanger specially developed for bearing lubrication cooling in marine, offshore and coastal industrial environments. It adopts 90/10 Cu-Ni (C70600) or 70/30 Cu-Ni (C71500) alloy as the core heat transfer tube material, featuring outstanding seawater corrosion resistance, anti-fouling and anti-marine organism adhesion performance.
It is widely matched with journal bearings, thrust bearings and guide bearings of marine main engines, turbine units, offshore platform power equipment, coastal pumps and compressors. The equipment continuously dissipates frictional heat of bearings, stabilizes lubricating oil temperature and viscosity, and fundamentally solves the failure problems of ordinary coolers such as tube wall perforation, leakage and rapid efficiency decline caused by long-term contact with seawater, brackish water and high-salinity cooling medium.
High-temperature lubricating oil from bearings flows on the shell side or outside the tube bundle;
Seawater circulates inside copper-nickel tubes as the cooling medium;
Heat is transferred from hot lube oil to seawater through copper-nickel tube walls via conduction and convection;
Cooled lubricating oil flows back to the bearing housing to form a closed cooling cycle, while heated seawater is discharged or circulated.
The key difference lies in the tube material: copper-nickel alloy maintains stable thermal conductivity and mechanical properties under long-term scouring, erosion and electrochemical corrosion of seawater, ensuring long-term efficient heat transfer.
Key Material Advantages (Cu-Ni Alloy for Seawater Service)
3.1 90/10 Copper Nickel (CuNi 90/10, C70600) – Mainstream Grade
Corrosion resistance: Excellent resistance to general corrosion, pitting and crevice corrosion in natural seawater, brackish water and coastal circulating water; immune to mild seawater erosion.
Anti-biofouling: Natural inhibitory effect on barnacles, algae and other marine organisms, effectively reducing attachment and scaling.
Thermal performance: High thermal conductivity, far better than stainless steel, guarantees stable heat transfer efficiency.
Cost performance: Balanced performance and price, the most widely used material for marine bearing oil coolers.
Applicable condition: Conventional seawater, flow velocity ≤ 2.5 m/s, general marine vessels and coastal equipment.
3.2 70/30 Copper Nickel (CuNi 70/30, C71500) – Heavy-Duty Grade
Higher nickel content, stronger resistance to high-salinity seawater, high-flow erosion and sulfur-containing seawater.
Better resistance to stress corrosion and cavitation erosion, suitable for harsh working conditions such as offshore platforms, high-speed water flow and polluted seawater areas.
Slightly higher cost, used for heavy-duty and long-service-life requirements.
3.3 Matching Supporting Materials (Full Anti-Corrosion System)
To avoid galvanic corrosion, all wetted parts are selected with matched marine-grade materials:
Tube sheet: Naval brass / Cu-Ni alloy (consistent with tube material potential)
Header & shell: Carbon steel with heavy-duty marine epoxy coating / 316L stainless steel
Baffle, support & fastener: 316L stainless steel
Gasket: EPDM / marine-grade fluororubber, resistant to oil, seawater and high temperature
Main Applications
Marine Shipping: Main engine guide bearings, thrust bearings, stern tube bearings of cargo ships, tankers, ferries, tugboats.
Offshore Engineering: Bearings of power units, pumps and compressors on offshore platforms, drilling rigs and wind power supporting facilities.
Coastal Power Industry: Steam/gas turbine bearing oil coolers of coastal power plants, combined cycle units.
Special Vessels: Engineering ships, fishing vessels, icebreakers and other equipment bearing cooling systems.
Coastal Industrial Equipment: Bearing coolers of large pumps and compressors in coastal chemical, port and dock areas.
